These were the types of blunders expected in August, not September. Not when the games start to count. Faulty headsets. A holding penalty on third-and-short. Consecutive face- mask penalties, at 15 yards apiece. Lining up only 10 men on the field on defense. Being forced to call a timeout because the offense is lined up incorrectly. 'Winning is a result of doing a lot of things right,' Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said Monday. 'Yesterday, we did some things right. We just didn't do enough of them right.' Add it up, and the litany of mistakes, mental miscues and miscommunication had a tangible effect in the Broncos' 24-17 loss Sunday at Jacksonville. Wasn't the four-game preseason meant to get those blunders out of the way? 'When you boil it down, that's really how you lose a game. It's the little things,' cornerback Champ Bailey said. Perhaps no gaffe was more glaring than when the Broncos' defense lined up only 10 players against the Jaguars' offense on a second-and-goal play midway through the third quarter. The play resulted in a touchdown that put Jacksonville ahead 14-7. 'We had a substitution issue,' McDaniels said. Here's how that mistake happened: - Inside linebacker Mario Haggan left the field after the first-down play (a run by Jaguars star Maurice Jones- Drew), and headed to the sideline to talk to trainer Steve Antonopulos. - To replace Haggan, reserve linebacker Joe Mays came on the field at the same time Denver coaches called in the nickel package, with five defensive backs and only two defensive linemen, which sent Kevin Vickerson and Jason Hunter off the field. - Nickel pass rusher Jarvis Moss had come on the field but ran off, perhaps in a miscommunication after seeing Mays in the huddle. No one replaced Moss. -And no one -- not linebacker D.J. Williams, the defensive player in radio communication with the coaches, not the coaches watching from the booth or the coaches on the sideline -- realized the mistake in time to call a timeout. The ball was snapped and Jaguars quarterback David Garrard, who felt no pass-rush pressure, found tight end Marcedes Lewis in the end zone for the TD. 'They changed personnel, we changed personnel. They changed it a little later on that specific play,' McDaniels said. 'We changed with them, but we had a guy come off and a guy that did not go on. That was simply that.' Denver's offense wasn't without miscues, either. Kyle Orton was forced to call a timeout in the fourth quarter when Richard Quinn lined up incorrectly in a two-tight end formation. The CBS camera crew then focused on McDaniels as he lit into Quinn, a second-round pick in the 2009 draft, on the sideline during the timeout. 'It was a miscommunication,' Quinn said. 'But we got it together, and everything was fine after that.' Other gaffes were the result of youth and inexperience, such as the holding penalty called against rookie offensive tackle Zane Beadles on a third-down play during the Broncos' opening possession. The penalty negated a first-down run by Knowshon Moreno. Orton was sacked on the next play, and the Broncos punted. 'It's learning the differences between the college and the pro game, and you can't necessarily take a guy down like that,' said Beadles, a second-round pick from Utah. 'It'll get called every time. It's a learning curve.' Bailey, a nine-time Pro Bowler in his seventh season with the Broncos, admitted that the number of mistakes, especially the mental errors, was frustrating. But, Bailey said, it's reassuring to know they're not fundamental flaws. 'It kind of keeps you optimistic because you know you can correct those,' Bailey said. 'We know we can.' 