After suffering a gut-wrenching loss to the division-rival Kansas City Chiefs in Week 11, the Denver Broncos are looking to get back into the win column.
The Broncos were a chip-shot field goal away from knocking off the Chiefs and snapping their undefeated streak. Unfortunately, the worst possible scenario happened when the field goal was blocked, and the Chiefs would win 16-14.
According to head coach Sean Payton, the Broncos used the loss last Sunday as a lesson both on and off the field.
“The point of the film, I said to them, ‘I don’t have enough time here to show you all the good clips,'” said Payton. “But just like in life, we’re going to have some [setbacks], and then we get up and we start fighting again. So, there was just a message behind that. Every one of us here has that film in some way, shape or form.”
Broncos eager to get back to winning
Despite the Broncos having the win ripped from their hands, they didn’t take much time moping over the loss. In fact, they’re even more motivated to get back up and get more wins under their belt.
“We’re a little bit ticked off with how it ended, rightfully so,” quarterback Bo Nix said. “We all hate losing, we’ve got a competitive team [and] we didn’t like how it ended. So, we want to make sure that we avoid that at all costs moving forward. But, we’re all excited to get back to Sunday.”
Sunday, the Broncos will host the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons currently have a 6-4 record and sit in first place in the NFC South. Kirk Cousins is in his first season as the Falcons’ signal-caller, and the team has yet to really establish an identity. They’ve looked both really good and really bad in many games this season, so who knows what the Broncos will see on Sunday.
Despite what the Falcons put on the field on Sunday, the Broncos feel confident in their ability to bounce back from the Chiefs’ loss.
“We had a good practice [Wednesday.] So, we get ready for this [Falcons] team,” said Payton. “It’s an entirely different type of team relative to what they do schematically — how they run the ball, what they do defensively — than the team we just played. So, we’ve got to lock in and be ready for a different type of an opponent.”