Sean Payton reveals key area Broncos must improve in NFL playoffs

Going into the final week of the regular season, the Denver Broncos (13-3) are tied with the best record in the NFL, and they currently hold the AFC's No. 1 playoff seed.

Overall, the Broncos are a well-balanced team with the NFL's fourth-best scoring defense and the AFC's seventh-best scoring offense. If there's one area where coach Sean Payton's squad is taking, it's takeaways.

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Denver ranks 25th in the league with a -5 turnover differential. If the Broncos are going to make a deep run in the NFL playoffs, that number has to improve.

"The one area that has to improve is the turnover margin, and that can happen," Payton said. "We did a collective of the last 25 years of Super Bowl winners. It’s something like 114 in the plus. There’s been one Super Bowl winner in the last 25 years [in the negative] -- I’m just talking about when the playoffs begin, if that makes sense. When the playoffs begin, the Rams recently were the only minus-two turnover team. The rest added up to some crazy number, and so that’s something we have to improve on.”

Denver has 17 giveaways this season (11 interceptions and six lost fumbles), which ranks 13th-best. A more concerning total is just 12 takeaways (nine interceptions and three fumbles), which ranks fifth-worst in the NFL. In addition to protecting the football, the Broncos need to force more takeaways. If they don't, the odds will be against them as they seek a fourth Super Bowl title.

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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: NFL: Sean Payton reveals key area Broncos must improve in playoffs