Sean Payton explains his controversial onside kick decision
Sep 10, 2023, 5:40 PM
Sean Payton is one of the best playcallers in NFL history and his most famous decision was a successful onside kick in the Super Bowl.
So Payton took the play that helped him win him a title for the New Orleans Saints and used the ambush to begin his Denver Broncos tenure. It worked too—well until Payton’s stunner was called back by Bill Vinovich for an illegal touch. The Las Vegas Raiders used the short field to take an early lead and score one of their two touchdowns on the day in what would be a 17-16 Broncos loss.
Denver is now 4-10 when Vinovich has the whistle, the same referee who officiated the controversial 2019 NFC Title Game. He didn’t throw a flag or own up to the mistake that let the Los Angeles Rams get away with an obvious pass interference foul, helping to cost the Saints (and Payton) another Super Bowl berth. Vinovich hasn’t worked a game in New Orleans since that day, but he was back working Payton’s debut in orange and blue.
The @Broncos almost pulled off the onside kick on Sean Payton's first play 😅
📺: #LVvsDEN on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/G4uoYVOqQn pic.twitter.com/YnK3tOWak9— NFL (@NFL) September 10, 2023
“It wasn’t like a random—we just felt like saw leverage opportunity and someone we wanted to take advantage of,” Payton said. “Obviously, we didn’t want to contact the ball before 10 yards but it was kind of being aggressive and yet we felt like we came to win a game.”
The Raiders scored a touchdown to cap a short 44-yard drive just five and a half minutes into the game. The Broncos answered back with a nearly nine-minute touchdown drive that would’ve tied the contest but Will Lutz missed the extra point—which became significant at game’s end.
“It was something we discussed, if we won the toss we were going to defer,” Payton said. “Then obviously we wanted to kick it over on our sideline. So yeah, it was just one of those things that we felt percentage-wise we felt pretty good about the odds.”
The Raiders only truly had five possessions in the game and scored on three of them.
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