Los Angeles Rams vs Denver Broncos, Week 3 2026

Rams vs Broncos is Sunday Night Football between the two teams that lost their conference championship games in January. Neither one has been quiet about it since.

Kickoff is 8:20 PM ET, 6:20 in the evening in Denver, on NBC. From the opening snap this page runs itself: live score, real time score, game leaders, box scores, play-by-play with the game flow chart and team statistics, every panel updating without anyone hitting refresh.

Rams vs Broncos also drops the league's highest scoring offense from a year ago into 5,280 feet on six days of rest.

Rams vs Broncos Start Time, TV Channel and Live Stream

Date	Sunday, September 27, 2026
Kickoff	8:20 PM ET / 7:20 PM CT / 6:20 PM MT / 5:20 PM PT
TV	NBC, Sunday Night Football
Venue	Empower Field at Mile High, Denver
Elevation	5,280 feet
Home team	Denver Broncos

NBC carries Rams vs Broncos as the standalone Sunday night game, so there is no coverage map to check and no market that misses it. Denver runs an hour ahead of Los Angeles, which makes this a 6:20 local start in Colorado and a 5:20 kickoff for anyone watching in Southern California.

One Win Short, Both of Them

Denver went 14-3, tied the most regular season wins in franchise history and held the AFC's top seed, then lost the AFC Championship Game 10-7 to New England on its own field. Three points at home in January, with a Super Bowl on the other side of it.

Los Angeles got closer on the scoreboard and no closer to the game. The Rams led the NFL in scoring at 30.5 points and in total offense at 394.6 yards, then lost 31-27 at Seattle in the NFC Championship Game with Matthew Stafford throwing for 374 yards and three touchdowns.

Rams vs Broncos is a Week 3 game between two teams carrying the same specific grievance, and no way to settle it before January comes back around.

Jaylen Waddle Landed in Denver

The trade that changed the Broncos offense sent Waddle out of Miami in the offseason, a deal general manager George Paton described as too unique to pass up. Waddle caught 64 passes for 910 yards and six touchdowns in his last Dolphins season and gives Bo Nix something the receiver room did not have, which is a player who can turn one snap into a touchdown from anywhere on the field.

The reunion is the part Denver keeps talking about. Waddle and Pat Surtain II were teammates at Alabama and are still close friends, and camp has been the two of them lining up across from each other most days. Surtain's scouting report on his friend was two words long: "electric fast." Around them sit Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr. and Troy Franklin, with Evan Engram at tight end, J.K. Dobbins in the backfield and Davis Webb calling the offense for Sean Payton.

Rams vs Broncos is an early read on whether Waddle stretches a defense the way Denver expected when it made the trade.

Rams vs Broncos: Six Days and a Mile of Altitude

Los Angeles closed Week 2 on Monday night at home against the Giants. That leaves six days to recover, pack and fly to a city a mile above sea level for another prime time kickoff, and Rams vs Broncos is the back half of that stretch. Short weeks are hard anywhere. A short week that ends at altitude is a different kind of problem, and it usually shows up in the fourth quarter rather than the first.

Nate Scheelhaase is still learning the job on the move. He replaced Mike LaFleur as coordinator after LaFleur left to become head coach of the Cardinals, and Rams vs Broncos is only the third game he has called. Stafford, in year six with Sean McVay, has Puka Nacua and Davante Adams to throw to, which is a forgiving place to learn.

Denver's answer is the back end. Vance Joseph still has Surtain, Talanoa Hufanga and Riley Moss, and Rams vs Broncos hands that group Nacua and Adams on the same night, in a stadium where the ball carries further than it does anywhere else in the league.

Rosters are set. The cut to 53 passed on August 30. Follow the Rams and Broncos pages, and check the NFL standings once three weeks are in the book. The rest of the slate sits on the 2026 NFL schedule.

Mile High Air, and a New Stadium Coming

The elevation is not marketing. Empower Field at Mile High sits at 5,280 feet, the air is measurably thinner than it is at sea level, kicks and deep throws travel further, and visiting teams tend to find out about it late. A 6:20 PM start in the last week of September adds the other Denver variable, which is that the temperature falls steadily once the sun goes down behind the Rockies. Rams vs Broncos will finish in colder air than it starts in.

The building is also on a clock. The Broncos, the city of Denver and the state of Colorado have named Burnham Yard, a former railyard just south of downtown, as the preferred site for a new retractable roof stadium anchoring a mixed use neighborhood. Updated master plan renderings went public on August 4, 2026, laying out four districts named the North End, Village Center, Turntable and South End, with the freight tracks pulled up and replaced by a tree lined trail and eleven to twelve football fields of public open space. The Broncos' new stadium site carries the renderings, the community meeting materials and the FAQ.

None of that touches this season. Rams vs Broncos is at Empower Field, the same building that opened in 2001, with the gates, lots and bag rules working exactly as they always have.

Rams vs Broncos FAQ

Rams vs Broncos puts two of last season's final four on national television in September, both of them still one win short of where they wanted to be. Come back on game day for inactives and the live score.

Last updated: August 27, 2026