A year ago, P.J. Locke had a hard time even walking. On Saturday, he was all over the field. The Broncos safety underwent spinal fusion surgery late last January, and he wasn’t sure if he ever would play again. But he returned this season, and in Saturday’s 33-30 home win over Buffalo in a di visional playoff game, he started and was in for 74 of 78 defensive snaps while having an interception that he returned 30 yards. “My family came down this week and we were kind of reminiscing (about) this time last year,” Locke said after the game about what it was like after the surgery. “I could barely walk. I couldn’t get out of bed. I needed help getting out of bed, getting off the couch. If I dropped something, I needed somebody to pick it up for me.” Locke said he wondered then if he made the right decision to have the back surgery. “It was like, I thought I made the wrong decision,” Locke said. “Nobody knew if I would come back. We were all optimistic. But the doctor kept saying we need some great things to happen for you to come back and actually play football, and those things happened. But I just look back at around this time (last year), like a week from now, had the surgery and I didn’t know (about playing again). It was up in the air. So I don’t think any of this happened by mistake. It was all the man above.” Locke had joined Denver’s practice squad in 2019 after being undrafted out of Texas and  didn’t become a regular starter until 2024. But after starting all 15 games he played last season, he began 2025 as a reserve after the Broncos had signed free-agent safety Talanoa Hufanga. Yet after Brandon Jones suffered a season-ending pectoral injury against Green Bay on Dec. 14, Locke returned to the lineup. He started the final three regular-season games and Saturday’s game. He is expected to be back in the lineup for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game at home against New England. Locke didn’t allow a catch against the Bills while targeted five times. He picked off a long Josh Allen pass in the third quarter, one of Denver’s five takeaways, and returned it from the Denver 8 to the 38. “I just had my eyes on the quarterback, and he threw the ball and I just undercut it,’’ Locke said. Locke’s showing came a year after the Broncos had lost 31-7 at Buffalo in a wild-card playoff game. Locke, with his back ailing, struggled in that game. “I was hurting all year,’’ said Locke, who didn’t want to use that as an excuse specifically for his previous showing against the Bills. Locke said that defeat at Buffalo was pivotal in the Broncos coming back this season and going 14-3 in the regular season and earning the AFC’s No. 1 seed. They got a first-round bye and this time played the Bills at home. “Last year’s playoff game prepared us for this entire season,’’ Locke said. “I think just being in those critical moments (in that game), I think a lot of guys were stressed out. Things got tight and we started to try to do too much. So all those one-score games (this season) we started to a get (a) little more callous each game, each time we won.” The Broncos went 11-2 in one-score games in the regular season and had five fourth-quarter comebacks. Against the Bills, they mounted a comeback after trailing 27-23 late in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, another big comeback the Broncos have had was Locke returning from his back surgery. ...read more read less