Welcome to square one.

All of the good tidings that washed over the Denver Broncos in the preseason, all of the new adjustments for the new year and all of the optimism were officially left scattered Sunday in the dirt of Dolphins Stadium.

A Miami Dolphins team trying to make a point certainly made one, sending the Broncos back to Denver with a 34-10 loss in the luggage with them. The Broncos are 0-1, with AFC West rivals San Diego and Kansas City coming to Denver the next two weeks.

"We just lost, got beat in all

phases," Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer said. "A one-game season, we're (ticked) off and running out of here really mad, but we've got 15 more games."

"It's just an unfortunate series of events," cornerback Champ Bailey said.

While the Dolphins might have a rookie coach in Nick Saban, they have a veteran team. And for one afternoon in the steamy Florida sun, that veteran team looked smarter and better prepared.

Miami, in Saban's debut as an NFL coach, flustered the Broncos on both sides of the ball as a starting offense that scored only one touchdown in the preseason piled up 426 yards, while the defense held the Broncos to 70 rushing rushing to go with a running-on- fumes 1-for-12 performance on third down.

"We're modern-day gladiators, that mental toughness, if you will, is really important to have in a good team," Saban said. "It's got to permeate your team and there has to be a core group of guys that buy in and believe in that."

"We just didn't match their intensity, four quarters, you know," Broncos running back Tatum Bell said. "Sometimes we played decent, scoring, making plays, but then we wouldn't execute like we should. There was a lot of frustration, you could feel it. The offense, the coaching staff. We just weren't executing."

And while the Broncos were clinging to the it's-just-one-game theme as they trudged to the buses, it was an expensive one for a team that had made no secret in the preseason it believed it was in the league's championship mix.

Bailey might miss some time because of a separated left shoulder - though he said he didn't need it, he was wearing a sling on his left arm when he left the stadium - and running back Mike Anderson suffered a rib injury that kept him out of most of the game.

Both are scheduled for magnetic resonance imaging exams this morning. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said Anderson had a cartilage injury and was being checked for cracked ribs.

Anderson said he didn't believe there were any fractures.

"It's tough," linebacker Al Wilson said. "It's a crazy business. It was unfortunate for us, but we still have to find a way to make plays, find a way to get it done. We just didn't do that."

Former Broncos backup quarterback Gus Frerotte, who was only formally awarded the Dolphins' starting job last week, completed 24 of 36 passes for 275 yards and two touchdowns against a Broncos defense that at times played without three cornerbacks after Bailey's injury.

Lenny Walls and Darrent Williams also suffered from muscle cramps - it was 89 degrees with 61 percent humidity at kickoff - in the second half.

Dolphins receiver Marty Booker finished with five catches for 104 yards, including a 60-yard catch- and-run with 9 minutes, 9 seconds to play in the game.

"It's tough to come out here and lose like this," defensive end Marco Coleman said. "It's the first game of the season, you've got to let it go now. It's hard, but (today's) a new day. San Diego doesn't care if we feel bad. Go, get back to work."

Offensively, the Broncos found themselves plodding against Saban's chalkboard scribbling for much of the day. With Anderson out of the lineup and Ron Dayne having been a game-day inactive, the Broncos running game foundered against the hard-charging Dolphins defensive front.

Plummer completed 22 of 48 passes for 251 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. His first seven passes were incomplete and he didn't get his first completion until 9:53 remained in the first half.

The Broncos also made four trips inside the Dolphins 10-yard line and came away with only 10 points as well as a fumble and losing the ball on downs. That total included a drive in the second quarter when the Broncos faced first- and-goal from the Miami 3.

The Broncos ran five plays, including a Dolphins defensive penalty, without scoring in a game they trailed 6-0 at the time. They handed over the ball on downs when Bell was thrown for a 1-yard loss.

"We've been working on it all off- season," Bell said. "I've just got to find a way to get in there like the coaches always say. . . . Can't make no excuses."

"We definitely can't hold our heads down after one loss," Wilson said. "We've got a good football team, we can't let anybody talk us out of that. We've got to continue to believe."

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