Sean Payton identifies 'low-hanging fruit' that Broncos must clean up after bye

The Denver Broncos come off their Week 12 bye rested and ready to prove they are truly among the top teams in the NFL. However, for the Broncos to keep that momentum moving forward, head coach Sean Payton said there is one area that his team has to clean up immediately. "The penalties stand out," Payton told The Denver Post and other outlets after Monday's practice. "If you said what’s the low-hanging fruit that you have to clean up to improve your chances of getting the best possible seed?" Broncos still have room to improve despite 9-2 record Through the first 12 weeks of the 2025 NFL slate, the Broncos are 9-2 and trailing only the New England Patriots, who enter their Monday night game at the New York Giants with a 10-2 record, at the top of the AFC standings. While the Broncos aren't at the top of the AFC standings, they are in another category that Payton isn't happy about — penalty yards. According to NFLPenalties.com, Denver paces the NFL in penalties against (93), penalty yards (883) and total number of flags (113), which includes declined and offsetting calls. "It’s something that we as a collective have to get better at," Payton said. It's also something that has to be improved from an individual standpoint as well. Defensive pass interference has been called against cornerback Riley Moss nine times already this season. In all, those calls (the most in the NFL and seven of which have been accepted) have cost the Broncos 158 yards. "With Riley, sometimes it’s technique and sometimes it’s the traffic opposite of a real good corner," Payton said. "Now, Pat (Surtain II) hasn’t been healthy, but there’s things that I’m sure (Moss) will want to clean up and then there’s a few calls where we look at it and it’s tough to try to correct or clean up something if you don’t agree with it. Overall, the penalty thing is not just one player, though." Denver gets its chance to turn around its penalty problem on Sunday night when it visits the Washington Commanders. It's the first of two consecutive road games for the Broncos, with a trip to Las Vegas to face the Raiders following that. The Broncos are a 6.5-point favorite per BetMGM.com at Washington and will likely be favored heavily against the 2-9 Raiders as well. Both the Commanders and Raiders are in the bottom 11 of the league in passing yards per game, giving Denver's defense (which has allowed an NFL-low nine passing touchdowns per game) a chance to clamp down while trying to avoid penalties that could give those struggling offenses life. If Denver can clean up its penalties over the next six regular-season games, it could add to what has already become a powerful force under Payton.