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The Denver Broncos secured a 30-9 win over the San Francisco 49ers in their preseason opener on Saturday. The final score is a positive result on paper, but the team has plenty to work on in the coming weeks.
“[I]t was just average to below average,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of the performance of the team’s starters.
The first-team offense managed just one field goal on three drives. The first-team defense allowed the Niners to march 71 yards down the field on the game’s opening drive for a touchdown.
“Not even just the game, but going back to the practice that we had the other day, I thought we started out slow, both first units, and that was disappointing,” Payton said. “There will be a handful of stuff we look at there. I think we were 0-4 on third down offensively and things began to pick up [later]. I thought Jarrett [Stidham] did a good job.
“I thought defensively, we ended up with four takeaways and too many penalties for my liking. … There were a number of things that we’re going to have to improve upon, like missing some protections. There will also be a lot of positives. We’ll be evaluating players, getting a chance to have better tape, which will help make the decision process for us a little bit easier.”
Stidham was a bright spot, as Payton mentioned. Denver’s second-team quarterback went 14-of-15 for 136 yards with two touchdowns. The backup defenders also made plays with four takeaways and two sacks. Payton didn’t like the 11 penalties for 87 yards, though.
“We’ve got to get that cleaned up,” Payton said. “There was just some things that even before I even put the tape on that we have to be prepared to clean up and then some things that were part of winning a game.”
Clearly, Payton has a lot he wants to get cleaned up, and not only with the players.
“There’s some mistakes that are going to happen,” Payton said. “But it’s the pre-snap, it’s the illegal man downfield. There’s a handful of these things that have to be cleaned up like, like tomorrow. I do think it’s important when we come to work tomorrow. It’s not just the players. This is the first road trip for us. I’ve got 14 things written down that I’m pissed off about that have nothing to do with the game. That’s part of the debrief, too. The willingness of the player, employee, all of us to accept and make those corrections are important.”
Payton’s squad will get an opportunity to bounce back when the Broncos host the Arizona Cardinals next Saturday (view the full preseason schedule).
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