Broncos lose to Jets 31-21 after second half comeback falls short

A failed second-half comeback and forced fumble late in the game led to the Broncos losing to the New York Jets, 31-21 in Week 5 at Empower Field.

Russell Wilson ended the game completing 20 out of 31 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns. 

The Broncos began the game on defense and forced a three-and-out on the New York Jets on the opening drive. During the punt attempt, the Jets got the ball back after a fumble. After several plays on the drive, New York settled for a field goal to strike early.

Denver responded to the Jets' score with a touchdown from running back Jaleel McLaughlin after he bobbled a screen pass from Wilson and took it in for 22 yards early in the quarter. 

The Jets were forced to another three-and-out and punted the ball away for the next series, downing the ball at Denver's 6-yard line. 

With the Broncos backed up on their own end zone, the Jets sent in pressure and almost sacked Wilson, leading to him throwing the ball away inside the end zone as New York forced a safety on Denver to make the score 7-5 at the 4:17-mark of the first quarter. 

After Denver received the ball back, the offense marched down the field into the red zone on a few chunk plays before the first quarter ended. On third down, the Broncos were stopped short of the end zone after the quarterback draw play as Denver went up 10-5 with a successful 23-yard field goal from Wil Lutz. 

New York responded to the Broncos' touchdown by driving back down field to the red zone, but Denver made the defensive stand and the Jets settled for a field goal. 

For the Broncos next offensive possession, Denver continued to utilize its run game and drove the field on the Jets back to the red zone. The Jets halted the Broncos from entering into the end zone and Denver made a 22-yard field goal to increase their lead to 13-8 ahead of halftime. 

With 1:48 seconds left in the first half, New York maneuvered down the field to Denver's 8-yard line, but was unable to spike the ball in time after running out of time outs as the clock ticked away to half time. 

At the top of the second half, the Jets took a 15-13 lead after scoring of the first play of their offensive possession on a 72-yard run. Following a three-and-out from the Broncos, New York got the ball back and made it back down field on Denver's defense but settled for a 30-yard field goal to increase the lead at the 5:16 mark of the third quarter. 

A three-and-out was forced on the Broncos' next series after a stop by the Jets defense, but a muffed punt from receiver Xavier Gipson that was recovered by Tremon Smith, gave the ball back to Denver. The ball was then given back to New York after the failed reverse attempt leading to a fumble from the Broncos at the 3:11-mark of the third quarter. 

The Jets began their drive on their own 49-yard line and was able to get the ball down to Denver's 5-yard line following a few successful run and pass downs. The Broncos didn't budge in the red zone and made the stop on the Jets as they kicked another field goal to make the score 21-13 with 12:19 left in the game. 

Denver was forced to another three-and-out by the Jets defense and the ball was given back to New York. A few successful plays from the Jets got them into Broncos territory but Denver outlast New York's push as their offense settled for another field goal. 

Late in the game, the Broncos received the ball on their own 25-yard line. Wilson was able to connect with Jerry Jeudy on a 23-yard pass and after the roughing the passer was called, the ball was placed on Denver's 47-yard line. A few plays later, the Broncos scored on a 3-yard pass from Wilson to tight end Adam Trautman for the score. The score was then 24-21 after the two-point conversion was successful after a run in score from running back Michael Burton. 

After successful plays from the Jets to move the ball up the field, Broncos defensive back Patrick Surtain II came up with the pick on Zach Wilson to give the ball back to Denver with 2:12 left in the game. 

The Broncos were able to get down to their own 41-yard line after a couple of chunk plays down field. On the next play, Wilson was sacked and fumbled the ball as it was picked up and returned by New York to seal the game. 

McLaughlin rushed for 68 yards on nine carries to lead the team in rushing against the Jets. Wilson was the second leading rusher with 49 yards on seven carries. Samaje Perine was the leading receiver on four catches for 73 yards. Jeudy was the second leading receiver in the game with six catches for 50 yards. 

"There was a lot of good things today and some not so good, I just think that we can play cleaner across the board. So, we got to clean those things up and get ready for Thursday night game on the road against a division opponent. That's got to be our mentality and main focus right now," said Wilson after the loss. 

Following the game, Broncos head coach Sean Payton also shared his thoughts on the game saying, "I've got to do a better job, it starts with me. We got a short week and we got a quick turn around." 

Payton also touched on the defensive adjustments from the second half and why Denver struggled to stop the run attack from the Jets saying, "I don't know what changed as much as what we saw probably changed a little bit without watching the film. But obviously we didn't play as well in the second half. We'll look at the tape quickly and see what the problems were."

He also believes that with the quick turn around of playing on Thursday Night, the Broncos can put the game against the Jets in the past and compete for a win against the Chiefs. 

"I think it's good and honestly it's like I told them in there, no one cares about what ails us or woes us you know, the want to see production and that's the business we're in. So, we have a quick turn around, a lot of recovery work tomorrow, a lot of game plan film tomorrow and we're on to practicing for Kansas City, but this one hurts. We certainly didn't play well... we started off I thought fairly well, but we didn't play well enough," said Payton.

This week the Broncos will be on the road at Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs for Thursday Night Football with kickoff at 6:15 p.m. MST.