Of all the problems the Cincinnati Bengals have had during their losing streak, penalties haven’t been among them.

But they certainly were Sunday in a 31-23 loss to the Broncos at Paul Brown Stadium, the team’s fourth consecutive defeat.

The Bengals were flagged a season high-tying eight times for a season-high 83 yards, including five for 59 yards in the fourth quarter alone. Three of the late flags came in the same series as Cincinnati tried to answer Denver’s go-ahead touchdown that was set up by another penalty, a pass interference call against Adam Jones in the end zone.

“It was iffy,” Bengals cornerback Terence Newman said of the call, which gave the Broncos first-and-goal at the 1-yard line and led to a Manning touchdown pass to Joel Dreessen for a 24-20 lead with 11:47 remaining.

“Those guys have a tough job making those calls,” Newman added. “It’s not something where they can take their time and check the replay. It is what it is. If it’s called, it’s called.”

Offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth was not so diplomatic when talking about the holding penalty he was assessed on the following drive.

“It’s absurd,” Whitworth said of the call, which came from the side judge. “It’s a crazy call. Nothing happened different than had happened at any point in the game. You shut a guy down all day long, and he gets to whine over there to that ref all day and finally the ref comes out of nowhere throws a flag for something that hasn’t been different than any point in the game.

“My argument is not with him, it’s with the NFL,” Whitworth continued. “Side judges should not be involved with calling holding when they’re 30 or 40 yards away.”

Whitworth was called for a false start a few plays later that put the Bengals in a third-and-15 at their own 28, but Andy Dalton hit A.J. Green with a 19-yard pass for a first down. Or so they thought. Another flag, this time a holding call on center Jeff Faine, made it third-and-25. Dalton tried to go back to Green, but he was hit as he threw and Champ Bailey intercepted the pass at the Cincinnati 46, leading to another Manning touchdown.

Record return

Denver’s Trindon Holliday returned the second-half kickoff 105 yards for a touchdown, marking the longest score in Broncos history.

It also equaled the longest play ever against the Bengals, tying the 105-yard kick return by Miami’s Mercury Morris in 1969. It was the first kickoff return for a TD against the Bengals since 2010 when the New York Jets’ Brad Smith returned one 89 yards.

Double debut

Bengals rookies Dre Kirkpatrick and Emmanuel Lamur both made their NFL debuts Sunday.

Kirkpatrick, a cornerback and the team’s first-round draft pick (17th overall) out of Alabama, played on the kickoff coverage and punt return units, logging one tackle.

Lamur, an undrafted college free agent from Kansas State, saw quite a bit of action at linebacker and finished with two tackles and a pass defense. He also had a tackle on special teams.

Streaky stats

Green’s 10-yard touchdown reception marked the seventh consecutive game in which he has caught a pass for a score, the third-longest streak in team history behind Carl Pickens (10) and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (eight).

Dalton was intercepted by Denver cornerback Champ Bailey in the fourth quarter, marking the first time in team history a quarterback has thrown an interception in the first eight games of the season.