First they were lucky.
Now they're terrible, hapless on defense and mistake-prone on offense.
The Broncos know what the critics are saying.
"As fast as people jumped on the wagon, they're jumping off just as fast," tight end Daniel Graham surmised.
Actually, style points and deficiencies aside, what the Broncos are is 3-1 in black and white.
And on Monday, the locker room appeared to be following the lead of quarterback Jay Cutler, who Sunday suggested the Broncos "can't go into a panic," even after one troubling loss at previously winless Kansas City.
"I had a feeling what was coming as the game was ending," long snapper Mike Leach said. " 'See, they really aren't as good as people think they are . . . ' Look, if you go 3-1 in each quarter, you're 12-4 and most likely you have a home playoff game and win your division. The sky's not falling. We played a terrible game. We have to make sure it doesn't happen again. There's no good in panicking and infighting."
There are concerns.
The defense, after two weeks of getting strafed through the air by elite NFL quarterbacks, yielded 213 rushing yards to a run-first offense and a 100.3 quarterback rating to Damon Huard, a career backup.
The offense, so efficient close to the goal line the first two weeks, is 3-for-9 the past two games in the red zone scoring touchdowns and turned over the ball four times Sunday.
Coming this weekend is a meeting with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are tied with the Carolina Panthers atop the NFC South, so the Broncos will need a solid week of preparation to forge a turnaround.
"It's going to be interesting to see how we respond this week because they're a good team," cornerback Champ Bailey said. "They're 3-1 for a reason."
As is Denver. But its young roster is facing the unknown for the first time.
Benefiting from a blown call and a missed field goal helped pad the Broncos' early record and boost confidence, along with some solid, wide-open play.
There's no telling how they'll bounce back after Sunday's 33-19 loss.
"Are we ready to hang it up for the season and quit because we are 3-1?" coach Mike Shanahan said. "No, we'll keep on working."
The biggest fixer-upper is the defense, which is 30th overall in total yards, 24th against the run and 31st against the pass.
Shanahan and others insisted things aren't as bad as they seem, even if work is necessary. They pointed to two long Larry Johnson runs Sunday as the group's undoing but also to nine straight Kansas City drives that covered fewer than 40 yards.
Still, the Broncos allowed 17 fourth-quarter points and now allowed 48 of 117 points in the final period, a troubling sign.
"We know exactly what the problems are," Bailey said. "We've got to be better against the run, not turn the ball over and make more plays, plain and simple."
Missed defensive assignments continue to hurt the Broncos.
"It wasn't tackling so much as schemewise we weren't in the right places, and when you overrun a running back or don't follow your keys, that's when big plays happen," Bailey added.
Shanahan actually appeared more perturbed at the Broncos' giveaways and red-zone issues than anything on the other side of the ball.
"Everybody wants to throw it at the defense . . . but any offense that does that to their defense, there's no chance," he said.
Once again, the Broncos went with a pass-heavy game plan for a fourth straight week. Its running backs carried 19 times as compared to 49 Cutler pass attempts.
Shanahan said a wrist injury suffered by Andre Hall, who had been in a largely rigid rotation in the backfield with Selvin Young until being forced out Sunday, had no bearing on that mix.
"Looking at film, we played with great effort," said receiver Eddie Royal, who led the Broncos with nine catches and 104 yards. "Some of the execution and technique was a little off. But it's not something we can't fix."
It begs the question, though, whether the team is beginning to put too much stock in its air attack with a 61 percent/39 percent split to date.
"The one thing I like to do is score points," Shanahan countered. "And, obviously, if we don't throw the ball better than we did, we are going to be running a lot more."
The latter is precisely what all the Broncos players were doing Monday.
Wind sprints are a mandatory part of the day after games following a loss, so they were experiencing that punishment for the first time this season. They were sweating that, but not much else, on the surface.
"We've got a lot of faith in each other," Royal said.
Keywords: Denver Broncos
