Denver Broncos penalty breakdown through nine weeks

Penalties have been a problem for the Denver Broncos in 2019. Here is a breakdown of penalties and who committed them.

Penalties in the NFL are killers. That is no different and especially true for the Denver Broncos. Far too often, we see a flag on the turf during or following a play. Those plays sometimes were big plays called back. Other times, it didn’t matter as much.

The Denver Broncos have been called for 66 penalties this season, the ninth-most of any team in the league. Here is a unit breakdown:

Offensive penalties: 30
Defensive penalties: 24
Special Teams penalties: 12

The offensive line has been a problem for the Broncos. Not only do they allow defenders to reach the quarterback or backfield far too often, but they also are the culprits of committing penalties.

That’s where I’ll start.

Holding

Before doing research, I assumed that left tackle Garett Bolles led the team in holding penalties. While he still might, we’re only focusing on penalties that have been accepted throughout the season.

Bolles is second on the team in holding penalties (4) to Ronald Leary (5).

Bolles has six additional holding calls against him, but all of those have been declined.

The other holding penalties committed by the Denver Broncos in 2019 are:

• Defensive end Derek Wolfe (3)
• Tight end Noah Fant, cornerback Chris Harris Jr., wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders and cornerback Isaac Yiadom (2)
• Linebacker Von Miller, cornerback Duke Dawson, tight end Troy Fumagalli, fullback Andy Janovich, LB Joseph Jones, OL Elijah Wilkinson, DB Trey Marshall (1).

Offsides

The Broncos have been called for offsides just twice in 2019 (Von Miller and Malik Reed). That is somewhat of a surprising stat. For as fast as Miller gets off the line of scrimmage, it would make sense that he would be called more than just once. I”m not complaining, though.

The most times any player has been offsides in 2019 is four (Raiders DE Clelin Ferrell).

Pass Interference

Pass interference is sometimes a very questionable penalty. Sometimes it is referred to as a judgment call. I hate that sort of thing. When there’s a penalty, you call it. There should not be the need for “judgment” calls. In fact, this penalty is now challengable.

While pass interference penalties can be judgment calls, they are also one of, if not the most costly penalties in all of football. When defenders commit this penalty, the ball is placed at the spot of the foul. A lot of the time, it is a huge gain in yards.

The breakdown of pass interference calls accepted against the Denver Broncos is as follows:

• Cornerback Chris Harris Jr., cornerback Davontae Harris (2)
• Tight end Noah Fant, cornerback Duke Dawson, cornerback Coty Sensabaugh (1)

Roughing the Passer, Unnecessary Roughness

Another frustrating thing in today’s NFL is the need to protect quarterbacks. That usually means calling penalties that aren’t usually penalties. I’m just being honest.

The Denver Broncos have been called for three roughing the passer penalties this season, one for each of these players:

• OLB Von Miller
• OLB Bradley Chubb
• NT Mike Purcell

As roughing penalties are 15-yards each, you can imagine how frustrating it is to have them go against you–especially when you didn’t actually do anything.

Unnecessary roughness penalties often are things like late hits. Sometimes they are forgivable but other times they are very obvious.

Final thoughts

So, it goes without saying that the Denver Broncos have been killed by penalties this season. While their record indicates that they are a 3-6 football team, they could have easily had a much better record if it weren’t for penalties.

The thing that is most glaring to me is the holding penalties. This is because of the hiring of Mike Munchak as offensive line coach. He had been highly regarded as the best offensive line coach in the business. Unfortunately, this sort of thing must just take time to develop and get better.

The Denver Broncos have a long way to go in their last seven games of the season. Hopefully, they can turn things around. Eliminating penalties is an absolute must if they are going to do so.