5 major problems for Denver Broncos after brutal loss to Raiders

3. Penalties, once again

The Denver Broncos were second in the NFL in penalties behind just the Arizona Cardinals last season with 113. They are on pace after one week this season to have 170 penalties.

They racked up 10 penalties against the Las Vegas Raiders, simply an inexcusable number for a team that really couldn't afford to shoot itself in the foot, all things considered.

They were penalties of all sorts of varieties, as well. Holding offensively a couple of times, defensive pass interference multiple times, roughing the passer, unnecessary roughness, illegal motion...You name it, the Broncos probably did it in this game against the Raiders.

And the crazy thing is, the Raiders ended up out-doing the Broncos in the penalty yardage department, and they still wound up winning the game. The biggest penalty came on the Raiders' final possession of the game in which they threw a pass short of the sticks on third down to Jakobi Meyers, who was hit by Kareem Jackson. Jackson seemed to get a clean hit on Meyers, who ducked in anticipation of the hit and unfortunately got hurt.

We obviously hope Meyers is okay, but also the hit by Jackson seemed to be a clean one. At any rate, it cost the Broncos a chance to get off the field and the Raiders were able to eventually run out the clock. 10 penalties for 83 yards. That's not going to work.