Saturday night had everything, even before the truly unthinkable. Broncos head coach Sean Payton handed out five game balls because a simple two or three couldn’t have done the trick. The Broncos’ 33-30 overtime win over the Bills will stand as one of the greatest games in recent franchise history, with about 30 minutes of pure euphoria descending upon the city of Denver.
Then, of course, came the Bo Nix injury revelation that quickly washed all that away.
As Denver pivots to backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham with Nix’s season-ending ankle fracture, there are plenty more areas of optimism and concern heading into next weekend’s AFC Championship. Here’s The Denver Post’s stock report from a wild win over Buffalo.
Stock up
Nik Bonitto: On Tuesday, Denver’s star pass-rusher all but shrugged off his lack of sack production down the stretch of another Pro Bowl season.
“No stress on my end, as far as stuff like that,” Bonitto told The Post.
No stress necessary, indeed. Bonitto got back in swing with a 1.5-sack effort against the Chargers in Week 18, and Denver’s game-wrecker was every bit the force of nature that the Broncos needed on Saturday. The only piece missing in the 26-year-old Bonitto’s season — besides an All-Pro nod — was consistent effort in the run game, as he’ll sometimes be neutralized by one-on-one blocks on the outside. Against Buffalo, though, Bonitto chased down Bills MVP Josh Allen for about 12 yards in the second quarter and smacked the ball away for a forced fumble.
Josh Allen rightfully will get most of the blame for this but it is also one heck of a play by Nik Bonitto. Covered a lot of ground to get to Allen and play the ball. pic.twitter.com/KyEYDCBFlk
— Parker Gabriel (@ParkerJGabriel) January 17, 2026
In the third quarter, Bonitto got to Allen again for his second forced-fumble of the day. He’s in full playoff mode.
Malcolm Roach: Speaking of difference-making pass-rushers. Roach had one total sack across four years and 41 games at the start of his career in New Orleans; this season, the Broncos’ defensive tackle now has 5.5 across 13 games (regular season and playoffs). He’s become a legitimate force on the interior, and one that has major implications for Denver’s future.
#Broncos DT Malcolm Roach has taken a massive leap as a pass-rusher this year. Has big implications for the future. Now has 5.5 sacks in 13 games (reg + post) this year.
Incredibly athletic play here to spin off his man and chase down Josh Allen in the second quarter Sat pic.twitter.com/jwGYcMXQ5K
— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) January 18, 2026
Roach’s development has helped keep All-Pro DT Zach Allen fresh this year and limit his reps, and Roach has shown the athleticism and pass-rush ability to play next to Allen or Eyioma Uwazurike when starting DE John Franklin-Myers leaves in free agency in 2026. Denver’s three-year, $29.25 million extension for Roach in November is looking like a steal.
Johnny Mo: Let’s lay this out. On a short week of preparation for an AFC divisional-round matchup with Buffalo, Payton brought in an outside consultant and then picked his brain for a goal-line play that involved throwing a touchdown to a second-year reserve offensive lineman.
“Nothing he does,” receiver Marvin Mims told The Post Saturday, “surprises me.”
There, of course, was a long level of trust with that consultant. John Morton is officially back in a consulting role with Denver, after serving as Payton’s passing-game coordinator from 2023 to 2024 before taking a job with the Detroit Lions (and then fired recently). This could be a soft launch to Payton’s staff in 2026, as 30-year-old Davis Webb could be headed for a coordinator or even head-coaching job elsewhere. In any case, it’s objectively hilarious that Morton would earn a Super Bowl ring if this Broncos team made it that far.
Special-teams demons: Broncos ST coordinator Darren Rizzi did not end up getting the New York Giants’ head-coaching job, an unfortunate casualty of the post-John Harbaugh coaching carousel. But Rizzi’s doing a bang-up job in Denver, with a special-teams unit that’s become lethal.
All-Pro teamer Devon Key had two monster tackles against Buffalo on Saturday, doing what he does best on kickoffs. Kicker Wil Lutz banged home four field goals, including the eventual game-winning chip-shot. And punter Jeremy Crawshaw delivered one of Saturday’s most clutch plays, with a 55-yard boot to pin Buffalo at their own 7-yard-line on their final offensive drive of overtime.
Continued excellence here will be paramount without Nix on Sunday.
Stock down
WR depth: Maybe, after all, Denver should’ve gotten a wideout at the trade deadline.
After rookie Pat Bryant went down with a concussion on the Broncos’ first drive against Buffalo and second-year WR Troy Franklin exited in the second quarter with a hamstring injury, the perpetually underutilized Marvin Mims Jr. and veteran Lil’Jordan Humphrey stepped up with massive touchdown grabs against the Bills. Even Mims, though, admitted at his locker postgame that neither his fourth-quarter score or Humphrey’s second-quarter touchdown was “the look you want.”
Bryant has now had two concussions in the span of a month. Franklin’s sudden exit with the hamstring was somewhat ominous. If Denver’s down both on Sunday, Mims will need big-time touches. The Broncos could also look to elevate veteran Elijah Moore or sign practice-squad mainstay Michael Bandy to the active 53-man roster. But they’re alarmingly thin here.
Courtland Sutton: In related news, Denver’s No. 1 WR just wasn’t good enough against the Bills, despite some moments. Sutton got going in the fourth quarter and overtime, with a 25-yard grab on a 3rd-and-11 play from Nix on the final drive of regulation. But he went without a catch for three quarters, and several difficult grabs slipped through his hands.
The Broncos paid Sutton big money this offseason to make those kinds of plays in high-leverage situations, the kind he’s been making all year. But he finished with just four catches for 53 yards in nine targets against the Bills, and Denver needs more consistency from him against New England.
Backfield trust: Backup RB Jaleel McLaughlin averaged over 5 yards a carry for the fifth straight game, and rookie RJ Harvey did some exquisite things in the passing game against Buffalo. Overall, though, Payton showed an utter unwillingness to trust his backfield against one of the league’s worst rushing defenses in the Bills.
Nix ran 12 times. McLaughlin and Harvey combined for 10 carries. In fairness, McLaughlin did fumble in the red zone in the first quarter, but Denver still recovered the ball. The overall distribution showed that Payton has almost no faith in any Bronco as a bell-cow back at the moment. He might need one Sunday, though, to support Stidham.
The Payton-Vance Joseph relationship: Boy, there would’ve been some uncomfortable conversations if the Broncos lost on Sunday. There already were, on the sideline. With Buffalo pinned at its own 12-yard line and facing a 3rd-and-5 in overtime, quarterback Josh Allen managed to escape and find a wide-open Dalton Kincaid for a first down.
Payton turned on the sideline, yelled at defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, and smacked his clipboard at him.
This happened multiple times across Buffalo’s final drive, which seemed on the brink of putting the Broncos out of business before Ja’Quan McMillian came up with the interception of a lifetime. Overall, Joseph’s defense generated five turnovers but looked often helpless against James Cook on the ground (24 carries for 117 yards) or Kincaid (six catches for 83 yards and a score). It very nearly wasn’t good enough.
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