The Broncos are the luckiest team in the NFL. 

They also have the NFL’s best record and, for now, the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoff picture.

How ’bout them analytics?

Stealing victory from the jaws of defeat on Sundays and now on Thursdays, the Broncos are 8-2 with a horseshoe wedged into the shoulder pads. Orange-and-blue throwbacks are the new lucky green.

The Broncos somehow, some way beat the Raiders 10-7 on Thursday night at Empower Field at Mile High in an Amazon Prime game that was hard to tell which AFC West rival is now 2-7 (Raiders) and which one is 8-2 (Broncos). 

Sorry, America. And yes, the Broncos do this every week.

But with all due respect to a Broncos defense that’s on pace to smash the NFL sacks record, there’s no way in Tim Tebow’s good name this kind of winning is sustainable over 17 games and the playoffs. No way, no how.

“I think right now it’s sustainable,” said linebacker Jonathon Cooper, before allowing it would not be a smart or successful game plan in the postseason. 

Don’t tell Sean Payton 8-2 is anything other than 8-2. He’s liable to snap your head off.

“(There’s) no but!” Payton countered in his postgame press conference.

But…

… athletes always know the score.  

“We’ve got to find some juice somewhere,” said quarterback Bo Nix, whose offense again was mostly a slog. “We’ve got to find something.”

Yes, I’m happy to report the Broncos are not fooling themselves into thinking everything is seashells and sunshine when: 

A) Broncos punter Jeremy Crawshaw now leads the NFL in punts (46), punting yards (2,237) and boos from his own crowd, if that were an official stat. He shanked a couple Thursday. He almost totally whiffed another.

B) the weekly game script is to wonder how the offense can be so bad then so clutch.

Yet somehow the Broncos enter the weekend atop the NFL in total wins and, by win percentage, ahead of the Indianapolis Colts (7-2) and New England Patriots (7-2) in AFC playoff projections. 

“We know we’ve got a big one coming up against Kansas City (on Sunday, Nov. 16),” Payton said.

How lucky are these dudes?

Ask Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson, if you see him around town. The Colorado Springs native had a kick from 48 yards to tie the score with 4:30 left on the game clock. He missed wide right. It was Carlson’s first miss from inside 50 yards this whole season. Lucky, lucky.

And that came after Broncos defensive lineman Dondrea Tillman, who weighs almost 250 pounds but has some serious moves in the open field, took over the team lead in interceptions. His second pick this season flipped the field.

“That came out of nowhere, honestly,” Tillman said after.

These Broncos usually do.

And right before that you had the Broncos blocking a punt — something that had not happened since 2018. Raiders punter AJ Cole booted the football right into JL Skinner’s helmet. It bounced around and the Broncos recovered.

The Broncos have been smart enough and talented enough and well-coached enough to put themselves in position to make critical plays throughout a seven-game heater, the longest winning streak in the NFL.

They’ve also been lucky enough to catch all the right bounces. Last season they went 1-6 in one-score games. This season they’re 6-2 in one-score games with seven games remaining. Will their luck stick around?

The Broncos will go almost two full months without a facing single team that’s currently in the playoff bracket. They played the Jets (1-7), Giants (2-7), Cowboys (3-5), Texans (3-5) and Raiders (2-7). Next they get the Chiefs (5-4 and still out of the current playoff bracket), Commanders (3-6), then the Raiders again. They’ve taken full advantage of their good fortune.

The Broncos had more penalties (11) than first downs (10) and still beat the Raiders. That’s not sustainable.

“We’re good,” linebacker Alex Singleton said with a big smile. “We’ve got the best defense in the league.”

But it sure beats the alternative.