Stick here for live updates and analysis as Denver take on the Saints at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
Live updates
Pre-game updates
Scouting report (2 p.m.): Check out how the Broncos match up with the Saints in Ryan McFadden’s scouting report.
Game predictions
Parker Gabriel, beat writer: Saints 20, Broncos 17
Denver is a road favorite. New Orleans is without its top two receiving targets and gave up 51 points Sunday to Tampa Bay. This is a game Denver should win and it wouldn’t be surprising if that’s the end result. It’s going to be a live wire crowd in Sean Payton’s return to the Superdome, though. He knows all about what that environment can do for the home team and on this night, that prevails.
Ryan McFadden, beat writer: Broncos 24, Saints 14
The Broncos should win this game, right? The Saints have lost four straight while the offense is missing a couple of key pieces. The Broncos should play up-tempo, score points early and let the defense carry them to victory. However, it’s prime time and we are uncertain how Bo Nix will meet the moment. Also, the Saints might have the upper hand since Sean Payton hasn’t changed anything from what he did in New Orleans. This game really could go either way, but I’m taking the Broncos.
Troy Renck, columnist: Broncos 24, Saints 20
For the better part of eight years, the Broncos have been a get-right game for opponents. Just like with Sean Payton on the visiting sideline, the script has been flipped. The Saints defense can’t stop the run, can’t defend the pass and features a battery of injured players. Other than that, they are the ‘85 Bears. If the Broncos offense stinks Thursday, it is time to sound the alarm. Given Payton’s knowledge of Dennis Allen’s scheme, I expect the Broncos to start fast as they did in Tampa Bay, then tie a knot and hang on.
Matt Schubert, sports editor: Saints 20, Broncos 19
Thursday Night Football can get weird. Especially when it’s accompanied by the sort of drama attached to this one. By most accounts, the Broncos are the better, less injury-depleted team. Their rookie quarterback has seen more NFL defenses than the other guys’ rookie quarterback. And yet this one feels off. The loss of Pat Surtain II cannot be understated. The Saints and Spencer Rattler now have the entire field to work with. In the end, that’s enough to eke out an ugly one in the Big Easy.
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Sean Payton’s return to New Orleans is a nostalgia bomb and a reminder: There’s work to be done in Broncos Country
They won often. They won big. They won easily. They faced scandal and hardship, too, over the years, but they became part of the fabric of the city. Inextricably linked to both the place and each other.
Now Sean Payton leads the Broncos to the Superdome and in the process will for the first time occupy the unfamiliar half of the most familiar stadium he’s ever been in. It may be the most uncomfortable he’s felt there since that day 18 years ago when Drew Brees crunched the top of his Land Rover.
Nostalgia will pump through the building between Payton — and the nearly two dozen Broncos staffers and players who used to work or play in New Orleans — being back, the induction of Brees into the Saints’ Hall of Fame and all of the former players who will be on hand to see both, Parker Gabriel reports. Read the full story.
Broncos prepare for life without Pat Surtain II in matchup vs. Saints
Pat Surtain II suiting up on game day has felt like a guarantee for the Broncos since his rookie season in 2021. The team is expected to enter a new reality on Thursday night.
Denver’s All-Pro cornerback hasn’t missed a game since Jan. 8, 2022, when the Broncos faced Kansas City in the final week of the regular season. Since then, he’s played in 40 straight games, but that streak could end against the Saints due to a concussion that kept him out of Tuesday’s walkthrough practice.
Unlike Sunday’s loss to the Chargers when defensive coordinator Vance Joseph had to make adjustments on the fly, he has time to prepare for life without Surtain on prime time at the Superdome, Ryan McFadden reports. Read the full story.
Renck: When it comes to New Orleans and Sean Payton, it’s bigger than football: “He rejuvenated the city”
Payton returns on Thursday night for the first time since he resigned following the 2021 season. The head coach oversees a flawed Broncos team eager to remain relevant against a desperate Saints team that has dropped four straight.
If Payton had arrived a month ago, when the Saints were averaging 45 points, perhaps he would have felt the wrath of Who Dat Nation. Talking to a wide swath of fans and locals leading up to kickoff, it is obvious Payton remains a civic treasure.
“I think we will welcome him with open arms. There will probably be some people still mad he quit, but I don’t think there will be much of that,” said Janelle Bays, a waitress at Daisy Dukes Express Southern, whose father has Saints season tickets. “He was burned out. I think everybody has their time and moves on. I know I will cheer for him.” Read Troy Renck’s full column.
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