The Denver Broncos fell to the New England Patriots on Sunday in the AFC Championship, failing to reach the Super Bowl in the absence of franchise quarterback Bo Nix, who suffered a season ending ankle injury in the divisional round.
The Broncos had plenty of opportunities to claim control of the game, but ultimately couldn’t overcome a slew of mistkaes inlcuding dropped passes, poor blocking on special teams, and questionable play-calling.
“[I’m] hurting for every one of those players in that locker room,” head coach Payton said after the game, according to ESPN. “There’ll be a number of things when we watch the tape and I’ll look at and critique and pay close attention to. … It was a hard-fought game, and we didn’t do enough to win it.”
“We didn’t score enough points and capitalize on that field position,” Payton said of a game-tying field goal attempt that was blocked in the fourth quarter. “Starts with the head coach and rest of our staff.”
At one point, the Broncos had the chance to go up 10-0 in the game, which they wound up losing 10-7, but Payton elected to go for it on fourth and 1 from the Patriots’ 14. The Pats snuffed out the play and Denver never returned to inside New England’s 20-yard line.
“I just felt like, man, we had momentum, to get up 14 [points], felt like we had a good call,” Payton said. “I think the feeling was, man, let’s be aggressive. You know, to get up 14, I was just watching the way our defense was playing.”
“There’s always regrets,” Payton admitted. “I felt like here we are fourth-and-1, close enough and it’s also a call you make based on the team you’re playing and what you’re watching on the other side of the ball. So, yeah, there’ll always be second thoughts.”
The Broncos will enter next season hopeful that Nix and Payton can lead them back to the conference title game, where they’ll look for a better result. However, as the Detroit Lions showed us this season, nothing in the NFL is guaranteed.
About Qwame Skinner
Qwame Skinner has loved both writing and sports his entire life. In addition to his sports coverage at Comeback Media, Qwame writes novels, and his debut; The First Casualty, an adult fantasy, is out now.