Penalties Were A Big Problem Against Arizona On Sunday

If you’re looking for entertainment at a Denver Broncos game, the interactions between coach Sean Payton and the referees are almost always a good place to start. Payton isn’t a man who tends to hide his feelings, and his facial expressions usually make him easy to read and figure out what’s going on with him. 

Payton wasn’t a happy camper when the Broncos played the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, even though Denver posted an important 35-21 win. It wasn’t a comfortable win until the second half, when the Broncos got a two-score lead and relied on their defense to get them home. 

It also wasn’t a game with a lot of flow, offensively and otherwise, and that was one of the reasons for the coach’s crankiness. The Broncos were charged with a season-high 11 penalties for 114 yards, per Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post, and Payton talked about this after the game about his interactions with Craig Wrolstad and his officiating crew. 

“If you guys are doing your best to tune the television audience out,” the coach said, “you’re on a roll.” 

This is pure Payton at his finest and most acerbic, which is how he often rolls when it comes to humor. His comment took into account the fact that the Cardinals were also hit with nine penalties and 59 yards, and the total number of penalties accepted was 20. 

One play in particular that drew Payton’s ire was a pass interference call against tight end Adam Trautman that negated a big play. It was one of those pick plays that’s disguised to not look like a pick, with the receiver doing the blocking stopping just short of contact. 

Trautman didn’t quite pull this off, however. When he went to “help” receiver RJ Harvey, the tight end put his arm across the defender’s chest, and he got called for it. 

Payton thought Trautman executed the play correctly, and he said afterward that he “must be coaching it wrong,” as he obviously didn’t think that what the tight end did constituted legitimate contact. The play took the results of the play off the Arizona 1-yard line, and Payton said that he needed to see the tape. 

This cuts both ways, however. Arizona coach Mike LaFleur was equally enraged about a fairly blatant interference call against cornerback Riley Moss, who wrapped up the intended receiver as the ball arrived but managed to use the angle to shield what he was doing on the play. 

This is an ongoing problem that always bears watching, especially given the importance of Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.