If your Christmas Eve 2023 plans include sports, then there won’t be a lot going on in North America. However, the NFL has Sunday Night Football scheduled as the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos will face one another on December 24th, 2023 (8:10 PM ET). The Broncos are favored in the game at -7.0 (bet365). They are also the only team in the game that can hope to make the 2023-24 NFL playoffs. In a game that Denver cannot afford to lose, here’s a look at the Patriots vs Broncos injury report.
NFL Week 16 Matchup: NE @ DEN
Away: New England Patriots
Home: Denver Broncos
Game time: Sunday, December 24th, 2023 @ 8:10 PM ET
Stadium: Empower Field at Mile High
New England vs Denver Injury Report: Latest NFL Headlines
Confused by abbreviations? Injury-report codes are in the tweet below.
The Patriots listed 14 players on their half of the report this week. Following practice on Friday, a lot of them were either out or questionable. Rhamondre Stevenson is one of the players that is out for the game. He has an ankle injury and was DNP all week. JuJu Smith-Schuster will also be out for the game with an ankle injury. On paper, it doesn’t look like the Patriots are heading into this game in great shape.
The team’s injury report for Week 16: Right-click/Open in the New Tab
The Broncos had far fewer players on their half of the report. The team listed just 7 players this week. It should be noted that 3 of the players listed were NIR. Between the two teams, the Broncos have a much better injury report. Heading into a home game against a team that has struggled all season, the motivation and energy should be with Denver. While they have been given just a 24% chance of making the playoffs, a win over New England and some good results in other games will improve their chances tremendously.
Patriots vs Broncos Injury Report: Betting Tips
Denver to cover a -5.5 spread was our early-bird pick, meaning we selected that betting line before the games in WEEK 15 were completed. The Broncos have shortened to -7.0 and they remain our pick to cover the spread (bet365).
How much will it matter that the Broncos need this game badly and New England is eliminated already? That’s debatable. But it couldn’t hurt and it might help that Denver is eyeing football throughout January while New England might already be coasting a little.
But this is a game where Denver playing at home is a bigger deal than home-field advantage usually is. The Broncos losing to New England, one of the worst teams in the NFL this season, in a game from Denver would be a huge flow to the franchise. Expect a herculean effort out of the Broncos in this game with -7.0 looking small for a spread. The Broncos should be more like -12.5 in this game, making their betting odds and spread betting a clear value pick for handicappers.
Featured: NBA Christmas Day Schedule
