The Sean Payton naysayers are looking at things the wrong way
Apr 22, 2023, 10:00 AM
Broncos Country, it’s time to talk about the elephant in the room. Have we put too much faith in Sean Payton?
The talks began at the end of last season about the possibility of Payton becoming the Broncos next head coach. Everyone was skeptical that it would ever happen, but excited if the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group could pull it off.
Fast forward to Feb. 6, 2023, when the Broncos introduced Payton as the new head coach of the Denver Broncos. There was genuine excitement. And hope.
Since then, Broncos Country has been absolutely ecstatic about Payton being hired. They’re right back to talks about playoffs and the Super Bowl. Every sports media company has been following Payton’s every last move and comparing it to what Nathaniel Hackett did last season. How he’s treating the media. How he’s handling the offseason, free agency. The list goes on and on.
The hype around the league and in Denver is back after an awful 5-12 season because a legendary coach will fix everything. Right?
Are we putting too much faith into Payton? Can he fix Russell Wilson? Will he be able to deliver after taking some time off away from coaching? Will he be able to fix this lost Broncos team?
The answer is… heck yes!
Payton becoming the Broncos head coach is the absolute best thing that could’ve happen to this franchise. The organization has been in a lull since Peyton Manning retired after the 2015 season and hasn’t been able to find their identity. After years of struggling with four different head coaches and 11 quarterbacks, the Broncos finally found their long-term solutions in Payton and Wilson.
Payton has been one of the most-successful head coaches in NFL history with an overall record of 161-97. He brought the Saints to the postseason nine times and won a Super Bowl in 2009. From 2006-21, New Orleans ranked first in yards per game at 392.4 and averaged 27.6 points per game, which ranked second in the NFL. It’s pretty apparent that he knows what he’s doing.
I know everyone is wondering if he’ll be able to fix Wilson. But I don’t think anyone should be concerned about that. Wilson was coached by an amateur last year, someone who had no idea what he was doing. Plain and simple. Hackett was a complete disaster. It’s no wonder Wilson couldn’t produce on the field. His head coach didn’t know how to run a football team.
If the Broncos would have scored 18.0 points in every game last season, they would have had a 12-5 record. Under Hackett, the Broncos averaged about 15.0 points a game. Once he was fired, interim head coach Jerry Rosburg averaged 27.5 points a game. Leadership means everything. Wilson is a Hall of Fame-worthy player and with the right coaching under Payton, there is zero doubt in my mind he’ll become one of the top quarterbacks this season.
Payton came in and changed this organization for the better and made his presence known. On the first day of free agency, the team signed approximately $250 million contracts. They focused on the team’s biggest weakness, the offensive line, and addressed it immediately. That’s something that no other coach has seemed to address over the last couple of years for some reason. Payton made it a priority this offseason.
With the addition of arguably the two best offensive linemen on the market, offensive tackle Mike McGlinchey and left guard Ben Powers, the Broncos are setting up their line to give Wilson more time in the pocket and we could possibly see a much more run-heavy offense next year. The Broncos were by far the biggest spenders during free agency; it’s going to pay off. Wilson got the help he needed.
He also silenced the team’s social media. It’s time to work. Come the first day of offseason training, not a single peep from anyone on the team or the team’s social media was heard. Payton made it clear that things would be different. He’s not here to mess around. Payton is asserting his leadership to all parts of the Broncos organization, not just the team. That’s leadership down to its finest detail. He’s here to bring back that winning mentality and I’m all for it.
Payton took this job because the Broncos are a good football team that has been under bad coaching for several years. He fully understands the talent that the Broncos have and he’s got a plan on how he wants to utilize it to win.
When people ask, have we put too much faith into Payton? Absolutely not. He’s a mastermind of a coach and anyone to say otherwise is jealous he’s not the head coach of their team.
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