Vance Joseph: “We can’t surrender to this”

The Denver Broncos (2-3) dropped their third-straight game, except this time they were not even really competitive. The New York Jets (2-3) ran roughshod over the Broncos defense and were able to pressure Case Keenum into maximum dink and dunk effort.

After the loss, head coach Vance Joseph chose to keep upbeat on the 34-16 drubbing and focusing on the next game.

“It’s not going to be difficult,” Joseph said of how hard it will be to keep the team motivated. “We’re not going to fall for the noise. We came into this game on a short week after an emotional loss on Monday. I told our guys, we can’t surrender to this — that’s what the public thinks, that’s what the perceptions are, but we have no excuses today. We played Monday night, it’s a Sunday game, we didn’t play good. We didn’t play good, and it showed up. That team wanted it more than our football team today, and it obviously showed. But we have no excuses. None.”

Did the Jets players want it more? Possibly. Or maybe the Jets coaching staff put together a far superior game plan that took advantage of the many limitations in the Broncos defensive scheme and how little Keenum has attacked down field after the first game of the season.

How much truth in reality Joseph’s statement has is yet to be seen, with Derek Wolfe already lamenting the last two years has having some deeper problems than just ‘playing harder’.

Even so, what else can Joseph do other than to remain positive and try to get the team to bounce back to face the best team in the NFL in the Los Angeles Rams. The best team with Wade Phillips calling the defense.

“I told them we have to bounce back,” Joseph said. “We can’t surrender to the noise out there. It’s early in the season — you see those scores today? No one in this league is perfect. A lot of good teams are losing games right now early. So we have plenty of time, we have a big game on Sunday that I feel really good about. So we are going to fly back home, watch the tape, we are going to coach and play better, and we’ll see on Sunday. We’ll see on Sunday.”

Joseph has to know his tenure as the Broncos Head Coach is rapidly coming to an end with each defeat. He needs a signature win and he needs it now.