Sean Payton takes jab at refs, Broncos fall by point at buzzer again

Sean Payton says winning matters and winning is a habit, but the Denver Broncos are having trouble forming that new habit after seven seasons of missing the playoffs.

For the second week in a row, the Broncos lost at the buzzer by a single point, this time coming as a 21-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers. In each the preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals and now in Week 2, the Broncos blew a late lead.

Still, Payton wasn’t as upset in his team as he was after losing in Week 1 by a last-second touchdown and two-point conversion. Instead, Payton placed some of that frustration on the officials.

The Broncos easily could’ve scored another touchdown in the game as one drive ended at the one-yard line because the officials called for halftime. It was an odd long play out of the two-minute drill that had Denver sprinting down the field. Jarrett Stidham hit Jalen Virgil for a 50-yard pass but as Virgil fought to get into the end zone, he hurt his knee. The ensuing struggle may have caused the Broncos a delay on their next play which was a too-late-spike by Stidham, ending Denver’s drive feet from the end zone, leading 6-3.

“It went upstairs,” Payton said after the game. “That happened super quick—I don’t know what times flights are leaving tonight.”

“I’m worried about my own team,” Payton doubled down moments later. “I don’t enjoy when we can’t get a simple end of half correctly officiating. So I like being friendly with those guys.”

Payton was seen on the broadcast yelling at the officials on their way off the field. Payton explained what caused that second disagreement.

“But man, then we got a substitution we’re trying to… if you sub on offense, the defense has a chance to make a substitution,” the coach said. “There’s a sub that takes place on the touchdown pass at the end of the game there right at the line of scrimmage. You know so it’s preseason for the officials as well as it is for us. So focused on us really, there’s a number of things mechanically, I didn’t like that we’ll clean up but yeah.”

Denver once again had a 90-plus-percent chance to win the game, before blowing it late. Granted both teams deep reserves are mostly in at that point but some Broncos starters played into the fourth quarter.

“I was encouraged in a lot of areas,” Payton said. “Certainly would have liked to have won… there were a lot of things tonight different than a week ago that I was encouraged with and pleased with.”

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