EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- As distasteful as it might be for the Denver Broncos, they’ve been in this place before.

Right in this exact situation, when things seems to be teetering.

Sunday’s rather dismal effort -- a 34-16 loss to the New York Jets -- was the Broncos' third consecutive loss after a 2-0 start. Last season, it was a 3-1 start before all the dominoes fell over in what became a zombie walk through an eight-game losing streak and a 5-11 finish.

And in six days, the Broncos will face the Los Angeles Rams at home.

“We’re not going to fall for the noise," said Broncos coach Vance Joseph at MetLife Stadium. "... We can’t surrender to this. That’s what the public thinks. We have no excuses. We’ve got to bounce back. We can’t surrender to the noise out there; it’s early in the season ... we’ve got plenty of time, we’ve got a big game on Sunday, and I feel good about it."

After Sunday's loss, in an attempt to describe the current rinse-and-repeat cycle, Broncos defensive end Derek Wolfe said, “Something -- something much deeper is happening here that I can’t even really understand." That will be put to the test once again this week again, as the Rams have one of the league’s highest-octane offenses and a defense that makes life difficult for opposing quarterbacks.

That’s two rather significant items the Broncos have struggled against this season, even when the opponent doesn’t fit the profile. The Jets came into Sunday’s game with the league’s 29th-rated offense, and they pushed the Broncos all over the field, rushing for 323 yards.

The Broncos also saw quarterback Case Keenum consistently harassed, as he was sacked four times and threw his seventh interception of the season. (Keenum threw seven picks all of last season for the Minnesota Vikings.)

“We have to do better, and we will do better," Keenum said. “ ... I’ve got to be better."

He does, as does the rest of the offense when the game is still in the balance.

But the biggest concern with the Rams looming is the Broncos' defensive meltdown in New Jersey. The Jets gained 512 yards on offense. New York’s rushing total was the fifth highest for an opponent in a single game in Denver’s franchise history. And the Jets averaged 8.4 yards every time they ran a play.

In their three-game losing streak, the Broncos are trending the wrong way, given that they have now surrendered 342, 446 and 512 yards, and those three opponents (Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs and the Jets) have gone 21-of-44 on third down. It’s a conversion rate (47.7 percent) that would have been almost unheard in the heyday of 2015.

Joseph was asked after Sunday’s loss if he felt the need to make any adjustments with his defensive coaching staff. Joe Woods is in his second season of calling plays on defense. And Joseph, like his players, says the ability to dig out of trouble is still to be found in the locker room and in the coaches' offices.

“I think we’re sound schematically," Joseph said, "but again, it always starts with coaching. We have to coach better so they can play better, but we pay our players to play also. So, it's not just coaching; it’s all of us involved.

"It starts with me, and we have to coach and play better."

Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said the defense, and the team, needs to go back to “square one" and "figure out who wants to be here, who wants to change this."

It is all where Joseph once again finds himself 21 games into his tenure as head coach: a place where what he has called the “fight" and “grit" of his team doesn’t show up on game day. A place where “a good week of work" doesn’t translate into a win, especially on the road, where the Broncos are now 1-9 in their past 10 games played anywhere other than a mile up.

“I don’t know what it is, I really don’t," Wolfe said. “ ... We have guys in here who have done it -- we’ve won, we know what it takes. We all want to figure it out."

Joseph echoed the sentiment.

“[We] go back and regroup and play our best football Sunday; that’s all we can do," he said.