Broncos ‘not panicking’ after first loss, turn focus to Chargers Thursday

No, the Denver Broncos will not go undefeated in 2016 — not that many realistically expected such an outcome.

And despite taking its lumps in a 23-16 loss at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons Sunday, its first of the season and first since Dec. 20, there’s no reason yet to hit the panic button.

“We’re not pancaking at all. We know what we need to do,” cornerback Chris Harris said after the game. We’re in a great situation right now. We just now that we have to bounce back this week, come back 5-1 and we still have the division.”

Obviously, the team’s goal is to win every game, to go undefeated every season, said linebacker Von Miller, “but the odds of doing that are pretty tough.”

“We have a resilient team. We have character in the locker room; we’ll be able to bounce back,” Miller said after the game. “I feel comfortable with our chances.”

On offense, Denver struggled in the running game, mustering just 84 yards at 3.5 yards per carry.

After the game, Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said Denver was committed to running the ball but couldn’t, leaving rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch down early and in a tough situation.

“We get down by 13, something like that, and were struggling to protect him. We put him in a really tough situation. That’s not the type of game you want to put him in,” Kubiak said. “We battled, we just didn’t play very well. You have to give Atlanta a lot of credit.”

Lynch, who completed 23 of 35 passes for 223 yards, one touchdown and one pick, said after the game he felt confident and prepared heading into the matchup, but overall as a team they didn’t play well enough to win.

“Obviously you want to win especially it being your first start,” Lynch said. “Now you have to move on from it, and we have a short week and we are going to bounce back from it.”

Defensively, Denver struggled to contain Atlanta’s running back duo of Tevin Coleman and Devonta Freeman, with both combining for 119 yards rushing and 167 yards receiving.

Lineback Shane Ray said after the loss the game plan was to shut down explosive Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones — who became just the sixth NFL player to earn 300 or more yards receiving in a single game in Week 4 against the Carolina Panthers — and contain the running backs.

They executed on half of the game plan, Ray said.

“We only did half of that, and the score shows that,” Ray said.

Safety T.J. Ward said Denver knew they could should down Jones, but in doing so they left “other areas of the field open, and they took advantage of them.”

“They didn’t really catch anything out of the backfield. They were lined up outside like receivers,” Ward said of Coleman and Freeman. “… They had a good plan for us.”

Ready or not, Denver will have to quickly turn around and head to San Diego Thursday to take on the Chargers in an AFC West showdown.

However, quarterback Trevor Siemian — who yielded the start to Lynch after suffering a sprained non-throwing shoulder in the team’s win in Week 4 against Tampa Bay ¬— said he believes it’s a good thing to have the short week after the team’s first loss.

“We’ve got a chance to get this taste out of our mouth pretty quickly, get back to work tomorrow and hopefully get ready to go,” Siemian said.

Wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders shared a similar sentiment, saying, “We got our butts kicked today. We’ve got to take the butt-kicking and move on.”

Denver still has at least a few questions remaining before their prime time matchup on Thursday Night Football, like who will be under center, Siemian or Lynch?

Who might be calling plays on the sidelines Thursday could also come into question, as Kubiak was hospitalized shortly after his press conference Sunday with “flu-like symptoms.”

Patrick Smyth, Broncos vice president of public relations, said Kubiak was taken to a Denver-area hospital as a precaution and was being evaluated as of early Sunday evening.

After Sunday’s game, Coach Kubiak had flu-like symptoms and was taken to a hospital as a precaution. He’s currently being evaluated.

— Patrick Smyth (@psmyth12) October 10, 2016

With the short turnaround, Kubiak may not have a lot of time to recover.

For updates, check back to our coverage of the developing story on denversports.com.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.