Denver head coach Sean Payton characterized the Broncos’ 31-10 season-opening loss to the host Kansas City Chiefs in terms less gentle than a wake-up call.
“Certainly a slap in the face,” Payton said Tuesday. “When you come off training camp and your offseason program, it’s one thing to lose in a hard-fought game where you feel like you played well. I don’t feel like we played up to our standard, and certainly that starts with us as coaches, myself. So, yes, it’s disappointing. That would be a great way to describe it.”
The loss might have stung more coming against the AFC West-rival Chiefs, who outscored the Broncos 24-3 after the first quarter on Monday night before a partisan crowd of 73,543 at Arrowhead Stadium.
Payton said that the coaches and players will have to analyze what happened in the opener before moving on to Sunday’s home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-0). He said the coaches would have “that honest day” where they discuss what they could have done differently.
“… you have to have that,” Payton said. “I know it’s a shorter week, but there’s no way we can get past (Monday) without looking at the tape and looking at the things that we have to improve on before we even play the next opponent.”
He said that it’s more difficult to clear out memories from Monday night because the Broncos did not play well. There are obvious areas to address.
The Chiefs had more first downs (19-9) and more total yards (392-176). They rushed 38 times for 220 yards and quarterback Patrick Mahomes completed 15 of 27 passes for 184 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Mahomes also ran seven times for 23 yards and a touchdown in his first game since suffering a season-ending ACL tear in December.
Kenneth Walker III rumbled for 173 yards on 23 carries and caught three passes while totaling two touchdowns in his Kansas City debut after winning the Super Bowl last season with the Seattle Seahawks.
Denver quarterback Bo Nix was 17-for-28 for 131 yards and one touchdown. He was intercepted on the game’s third play from scrimmage and Kansas City’s defense kept bringing the heat with four sacks. It recovered one of his three fumbles.
“I think part of it was certainly the downs and distances that we put ourselves in,” Payton said. “So when you end up in some of those second-and-long or third-and-longs, however you get there — minus plays, penalties, there’s a number of reasons. Then all of a sudden, the job description for (Nix) gets much more difficult.
“So if there was one thing that gave you a pretty good reflection on how the game went, and how poorly we played and how well Kansas City played, if you just look at the third-down numbers, those guys were converting third-and-2, 3, 4 at a pretty good rate. I don’t think we converted a third down in our last 10 attempts.”
The Broncos were just 2 of 12 (16.7%) on third downs, to 9 of 17 (52.9%) for the Chiefs.
Asked if the Kansas City defense did anything in particular to get pressure on Nix, Payton said Denver got behind and put itself in passing situations, becoming one-dimensional. Offensive coordinator Davis Webb was in his first game as play-caller instead of Payton.
“Our run-pass ratio was skewed and off,” Payton said. “As that unfolds and you get into where you’re throwing the ball, then it becomes more challenging. The way that game unfolded, all of the sudden there were a number of series where you felt one-dimensional. I think that added to the problem.”