TAMPA, Fla. — For Brandon Jones, Raymond James Stadium was one giant playground.
In the Broncos' 26-7 win over the Buccaneers, Jones intercepted Baker Mayfield and also recovered a fumble — and he had a chance to take each of the plays the distance.
In those moments, Jones said he returned to his school days.
"For whatever reason, when I get the ball in my hands, I just turn into this little kid playing recess backyard football," Jones said Monday. "Just like to have a little fun, that's it."
On his early interception, which still helped the Broncos take a commanding 14-0 lead in the first quarter, Jones picked off Mayfield along the right sideline, returned the ball about 20 yards and then changed course and weaved his way to the opposite side of the field. Jones was eventually tackled at the 9-yard line, setting up a first-and-goal for Denver after the 37-yard return.
"[I'm a] little upset with myself, because I felt like I could've got a pick-six," Jones said Monday. "There's a lot going on. I kind of got a little too busy with my eyes trying to look around. A lot of people told me I should have just kept going straight and I would've had six. I took the difficult route on that and decided to just drain myself of all of my energy going back and forth throughout the field."
Later, with the result of the game in little doubt, Jones picked up the ball after Riley Moss stripped the ball away from Cade Otton and took off down the sideline. Around the Broncos' 40-yard line, Jones again weaved toward the center of the field and slid down near midfield after a 34-yard runback.
"There's definitely easier things I could have done," Jones said of both returns. "I easily could've just got the ball and went straight and kind of trusted my speed.
"… I'm kind of a little upset with myself, because I should've took the easy route. It all kind of worked out. I think the biggest thing was a lot of the defensive guys were upset, because they swore they had the key block to lead me into the end zone and that I refused to follow them. So next time in the future, I know that I'm going to trust my teammates and just follow behind those guys."
While the fumble recovery may have been the result of Jones simply being in the area to make a play, his interception was created by in-week film study and preparation.
"We knew kind of going into it that Baker … has a lot of confidence in his arm, especially [against] Cover 2 [defense], just being able to hit balls in tight windows," Jones said. "… Based on the week of preparation, the route concepts that we got, I saw Mike Evans take a vertical release out of some sort of a bunch look. I just kind of knew. [I] kind of broke before the ball was even thrown, because I knew the route that he was going to run."
With the interception, Jones continued the Broncos' fast start and helped Denver earn a much-needed win against the Buccaneers.
"I think it gets us rolling in a big way, especially being on the road these next couple weeks," Jones said. "We had a lot of execution in all three phases. I can't say that we're surprised, because we put in the work and we know what we're capable of doing once we're all on the same page. It was really just a great team win."
PUNCHING BACK
After the Broncos' loss to Seattle, Head Coach Sean Payton discussed the need for Denver to grab momentum back after the inevitable swings within a game.
On Sunday, the Broncos did just that. After taking a 17-0 lead, the Broncos faced a hint of adversity as Tampa Bay jarred the ball loose from Javonte Williams and recovered a fumble at the Tampa Bay 33-yard line.
Keyed by a 32-yard rush by rookie Bucky Irving, the Bucs quickly moved into the red zone. Mayfield then capped the drive with a touchdown pass to Chris Godwin, who made an impressive play with Riley Moss blanketed in coverage.
Holding a 10-point lead, the Broncos faced a critical drive with 1:50 to play. With the Bucs receiving the ball after a halftime, a stalled drive could have resulted in Tampa further cutting into Denver's lead.
Instead, Denver marched 50 yards in nine plays to tack on a field goal before the break and push the lead back to 13 points. Quarterback Bo Nix started the drive 5-of-5 for 45 yards, and he also ran for five yards. The Broncos stayed out of third-down situations until the final moments of the drive, and even then, Nix managed to avoid a sack that would have made Wil Lutz's field-goal attempt more difficult.
"It was one of those things watching, just when maybe Tampa got a little momentum, what I was pleased with was we were able to kind of punch back," Payton said Monday. "It happened like twice in the game. We had the fumble, then we had the [Tampa Bay] touchdown, but then we're able to punch back. I think that's important relative to the momentum that obviously we didn't do as well in Seattle."
The Broncos' defense then continued to push momentum in Denver's direction, as John Franklin-Myers sacked Mayfield on the Bucs' opening drive of the second half to set up a third-and-long and ensuing punt. Shortly after, the Broncos posted a near eight-minute drive that ended with points and essentially ended Tampa Bay's chances.
Two weeks after letting the momentum slip in Seattle, the Broncos didn't give their opponent the chance to get back into the game.
