At 7-2, the Denver Broncos are tied for the best record in the National Football League.

Denver scratched out a narrow 18-15 victory over the Houston Texans on the road in Week 9, and though it wasn’t a great game by any means, the defense was able to keep the Texans offense in check.

Houston didn’t score a single touchdown, even with the absence of star cornerback Pat Surtain II. That’s a testament to how strong the defense is even without its top player.

Special teams had a rough game with bad penalties, allowing a blocked field goal and giving up big punt returns.

Even with the best record in football, the Broncos have yet to play a full 60 minutes in any game this season. Denver is one of the most inconsistent teams, especially on offense.

However, the Broncos own the best fourth quarter point differential by a landslide (plus-60, next closest teams are plus-37).

“Through the first nine games of a season, plus-60 is the fifth-best fourth-quarter point differential this century,” ESPN’s Ben Solak wrote Tuesday. “The 2025 Broncos are behind the 2015 Texans, 2009 Saints, and weirdly enough, two more Broncos seasons: 2012 and 2016. That 2009 Saints team is of particular note, as Sean Payton was the coach there, as well. The Saints started the season 9-0 and finished 13-3 on the way to winning the Super Bowl.

“I'm suspicious of the 2025 Broncos' ability to repeat that run, and it comes down to the other three quarters. The 2009 Saints were plus-60 in point differential across the first three quarters; the 2025 Broncos are minus-1. Though Payton is finding offensive solutions in the fourth quarter to alleviate early-game woes, this is one of those classic short-sample success stats that we expect to regress to the mean as time goes on.”

Quarterback Bo Nix has stretches where he looks comfortable in the pocket and is on time with his delivery. Other times, like in the first three quarters of games, Nix has “happy feet” and is off schedule.

Head Coach Sean Payton needs more from his second-year QB at the beginning of games and have it continue the rest of the game. The Broncos will start losing games if they can’t put together a full 60-minute game on all three phases.