Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos got a 33-10 win over the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football in Week 7. Here are five quick takeaways from the victory.
1. Cody Barton had himself a day: The journeyman linebacker ended the game with eight tackles, one sack, one pass breakup, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery he returned 52 yards for a touchdown. Barton also had another score earlier in the game negated by a defensive penalty. He’s been a key part of defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s squad.
2. The Broncos had a historic day on the ground: Denver finished the game with 225 rushing yards, the team’s best single-game total since 2013. Javonte Williams led the way with 14 carries for 88 yards and two touchdowns. Going up against a hapless Saints defense, Williams arguably looked the best he has since his 2022 knee injury. Broncos quarterback Bo Nix also had a big day rushing with 10 carries for 75 yards. The only hiccup on the ground came when rookie Audric Estime fumbled in the fourth quarter, marking his second career fumble on just his eighth career touch.
3. Ex-Saints came up big for the Broncos: Denver kicker Wil Lutz went 4-of-4 on field goal attempts and 3-of-3 on extra point attempts, accounting for 15 points. Broncos linebacker Kwon Alexander also started against his former team after being elevated from the practice squad. The veteran linebacker had one tackle and recovered a fumble.
4. Bo Nix needs to calm down: Nix did a great job making plays with his legs, and he seemed to be more composed and accurate when Denver had built a lead, but he had an ugly start to the game. Nix seemed to have anxious feet in the pocket and he threw a few ugly inaccurate passes early on. He also had a bad throw that should have been intercepted by Tyrann Mathieu just before halftime. Nix got better as the game went on and finished the day with a 61.5% rate and no turnovers, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
5. That meant a lot to Sean Payton: Leading up to the game, Broncos players downplayed it as “just another game,” and Payton didn’t make a big deal about facing his former team, at least not to the media. It clearly was an emotional night for the coach, though, and the players had some extra motivation to win one for Payton in New Orleans. The night could not have gone better for Denver’s coach.
