CHARLOTTE — A lot might have changed in the Queen City this weekend, but one thing remains the same: on Sunday, this team will take to the field to play a football game. And this coming Sunday, it'll be against the Denver Broncos, making their first trip to Charlotte since 2022.

Denver is coming off a win against the Kansas City Chiefs, a divisional matchup in the AFC West with plenty of postseason implications, and it included a dramatic fourth-quarter comeback. Now, they'll travel to the East Coast to take on a Panthers team that has lost back-to-back games but still sits at 3-4 overall and first in the NFC South.

The Panthers are 2-6 all-time against the Broncos, and 0-1 in the postseason. Carolina is 2-2 at home and 0-4 on the road. The most recent matchup was in 2024, a loss in Denver. Carolina lost Super Bowl 50 to Denver in San Francisco.

Get to know the 2026 Broncos ahead of Sunday's game.

The Bo Nix conundrum

Quarterback Bo Nix has shown an ability to lead the Broncos to big wins in the past. But this season began with struggles to be consistent or explosive, and Denver has relied on the defense to win games.

It should be noted, Nix is coming off two offseason ankle surgeries and had a new play caller for the first four games of the season before head coach Sean Payton took over the duties. It's Payton who has been calling the plays the last four weeks. During that time, Nix has started to take over games from his side of the ball.

Nix is averaging 186.6 yards per game, 27th in the league among qualifying quarterbacks (at least three games). In weeks 1-6, he averaged 5.5 yards per attempt. In the last two games, though, he's averaged 7.3 yards per attempt.

Carolina made defensive coaching changes this weekend, so a game plan against Nix will be the first the Panthers have put together under interim defensive coordinator Todd Wash.

The playmakers

No matter where Nix is throwing it, he has talented playmakers who can make things happen with the ball in their hands. That starts with receiver Jaylen Waddle. He leads the team with 29 catches for 315 yards and two touchdowns.

The Broncos have a trio of stars in their backfield. J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, and Jonah Coleman, but they've had a tough time keeping all three healthy at the same time this season. That's the case again after Harvey suffered a knee injury in practice ahead of the Chiefs game and was placed on injured reserve. He'll miss the Panthers matchup on Sunday.

Dobbins is averaging 3.3 yards a carry and has picked up the most first downs for Denver via rushing (12).

But it's Coleman who is really starting to make an impact. The rookie played a season-high 63 percent of the Broncos' offensive snaps in Week 8, leading the team in both rushing and receiving yards.

On the ground, he gained 41 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries while generating a 54.5 percent success rate, the highest by a Broncos running back in a game this season (min. 10 carries). He was just as involved in the passing game, catching four of five targets for 63 yards.

A stingy red zone defense

Denver's defense is interesting. They rank 25th overall in total defense, but they're 11th in scoring defense (allowing 20.6 points per game), seventh in turnover differential, and 14th in total turnovers. Related to scoring defense, the Broncos are tied for eighth in red zone defense. Opponents score in the red zone only 48 percent of the time.

This stat was proven fruitful again on Sunday against the Chiefs, when the defense put up a goal-line stand to win the game for Denver. The final play, taken from the 6-yard line after a Kansas City false start, was a sack on Patrick Mahomes by Malcolm Roach, who is tied for second on the team with 3.5 sacks. That column is led by defensive end Zach Allen with 4.5 sacks.

In the middle of the defense, linebacker Alex Singleton leads the entire NFL with 101 tackles.

Corner Pat Surtain II missed three games with an ankle injury, but returned against Kansas City, finishing with eight tackles and one pass defensed.