Troy Renck: Jaguars are AFC's best team for smashing Ravens with Joe Schmo? Lack of respect for Broncos is real.

Troy Renck, The Denver Post on Nov 6, 2026

Published in Football

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DENVER — Bo Nix stands between the Broncos and national respect.

It is the only thing that makes sense.

Last Sunday in the NFL’s game of the year, the Broncos toppled the Chiefs, stoning future Hall of Famer Patrick Mahomes at the goal line. On Thursday, the Jaguars clobbered the Ravens, embarrassing third-string quarterback Joe Fagnano.

And now the Jaguars are considered the AFC’s best team? The Jaguars the Broncos topped 20-13 in the second game of the season? That Jacksonville team?

If you want to argue for Buffalo, I have Spock ears. Josh Allen remains positioned to repeat as the league MVP and, at some point, wait ’till next year will be a promise kept, not a warning made. The Bills boast the best record (6-1), and quite possibly the worst defense of any recent Super Bowl contender.

The Jaguars are 14-3 in their last 17 regular-season games, while averaging 31 points. Trevor Lawrence is playing like the quarterback who was the best draft prospect since Andrew Luck. And their defense has allowed one runner to exceed 75 yards on the ground — Justice Hill on Thursday — in 25 games.

But these things were in place when they faced the Broncos in Week 2 — and lost. The Broncos siphoned the final five minutes of the clock, providing another example of why no team is better in the fourth quarter.

So why doesn’t Denver get more respect? If we are being honest, it traces back to Nix.

He was so timid, so terrible early, it was hard to see the Broncos repeating as AFC West champions. But his last two games suggest his ankle injury is in the rearview, that he is no longer concerned about getting hit or hurt.

Starting this week, if Nix plays a level above game manager, then the Broncos will be viewed differently.

As it stands, Denver punts too much, and its defense plays too much, leading the league in snaps.

Facing a Carolina defense that fired its coordinator, the Broncos need to secure an early lead — not a crazy idea given that Sean Payton dispatches NFC South opponents with an impersonal contempt that’s almost obscene — and let the defense eat.

The last time the Broncos played Carolina two years ago, the defenders were jeering Bryce Young, begging him to drop back so they could get another sack or pick.

Denver boasts a 15-game winning streak in one-score games in the regular season. It raises suspicions that they are lucky, even if history says otherwise. So the goal is clear. Nix needs to play well — Jonah Coleman acing his audition would help — and the defense must crumple Young into a heap of turnovers.

Turn up the heat.

That is a fried-and-true method to earn more respect.