Nothing was particularly good about the Broncos’ special teams Sunday. New punter Mitch Berger looked shaky. Eddie Royal had nowhere to run on returns. And allowing a kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half was a huge factor in the loss.

For Denver it was the second straight game allowing a kick return for a touchdown, and Josh McDaniels wants to see some improvement.

“We’ve got to play faster, we’ve got to play more physical,” McDaniels said. “There were certainly examples of that from yesterday’s game, where when we do it the way we’ve done it – for the most part this year – we have success covering kicks.”

McDaniels said the special teams have to play every play with the same speed and intensity, or risk giving up a big play. He said Baltimore blocked its kickoff return touchdown well and simply played faster most of the day on special teams.

“It’s not because we have slow players,” McDaniels said. “They just played with a greater tempo, greater sense of urgency, and made more plays than we did.”

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