One of Sean Payton's biggest bugaboos occurred on an otherwise stellar Sunday evening for the Denver Broncos, who defeated the Green Bay Packers, 27-2, in its preseason home opener.
"We had enough penalties for three games, and we’ve got to get a lot of that cleaned up," the veteran head coach bemoaned.
That's an approximation; the exact number of Broncos penalties numbered 13. Wiped off the board were 120 yards and two notable non-plays, including a Bo Nix touchdown called back by an illegal forward pass.
The week prior, Denver was flagged six times negating 60 yards in a 34-30 win over the Indianapolis Colts.
"We have a 38-yard run called back because of a penalty. I want to look at the tape," Payton said in his post-game presser. "Like I said at the onset, [we had] far too many fouls. So they set you back. They take yards off your numbers, but more importantly they also take away field position."
After blasting Broncos predecessor Nathaniel Hackett for "one of the worst coaching jobs in history" due in part to infractions, Payton's squad committed 99 penalties last season — 15th-most in the NFL — 40 of which were of the pre-snap variety.
The situation remains ongoing.
"They’ll be a number of things we look at on tape and we’re happy with and they’ll be some things that obviously we have to get cleaned up," Payton said Sunday.
