ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On Tuesday morning, the Broncos will receive some respite from a 13-game stretch to begin the regular season.
After a lengthy stretch of consecutive games, Denver is part of a six-team group that will receive its bye in Week 14.
But it's not time to rest yet — and it's certainly not time to look past the Cleveland Browns.
While Cleveland (3-8) has struggled to string wins together, the AFC North group has won two of its last four contests and knocked off the Ravens and Steelers in recent weeks.
"You can't look at records in the NFL," tackle Mike McGlinchey said. "Any team, any week is capable of beating anybody. You just saw Carolina took Kansas City down to the wire [last week]. The Raiders battled really, really hard. There's no teams that quit in this league. There's professionals all over the place, and certainly the Browns are no exception. They have a very talented roster and a roster that's capable of winning at any time, and we've got to be on our game on Monday night."
As the Broncos aim to improve to 8-5 and improve their playoff odds heading into their bye, tight end Adam Trautman likened the "Monday Night Football" game to a prime-time contest in 2023. Late last season, the Broncos dropped a three-point decision to the three-win Patriots on Christmas Eve. A week later, the Broncos were eliminated from playoff contention and were left to lament the loss.
Trautman said as the Broncos approach their second prime-time game of the season, they can use that matchup with New England as a cautionary lesson.
"You can't really get caught up in looking forward to obviously having off time, because this is one of those games, kind of like [when] we had the Patriots last year, and that's the game you end up regretting for the entire season," Trautman said. "And you do not want this to be one of those games because maybe you're looking ahead or thinking about the playoff picture. You can't."
The game is particularly important, Trautman said, because the Broncos are able to determine their own destiny. Denver currently has one fewer loss than the eighth-place Dolphins, which means the Broncos would be destined for the postseason as long as they keep winning.
"At this point, we can't drop anything, because we are in control of everything," Trautman said. "We all know how important this game is to us."
McGlinchey said he believes the Broncos are "completely bought in right now," and he thinks the team's confidence and mindset have improved in "leaps and bounds" since a year ago.
For the Broncos to continue to find the success that's guided them to a 7-5 record, though, they must continue to put their best into the process.
"I think it's weekly," said Head Coach Sean Payton when asked how to prevent the team from looking too far ahead. "I think part of that is the team itself. We didn't feel like we played necessarily our best first half last week, and yet we came back [to win]. And so you really segment the season. It's the next game [and] the significance of the next game. It's the message, I think, that takes place throughout the week. … I think they're smart enough to understand the margin for error in our league, period. All these guys are. They're professionals. It's really focusing in on us and what we're doing and how we're practicing and getting ready for the next game."
Tackle Garett Bolles, who is the longest-tenured player on the team, maintained that he and his teammates have that necessary narrow focus as they aim to snap the organization's playoff drought.
"We're not in the postseason yet," Bolles said. "We've still got a lot of work to do."
