The Denver Broncos’ 2024 schedule includes a somewhat uncommon scenario — they will play the Indianapolis Colts both in preseason and in the regular season.
After going on the road to face Indy in their preseason opener on Aug. 11, the Broncos will later host the Colts in the regular season on Dec. 15.
Denver coach Sean Payton is not concerned about having a repeat opponent because the team uses preseason for player evaluations and the offense is usually pretty vanilla.
“I think this: it’s never bothered us because when you look at Indy Week 1, what’s the purpose of preseason Week 1? I would say it’s to evaluate your roster, it’s to find the right players. It’s not scheme-driven,” Payton explained.
“It would be different if it was Indy and then we opened in Indy a week or two [later]. So this has been the fifth or sixth time it’s happened. [The Saints] had joint practices with teams that we’ve played in the regular season. So I don’t think that’s an issue.”
Speaking of joint practices, the Broncos will host the Green Bay Packers for a joint practice in August before their preseason showdown. That’s further confirmation that the preseason games are used to evaluate players, not to game plan for a specific opponent or fine-tune a scheme.
Denver facing the Colts twice in a fourth-month span is no big deal.
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