The Jacksonville Jaguars devoured the Denver Broncos on Sunday. That gave the Broncos their first loss since Week 3 against the Los Angeles Chargers. With a 12-3 record, Denver still controls their own
destiny. The formula is simple: win the final two games and they secure the AFC West title and the #1 seed in the AFC.
Losses are tough. It’s unfamiliar territory for this year’s team who enjoyed the thrills of an impressive 11-game winning streak. Though yesterday’s reality check might just be what the team needed to make the necessary adjustments and changes to finish off their remaining regular season games on a high note.
It’s time to refocus and reload. Get over the loss, learn from it, and be ready to compete at a high level in just a few days. Head Coach Sean Payton’s had a simple message to the players in the locker room after being handled by the Jaguars 34-20.
“There was one message. I said to them, ‘One of the things you managed to do each week is get on to the next challenge.’ In other words, digest the win. I think the same thing has to apply, especially on a short week like this. You’ve shown the ability to digest the game before and then get onto the next challenge and you have to do the same after a tough loss,” stated Payton.
The next challenge for the Broncos? Traveling to Arrowhead Stadium to face off against their division rival Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas. While the Chiefs have been dethroned as kings of the AFC West, the Broncos can’t afford to let them play spoiler to their postseason hopes on Thursday.
The Chiefs will be without their top two quarterbacks in Patrick Mahomes and Gardner Minshew. That means third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun will get the start. After giving up 34 points to the Jaguars, the Broncos’ defense will have a shot to get back on track facing third-string quarterback Chris Oladokun.
After starting off the first half of the season hot, the defense has experienced major regression over the past five or six games. At one point in time, they were surrendering less than 19 points a contest. That number has jumped a full touchdown over the past five weeks of play.
On Sunday, blown coverages, missed tackles, and failing to stop the Jaguars in the red zone were three major issues. It’s a lot to overcome and fix on such short notice. Nevertheless, star defensive lineman Zach Allen is confident he and his teammates will be able to accomplish that.
“We’ll be fine. I mean the group—we’ve done that all year—kind of flushing it and moving on to the next one. Watch it, digest it, get the notes for the corrections and then move on,” stated Allen
His sentiments were echoed by various other players, including those on offense such as veteran tight end Evan Engram. Just two weeks ago against the Green Bay Packers, the Broncos’ offense put together one of their most impressive performances of the season. Quarterback Bo Nix was on fire and arguably had the best game of his career.
Unfortunately, the consistency and efficiency fans saw against the Packers was hardly evident on a drive-by-drive basis against the Jaguars. In order for the Broncos to earn a victory on Christmas, they will need the offense to do their part to help get things back on track.
“We’re going to learn the lessons, and we have a really short week, Christmas game against Kansas City, and everything is in our control,” Engram stated with confidence after the loss. “We have a locker room full of professionals that are going to respond.”
There is a lot to be proud of with this year’s team. They have overcome a lot of obstacles and adversity. Their penchant for reeling off a lot of comeback victories has been inspiring. Even so, finishing off the season with wins is an absolute must. Doing that will give them homefield advantage in the playoffs.
If not, the Broncos could wind up being a road team in the Wild Card Round that won’t get to host a postseason matchup. And that’s the last thing the coaches, players, and fans across Broncos Country want to see happen.
