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A few seconds of silence passed on ESPN’s broadcast Monday night, announcer Joe Buck waiting for the inevitable after a replay of a blindside-block flag on the Broncos’ Alex Palczewski.
Eventually, color commentator Troy Aikman let loose.
“I’m not gonna keep my mouth shut,” Aikman chuckled. “That’s a good call. It’s just not a necessary call, you know?”
The Broncos, too, came away from Monday night’s 28-3 win over the Bengals with a few offensive-line flags they didn’t particularly agree with. Center Luke Wattenberg drew five penalties over the course of 60 minutes against the Bengals — a rough day on paper. But Wattenberg was whistled for two particularly questionable holding calls that Payton lambasted.
“I’m gonna come to his defense, because there was a handful of — we never send anything to the league, but there were a few of ‘em that, if you guys watch the tape…” Payton said, trailing off. “He’s been playing well.”
After Monday, the 28-year-old Wattenberg now leads all NFL centers in penalties (six) through Week 4, according to Pro Football Focus. Still, Payton and left tackle Garett Bolles expressed clear faith in the Broncos’ starting center moving forward.
“I mean, some of those penalties were ticky-tacky,” Bolles told The Denver Post in the locker room Thursday. “It is what it is. You can’t focus on what you did. You gotta focus on what you’re going to do to continue to get better.
“And I trust Luke,” Bolles continued. “We all love Luke. He leads us up front. He identifies the stuff we need to identify. And without him, we wouldn’t be where we’re at today. So, we love him.”
Wattenberg, for his part, told The Post he was in a lot of one-on-one blocks Monday, playing at the point of attack in a Broncos run game that rolled between the tackles against the Bengals. And the center said he had to “let go a little sooner.”
“Like, obviously, I don’t agree with the holding calls,” Wattenberg said. “But they were called, and so we gotta roll with them. And I’ve gotta adjust in-game to be able to deal with that.”
Still, he was also whistled twice for drifting ineligible downfield on a pass. And Wattenberg affirmed he needed to “clean up my screen game.”
“I mean, you can’t get comfortable, ever, in your job,” Wattenberg responded when asked about the responsibility he carries in his role. “And, to be able to be considered a leader among your teammates is a great honor, and it’s a big responsibility to play center. So I don’t take it lightly.”
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Luca Evans
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