Time and time again the defense responded even when things didn’t go their way, and they were up to the challenge at multiple points in the afternoon.
The unit played an almost flawless first half, up until the Broncos scored on an explosive play on a fourth down near midfield to get some points before halftime.
Denver then came out of halftime once again with a quick score to take a 14-10 lead, before tacking on another three points following a turnover.
“That’s on us,” James said. “I feel like coach made a good call, we just got to communicate it to everybody. We know it’s loud, everybody is standing. We just got to communicate and we’ll get that cleaned up.”
He later added: “We got to be better on our part, we know we’re a tough defense to play against. We’ll be ready. I have all the confidence in the world in these guys.”
Even in the midst of their first deficit of the young season, however, the confidence never wavered amongst themselves.
The Chargers defense would allow just three more points and three first downs in the final 27 minutes of the game.
It was just the ebbs and flows of the game — and the Bolts never let it get to them.
“That’s just a credit to all of us sticking together and not getting rattled,” Chargers defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand said. “Especially the swing of the game, it was crazy. The momentum was going back and forth so just that even keel, sticking together and getting the call and executing.”
James added: “We knew we were going to make the plays when our number was called.”
And perhaps no possessions were bigger than the final two that gave the offense a shot to win the game.
The defense knew exactly what time it was.
“We know the situation,” safety Tony Jefferson said. “We know what we need to do, that’s go out there and execute the gameplan. We’ve been in those situations in practice, we practice them. It’s not like walking into something new we haven’t seen.
“We’re just ready for the moment,” Jefferson added.