The Broncos need to discipline themselves before others do.
The league, officials and karma are all waiting to come down on the Broncos, clobbering their dreams if they do not significantly reduce their penalties. Denver ranks second with 61 behind the Jaguars and first in yards against at 575.
The Broncos sit atop the AFC West with a 5-2 record, thanks in part to sprinkles of pixie dust.
They believe they are a Super Bowl contender. Outside the building, those not wearing orange-and-blue-tinted sunglasses are rolling their eyes. The Broncos cannot reach their goal if their games continue to feature more flags than the United Nations.
“It would be unprecedented. It has to change for us to get where we want to go,” coach Sean Payton said Wednesday. “It is not detailed enough. We still have to look at ourselves as coaches.”
The ol’ “it starts with me” explanation plays well in the locker room. Thinking about the trajectory of the Broncos under Payton, good things usually happen when he identifies a problem. It gets addressed head-on, kind of like Payton saying his comment to Giants owner John Mara was praise for Jaxson Dart, not a shot at Russell Wilson, even as he admitted, “I might be able to see how he might perceive that.”
Umm, OK.
Frankly, neither of their comments bothered me. Being petty is one of Payton’s strengths.
He loves to needle people, his jabs more like hooks, dripping in sarcasm or brutal candor. But nobody in Denver cares anymore about Wilson, his clothes or his cringy commercials.
Payton has a more pressing problem. The rules. And his team following them. There has long been a feeling that Payton teams lose every 50-50 call, that the refs have it out for him. This sometimes feels like the case. But playing the victim helps no one.
Payton has to clean this up. And the players need to look in the mirror.
The Broncos had 12 penalties for 127 yards against the Giants two weeks after 12 for 121 against the Eagles. So while Payton agrees with the Bill Parcells notion that “you are what your record says you are,” winning is not sustainable with this many mistakes.
He cannot let this keep happening, even if that means simplifying play calls to get Bo Nix to the line of scrimmage sooner or limiting snaps for young players.
There have to be consequences or the Broncos will pay the price in January.
“He addresses it every day. You talk about teams that go on to win championships; usually, you have to bring the penalties down, right? The things we talk about most are penalties and turnovers. If you want to win in this league, you have to take the ball away, protect it, and you can’t be in the bottom of the league in penalties,” said kicker Wil Lutz, who has played for Payton in New Orleans and Denver. “He’s big on it. So, I know it’s eating him alive.”
It does not make sense based on the blueprint. Payton and George Paton built a roster of smart, tough players who love football. They were handpicked. It is how he turned Sesame Street under Nathaniel Hackett into Compete Street?
But this season remains threatened by law-breaking. And the coach and his pupils deserve blame, even if some of the calls were atrocious (the pass interference at the end of the Giants game on Riley Moss tops the list).
Payton divides the penalties into two categories: pre-snap and post-snap. The Broncos are tied for fifth with four delay-of-game penalties. That is on Payton. He has to spit out the play quicker to Nix. Or reduce the verbiage. The last thing this offense needs is a steeper incline.
The Broncos rank 14th in false starts with seven. Among the offenders are Troy Franklin, Garett Bolles and Luke Wattenberg. This is on the players. No excuses.
“Starts with the huddle, the play call, making sure we are all on the same page and not being lazy,” Franklin said.
The Broncos have not had fewer than six penalties in any game. They combined for 18 in their losses to the Colts and Chargers, including the unspeakably bad leverage call on a missed 60-yard field goal. They have had a negative penalty differential in six straight games.
Players love the word accountability. Words make us all feel better.
However, action is required to win games against the Cowboys, Chiefs, Packers and Chargers. Nik Bonitto has been offside three times. That is three too many. Pat Surtain II leads the Broncos with five penalties. Three were weak sauce. But he, too, has an offside call.
This column is not meant to pile on, but to make a point. The Broncos stand on a slippery slope. They require more margin for error if they are going to reach 11 or 12 wins.
“We look at penalties in two ways. You look at effort penalties, when you give your all and make a good play and the ref disagrees, and then there are plays with penalties we know how to fix,” Surtain said. “We have to stay consistent on it.”
The penalties must be dragged into the sunlight because they will soon be singled out as a reason for a loss.
Payton takes the blame on the podium. And it typically gets better, whether it is finishing (4-2 in one-score games after going 1-6 last season) or dominating at Empower Field (eight straight home wins).
The Broncos play hard for Payton. He has their back, and the players appreciate that, especially when he spewed lava after last Sunday’s penalty on Moss.
“Sometimes when it happens, you don’t know how it will be received. The minute you have your coach’s respect and support, it goes a long way,” Zach Allen said. “It is authentic with him.”
“I loved it,” Moss said. “He saw what everyone else saw.”
Payton was penalized for his meltdown, though it was not the worst thing to move the Giants closer to the goal line. The sooner they scored, the better.
“He is always going to fight for his guys,” Lutz said. “But if it was first-and-10 at the 10, not sure he does it.”
It was a mistake. Smart and well-timed, but a gaffe nonetheless.
It was on him. But this penalty thing is on all of them. It must be fixed or the course correction is going to be a (bleep).
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