Payton Files: Mahomes has that Tiger, MJ uber competitive gene

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos have another shot.

Another chance to prove they’re contenders and not pretenders in the National Football League playoff race.

A little past the halfway point of the 2024 season, the Broncos are 5-4 and alone in the No. 7 and final position for the AFC playoffs. Considering the Broncos haven’t participated in the playoffs in going on nine years, their play to this point is encouraging.

A breakdown of the teams they beat, and teams that beat them, though, raises eyebrows. None of the Broncos’ wins are against a team that currently has a winning record. In fact, the Bucs, Jets, Raiders, Saints and Panthers are a combined 13-32.

Among their four losses, three opponents have winning records – the Steelers, Chargers and Ravens. Seattle started 3-0 but is now 4-5. The record of teams from the Broncos’ four defeats is 21-13.

So it’s high time for the Broncos to beat a “quality opponent” as they say in college basketball, and there is no greater quality than the Kansas City Chiefs, who have played in four of the past five Super Bowl titles, won three and are 8-0 so far this season.

9NEWS caught up to Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton this week for an interview that will be shown 6:30 Friday night on the Broncos Huddle. 

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Let’s start with the Chiefs and their quarterback Patrick Mahomes. What’s interesting is his stats have slipped but he’s winning at an even greater rate. (In his first five seasons as a starter, he averaged 38 TD passes, 9 INTs and 4,791 yards. He had 27 TDs, 14 INTs and 4,183 yards last year and is on pace for 23, 19 and 4,127 this year). He seems to have that uber competitive gene that Tiger and Michael Jordan had.

Payton: “The heart of a champion. When you’re in this league – and he’s been it, and you look Andy [Reid’s] lineage and experience – each week you find different ways – sometimes you have different injuries – each week you look, how do we win this game? Because, that’s all that’s important. That’s how we’re measured.

“They’re playing real good on defense. They’ve been, man, taking shots offensively, running the ball. They possessed the ball well the other night. Tampa came out and, shoot, gave them a good run but it’s the heart of a champion. And each week there might be a week where there’s more passes, more runs, but yeah when you’re experienced like that and you know better, you just want to go back into that locker room, make the corrections and do it after a win.”

We’ve talked about some of your pregame routines. Three sticks of Juicy Fruit? Another we’ve noticed is how you shake hands with each and every player during the pregame stretch. Why?

Payton: “I’ve always done that. Yeah, when we go to stretch, I want to just let them know, ‘Ready, here we go. Had a competitive work week,’ and I’ve always kind of felt like it’s just important for me to let them know, hey, we’re in this thing.”

The trade deadline came and went this week, and there were no added players. Tell us what you like about your team as it gets ready for the second-half playoff run?

Payton: “Look, we’re resilient, we’re tough. I like the fight. This league is a little bit like UFC, each week you line up there’s someone who can hit you in the chin. But I would say the preparation during the week, the leadership is certainly different than a year ago.”