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By Joe Kozlowski
Sports Team Lead
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Given the relatively short turnaround of an NFL season, snap judgments can be a necessary evil. And during the early days of the 2023 campaign, Sean Payton found himself squarely in the crosshairs.
The new Denver Broncos head coach talked a big game during the offseason, but his team limped out of the gate 1-5. In light of his critical comments about the previous regime, it seemed like the bench boss had made a massive miscalculation.
But then things started to turn around. And, after an unlikely winning streak, the Broncos are sitting squarely at .500.
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Is breaking even worthy of a parade through downtown Denver? Of course not, but given the volume of the collective criticism earlier this year, Payton deserves some credit.
Let's break things down.
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Payton Has the Broncos Fighting Back
While we already alluded to it above, Payton had an interesting start to his time in Denver. The coach came out of the gates hot, talking about his team's playoff potential and criticizing predecessor Nathaniel Hackett.
It's one thing to be confident in the face of a new challenge, but, in this case, things fell flat rather quickly.
The Broncos lost their three opening games, dropping close contests against the Raiders and Commanders before allowing 70 points in a drubbing at the hands of the Dolphins. A three-point win over the Bears broke the skid before two more defeats against the Jets and Chiefs pushed Denver to 1-5.
That October 12 loss to Kansas City, however, was Denver's last defeat to date. The club has rattled off four-straight wins, beating the Packers, Chiefs, Bills and Vikings to push back to .500.
Cynically, you could argue that Payton doesn't deserve that much credit. The defense, which is run by coordinator Vance Joseph, has been carrying most of the water during the winning streak. Denver's offense, which is Payton's domain, is only averaging a shade over 300 yards per game and sitting squarely in the middle of the pack with 21.7 points per outing.
But that's not to say that the head coach is being carried to victory. At the beginning of October, for example, he discussed his role in creating a defensive game plan.
"I visit with Vance and that staff [and ask them]," Payton said ahead of a meeting with the Jets, "'What are your thoughts going into this game? Where are we personnel-wise? How many packages do we need?'
"We will talk about gameday activations early in the week and periodically, 'Hey, how are we eliminating one of their better players?' This week, we are seeing one of these elite receivers who was [NFL Offensive] Rookie of the Year a year ago. He gets a lot of targets. Those discussions take place. I'm not sitting in on every meeting throughout the process, but I think that's my role as head coach."
In fairness, that game against Gang Green ended in defeat. But the quote does suggest that Payton shouldn't be completely overlooked simply because the Denver defense is shining.
Furthermore, that quote also highlighted another part of the equation: Payton is the team's head coach, and he's responsible for setting the tone.
Given the Bronco's start, it would have been easy for things to spiral. Players could have wanted out, or the organization's brass could have panicked at the trade deadline. Denver, however, largely held the course. And now the team is on a winning streak and being praised for their collective fight.
Again, you might argue that "fight" is the least that a professional athlete should show in exchange for millions of dollars in salary. But, in reality, that's not always the case. Plenty of teams quit on coaches or start going through the motions when things take a turn for the worse.
Denver, however, hasn't. And Payton, for all of his early-season issues, does seem to have the locker room buying what he's selling.
Payton's Hackett Take Looks a Bit Better, Too
Before the on-field results went south, Payton also found himself in the spotlight by criticizing Denver's previous coach, Hackett. That was viewed as a violation of football's unwritten norms; you simply don't hear one bench boss saying that another did a bad job.
And, to make things look even worse, Payton's Broncos lost to the New York Jets, where Hackett serves as offensive coordinator.
Talk about ending up with egg on your face.
But when you consider the bigger picture, Hackett hasn't exactly covered himself in glory. The Jets are posting the third-fewest yards and the third-fewest points per game in the entire NFL this year, and that falls at the feet of the offensive coordinator.
Aaron Rodgers' absence is a massive mitigating factor, but you could also argue that Hackett's job is to make adjustments to keep his unit afloat.
Does that mean that Payton was right to throw his fellow coach under the bus? There's always something to be said for taking the high road when you're in the public eye. But, with that being said, his assertion that Hackett didn't exactly help the Broncos does seem fair given how the 2023 season has unfolded.
And, again, that's not to say that we should throw a parade for Denver. Even with this impressive winning streak, the club is still sitting at .500 with some tricky tests remaining on the calendar. But, with that being said, Payton does deserve some praise for getting things back on track. While we'll need to see how the rest of the season plays out before issuing a final verdict, it does seem safe to say that the bench boss didn't forget everything he knew about coaching after leaving New Orleans.
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