Broncos head coach Sean Payton did something slightly unconventional on Sunday: Take the ball first after winning the coin toss against the Cowboys. This, as Payton reflected Monday, was to send a message . And the Broncos proceeded to stomp Dallas into the turf at Empower Field for four quarters Sunday in a 44-24 drubbing , their best end-to-end performance of the year.

Here’s The Denver Post’s stock report from the slaughter. The “stock down” section was hard this week.

Stock up

Alex Singleton: Let’s get this out of the way. There’s no world, even when Dre Greenlaw returns, in which Greenlaw suddenly supplants Singleton as the mike linebacker in Denver’s defense or Justin Strnad starts over him. Singleton’s simply too important as the lead communicator of the Broncos’ defense —

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