HOUSTON — Something seemed off with the Broncos’ biorhythms.
Their game against the Houston Texans kicked off at 11 a.m. Rocky Mountain time. Before it was noon back home, the Broncos were down 13-0.
There was a big drop. A partially blocked punt. Opposing receivers running deep and wide open. And a costly penalty.
The Broncos finally started to awaken late in the first half and a long touchdown pass from Russell Wilson to Courtland Sutton in the third quarter made it a game.
But Wilson's final-second interception into the end zone killed the Broncos' rally and the Texans hung on for a 22-17 win here at NRG Stadium where at least 30 percent of the crowd was wearing Broncos' orange.
"We gotta win 'em all now,'' said Broncos running back Javonte Williams.
Given the crowded AFC wild-card race, the 6-6 Broncos likely will have to win at least four of their final five after their five-game winning streak was snapped. The Texans improved to 7-5 following this important AFC battle for a wild-card spot.
“We were sloppy most of the game,'' said Broncos head coach Sean Payton. "Obviously third down we struggled, I don’t think we converted a third down offensively. We converted a fourth maybe. But all the things we discussed coming in – we've been a team that has played well with the takeaways and the giveaways, but that script flipped today. We had three of them, didn't get any. We gave up explosive (plays).
"We’ll look at this tape tomorrow. It starts with us as coaches. We need to do a better job. Credit DeMeco (Ryans) and Houston, those guys, it was a hard-fought win but we didn’t play our best football and we’re going to have to down the stretch here.”
Battling back from a 16-3 deficit, the Broncos closed to 22-17 and had the ball at their own 20 with 4:36 remaining for one, final drive. First play, Wilson drilled a deep pass over the middle to Sutton for a stone-cold completion of 32 yards. The Broncos were in business at the Houston 48.
A pass interference call off a Wilson scramble and floated pass to running back Samaje Perine set up another first down. The situation became fourth and 2 at the Houston 13 yard line with 30 seconds remaining.
From the shotgun, Wilson scrambled straight ahead away from edge pressure for 5 yards, picking up the first down by plenty. It was first and goal at the 8 with 23 seconds left. Again, Houston is up 5.
On the first two downs, Wilson threw high to the back of the end zone both times as the receivers were well-covered. Third and goal with 16 seconds left.
This was not the Broncos' best down. They were 0 of 11 on third down in this game. They were an impressive 3 of 3 on fourth down. If only they got that far.
Wilson dropped back, was nearly sacked by Jonathan Greenard, spun away and threw a desperation pass to the end zone for tight end Lucas Krull. That's right, the same Lucas Krull who was elevated from the practice squad and whose next catch will be his first-ever in the NFL.
By the time the ball arrived, Krull was draped by two defenders and the pass was easily intercepted by Jimmie Ward. The Texans hung on for the 22-17 win.
After throwing just 4 interceptions through his first 11 games, he was picked off three times here Sunday.
“To us, there’s no reason why we couldn’t have got that done,'' Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey said about the final drive. "We’ve done it probably more than anybody in the NFL at this point. And we were on the (bleep-bleep) 8 yard line. But one of my good buddies (and former 49ers teammate) Jimmie Ward came down and made a play and ended the game. Credit to him, he’s always been a great player.’’
Blame this loss on the poor start.
With their bodies still on morning time, Sutton dropped a perfectly thrown deep ball by Wilson on the Broncos' opening series. The Denver defense gave up three long pass plays to open receivers and tackling machine linebacker Alex Singleton picked up an unnecessary roughness penalty that turned a fourth down, false-start penalty against Houston into a first and goal at the 3.
And Riley Dixon had a punt partially blocked into a 22-yard shank. Offense, defense, special teams. Time to wake up!
Remember how the Broncos started against the Dolphins and Bears? Those two games also had 11 a.m. Denver time kickoffs. Do we need to recall the Miami game? OK, to make a point, the Broncos were down 35-13 at halftime and lost 70-20.
Against the Bears, the Broncos were atrocious for 2 ½ quarters, falling behind 28-7, but then rallied in the second half for a 31-28 win.
Still, perhaps Payton should look at making some adjustments to the 11 a.m. kickoffs.
“We might have to look at that but I think that’s an easy out,'' Payton said.
A first-half breakdown of those three early kickoffs:
Dolphins, 35-13 score; 344 to 228 total yards.
Bears, 21-7 score; 265 to 120 yards
Texans, 13-3 score; 259 to 103 yards
First-half totals: 69-20; 868-451.
The Broncos dismissed the idea of an early start having a factor in their poor early play.
“I wouldn’t say we needed to wake up,'' said tight end Chris Manhertz. "It was evident we had a slow start but it's hard for me to make excuses and point to those type of variables. There’s two teams dealing with those same variables to a degree.
"Whatever it was, we had a slow start and we picked it up throughout the game, we still gave ourselves a chance. I don’t think you can point to external factors like time zones and such. We got the same amount of sleep. We stuck to the same schedule."
“I think it’s more of a coincidence more than anything,'' said defensive lineman Zach Allen. "We practice at around this time.We’ve only had three of them so I don’t know. Usually guys are pretty good coming down to sea level, though. That’s one thing we talk about it is when you come down to sea level you’re conditioning feels pretty good.’’
Before the end-of-game dramatics, there were several key plays. Down 13-0, Denver put together a sustained drive for a short Wil Lutz field goal in the final minutes of the first half and then a 45-yard deep ball to the left pylon from Wilson to Sutton with about 5 minutes left in the third quarter brought the awaking Broncos within 16-10.
“I missed some opportunities early in the game,'' Sutton said. "Frustrated myself because I know that I’m capable of making those plays and didn’t come down with them. But Russ game me a chance – every time he gives me a chance I’ve got to go out and make a play. I missed some early ones and they would have had to pin me to the ground to try to not make that catch. It was nice to get some momentum. You could feel the tide switch over on those plays.”
Yes, but then a Wilson tipped pass resulted in an interception by Houston corner Derek Stingley Jr., setting up a short touchdown pass from rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud to Nico Collins and the Texans were up, 22-10 (the 2-point pass was picked off by Fabian Moreau) about a minute into the fourth quarter.
Collins had a phenomenal game with 9 catches for 191 yards. Stingley had two interceptions and rookie Will Anderson Jr. had two sacks and the partially blocked punt.
However. Wilson led the Broncos right back on a quick, 5-play, 75-yard touchdown drive highlighted by a 41-yard completion to Jerry Jeudy to set up first and goal from the 1. As he has all season, Wilson converted by running a quarterback sneak behind right guard Quinn Meinerz for a touchdown. With 12 minutes remaining, the Broncos were within, 22-17.
But it took took too long for the Broncos to get going. Next up in another road game Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers.
Bronco Bits
There was a scare early as Broncos' All Pro cornerback Pat Surtain seemed to get caught up in the turf and his legs planted awkwardly. Surtain was able to walk off on his own, though, and returned to the game. ...
Houston rookie receiver Trank Dell wasn’t so lucky. He suffered left ankle injury while getting rolled up on Pierce’s touchdown and had to be carted off the field. ...
Wilson was 15 of 26 for 186 yards with 119 yards coming on three completions -- 45 and 32 yards to Sutton, 41 to Jeudy. ...
Stroud was 16 of 27 for 274 yards. He had completions of 52, 59 and 39 yards to Collins, plus a 27-yarder to tight end Brevin Jordan. ...
Javonte Williams was the Broncos leading rusher with 46 yards on 13 carries. He also had three catches for 24 yards. ...
Singleton led all defensive players with 12 tackles, giving him double-digit stops in 9 of his last 10 games. He also had a sack. ...
Safety P.J. Locke had 8 tackles including a sack and two tackles for losses on back-to-back plays. ...
Manhertz and Meinerz each suffered stingers between the neck and shoulder area.
PHOTOS: The Houston Texans beat the Broncos 22-17
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