EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Faster than you can tell, we’ll find out whether the Broncos will spend the rest of this football season chasing a playoff spot or whether they’ll look to CU Buffaloes phenom Travis Hunter in the next one NFL draft wish.

The outcome of Denver’s trip to the Jersey swamps against quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets appears to be more important than the difference between the record of 2-2 and 1-3.

It’s the second-year turning point in the history coach Sean Payton is making in Broncos Country.

Should Denver upset the Jets, who are established as massive eight-point favorites in their home country, Bo and the Broncos will make a big splash around the league as one of the most pleasant surprises in professional football this year.

Lose what the Las Vegas bookies expect from the visitors and it’s back to serious work from Payton on a rebuilding project that could really use a playmaker of Hunter’s generational talent.

Here’s the opportunity for the Payton-Nix partnership’s first signature win in Broncos Country.

At 40, Rodgers may not be what he once was. It’s been 13 years since he won his only Super Bowl ring with Green Bay and three seasons since he earned his fourth MVP award en route to induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Heck, State Farm even referred to Rodgers as “Mr. Discount Double-Check,” a position he held for a dozen years in favor of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

But for Nix, who made his first start at quarterback for Scottsboro High School in Alabama a decade ago when Rodgers was at the peak of his NFL MVP powers, there’s a chance to beat a legend here.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Nix said. “I grew up watching him do all of his cool plays for so long, and over time I’ve seen a lot of his highlights, so it’s crazy that I get to go out there and play against him.”

No matter how hard we try, no one in Broncos Country can forget that Rodgers was supposed to follow in Peyton Manning’s footsteps and finish his career in Denver. But a trade with Green Bay fell through in 2022 and we were left with nothing but Nathaniel Hackett, who looked hopelessly lost as a play-caller without Rodgers turning those Xs and Os into magic.

Yes, it was impressive that a Denver defense that gave up a humiliating 70 points in Florida on the fourth Sunday in September 2023 turned around and beat Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay, limiting the Bucs to seven points a short year later.

But now it’s our old pal Hackett who can provide a real litmus test to measure how much these Broncos have really grown.

Without Rodgers, who was knocked down by a torn Achilles tendon in the opening minutes of the 2023 season, a Jets offense coordinated by Hackett and supported by Zach Wilson, now Denver’s No. 3 signal-caller, dropped 31 points last fall Broncos.

Long-suffering fans in Broncos Country were denied the pleasure of watching Nix and Payton get their validation as they looked inept in the home opener, losing 13-6 to Pittsburgh, while injured quarterback Russell Wilson watched as the Steelers welcomed his former teammates defeated.

Beat the Jets, who are touted as Super Bowl contenders with a healthy Rodgers, and all the talk about Denver being a changed team would make sense. Would it be too much to say that this could be the Broncos’ most significant road win since December 2018, when Phillip Lindsay’s 157 yards rushing led them to a 24-10 victory, increasing their record to 6-6 and allowing a whiff of the playoffs ? Hope before four straight losses led to the firing of coach Vance Joseph at the end of the season?

The Jets will give Denver a chance to make a statement that the Broncos are playing serious football again.

“We have to play our best game,” Payton said. “These guys are good.”

Defeat would be nothing more than the same old grinning disappointment that has awaited the Broncomaniacs for eight years.

With a record of 1-3, it wouldn’t be too early to wait for next year.

And the discussion about tanking for Travis could begin.