In his long and illustrious coaching and broadcasting career, Bill Parcells said many notable things, but the most famous and enduring of his well-known utterances may have been, “You are what your record says you are.”
That was his reply when he was head coach of the New York Giants in the 1980s when a reporter asked if he thought the Giants’ record should have been better than what it was based on the way they were playing.
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Of course, what Parcells said is technically true, and there is plenty of gray area to wade through when assessing a team’s performance, but in the end, if your final record is good enough to qualify for the playoffs, it doesn’t particularly matter how you got there.
Fast-forward to Oct. 15, 2026, and the Denver Broncos stand at 3-2 as they prepare to welcome the defending Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks to Empower Field at Mile High for a Thursday Night Football showdown (6:15 p.m. MT on Amazon Prime).
Lose, and it’s a not-too-bad 3-3 start against a six-week gauntlet of an opening schedule. Win, however, to reach 4-2 and it becomes, “Wow! What a start.”
That, at least, is the opinion of Lou Scataglia of Predominantly Orange, who, in previewing the game, wrote: “The Broncos sit here with a chance to start 4-2 for the second season in a row, but the thing this year is that not all 4-2 records are created the same. The Broncos haven’t beat up on the league’s worst teams in blowout fashion – they could end up with a 4-2 record against some of the best squads in the NFL.”
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Denver’s season didn’t actually open in promising fashion courtesy of a 31-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, but the game was at Arrowhead Stadium and everyone knew the Chiefs had to be better than the 6-11 anomaly that was their 2025 season.
After that came home victories over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the class of the AFC South, and the Los Angeles Rams, who remain a popular Super Bowl choice despite getting out to a 2-3 start. Consecutive road games brought a loss to the undefeated San Francisco 49ers and a defeat of the Los Angeles Chargers.
Looking at that slate, Scataglia wonders, “How is this not insanely impressive (if they beat the Seahawks) even given how bad the Chargers are…? There likely would not be a more impressive resume to begin the 2026 season than what the Broncos could accomplish when TNF is over. From that point, how do you not throw the Broncos into Super Bowl contention? What would keep them out of this discussion?”
The answer to his final question brings us back to that pesky concept known as “context.”
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Sure, the Broncos are 3-2 against a difficult slate, but they have definitely not earned any style points in their victories as they trailed at halftime in their first two wins and then, after leading at halftime against the Chargers, needed to outscore their winless opponents 13-0 in the fourth quarter to escape with the win.
Now, if they come out hitting on all cylinders and throttle the Seahawks something like 28-10 or 31-14, that changes the conversation. If it’s another come-from-behind win in which the offense continues to misfire for multiple quarters, that’s another story, though an argument could be made that it also shows their determination and ability to fight through adversity and come out on top, which is also an admirable trait for a team to have, no?
See, context.
One thing that is sure is that based on the way the first month-plus of the NFL season has unfolded, Denver’s schedule between now and Christmas does ease up. Though five of their next eight games are on the road, they are at the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets and Las Vegas Raiders, all of whom the Broncos could conceivably be favored against.
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After welcoming Kansas City on Nov. 1, the other home contests are against the Raiders and the currently winless Miami Dolphins.
Take care of business in this manageable stretch and Santa Claus could say the Broncos’ record is 10-4 or 11-3 and their reputation has grown as they prepare to host the Buffalo Bills on Christmas afternoon.
