Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos 2026 NFL Schedule REVEALED, Bo Nix's Chance To Shine

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Denver Broncos 2026 NFL schedule is here, and it is tough. But you know what? Bullnicks and the Broncos, they have a chance to shine. You are locked on Broncos. Your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's happening at Broncos country? I'm Cody Rourke.

Starting point is 00:00:25 Today's episode, we got a bonus thriller for you because the 2026 Bronco schedule has been revealed. We'll go through and talk about the tough stretch here. are over under wind projection here for the Broncos this upcoming season. Plus, Bo Nix being in the spotlight here for the Broncos, the Denver Broncos have a chance to shine this upcoming season as we go through our instant reaction of the schedule reveal. And I'll tell you what, the first half of this schedule for Denver, it is tough on paper.

Starting point is 00:00:56 It looks very brutal. Now, to put things into context here, obviously, we don't have graphics to show everybody. But for Denver schedule, they open up on the road. at Kansas City, Monday night football in primetime. That's going to be a fun one there. But then it's a anticipated rematch against the Jacksonville Jaggars at home in the Mile High City in week two.

Starting point is 00:01:15 Maybe Denver trying to get a little redemption from that late season loss that they had. Snap the Broncos chance of going 12 straight wins in a row. Then it doesn't get any easier. Week three, primetime action here once again, Sunday night football. Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams come to town. And what could be a potential? lot of people have ran those mock simulations, maybe a potential Super Bowl preview between the Rams and the Broncos.

Starting point is 00:01:41 And then your first, your second divisional game, but your first match against Los Angeles Chargers comes a week four. But man, that stretch is brutal from weeks. I would say three through about eight minus week seven against the Cardinals because the Broncos, my goodness, you talk about the Rams, 49ers on the road there, they're always a tough team and they're going to be healthy, presumably on defense. They're going to get Nick Bosa back, obviously, for. Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, hopefully those guys are all at full strength.

Starting point is 00:02:09 So Denver can have a really fun match. I'm not sure where George Kittles' health status is going to be with that. But then Chargers in L.A. And then you have a short week turnaround to host the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. A very good defense. Sam Darnold, Jackson, Smith, and Jigba. Denver's going to be in the primetime spotlight quite a bit here early on to open up to 2026 NFL season.

Starting point is 00:02:32 It is nuts. and shout out to Darien and everybody in Broncos Country who's joining the show live, Dennis, all the everydayers out there. We appreciate you so much for that. Your initial thoughts here, Broncos Country, make sure you send them in on social media at Cody Work NFL at Lockdown Broncos. If you're watching live in the chat, you're listening here on Lockdown Broncos, get in the comment section here to discuss the schedule reveal. I go through this even more. I think for Denver, the tough stretch to start off the season through the first 10 weeks of the NFL year for them.

Starting point is 00:03:04 because the week 10 is a buy. Their first nine games, five of them are on the road. And Denver will play five of their non-conference matchups in the first part of the schedule coming out of the by week. They're going to be coming out there and playing eight straight conference games. So those are going to have massive playoff implications down the stretch as Denver goes throughout the entire gamut of different teams, the Raiders. Then you have the Steelers on Black Friday.

Starting point is 00:03:27 I mean, can we even talk about that Buffalo Bills Christmas Day matchup, followed by a road game against the Patriots in week 17, a home finale against the Chargers once again in week 18. On paper right now, this is a very, very tough schedule. And the way that it plays out early on, no international games here for Denver this season, which is great. But Denver's toughest test will come early on in the season. And then I will say the most crucial stretch of the season is going to come after the biweek

Starting point is 00:03:55 because you have to take care of your conference matchups head to head. That was a big reason the Broncos were able to secure the number one seed. last year in the NFL playoffs is because they took care of business against AFC teams. They also beat NFC teams as well. Sean Payton's got a great record as a member of the Denver Broncos against NFC teams, 12 and 3, I believe at that. So I'm glad that Denver's not traveling internationally, though they do travel quite a bit to start off the season and have more home games obviously in the second half part of the schedule.

Starting point is 00:04:22 But there is a little bit of a stretch there, at least on paper, where it's like, Denver can take care of business, week 11 against the Raiders, week 12 against the Steelers. who knows what that team is going to look like, especially with Mike Tomlin, not being there as the head coach, the Miami Dolphins, obviously, the Jets, Raiders. You have a stretch of games right there, five games that are easily favorable right now on paper for Denver,

Starting point is 00:04:45 and then it gets into the over-under conversation, which we'll have here in a little bit in Brock, and Broncos country, feel free to chime in on that. But Denver's got to take care of business, not only in that stretch, but you have to find a way to overcome the slow starts at the first half of the season. Not as something since Sean Payton has come over,

Starting point is 00:05:01 Denver's kind of struggled with, obviously, his first year, Denver went one in five to start the season. And then in 2024, Denver got off to a little bit of a slow start. And then last season, they went one and two before winning 11 straight games. So you want to be able to get that. And Denver could have started off last season as well in weeks two and weeks three. They could have started off with three straight wins. The Colts game, obviously you talk about the leverage penalty that led to them kicking the game-winning field goal, the Chargers game you lose, you know, on a little bit late there because Justin Herbert on fourth down comes up with a magical play.

Starting point is 00:05:37 I think for Denver here, this schedule is very much going to determine whether or not they're truly Super Bowl champions and contenders. I mean, this is going to be a Super Bowl champion type schedule. If you want to win it all this year, well, you got to get through, this is a tough gauntlet of opponents here. And I'm excited about it. This is the type of test that I want to see this Broncos team kind of face here. I think some people are going to say, well, you know, they didn't have this type of schedule last year. This argument on strength of schedule, you know, it is a little frustrating because it really does use in hindsight how teams finished last year. A lot of these teams have gotten better or worse.

Starting point is 00:06:13 Things can change circumstantially between quarterbacks, personnel, all these things factor in the equation. Early on, injuries could certainly play a factor into that. But overall, Denver, this is a schedule that will truly determine whether or not they are built for it. And I think that they'll showcase that they are. And look, coming up next year, Broncos Country on today's bonus episode, schedule reveal episode of the show, we're going to tell you why nine and a half wins. That's the over and under set by a lot of the betting places, including our friends over there at Fandu. I'm going to tell you why I think they're going to go over that this upcoming season

Starting point is 00:06:43 and what they need to do primarily to ensure that to be possible. You'll get all that and much more here on today's episode of Locked on Broncos. Today's show is brought to you of our friends over there at Fandual Broncos Country, the NBA playoffs are here, the NHL playoffs are ongoing, and every possession matters, whether it's on the ice or on the hardwood floor. If you're looking to get even closer to the action, Fandu has a great offer that's going to get you started here today because right now new customers, you can bet just $5 and you can get $150 in bonus bets if your first bet wins. That's right, turn five bucks into 150 in bonus bets just for getting started. I like using Fandu during the playoffs because the matchups, they're more premier focused. every player matchup, superstar matchup, that stuff gets amplified a lot more than what you get in the

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Starting point is 00:09:13 But I'm going to tell you why I think they're going to hit the over this upcoming season is we have our instant reaction here to the Denver Broncos 2026 NFL schedule reveal. Denver will be tested in a lot of ways this upcoming season against great offenses, great defenses, and we'll see how this team responds to some of the challenges that they face here. But I've got them at 12 wins this season. You're going to hear myself and Sarah Bedinger on tomorrow's episode show break down the schedule even more in depth. We'll talk about our toughest stretches of the schedule. We'll talk about the most defining moments. And we'll even tell you why the primetime action here is so good for the Broncos

Starting point is 00:09:47 that everybody is paying attention. And every other fan base is crying about the attention that the Broncos are getting here. So let's go into this right now. You know, for Denver this upcoming season, the expectation I think some fans have is, hey, this team, they won 14 games last year. They got to do that again. I don't think you ever have to say they have to do this again, right? The ultimate goal is getting to the playoffs, winning playoff games,

Starting point is 00:10:11 getting to the Super Bowl. That's the process. Now, Denver, obviously on paper, as well, talked about a tougher schedule in comparison to what people thought that they had last year, the quality opponents, the Broncos are going to be playing a lot of teams that were in the playoffs last year. They're going to be facing a lot of young teams that are kind of up and coming. And they're facing some teams that a lot of people are kind of counting out right now that in the NFL, you can never overlook anybody.

Starting point is 00:10:32 And certainly this Broncos team doesn't do that. Nine and a half wins is the projected total, the over under for where this franchise is at. I think that's a fair spot because I think the Broncos will overachieve. I'm going to hit the over on this. I've got them winning 12 games this season. I had them winning 11 last year. I think they surprised a lot of us when they won 14, especially winning 11 straight games.

Starting point is 00:10:52 But I'm curious to see how this team comes out of the gates. We mentioned early on here as the schedule got revealed the tough start. Denver has to get off to a fast start. No better way to do that than beating Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs on week one. Then you have a home game in front of your home crowd, the home opener, and that right there is going to be exciting because it's going to be Jalen Waddle's first time running out of the tunnel

Starting point is 00:11:12 and power field. Where is this team at here? Does the continuity, does bring everybody back into the equation from last year for the most part, adding in a guy like J. Linwato, bringing back J.K. Dobbins, drafting a guy like Jonah Coleman, drafting Justin Jolie. How do these guys factor in the equation here early on for this team? I want to see what those roles are going to be like. But because this team has this continuity, I think it's fair to say, hey, you want them to get off

Starting point is 00:11:38 to a fast start offensively. You don't want them to be kind of sluggish the way that they were against the Tennessee Titans last year to open things up. You want them to come out of the gate swinging. I think that's important. that is going to define that because if the Broncos fall into an early stretch, granted, and I'll be honest, I fell into this trap after Denver went to one and two. I said, man, the Broncos are in trouble because the schedule now after this, it gets tough because at the time, Joe Burrell, we didn't,

Starting point is 00:12:04 I don't think he was injured at the time when we were getting ready to have that conversation about it. It was like, one and two, is Joe Burrow going to play? Like, okay, we don't know that. Is Drake Greenlaw going to play week four, Monday night football against the bangers? It's like then you have a road game against the defending champion Super Bowl, defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. Then you got to go to London. Then you got this game, this game, this game. Like the Broncos first half stretch of last year's schedule was perceived to be a very difficult test for them,

Starting point is 00:12:30 whereas it looked like the second half part of the schedule was going to be where they could obviously make a lot of room, you know, for themselves to get comfortable to make a playoff push. And they ultimately did get challenged in some of those games, including Jacksonville. I don't think that when we looked at the schedule release initially last year on paper, We're like, ah, Jacksonville, that's going to be a tough game. We thought necessarily that was going to be a game where Denver probably should be favored to win. So when you go through and look at this year's schedule, especially early on, like I said, Chiefs, Jaguars will playoff team last year, Rams playoff team last year, 49ers going to be a little bit more reloaded here. The charters who are a playoff team, the Ciox, the Venice Super Bowl champion, the only exception comes in, what is that?

Starting point is 00:13:10 Week 7 against the Arizona Cardinals who are undergoing the Nathaniel Hackett-led era under LaFlor. down there. That one right now on paper seems to favor the Broncos well to start, but then another matchup against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas Chiefs. You get to play KC twice in the first seven weeks, first eight weeks of the season here. That's going to be important, especially when you talk about tiebreakers. If Debra can jump up on KC, let's say two nothing in the first half of the schedule, you have that tiebreaker over, then that's going to be beneficial down the end stretch because I think we can all sit here and assume maybe there's going to be a stretch where Patrick Mahomes, maybe the first part of the season.

Starting point is 00:13:45 he's going to try to just get comfortable again. He's going to try to get his feet underneath him coming off of a multi-ligament knee injury. Well, if you have the tiebreaker 2-0, a lot of people are saying, hey, KC might hit their stride midway through the season towards the end. You want to play teams at their best, but when you talk about tiebreaker

Starting point is 00:14:00 and positioning yourself for the best seating possible, getting to the AFC playoffs, doing that's going to be huge. And when it's the last time, obviously since last year, and granted, I think we all believe that everybody's going to be fully healthy. But for Bo Nix, let's say the narrative, Bo Nix beats the change.

Starting point is 00:14:15 Chiefs week one on the road. Bo Nix beats them once again when DeVos hosts them. Week, what is it here for them? Week number eight. That right there to have Bo Nix go two and O against Patrick Mahomes early on the season. I think that's big. And of course, people are going to say, well, you know, Mahomes wasn't at his best yet.

Starting point is 00:14:34 This is going to determine, in my opinion, because a lot of people have written the Chiefs off. They went off two years ago to win all these one score games. Then it flipped on the inverse. A lot of people are thinking that's going to happen to the Broncos this upcoming season. and shut that narrative down, go out there and dominate some teams, but more importantly, beat the Kansas City Chiefs with Patrick Mahomes twice. That is our assumption considering where he's at in his recovery.

Starting point is 00:14:53 He will probably play in both of those games, and we hope that everyone can stay healthy throughout the remainder of the year. But for me, that is going to be a big determining factor. I think Denver's first five games coming out of the by week are favorable, at least on paper, and five potential wins. But you can't find yourself in the hole here early on in the season. Because think about it. After that stretch of five games coming out of the buy,

Starting point is 00:15:14 your final three games are an absolute gauntlet between the Buffalo Bills and Josh Allen. Granted, that's going to be a home game, which is nice. But we've seen how good Josh Allen is. Josh Allen had five turnovers, but the bills still had a really good chance to win that game. Denver made more plays. Bo Nix put the team on his back.

Starting point is 00:15:29 We love to see that. And hopefully we all have a merry Knicks miss in the month of December. But then the next week, it's a tough matchup against the New England Patriots. Like think about it this way. Like last year, the Patriots and the Bills were clawing at each other. had a couple of matchups where they're fighting for the division crown. These teams were all in consideration for the number one seed, really kind of leading up to that final week of the regular season where Denver took

Starting point is 00:15:51 on the Los Angeles Chargers. So I look at all this and I'm saying they got to take care of some business early on and you don't want it to just be winning your NFC games. NFC games don't necessarily help you in terms of head to heads, anything like that when it comes to the playoffs, but it counts towards your record. You find yourself in a whole early on. You have to hope and pray that you go on a bigger run here. because that final stretch is going to be tough.

Starting point is 00:16:13 And who knows where the Chargers are going to be at, especially with Mike McDaniel running things offensively now. They may just have the run game be a huge emphasis for them. And then Justin Herbert off of play action, that could set things up for them to be successful. But that's going to be, I think, the most defining stretch of the season. And it will determine whether or not the Broncos are going to be a Super Bowl contender. I like this schedule.

Starting point is 00:16:35 I think you want to play the best teams. And I think on paper right now, Denver, they drew a schedule. that showcases that if they go through and they take care of business and they win 12 games like I think they do because in my opinion, the reason I think they're going to win 12 games. I think the offense is going to be drastically better. I think Bow Nicks going into year three, he's continuing to grow. But I think the Broncos this year, knock on what I think and I feel that they're going to have

Starting point is 00:16:57 a more complimentary run game. I think they're going to be better suited in that department than they have been in the last couple of years. And I think the defense is still going to be a massive strength. When you bring all that continuity back into the mix here, I talked to Nick Benito the other day at a shopping spree where he held an event locally for high school graduating students, bought them graduation clothes. He talked to us about the continuity on defense.

Starting point is 00:17:18 He feels like they can jump off to a hot start and they can maintain that. Guys were banged up a little bit last year, but Denver's defense has been the strength of this team. And now I think they're actually going to get some help this upcoming season because I think the Bronco is going to be able to run the ball really well this upcoming year. That's a feeling that I have here. And obviously, they've got to go on the field. They've got to prove it in practice.

Starting point is 00:17:36 They've got to showcase that and showcase to the world. people need to take them serious. And look, everybody's complaining. You got Chiefs fans, Chargers fans. You got fans of NFC teams saying, we don't want to see Denver on the TV that much. Well, guess what? The world does because the Broncos last season,

Starting point is 00:17:50 they were part of several games last year that broke ratings records. The Bills, Broncos divisional game was actually one of the ones that set the most records in terms of the most people watch there. And it lived up to the height. That's what ultimately you want to see in the playoffs. Denver did that against what many people believed to be a heavy, weight contender in Josh Allen, the Buffalo bills. People were saying that Josh Allen is Superman.

Starting point is 00:18:14 The bills are a team of destiny here in terms of the run because this is the best year that they can have to go out there and win a championship, especially after Patrick Mahomes went down with the knee injury, Bo Nix and the Broncos said, uh, not today. So people complaining about the Broncos being the spotlight, pound sand, uh, enjoy it a lot because I know we're going to be enjoying it. I don't know if my wife's going to enjoy hearing Tony Romo a lot in some of the CBS games that they're going to be having this upcoming season, but five prime time games.

Starting point is 00:18:38 And I think at the end of the year, that Patriots game and that Chargers game to close out the season, week 17, week 18, those have the opportunities to be flexed into a primetime spot, especially if there is a number one, number two, or even just playoff implications, division stakes between the Broncos and Chargers potentially on the line. Those games aren't going to get nationally televised. So Denver's going to be in the spotlight quite a bit. And there's nothing that the cry babies of the NFL world can do about it. I'm excited about it. Broncos country, I hope you are as well. Let us know your thoughts on the Bronco. schedule, as Anthony said to us in the chat here today, the first six games are going to be tough.

Starting point is 00:19:14 But you know what? The Broncos are going to have an opportunity to showcase why they belong in the spotlight. And it is Bo Nix's chance to shine this upcoming season. The next time you'll see us, Broncos country, tomorrow, Sarah and I are going to sit down. We're going to break down the schedule even deeper for all of you. Sarah and I are going to share our own thoughts on what we believe the toughest stretch is, what we believe the most crucial stretches are wind projections as well. Plus a little bit more insight into why Bo Nix is moving the needle here for the Denver Broncos.

Starting point is 00:19:40 You're going to get all that and much more tomorrow morning on another episode. Lockdown Broncos, Broncos country. Enjoy your evening. We'll see you then.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos 2026 NFL Schedule REVEALED, Bo Nix's Chance To Shine

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