Sean Payton is bracing the Broncos for a tightly called opener, reminding players that the NFL traditionally enforces new points of emphasis zealously in September.
This year, officials are zeroed in on sportsmanship, including taunting, formation and neutral-zone alignment, in addition to adjustments tied to the new kickoff rules.
The league’s opener on Thursday featured one of this year’s officiating points of emphasis before the first play from scrimmage. Jalen Carter was ejected for spitting at Dak Prescott, which falls under the emphasis on sportsmanship rules. Carter would’ve likely been tossed either way, whereas the hyperfocus on the rule is mostly about celebrations.
Payton didn’t watch the game, but he did use it as a teaching tool for the Broncos on Friday.
“I clipped out all the behavior fouls and put them on a cut-up,” Payton said Friday. “We talked about the points of emphasis — the taunting, all the stuff that can keep your team from losing a game — and the line-of-scrimmage details: tackles and defensive players in the neutral zone.”
Last year’s points of emphasis focused on alignment relative to the line of scrimmage, something Payton said the Broncos remain mindful of.
“Having been on the competition committee, those early weeks you see spikes,” he said. “They’re writing speeding tickets early, then it generally calms down.”
The Broncos are expecting “speeding tickets” to be called very quickly in Week 1 against the Titans and not just for the normal opener reasons but because Alex Kemp and his team will work the game.
“Two of the last three years, this (officiating) crew has been number one in fouls called,” Payton said. “This past season, they were seventh. But this is a crew that’s going to call it close to the vest.”
So the Week 1 directive is simple: just play clean. If the Broncos avoid the antics, they won’t get written for any speeding tickets.