The Denver Broncos are heading to the East Coast with a .000 win percentage. They’d love to return as a .500 team.
The Broncos (0-2) will face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-0) on Sunday, then they will stay at The Greenbrier in West Virginia leading up their Week 3 game against the New York Jets (1-1) on Sept. 29. Payton specifically asked the NFL to give the team back-to-back East Coast games before the schedule was made this spring.
“The reason we put the request in is just to stay in that time zone, practice and then be more acclimated relative to back-and-forth four different times,” Payton explained.
The coach is familiar with the golf resort in West Virginia after having previously taken the New Orleans Saints there for training camp.
“The setup will be fine there [with] the facility,” Payton said. “All of that will be fine, but it was more about — we looked at a handful of places. It was just going to be dependent on who the back-to-back teams were. I do like being away for a week with the team.
“In other words, when [we] traveled to London, those are times that you get a little bit better focus I think and you can grow as a team. Each game will have different challenges. I just finished talking about the entirety of the travel, but the focus obviously starts with the first trip and then we go from there.”
Denver quarterback Bo Nix believes the trip will be good for the players.
“I think going on trips with your teammates and being able to spend a large amount of time that you’re not normally used to spending is always a fun time,” Nix said. “I’ve never been on a team trip and have been like, ‘Man I didn’t have fun,’ or ‘Man I wish we could go home early.’ Usually, we have a great time and you’re able to get away and you kind of change settings, go practice at a different place, be in a different place.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been to West Virginia in my life, but we have an important week ahead of us. When we take care of Tampa Bay, then we can move on to our road trip, but I do feel like road trips are good for a team.”
Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain echoed Nix’s sentiment.
“I’m looking forward to it, just the camaraderie,” Surtain said. “I think we all have a unique opportunity to really get to spend time, spend [time] some bonding with each other also off the football field and build those relationships that we already have. I think this week is crucial because we have two tough opponents on the road. Being able to set our sights away from things out here and go to different scenery. A different landscape will definitely change the mindset so I’m looking forward to it.”
First things first, though, Denver needs to take care of business in Florida before shifting focus to West Virginia and then New Jersey.
“Sitting in the position that we’re sitting in, we’re the only ones that can control our direction, where we go next,” wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. “Tampa is the game that’s most important to us. We’re going to go take care of Tampa, prepare this week, go out there and play that game Sunday and everybody’s going to leave it all on the field.
“Then after that we’ll move forward to the next week after that. Right now, the most important thing for us is just getting this week done and maximizing each day that we can in practice and meetings so that we can go out there and have the best week of prep and the best game we can possibly put out there.”
The Broncos’ game against the Buccaneers will be regionally televised on Fox. Denver is considered a road underdog in Week 3.
