Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton walked out of Empower Field at Mile High on Friday night with his first preseason loss since 2023. He made sure his players understood exactly how he felt about it.
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Payton addressed the media after the game and didn’t sugarcoat it. “Well, obviously that wasn’t good enough,” Payton told reporters. “There were a lot of things that didn’t [go well] … Just pick a topic, you know, pick penalties, the kickoff, return, we lose that battle. Rushing numbers, we lose that.
“We can’t just say, ‘Hey, this is preseason two.’ Each phase saw their share of what ended up being the final score. Tomorrow, we got to be able to commend coaches the same way and look closely at what we’re doing and get the corrections made. You can’t not pay attention to these games, these scrimmages, these important steps towards the start of the regular season.”
The Denver Broncos had won eight preseason games in a row with Payton at the helm. That streak ended with a 33-13 loss to the Green Bay Packers in the Broncos’ second preseason game of 2026. Denver recorded 10 penalties, and almost everything that looked great Week 1 disappointed in Week 2.
Backup quarterback Jared Stidham, who was very good vs the Atlanta Falcons, finished the game with 9-of-15 for 86 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. On defense, even the starters let Jordan Love connect for a pass. Payton switched out the defense with the second and third teams to face the Green Bay reserves, but they still couldn’t hold the opponents back.
The one bright spot Payton acknowledged was his quarterback. Nix went 6-of-9 for 76 passing yards and a touchdown, connecting with RJ Harvey on a 21-yard scoring pass in the first quarter. He also added a field goal drive before exiting after his planned two series.
“It felt great,” he said after the game. “There’s going to be some different things that you can grow from, but I felt like for the first drive of the season, it was solid.”
This was Nix’s first live game action since fracturing his ankle during the AFC Divisional Round back in January. Payton had planned around 14 snaps for him heading into the night. Nix said he was “super excited” to return to action at Empower Field at Mile High, and he delivered on that front.
Nix, however, had reason to feel good about his return. For Payton, the loss still highlighted plenty of areas that need work. Nix’s return was a positive, but Denver did not get enough from the rest of the team. The Broncos will now have to clean up those mistakes before opening the regular season against the Kansas City Chiefs on September 14.