Vance Joseph kept coming back to the small mistakes before the big ones that burned the coach’s Broncos in their stunning 23-10 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday night.

Before running back Orleans Darkwa sprinted through a thin seam for a 47-yard run that set up New York’s first touchdown Sunday night, the Broncos had Eli Manning in their sights.

Shelby Harris had a bead on the Giants’ quarterback on third-and-10 on the first play of the second quarter, but Manning evaded the rush of the Denver defensive end, ran to his left and found uncovered wide receiver Roger Lewis for a 15-yard gain and a first down. Darkwa’s big run, the longest given up by the Broncos this season, came on the next play, and Manning finished the drive a few plays later with a touchdown pass to tight end Evan Engram that put the Giants ahead 10-0.

Before kicker Brandon McManus‘ perplexing missed field-goal attempt from 35 yards earlier in the period, with the Broncos facing first-and-10 at the New York 22-yard line, Denver quarterback Trevor Siemian rolled to his right and spotted wide open tight end A.J. Derby. But the pass was too far in front of Derby, preventing the Broncos from picking up a first down inside the 10.

And so went the Broncos’ most head-scratching loss in at least two seasons. The house of cards that collapsed inside Sports Authority Field at Mile High on national television began with one bent corner at a time.

“It was just critical errors again on both sides of the ball,” Joseph said Monday.

As the Broncos on Monday morning reviewed film of a disheartening loss that dropped them to 3-2, they were viewing a tutorial on self-destruction. Three turnovers. A combined 5-of-19 on third- and fourth-down attempts. Just one touchdown in four red-zone trips. Four sacks allowed. Two missed field goals. Critical penalties. Breakdowns in pass coverage. Unfilled gaps in the run game.

“We beat ourselves,” Broncos wide receiver Bennie Fowler said. “We had some penalties. We had some missed timings in the red zone. We had a lot of things that can be corrected. We have to take the good with the bad and move forward.”

The Broncos on Monday said they had turned the page toward what lies ahead. Namely, a chance on the road to beat the 2-4 Los Angeles Chargers and move to 3-0 in the AFC West. It’s a worthy dangling carrot, but Denver won’t be able to grab it without digesting all that went wrong Sunday night.

The chaos began with two interceptions by Trevor Siemian, including a pick-six at the end of the second quarter that deflated the stadium as the Giants took a 17-3 lead. But Joseph insisted that blame for Sunday’s debacle needed to be shouldered by the entire team. He said the team practiced well in the week leading up to the game and had its best Wednesday practice of the season. The energy level, he said, was strong.

The execution was not.

“It falls on the coaches and the players,” Joseph said. “Not just Trevor (Siemian), but everyone. When you have mistaken or negative plays on offense, it usually falls on two or three people, not just the quarterback. But, obviously, he’s the quarterback and at the end of the day, it definitely falls on his shoulders because he’s the quarterback. Mike (McCoy) is the coordinator, and I’m the head coach. It definitely falls on those individuals first, but it’s everyone. We have to coach better and play better in all three phases.”

The most glaring of those three units continues to be Denver’s offense. It has averaged only 14 points in its last three games, rekindling visions of similar sluggish stretches during the Broncos’ 9-7 campaign in 2016. While losing two of their last three games, the Broncos have scored touchdowns on just two of their 11 red-zone trips.

“It’s a lot of things,” Fowler said when asked why the Broncos have struggled so mightily to find the end zone. “Overall, as an offense, we have small details to fix so we can score. I can’t just pinpoint one group or anything like that. I think it’s a whole. But they’re correctable things and things we can get done.”