The Denver Broncos ended up losing a close game to the Seattle Seahawks 26-20 on Sunday. Had they been more opportunistic, the Broncos could have left Lumen Field with a victory.
On the first series of the game, linebacker Alex Singleton intercepted a Geno Smith pass and returned it to Seattle’s 20-yard line, setting the Broncos up with great field position. Denver’s offense squandered that opportunity and settled for a field goal, a sign of things to come.
Later in the game, safety JL Skinner recovered a muffed punt at the Seahawks’ nine-yard line. Once again, the Broncos settled for a field goal.
Denver also got the ball back twice after safeties and the offense failed to score on either of those possessions. That’s essentially four turnovers that led to a grand total of six points.
“Yeah, not enough came of it,” Payton said of failing to score touchdowns after those takeaways. “Now, the safeties are the safeties and the interesting thing with the safeties are that I don’t know — we were able to catch the ball, obviously, and plus eight, you give yourself a chance of possibly returning it.
“I would say it’s not as penalizing maybe as in the past because you have hang time and all of that but it is what it is. But, yeah, the muffed punt, the interception, we’ve got to be better and I got to be better. The thing that was frustrating is the down and distance efficiency for us offensively on first or second down. There were too many third down and eight or more.”
Yes, that’s right, Payton needs to improve as well.
“Just, any time we have a plan like that and we don’t execute or we don’t run the ball as well, I have to look at why,” Payton said when asked why he needs to be better. “That’s why.”
The Broncos might not get opportunities to start drives in the red zone every week, so when they do, touchdowns are paramount. Denver’s not going to win games by settling for field goals. The offense needs to be more opportunistic going forward, starting with this week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
