The Denver Broncos had the Indianapolis Colts beat in a close, hard-fought game. However, with a penalty on the potential game-winning field goal miss, Denver gave Indy another shot, and the Broncos lost the game 29-28. After the loss, Sean Payton shared that watching the game back next week will not be fun for his team.
“We did a lot of things in that game to keep us from winning. It’ll be painful to watch the film,” Payton said, via Broncos beat reporter Andrew Mason.
In addition to the game-losing penalty—a leverage call on Dondrea Tillman—the Broncos did plenty to lose this game, which they came into as 2.5-point favorites on the road.
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The Broncos had 324 total yards and 11 first downs, while the Colts produced 473 and 16. Bo Nix also threw an interception in the fourth quarter, while Daniel Jones protected the ball all game.
With the win, the Colts may be the most surprising 2-0 team in the NFL, while the Broncos are on the other side of the spectrum. The team was a popular playoff pick and even a dark-horse Super Bowl selection in some circles. But after struggling in Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans and rookie quarterback Cam Ward, and the loss to the Colts, the Broncos are nowhere near where many experts thought they would be.
As Sean Payton noted, the Broncos will have a long, tough week in the film room and on the practice field before they try to get back to winning ways in Week 3. Next Sunday, though, will be tough, as Denver travels to Southern California to take on the Los Angeles Chargers in a big-time AFC West battle.
a]:text-link [&_>a]:underline">Tim Crean started writing about sports in 2016 and joined ClutchPoints in 2022. He excels with his versatile coverage of the NFL, NBA, soccer, sports media, and more. As a longtime self-professed sports junkie, it is a dream to write about sports professionally.