Preseason game No. 1 is in the books for the Denver Broncos.
How you choose to evaluate (or don’t) the loss to the Arizona Cardinals is entirely up to you.
What is nice to see, however, is a competent Denver head coach on the sideline for the first time since Gary Kubiak. Whether that leads to success in the regular season remains to be seen, but it’s a great change.
Seeing that orange Broncos visor, you know the expectations have changed.
As Payton told the media after the game:
“What I told the team, regardless of whether it is a preseason game or a regular season game, you can’t stand losing.