They gave it go.
But in the end, the Denver Broncos were no match for quarterback Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who left Denver with a 28-10 victory on Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High.
Brady threw for 297 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to wide receiver Mike Evans, and the Bucs defense held the Broncos to 226 yards of total offense and forced two turnovers in the win.
After forcing the Broncos to punt on Denver's first possession, the Bucs blocked the punt and took over at the Broncos 10-yard line.
Brady found Chris Godwin on a 10-yard scoring pass to give the Bucs an early 7-0 lead.
Tampa Bay built the lead to 17-3 lead on Brady's first 1-yard scoring toss to Evans, who later added a second one to make it 23-3.
The Bucs led 23-10 at halftime and they shut down out in the second half.
Broncos starting quarterback Jeff Driskel was 17-30 for 176 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His seven-yard touchdown pass to Tim Patrick cut Tampa Bay's lead to 23-10 with 14 seconds left in the first half.
Brett Rypien took over at quarterback late in the game and threw an interception after leading the Broncos on a long drive deep into Bucs territory.
The Broncos start 0-3 for the second consecutive season. The Buccaneers are 2-1.
The Broncos play at the Jets this Thursday, October 1. Coverage starts at 3 p.m. MDT on KOA NewsRadio 850 AM and 94.1 FM.
Below are KOA NewsRadio postgame interviews with Broncos head coach Vic Fangio and QB Jeff Driskel, along with highlights.
,quality(10),blur(50))