The Broncos beat the 49ers in their preseason opener, but Sean Payton knows there is still a lot of work to do before Week 1.
The Denver Broncos had no problem beating the San Francisco 49ers 30-9 in their preseason opener. Despite the dominant win, Broncos head coach Sean Payton went into his postgame presser with a laundry list of concerns about his team's performance.
“There's some mistakes that are going to happen. 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,” Payton said postgame. “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.”
Broncos first-teamers fail to impress against 49ers
One of Payton's biggest gripes stemmed from the sluggish start that had the team falling into a 9-0 hole early. And on a more concerning note, it was the Broncos' starters on both sides of the ball who failed to meet Payton's expectations.
Sophomore quarterback Bo Nix struggled in limited action, completing just 6 of 11 passes for 31 yards across three drives. One positive was that he managed to put together a field goal drive that trimmed the deficit to 9-3. The first-team defense also got off to a rocky start, as they were unable to generate consistent pressure until outside linebacker Nik Bonitto finally provided a spark during their final series.
“I thought we started slow. That was disappointing, both first units. So there will be a handful of stuff that we look at,” Payton said. “There were a number of things that we're going to have to improve on.”
Fortunately for Denver, the reserves stepped up in a big way. Backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham was nearly flawless, going 14 of 15 for 136 yards and two touchdowns. The defense also forced four turnovers, providing some positive takeaways despite the early struggles.
Still, Payton's message to his team centered on the need for immediate improvement while also building off the positives.
“In talking to the team, I wanted to make sure that there were some things that stood out. You guys took it away four times. That's a good thing. We had too many penalties. 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.”
The Broncos will have opportunities to address these concerns in their remaining preseason matchups against the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints. While Payton's frustration is understandable, the preseason purposely serves as a tune-up period, and early struggles don't necessarily predict regular-season performance.
