The Denver Broncos are coming off their fourth straight loss and in a week filled with tough questions, stress and high-tension, a date with the New England Patriots on Sunday night football looms.

For linebacker Shane Ray, who joined Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro in the Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 studio, it’s crunch-time for the blue and orange.

“It’s definitely crunch-time for us,” Ray said. “It’s a lot going on — as a team, the leaders, the veterans of the team, we all need to get this together.”

At 3-5, the Broncos haven’t lived up to the high standard that Denver expects from its most-cherished franchise, and Ray understands that. “Three and five is not Broncos football,” Ray explained. “We’re used to being a high-caliber championship team, and we’re not playing to that level.”

Ray also touched on problematic issues that are feeding into the four consecutive losses, particularly on defense. “There was a lot of miscommunication as far as assignments,” Ray said. “Situations that we could’ve probably been better in.”

The Broncos are finishing up a stretch of three straight road games against division-leading talent in the NFL, but lately, as Ray alludes too, the Broncos are not only facing quality opponents, but themselves as well.

“It’s like the Broncos are beating the Broncos,” said Ray. “Fighting an uphill battle. The team is just so stressed out, everybody’s in… I don’t want to say ‘panic mode’, but everybody’s trying to make a play, everybody’s trying to do something, I’m jumping offsides because I’m trying to get a sack, help the team. It’s frustrating, all-in-all, when we can’t just put our finger on exactly what the problem is right now.”

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