Just over one week after the NFL announced the Denver Broncos’ 2024 schedule, coach Sean Payton was made available to media members following a practice session last Thursday.
Payton was asked for his thoughts on the team’s schedule which features three road games in the first four weeks and a late-season bye week.
“Over the years, schedule-driven… No. 1, we can’t control it,” Payton said. “So the first thing I look for is weather. There are two weather possibilities at Tampa and then Cincinnati. I look at travel. There’s a good chance after we play Tampa [that] we might practice somewhere else on the East Coast. We asked for that, when you have four Eastern Time Zone games. So after Tampa, we’re sorting through where we might go before we then play the Jets. Those are the first things that came to mind.
“The second thing, obviously, the first quarter pole, three of the first four on the road. The second quarter pole, three of the four are at home. Ultimately, it is what it is. We go play them.”
The Broncos only have two prime-time games scheduled this year — Payton’s return to New Orleans to face the Saints on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 7 and a “Monday Night Football” showdown with the Browns at home in Week 13. Denver is also a candidate to be flexed into additional prime-time windows, including TBD dates for the final two weeks of the season.
The team’s bye is in Week 14. View the full schedule on Broncos Wire.
