On the surface, they lost by two sets of fingertips.
The Broncos were ready to pull out Week 3 if either Marvin Mims Jr. or Courtland Sutton suddenly grew some E.T.-style digits.
But as Sean Payton drove to Denver’s facility on Monday morning, Bo Nix’s two deep-ball misses to Mims and Sutton in Week 3 were long out of sight and out of mind.
“That’d be like 50th,” Payton said Monday, “on my to-do list.”
Nix misfired just long on two high-profile chances to change the tenor of Sunday’s loss in Los Angeles. His locker room, though, stood by him in the moments after the defeat. And Payton said Monday that he didn’t want to overcoach two near misses. The 25-year-old Nix was already well aware of two throws he’d want back.
The issue lies internally, as Payton made clear Monday. Inside some cringe-inducing first-down numbers. Inside some rough third-and-long situations. Inside some damning penalties. The Broncos did not create an easy environment for a second-year quarterback to thrive.
“It was a hard day to play quarterback when your average third down was third-and-11,” Payton said. “So if we’re not more efficient on first and second down — the best in our league are going to struggle with the numbers we gave him on third down.”
The Broncos struggled to finish drives with those skewed third-down numbers, punting on three of their last four drives Sunday with a chance to push a lead out of reach. They struggled to open drives, too.
The Broncos averaged 4.5 yards gained on first downs Sunday, excluding one Bo Nix kneel-down to end the first half and including one Adam Trautman holding penalty. Take away a J.K. Dobbins 41-yard explosion to start the third quarter, and that average drops to a ghastly 2.2 yards a play across 16 first downs Sunday.
“I think we, collectively as an offensive unit, have to be so much better than we were today,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said Sunday night.
There’s no easy solution to those woes. Payton’s natural aggressiveness and creativity as a play-caller mean constantly-rotating personnel groups on initial downs. Sometimes that’s led to disorganization, as the Broncos had to use a timeout midway through the first quarter amid the chaos after a Trautman hold. Sometimes that’s led to brilliance, like the Dobbins dash. But Nix, himself, offered one rather simple solution Sunday.
“I think when we ran the ball on drives, we scored,” Nix said. “That seems to be a common theme.”
It didn’t work in the first half Sunday, as Dobbins went into the break with negative yardage and rookie R.J. Harvey was largely swallowed up. It worked in the second half, as Payton turned more frequently to Dobbins over Harvey. Still, Dobbins received just one fourth-quarter carry across the Broncos’ 14 fourth-quarter offensive plays.
Denver has yet to assemble a cohesive offensive identity around Nix through three games. There have been hints, including his three-touchdown performance against the Colts in Week 2, and a 17-point blitz against the Chargers from the end of the second quarter through early in the third.
But the Broncos have vacillated all over the map in efficiency on every down the last two weeks, and have seen their offense come to a screeching fourth-quarter halt in close losses because of it.
“Between getting in a groove or being in a rut — I don’t think we’re in either,” Payton said Monday. “We’ve lost two games in a row. Two close games with really last-second field goals. And, disappointing.
“But we’ve gotta learn, alright, why were these games this close towards the end? And how do we put ourselves in a position to finish better?”
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