Losing a game by over 50 points is a real gut punch, no matter what sport you’re playing or how skilled you are. It’s the kind of defeat that can leave you feeling disheartened and demoralized, making it especially challenging to bounce back the next day.
So many questions remain unanswered, leaving us curious and eager for more information. The world appears to be filled with a sense of diminished hope. But hitting rock bottom can actually have a strange kind of beauty to it. It’s like reaching the lowest point possible, where you suddenly realize that things can’t possibly get any worse.
“Look, it was a tough day, and today’s not gonna be fun, and it probably won’t be fun anytime soon until we start winning some games,” The Broncos coach, Sean Payton, expressed his thoughts on Monday, just a day after the Miami Dolphins delivered an astonishing 70-point performance against his team.
“We’ve got to have a better work week than last week. We’ve got to have a good plan in place for the team we’re playing. We’ve got to be able to take the coaching, and then ourselves as coaches, say hey, where did we fail, where did we not do a good enough job? That has to happen quickly.”
It must take place fast because Payton’s Broncos are currently 0-3, and they appear to be growing worse each week, having gone from losing by one and two points in Weeks 1 and 2, respectively, to losing by a lot more than that in Week 3.
It would be reasonable if some people lost their employment as a result of this startling loss. Payton stated on Monday that nobody’s job is in danger, and if it were, he wouldn’t bring it up on a conference call with reporters first thing in the morning.
Even though the Broncos were buried under enough points to insulate a Cold War bunker, it isn’t reason enough for Payton to clean house after only three weeks.
It’s going to get uncomfortable with these Broncos if the outcomes don’t improve soon.
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The Broncos spent the offseason saying Payton would “right the ship” and “get the crew in line,” but they haven’t shown any signs that’s actually happened. Therefore, the Broncos cannot just ignore Sunday’s contest. A few lessons may be gleaned from the 50-point thrashing.
Payton commented: “We’re learning as we go. … The attention to detail of what we’re doing at practice has to improve,”. “We as coaches have to look closely at what we’re asking them to do.
“Look, this is one of those weeks where you take a butt-whooping like that, you find out a lot about everyone. It’s a tough film to watch. I debated whether we were gonna show it or not, but I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t. We’ve got to sit in here, and today, as it’s unpleasant as it’s gonna be, we’ve got to get these things cleaned up. Look, we played a good offence, but we certainly didn’t help ourselves in any way, shape or form in playing them.”
Despite the Dolphins’ explosiveness after three games, there’s no justification for allowing 70 points (10 touchdowns) against any team. Maybe it’s for the best that the Broncos got a stern jolt now instead of in late October; there’s still plenty of time to recover from that nightmare of a Sunday.