The Denver Broncos have won 8, 10 and 14 regular season games in each year of the Sean Payton era. Payton's arrival has done wonders for this franchise, as this team is now largely looked at as a Super Bowl contender.
But with any team, no matter good or bad, there are always still issues to sort out. In 2023, the Broncos had a major quarterback issue, obviously. During the 2024 season, the Broncos solved that issue but turned into a pretty poor team in one-score situations.
And in 2025, the Broncos became an elite club in one-score games, but did struggle to run the ball and get notable production from their playmakers. While all of those issues could be fixed for 2026, there is still clearly a lingering issue that just has not gone away through two preseason games.
The Denver Broncos have committed 18 total penalties in two preseason games thus far
In the team's blowout win against the Atlanta Falcons, they committed eight total penalties. In their blowout loss to the Green Bay Packers, they committed 10 penalties. Averaging nine penalties per game is simply inexcusable and just not something that can continue into 2026.
Sure, most of the backups are playing in these games, which makes it more likely that penalties get called, but the Broncos have had a penalty issue for years now. In 2025, Denver finished with the 4th-most penalties in the league, being called for 124 infractions.
In 2024, the Broncos got called for 108 penalties, and int 2023, they got called for 99. For reference, in Vic Fangio's final season as the team's head coach, in 2021, the Broncos had just 83 penalties, which was the 5th-fewest in the league.
In each year of the Payton era, the Broncos have increased their penalty totals and are among the most penalized teams in the league now. While this might not be a huge thing that fans notice during games, it's been an unfortunate, lingering issue during games in the Payton era.
Penalties can wipe out huge gains, touchdowns, and honestly spoil an entire game depending the context of those infractions. It's honestly quite impressive the Broncos were on the doorstep of the Super Bowl last year with how many penalties they got called for, but with how aggressive this team plays, I suppose it's not a huge surprise that the penalty totals are high.
With that said, at least somewhat fixing this issue has to happen in 2026, as Super Bowl windows aren't open forever, and there is no guarantee of Denver's continuing beyond this year.
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