The Denver Broncos will enter the NFL history books after agreeing to have their Week 16 road game against the Los Angeles Chargers flex from Sunday to Thursday night.
By doing so, Denver will become the first team in 98 years to play multiple road games on Thursdays after playing on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. The last team to do so was the 1926 Los Angeles Buccaneers, who split their Thursday night games and finished that season with a 6-3-1 record.
The Broncos could have said no to the flexibility, since the NFL has a policy against giving a team two short-week road games in the same season. But Denver (which won its first game of the season Thursday night against the Saints in Week 7) approved the flex anyway.
“It’s an away game anyway, right?” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said this week when asked about flexibility. “I like the fact that we have another chance. I remember this a long time ago: ‘Guys, we’d rather be flexed in than out.’ This is a really good team that plays really well, and Cincinnati shows who we’re playing next week … But it is what it is, and they just tell us when we play.”
As Payton alluded to, the fact that the Broncos were flexible means Denver is a team worth watching. Payton’s team is currently 6-5 and would be the last AFC team in the playoffs if the postseason began today. The Broncos are coming off an impressive 38-6 victory over the Falcons that included a 307-yard, four-touchdown performance from quarterback Bo Nix, who rivals Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels for the Offensive Rookie award. of the NFL Year.
Like the Broncos, the Chargers are having a good season under first-year head coach Jim Harbaugh. After a 3-3 start, the Chargers have won four straight games and currently remain in fifth place in the AFC in the playoffs. A big reason for Los Angeles’ rise has been the play of quarterback Justin Herbert, who has so far thrown 13 touchdowns against just one pick.
