Last year, the NFL put the Broncos in several high-profile games, and the results were not good: Denver went 5-12 and suffered some ugly losses in marquee time slots, most notably a 51-14 loss to the Rams in a national television window on Christmas Day.
So does that mean the TV networks don’t want Denver this year?
Not according to NFL VP of Broadcast Planning Mike North, who said that the TV networks all said they think the Broncos with new coach Sean Payton and quarterback Russell Wilson are an attractive team.
“When we met with our network partners as we do every year, and we talked about which games are you interested in and which teams are you interested in, there was no one who said, ‘No more Denver, please,'” North said. “Everybody, in fact, I think is pretty intrigued by the new coach, and that quarterback was extremely successful in this league for a long time. Maybe he had a down year, maybe he deserves a grace period. There were none of our partners who came in and said, ‘Absolutely not.'”
This year, the Broncos have four prime time games, showing that the NFL and the networks believe Denver will be playing better, more entertaining football under Payton than it did last year under Nathaniel Hackett.