The Denver Broncos lost to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, dropping to 3-3 following a 23-16 defeat at home.
After the game, coach Sean Payton accepted blame for the performance.
“Obviously it was a disappointing loss,” Payton said. “We did all the things that you cannot do in a game like that. We knew what type of game it was going to be. We turned it over twice in the first half. That led to points. Then you start looking at the time of possession when you do that. They ran the ball better than we did.
“We mustered up some offense late in the game. All of this starts with me. We have to be better offensively. We have to protect the ball better. That is what I saw. We will go from there. We have a short week. Once we are finished tonight, we will be done talking about this game.”
The Broncos were trailing 20-0 at halftime and 23-0 entering the fourth quarter. Denver then scored 16 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes, but it was too little too late.
“Let’s be honest, it picked up when we started going up tempo and you are behind,” Payton said of the late surge from the offense. “You are getting a different coverage look. We played with some tempo. Early in the first half, we had a false start. We played with tempo early in the second quarter and fumbled the football. Those were all up tempo plays, but I think towards the fourth quarter we were able to make some plays down the field. The game was in a different position at that point. We fought to get back in it.”
The good news for Denver is that the team has a short turnaround before facing the New Orleans Saints on Thursday Night Football, so players will get an opportunity to quickly put Sunday’s game behind them.
“I just finished telling them, and I would have told them the same thing had we won, we have to quickly put this one to bed,” Payton said. “We cannot forget it, but we have to learn from it. It is a short week. We have to get on to the next game.”
Thursday’s game against the Saints will be available to stream on Prime.
