The first time Davis Webb experienced the NFL playoffs as a player, he was a member of the Buffalo Bills.
In fact, Webb backed up Josh Allen for three seasons from 2019-21 and the Bills were in the playoffs all three of those years.
Now Webb, the Broncos quarterbacks coach, is going to the playoffs as a coach for the first time.
His first game? A return to Buffalo. Of course.
“You get texts from the other facility, all your friends are over there,” he said Thursday. “I tried to think about the number the other day of how many players, teammates I’ve played with. That entire facility has stayed the same. Front office. Coaches — most of the coaches — strength staff, training staff, media department, scouting department. All of those are the same. I was in the building every day for three years.
“I have a lot of good relationships there.”
A lot of familiarity with Buffalo’s personnel, too.
Now he’s trying to get rookie quarterback Bo Nix prepared to go on the road and help the Broncos pull off an upset as the No. 7 seed in the AFC. It’s not often a coach goes through a defensive scouting report and can recall playing with a big group of the players on the roster.
“That just brings back memories of good, bad, funny, everything,” Webb said. “It’s cool to experience this with him against a team I used to play with.”
Webb was back at Highmark Stadium with the Broncos last year, too, so it’s not the first time visiting his old stomping grounds. Even still, a playoff game with quarterback Josh Allen, coach Sean McDermott and everybody else on the other sideline will be a bit surreal.
“I love Buffalo, it’s my favorite place I’ve ever played,” Webb said. “Not even close. My favorite teams were in Buffalo. My best friend is the starting quarterback over there. Sean McDermott offered me the quarterback coach job when I was playing.
“Like, there’s a lot of friends, memories and moments there that will never leave me.”
Mathis a DNP. The Broncos are mostly healthy but do have an injury situation to watch with cornerback Damarri Mathis.
Mathis was listed as limited on Wednesday due to a back issue and then he did not participate Thursday. During the portion of practice open to reporters, Mathis stretched but then didn’t do individual work.
Mathis has been a core special teams player and as the season’s gone along he’s also played some in dime packages and in a time-share duty with rookie Kris Abrams-Draine while starter Riley Moss was out.
Run game critical. Head coach Sean Payton normally wants to take an aggressive approach offensively.
Deploying a rookie quarterback in Nix hasn’t made him shy about throwing the ball.
All the same, there are worse ideas Sunday than trying to control the clock and run the football.
The Broncos haven’t consistently been great in terms of rushing production, but they’ve shown the ability to do it when they’ve committed to it.
“I think it’s everything to be able to control the line of scrimmage, to be able to control the flow of the football game by running the football,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said Thursday. “Staying in front of the chains and setting the mentality for how we want to play the game. I think it’s going to be a huge factor in who wins this football game this weekend and we’ve got to make sure we’re on top of that.”
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