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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Jon Heath

Sean Payton’s offense did something Broncos haven’t done since 2008

The Denver Broncos lost to the Las Vegas Raiders 17-16 on Sunday and there are plenty of negative takeaways from the defeat.

There are a few positives, too.

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For one, the new Sean Payton-led offense accomplished something the Broncos have not managed to do since 2008: score a touchdown on their opening drive of the season.

That’s right, not even Denver’s record-setting offense in 2013 scored a touchdown on its first drive that season. The last time the Broncos scored a TD on their season-opening drive, Mike Shanahan was the coach.

Since then, Denver has had six full-time head coaches — Josh McDaniels, John Fox, Gary Kubiak, Vance Joseph, Vic Fangio and Nathaniel Hackett — and they all failed to do what Payton’s offense did on Sunday.

Perhaps that’s more a reflection of poor coaching in the past than it is a shining reflection on Payton (or perhaps it’s dumb luck), but there’s no denying that Payton is an accomplished offensive mind. Broncos fans will hope that Sunday’s unique stat is a sign of better things to come from Payton’s offense down the road.

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