Broncos are delighted to be back in the playoffs but they insist their goal wasn't just getting here

DENVER (AP) — The Denver Broncos are back in the playoffs for the first time in eight years and it looks like they've finally found a franchise quarterback in Bo Nix, who set several franchise and NFL rookie records.

They're relieved but certainly not satisfied.

Bring on Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills.

“We all know we’re not finished yet. The job’s not done,” said cornerback Patrick Surtain II, the odds-on favorite to win the NFL's Defensive Player of the Year honors, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.

“We’re looking to go into Buffalo, go into the great atmosphere that Buffalo has and get a win at the end of the day. I think that’s what this team mindset is heading towards Buffalo,” Surtain said. "It’s great to reach the playoffs, but I feel like we have more. Our destiny means much more than one playoff game. We’re looking to go on a deep run.”

Coach Sean Payton said he spent a good deal of Monday morning contemplating how his young roster can avoid the pitfalls of the revelry that followed their 38-0 rout of the Kansas City Chiefs' backups that ended their extended playoff drought.

“Look, getting into the tournament is part of it,” Payton said, “but then, man, put your best foot forward in preparing to play your best game against a real good football team. That's where the focus is.

“I think I probably as the head coach pay more attention to what are these things that can possibly distract from that process outside the building — and inside the building — the euphoria of we're back in the playoffs, we finally have gotten back in, trying to monitor that and prevent that from impacting the edge and the preparation.”

So, while the mood may be organic, Payton knows he'll have to be deliberate in keeping the Broncos' focus on next weekend.

As the seventh seed, the Broncos will hit the road throughout the playoffs. If they upset the Bills, they'd travel to Arrowhead Stadium to face the top-seeded Chiefs (15-2) — the starters this time — who earned the AFC's lone bye in their quest for a third consecutive Super Bowl trophy.

The Broncos had been cleaning out their lockers and doing exit interviews on this day every year since winning Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7, 2016, in Hall of Famer Peyton Manning's farewell game.

Outside expectations were low heading into the season with the Broncos' saddled by Russell Wilson's dead cap hit. They were starting a rookie who was the sixth QB selected in the draft and had bid farewell to several longtime veterans.

It had all the appearances of another middling run in the stacked AFC.

“Obviously a lot of people were doubting us, but we knew what we had the minute we came here for OTAs," defensive lineman Zach Allen said. “That first OTA practice, you could tell that we are a special group. We got a really mature group and guys that — we just don’t let anything on the outside come in.”

Denver’s pass rush. The Broncos collected five more sacks Sunday, extending their franchise record to 63. That's the most in the league this season.

It's hard to point to anything after Denver's utter dominance against Kansas City's reserves. They were 10-of-14 on third down to the Chiefs' 1-of-9. They amassed 479 yards to K.C.'s 98. They had 72 offensive snaps to Kansas City's 33. They outrushed the Chiefs 158 yards to 27. They out-passed them 321 yards to 71. And they had the ball almost 42 minutes to Kansas City's 18.

QB Bo Nix finished his rookie season with 29 touchdown passes, two shy of Justin Herbert's NFL record for a rookie. His 34 total TDs are third-most by a rookie QB in league history behind Herbert's 36 and Cam Newton's 35. Additionally, Nix set a franchise record for highest completion percentage (89.7) in a game as he completed 26 of 29 passes for 321 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions.

All those prognosticators who said Denver would win five games at best.

None of consequence. The Broncos are the healthiest they've been all season.

40 — consecutive successful kicks since the Chiefs blocked Wil Lutz's potential game-winner as time expired in Week 10, preserving Kansas City's 16-14 win. Since then, Lutz is 27-for-27 on PATs and 13-for-13 on field goal attempts.

A trip to Buffalo to face old friend Von Miller, who was the MVP of Super Bowl 50.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II responds to a question during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton responds to a question during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix (10) throws during the second half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

fans congratulate Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix after an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix greets fans after an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Geneva Heffernan)

NEW YORK (AP) — Good news on the U.S. economy isn't always good for Wall Street, and the stock market is sinking Tuesday following better-than-expected reports on the job market and business activity.

The S&P 500 swung to a loss of 0.7% after giving up an earlier gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 45 points, or 0.1%, as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite sank 1.4%.

Stocks stumbled under the weight of rising yields in the bond market, which jumped immediately after the release of the encouraging reports on the economy. One said U.S. employers were advertising more job openings at the end of November than economists expected. The other said activity for finance, retail and other services businesses grew much faster in December than expected.

The strong reports are of course good news for workers looking for jobs and for anyone worried about a possible recession that earlier seemed inevitable to some. But such a solid economy could also keep up pressure on inflation, and it could make the Federal Reserve less likely to deliver the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street loves.

The Fed began cutting its main interest rate in September to give the economy a boost, but it's hinted a slowdown in easing is coming. The threat of tariffs and other policies from President-elect Donald Trump has raised worries about possible upward pressure on inflation, which has stubbornly remained just above the Fed’s 2% target.

Tuesday's report on U.S. services industries from the Institute for Supply Management also contained discouraging trends on inflation, saying price increases accelerated in December.

Expectations for fewer cuts to interest rates in 2025 had already been building for weeks, which sent longer-term Treasury yields upward. Those higher yields make Treasury bonds more attractive to investors who might otherwise buy stocks, which in turn puts downward pressure on stock prices, and the super-safe bonds are paying notably more.

The yield on a 10-year Treasury climbed further to 4.68% from 4.63% shortly before the release of Tuesday's reports and from just 4.15% in early December.

High yields can put heavy pressure on stocks seen as the most expensive, which pulls the lens toward Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks that have soared in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

Nvidia had been on track to set another all-time high in morning trading, after CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a suite of new products and partnerships the night before. He talked up the potential for AI technology in robotics, among other opportunities for big growth.

But after Tuesday economic reports, which dropped following the market's first half hour of trading, Nvidia swung to a loss of 5.2% and became the heaviest weight on the S&P 500. Losses for Tesla, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft were also among the strongest forces dragging the index lower.

Now that worries from the summer about a potentially slowing U.S. economy have eased and the 10-year Treasury yield is firmly above 4.50%, “we believe the market is shifting into a ‘good news is bad news’ environment again,” according to Bank of America strategists led by Ohsung Kwon.

That raises the stakes for Friday's coming update on the U.S. job market, which economists expect will show a slowdown in overall hiring. They're looking for growth of 156,500 jobs in December, according to FactSet.

A “Goldilocks” reading for the U.S. stock market that would be solid but not too strong for the Fed would likely be in the 125,000 to 175,000 range, along with an unemployment rate of 4.2%, according to Bank of America.

Helping to keep Tuesday's losses for U.S. stock indexes in check was Cintas, which rose 2.4% after making public its offer to buy its smaller rival, UniFirst, for $275 per share in cash.

Cintas said it first made that offer in November but has been unable to get UniFirst’s board to meet. UniFirst had rejected an earlier offer of $255 per share, said Cintas, which provides uniforms, restroom supplies, fire extinguishers and other products to businesses.

UniFirst jumped 21.2% to $205.27, below Cintas’ offer price.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Shutterstock and Getty both climbed after they announced they were joining to become a $3.7 billion visual content company to provide customers with a broader array of still imagery, video, music, 3D and other media.

Getty Images shareholders will own a slight majority of the combined company. Getty shares jumped 25.3%, while Shutterstock climbed 19.3%.

In stock markets abroad, some notable Chinese companies fell after the U.S. Defense Department added dozens of them to a list of companies it says have ties to China’s military. The announcement caused some of the companies to protest and say they will seek to have the decision reversed.

Added to the list were gaming and technology company Tencent, artificial intelligence firm SenseTime and the world’s biggest battery maker CATL. Tencent’s stock that trades in Hong Kong fell 7.3%.

That helped pull the Hang Seng index down 1.2%, but indexes were stronger elsewhere in China and across much of Asia and Europe.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Stock price board is seen after a ceremony marking the start of this year's trading Tokyo Stock Exchange Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York's Financial District Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader passes by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader works near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)