Sean Payton on Wednesday reiterated his belief that Denver’s game-winning field goal was blocked in Kansas City last weekend was a failure in terms of coaching.

“I felt sick watching it,” Payton said. “And I was like, ‘Hey, it’s our turn.’ In other words, it’s technique and then also, are we asking the right players to do the right things?

“(Offensive line coach) Zach Strief has been playing forever and playing that position. He is someone who, after seeing him, each of us felt, as a coach, that we had let the players down and that we needed to see that, to correct that. It’s difficult when this happens. That’s what we felt.

Alex Forsyth’s teammates may have been feeling ill following the Broncos’ 16-14 loss to the Chiefs, first on the result of the game then on criticism of the Broncos’ second-year offensive lineman.

Quarterback Bo Nix played a year with Forsyth at Oregon in 2022 and is now teammates with him again, meaning Nix has known him as long, if not longer, than virtually anyone on the roster of the Broncos. Then, Forsyth started four games at center ahead of the rookie quarterback earlier this year, while Luke Wattenberg was on injured reserve.

Nix, a captain and budding leader, took a long, deep breath Wednesday before answering a question about Forsyth and his behavior since Sunday.

“I think it’s very unfortunate and very unfair that at the end of the day a game comes down to one moment and people can say it’s down to one person,” Nix said, launching into a two-plus minute defense of the 2023 seventh-round draft. take. “No one prepares like Alex Forsyth. No one goes through moments of the week and gets every set and every look possible to come out and put their team in the best possible position (like Forsyth).

“I think it’s unfair, unfortunately, it’s the game we play and all our mistakes are broadcast on national television and everyone sees them. And there’s a lot of negative talk when someone makes a mistake. mistake But I think we need to know how valuable he is to our team, how much respect he is throughout our locker room and it really annoys me that people can say these things about him and not even. see how he works or how he reacts or how he plays.

In the locker room, the players came to Forsyth’s defense with the same intensity. Right guard Quinn Meinerz plays two inside spots for Forsyth on the field goal unit.

“I think the blame is pretty ridiculous,” Meinerz said. “Over the last few days I’ve been quite upset with the overall coverage and how it’s been handled across all the different platforms. He prepares every week to be able to play left guard, right guard and center. He came in and played his cue down the middle for us. He was asked to be on the punt and he did it. He also does the field goal thing. He has a ton of tasks he works on every day. I have a lot of respect for his way of working, his way of working, his way of asking questions.

“He’s a great player and was one of the reasons we had success on the offensive line when he played with us. There are many reasons why this happened to him and I have been as supportive as I can because it is an unfortunate position to be in. Playing this position at the basket is one of the hardest jobs in sports and arguably in all sports.

Part of what Meinerz is referring to: The third man from center is where most of the pressure the Broncos have faced on field goal attempts has come from. Just this year, all but two 22 cases where a player was knocked down during a field goal and extra point attempts played there either on the left side (Forsyth 15 times) or on the right side (Alex Palczewski three times, Calvin Throckmorton twice).

Meinerz also said Forsyth wouldn’t have been in this position if the offense hadn’t stopped on three straight drives to start the second half.

As Nix continued his defense of Forsyth at the podium, he said he thought Forsyth would “probably respond better than anyone in this situation.”

“I respect him tremendously and I hate that he has to go through all of this, but sometimes it’s part of the game and that’s what we signed up for,” Nix finished. “I am happy to be part of his team. I’m proud to call him a teammate and I know he will respond very well.

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