Good morning, Broncos Country!
Teams face adversity.
It’s not a matter of if, but when. For the Denver Broncos, it just happens to come a little earlier than some (most) would have liked. But how the Broncos respond to the beatdown at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs this Sunday will reveal what kind of makeup they have.
To add to the motivation, Denver faces the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that thoroughly whipped it 34-20 a season ago.
The good news is the Broncos have been in this position before under Sean Payton, going 4-8
in and struggling in September games heading into Sunday.
“I learned a long time ago, you never play as bad as you think and you never play as good as you think,” Broncos quarterback Bo Nix said to the media on Thursday. “So for us, it was the case of we didn’t play as bad as what we thought. We just there at the end of the game, we didn’t make third-down conversions. We felt like it was 7-7, 14-7, and 21-7 for a long time in the game. So it was reachable, and we were in it for a while.
“We just didn’t help ourselves by any means. You watch the film, and there are a couple good things and then all of a sudden we’re back because of a penalty or something. You just can’t win in this league like that. So, overall, we’re not going to press the panic button, and we’re not freaking out. We’re not starting from scratch or anything. We’re still in a good spot, and we just didn’t play great by any means, and we’ve got to play better.”
The first step to correcting what went wrong against the Chiefs is the work at practice this week. As Nix said after the game on Monday, it was a “nasty wake-up call.”
After that, it’s about the players doing their job, doing the little things, and executing.
“We all know we are a very talented team, no question about it,” Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II said to the media. “That’s why I feel like everybody has us on the high horse and stuff like that. That comes with a certain privilege. But if you don’t show up each and every week, you’re going to get humbled quickly. Every week is a new challenge.
“We all know that as a team, but we just have to focus on getting better day-by-day and honing in on the small details. I think that’s what’s going to separate us. It’s still early in the year. Going into our second game, we know what we need to correct. Like I said before, every week’s a new challenge. You have to bring the intensity no matter what.”
If used properly, being served some humble pie can be a good thing.
“I think the biggest thing is learning from our mistakes from what we saw on film,” Broncos receiver Courtland Sutton said to the media on Thursday. “There were things that we did well, things that we didn’t do well. Being able to build on what we did well, make that last longer throughout the game, and minimize our mistakes. I would say one of the things I’ve seen from the team over the past few days, since the game, is an attitude of accountability, an attitude of wanting to get better and improving so that we can maximize these days leading up into Jacksonville.”
Teams face adversity; it’s a matter of how they respond. Denver gets its first test on Sunday.
What can certainly help the Broncos is playing at home.
“A big spark,” Nix said when asked about the spark Broncos Country could provide. “There’s nothing like a home-field advantage, nothing like playing at home. I know, as an away team, what it’s like to go and play in a loud environment. It’s definitely not easy. There are a lot of variables and things that go into it, a lot of communication tactics. It’s just not easy, and that’s what the crowd does. The crowd makes it not easy for them.
“So hopefully we’ll have, like we always do, a sellout, hopefully we’ll have a loud environment, and I expect it to be a really fun time being the home opener. I expect it to be loud. Essentially, what it is, it’s a playoff game. So I expect it to be that kind of environment, sort of like we had at the end of the season last year.”
