Su’a Cravens’ long-anticipated Broncos regular season introduction left him wanting more.

Cravens, who spent the first eight weeks on injured reserve (knee), finally debuted Nov. 4 versus the Texans. He played 27 defensive snaps and contributed three tackles in a 19-17 defeat. And, Cravens wasn’t immune to the large number of miscues that derailed the Broncos’ comeback effort. His third-quarter holding call on third-and-11 extended a Houston drive that finished with a field goal.

“(Coaches) told me they were just trying to get me back into the motion of things and didn’t want to rush me back,” Cravens said. “I’m a competitor. So I hate just standing there and watching. So watching the film for me was just, ‘I want to play some more.’”

The Broncos signed Cravens in March, and over his seven months with the team, including its 3-6 start to the season, he’s appreciated a consistent player focus toward improvement.

“I like this locker room a lot because we don’t get too high and we don’t get too low,” Cravens said. “We understand we have a job to do and we have keep the positivity going. We can’t focus on the negativity.”

Elway remains optimistic. During his weekly appearance on Orange & Blue 760, a Broncos broadcast partner, general manager John Elway reiterated that he sees enough “good things,” to be confident about the final seven games.

“Every time I go into a season, I think we can win every football game,” Elway said Tuesday. “That hasn’t changed.”

Elway added: “When you lose, everything gets magnified and talked about. When you win, it covers up a lot of things. If we make that field goal last week (against Houston), we would still have negative things we’re talking about, but it would be in a different tone because there is a huge difference between 3-6 and 4-5.”

Footnotes. Linebacker Von Miller’s 15 career sacks against Chargers’ quarterback Philip Rivers mark the most by any active player against an active quarterback in the NFL. … Chargers’ running back Austin Ekeler, an Eaton native, played college football at Division-II Western State (Gunnison) before carving out a role in LA. Through nine games, Ekeler has totaled 591 yards from scrimmage and three receiving touchdowns.