Despite win and Bo Nix’s play, Sean Payton rankled by miscues

INDIANAPOLIS — Sean Payton made sure that Lucas Krull and Audric Estimé were on the field after their fumbles Sunday. In fact, both players touched the ball on the next offensive snap following their turnovers.

There is a hypothesis that after a player fumbles or drops a pass, you want to get the ball back in their hands as soon as possible to get the taste of the bobble out of their system. With that thought in mind, I asked Payton about the notion of doing that — as his offense did twice.

“Yeah, when I get over being upset with them,” Payton said.

The fumbles were only part of the plethora of foibles that dogged the Broncos. A series of miscues that included Tim Patrick’s taunting call, two false starts in a three-snap span, two drops, two botched center-quarterback exchanges and a holding penalty squelched some attempts to find a rhythm.

Asked Sean Payton about whether there was a benefit to getting the ball back in a player's hands quickly after a fumble — which came up multiple times Sunday.

"Yeah — when I get over being upset with him. So there's a time there. But those are lessons, and pretty soon then… pic.twitter.com/1cfQlMCtmW

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) August 12, 2024

That the Broncos amassed 34 points despite the self-inflicted wounds was rather remarkable. But there will come a time when such errors cost the Broncos a win, and Payton knows it.

“Those are lessons, and pretty soon then, they’re lessons that can’t happen, and that was something I talked about [Saturday] night,” Payton said. “I told the coaches that it’s one concern I have, is the ball security in this game coming in, and it kind of manifested kind of how I thought, unfortunately.”

Fumbles accumulated in the final three quarters o the game, while Bo Nix and Zach Wilson handled quarterbacking chores. Jarrett Stidham was on the field for four penalties in his two offensive drives that defused any early attempts to ignite the offense.

“I didn’t like the penalties,” Sean Payton said.

And while Stidham made a good acquittal of himself considering all that went awry around him, his play wasn’t enough to overcome mistakes — although he didn’t have a second chance after Perine’s bobble-and-drop that landed in the grasp of Colts cornerback Kenny Moore II.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot,” Stidham said.

Jarrett Stidham, on the offense during the two series he was in at QB: "Yeah, honestly, I thought we moved the ball really well. We kind of shot ourselves in the foot. Mainly those first two drives with penalties and that sort of thing. But I mean — a lot of good, I thought." pic.twitter.com/7Q7T0oADWd

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) August 12, 2024

The mistakes are correctable. Mike McGlinchey noted that his false-start penalty came when he was trying to time up Stidham’s cadence; the seven-year veteran right tackle was “a smidge early,” as he said.

“It’s something we’re continuing to work with at camp. It’ll be cleaned up as the season goes on,” McGlinchey said.

For a Broncos side that may have scant margin for error, any chance of success and shocking the national pundits who have the team ticketed for the AFC West basement could rest upon minimizing miscues as much as possible.