The Broncos' bad-to-the-bone reputation on defense is worth every penny of each fine and every yard of each penalty. The NFL is not for Cub Scouts.

Dirty football wins.

Every NFL defense wants to be bad to the bone.

"Yes, of course," Broncos linebacker Brandon Marshall said.

Eliminate the penalties? No way. No how.

Unnecessary roughness leaves a mark. A chop block hurts, which is precisely the point. Although penalties have long been condemned as the sign of an undisciplined team, the truth is all those yellow flags can actually be a sign of an aggressive team on its way to the Super Bowl.

"As coach (Gary) Kubiak always says: 'You never want to take away the aggression.' As soon you do that, you're playing on your heels," Marshall said. "Most of the best NFL defenses in the past have been really aggressive. I think Seattle has had the most penalties the last couple years as a defense."

If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying.

And the list of recent NFL champions is proof.

While the 2014 New England Patriots were under scrutiny for Deflategate, we have cold, hard proof of 1,080 penalty yards, which ranked the Pats as the third-most penalized team in the league.

The 2013 Seattle Seahawks reinforced their nasty Legion of Boom reputation by being the most penalized team in the league, flagged 128 times during 16 regular-season games, with the Hawks' physically intimidating secondary busted for pass interference an NFL-high 13 times.

The 2012 Baltimore Ravens, motivated by the preaching and primal screams of linebacker Ray Lewis, won it all despite leading the league with 1,127 penalty yards, including 17 infractions for unnecessary roughness.

Oh, the eye-gouging incident in Indianapolis that would have done Moe Howard from the Three Stooges proud was a dumb play by Broncos cornerback Aqib Talib. In fact, it proved to be $323,529 of stupidity — the NFL suspended him for a game without pay.

The wicked shoulder shot Denver safety T.J. Ward delivered to defenseless Colts receiver T.Y. Hilton merited a $17,363 fine, despite Kubiak's insistence it was a textbook example of a clean tackle. But the impression left on every other receiver in the league by Ward's vicious hit made the hefty fine money well spent.

And I do not believe for one minute the Broncos should try to clean up their penalties. Only the after-the-whistle infractions are a problem. After eight games, Denver's defense is the second-most penalized unit in the league, and overall the Broncos rank fifth in penalty yardage assessed against them. And that's no big deal.

The name of this game is not Mother, May I? If anything, the Broncos should ratchet up their aggression.

When Denver won back-to-back championships in the late 1990s, nobody wanted to play the Broncos because running back Terrell Davis pounded the rock and linebacker Bill Romanowski might spit in your face. But what infiltrated the heads of opponents were the cut blocks executed to nasty perfection by Denver offensive linemen.

Down-and-dirty football wins.

What gives an intimidating team its psychological edge? It's the willingness to play constantly on the edge and push the boundaries of the rules.

Nobody wanted to see Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck get injured, and there's absolutely zero evidence the Broncos were trying to hurt him as he repeatedly scrambled against a fierce Denver pass rush.

But the hit Luck took as the meat in a tackle sandwich of Broncos linebacker Danny Trevathan and defensive lineman Vance Walker as Indy's star quarterback fought for yardage in the red zone of a tight game brought involuntary gasps from the crowd inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

While Luck closed the deal on a Colts' upset victory, the lacerated kidney and partially torn abdominal muscle he suffered from the hit will linger for weeks — and sit heavy in the subconscious mind of any smart quarterback who even thinks about straining for an extra yard against Denver.

In the Peyton Manning era, the one fatal flaw has been being soft as a team.

John Elway wanted more kicking and screaming from the Broncos. He got it, plus some scratching, clawing and kidney shots for good measure.

Football is a mean, dirty game. The Broncos are good at it.