BALTIMORE — In the days ahead of their Week 9 meeting with the Ravens, the Broncos spoke about the opportunity that lay ahead.
In a matchup of two 5-3 teams, the Broncos had a chance to earn a win against one of the top teams in the AFC and bolster their playoff resume.
Following Sunday's loss at M&T Bank Stadium, though, the Broncos lamented a series of missed chances that ultimately led to a 41-10 loss and dropped Denver to 5-4.
"[There were] a lot of what-ifs in this game," quarterback Bo Nix said, "and the fact of the matter is we got our butts kicked."
Head Coach Sean Payton said the Broncos were beat in "pretty much all three phases" on Sunday, and he said his team "didn't do nearly enough things well enough" to give themselves a chance in the fourth quarter.
The missed opportunities began early, as Nix's pass on the second play of the game caromed off Lil'Jordan Humphrey's hand and was intercepted. Defensive end John Franklin-Myers sacked Lamar Jackson to push the Ravens out of field-goal range and hold Baltimore without points on their ensuing drive, but Denver couldn't capitalize on the big play.
After pushing the ball out of the shadow of their own goal line, the Broncos drove to the Baltimore 44-yard line before being stopped on consecutive attempts needing just a yard. Javonte Williams lunged for a first down on fourth-and-1 and was initially awarded the line to gain. A Ravens challenge, though, reversed the call and gave Baltimore the football. The Ravens would march down the field for their initial touchdown.
A series later, Denver again took a fourth-down chance, and Nix looked deep for Troy Franklin. The two could not connect on the fourth-and-4 play, and Baltimore pushed its lead on the ensuing possession to 10-0.
"Well, they were obviously really important plays in the game, and if you hit them, you never know what happens at the end of a drive," Nix said. "We came away with no points on several of those fourth downs."
The Broncos did manage to cut the lead to 10-7 on a spectacular receiving touchdown from Nix, who caught a pass from Courtland Sutton on a "Philly Special"-esque play design. A drive later, the Broncos again added points in the form of a Wil Lutz field goal to cut the lead to 17-10 with less than a minute to play before the half.
Again, though, the Broncos were unable to capitalize on an opportunity to keep the game within striking distance.
"They beat us and they won, and you can't take anything away from that," Sutton said. "We didn't execute the way we needed to execute to be able to win, and that is a really good team over there. However, I feel like we missed some opportunities. I feel like [we] didn't capitalize on some opportunities that we really had."
In a defining stretch, the Ravens took over up 17-10 with 54 seconds to play in the first half — and proceeded to build a 31-10 lead before the Broncos attempted another pass.
A 53-yard Zay Flowers touchdown punctuated a two-play, 70-yard drive before halftime, and the Ravens added to their lead after receiving the ball to begin the second half. Denver ran just one play in that span, as the Broncos took a knee to end the first half.
"It's a big swing," Payton said. "You know when you play a good team like this on the road, you're wanting to get it into the fourth quarter, and we weren't able to do that."
Following a Denver three-and-out, the Ravens then added another touchdown on their ensuing second-half drive, marking a stretch in which Baltimore scored 21 points as Denver ran just four plays on offense.
"We can't let them run it up like that," outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper said. "We can't let that stuff happen. … We just can't let the game get away from us like that. We've got to find a way to stop them."
In all, the Broncos' third-ranked defense allowed seven consecutive scoring drives and four consecutive touchdown drives in Sunday's loss. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson finished with a perfect passer rating, while Derrick Henry finished with a pair of touchdowns and more than 100 yards.
"They beat us pretty much in all three phases," Payton said. "We didn't do a good enough job coaching. We lost to a good football team, and it's disappointing."
Added Nix: "It's no fun. You never want to lose games like this. You never want to lose, period, but obviously that's inevitable sometimes. But you don't want to lose like this. It is miserable, and we do have to face it. You either sit there and you point the finger at somebody else or you sit there and you take ownership of it."
As Denver quickly turns the page toward another tough road test, Payton said the Broncos must embrace "the misery a little bit" and get back to work.
And Sutton believes as the team does that, he and his teammates can use Sunday's loss as a learning experience.
"I think for us, it's on us to be able to figure out our identity in these playoff[-type] games," Sutton said. "We've had success in some of these other games, but I think in this atmosphere going against a team like Baltimore and then walking into Kansas City next week, we have to figure out the way to be able to maximize our opportunities whenever they do arise in every phase of the game."
While Sutton believed Sunday was a tough lesson, it showed the importance of capitalizing on chances when they show up.
"In those playoff games, you sit there and you watch them and it's a play here and a play there that can completely change the momentum of the game, and I think that's kind of what we saw today," Sutton said. "We had [opportunities] that I think could've changed the momentum of the game. You just have to learn from it."
