Sean Payton’s power may have already cost the Broncos a game

Sean Payton’s Denver Broncos looked a lot like Nathaniel Hackett’s, Vic Fangio’s and Vance Joseph’s.

At least through one week of the season.

The team made several maddening errors in a supremely frustrating 17-16 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1 on Sunday. There were too many penalties, the defense couldn’t get off the field, a new starting cornerback had a rough day and the kicking game was brutal.

A kicker, by the way, in Wil Lutz who was hand-picked by Payton after he cut Brandon McManus and Brett Maher. More on that in a bit.

How did the defeat happen and what were the biggest takeaways? Let’s dive into it with our first edition of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly for the 2023 season.

The Good

Quarterback Russell Wilson looked perhaps the most comfortable he ever has in a Broncos uniform. Wilson threw two touchdown passes, including leading a brilliant two-minute drive in which he found Courtland Sutton for a touchdown just before halftime.

Wilson’s yardage total of 177 isn’t going to win any awards, neither is his 5.2 yards per completion, but there was a crispness and an efficiency we never saw under Hackett. He didn’t throw an interception and took just two sacks. It’s baby steps, but it’s progress.

Meanwhile, running back Javonte Williams looked healthy after a devastating knee injury 11 months ago. He ran 13 times for 52 yards and said he felt stronger as the game went on. That’s a good sign.

While Denver lacked explosive plays, the offense wasn’t the problem. They had just six drives, something almost unheard of in this day and age in the NFL. They’ll be fine moving forward… but the defense left fans with plenty of concerns.

The Bad

The Broncos sacked Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo exactly zero times and hit him only three. Randy Gregory and Frank Clark were basically non-existent and Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto didn’t live up to the training camp hype.

The group has to be way, way better. Immediately. Outside of scoring touchdowns and creating turnovers, sacking the opposing quarterback is the most important thing in an NFL game. Von Miller and Bradley Chubb aren’t walking through that door, so someone better step up.

Also, cornerback Damarri Mathis had a dreadful afternoon. He was thrust into the No. 2 cornerback position opposite Pat Surtain II with no real competition this summer — and that was a mistake. The second-year player got burned multiple times by Jakobi Meyers while Surtain largely shutdown Adams.

On the day Meyers finished with nine catches for 81 yards and two touchdowns before a vicious hit from Kareem Jackson caused him to leave early.

Mathis wasn’t ready for this role, and it was unwise for Payton and GM George Paton to think he was. They need rookie Riley Moss to get healthy fast or veteran Fabian Moreau to seize the job, perhaps as early as this coming week against Washington.

The Ugly

Lutz left four points on the board in the loss, missing a killer extra point and a long field goal. To his credit, he owned his brutal Broncos debut after the game. Payton said Lutz will “bounce back” and “they’ll “clean it up” in his press conference.

But here’s the dirty little secret: Lutz is only on this team because Payton wanted him to be the kicker after they spent five years together in New Orleans. It’s a stretch to say Payton hired his buddy, but he knew exactly what he was doing when he shockingly cut McManus then had a bit of a sham kicking competition with Maher and Elliott Fry during camp.

Lutz only made 74.2 percent of his kicks in 2022, a year in which Payton was on a TV set. He lost out to a rookie in Saints camp this season. He was available for a reason, and yet Payton still traded a late-round draft pick for him.

This is where Payton’s power may have already cost the Broncos a game. Did Paton challenge Payton on why these decisions were being made, even though it looks like McManus and Maher are better kickers than Lutz? McManus went 5-5 on field goals and extra points for the Jaguars on Sunday. Maher was a perfect 11-11 on kicks in Denver’s final two preseason games.

No one is asking owner / CEO Greg Penner to meddle in personnel decisions like he’s Jerry Jones, but hopefully Penner at least asked Payton why McManus had to go. He was a leader on the team and the only remaining champion from the Super Bowl 50 squad. It felt like Payton cut bait to make a statement, all while Paton and Penner let it happen.

Lutz isn’t the only reason the Broncos lost on Sunday, but he was a big one. And he’s only in a Broncos uniform because Payton flexed his muscles to make it happen while showing two stronger kickers the door.

The Broncos are 0-1, and it’s hard not to think they’d be 1-0 if that series of events hadn’t happened.

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