A day later, Sean Payton insists he wasn’t trying to run up the score
Oct 28, 2024, 12:34 PM
Sean Payton didn’t get all that he wanted Sunday. For one thing, he wanted at least one more touchdown and a margin greater than the 28-14 count by which his Denver Broncos dispatched the woeful Carolina Panthers.
But despite fourth-quarter tactics that included a fourth-down double pass and a fake-field goal attempt, the Broncos head coach doubled down on his assertion that he wasn’t trying to run it up on the Panthers.
“Listen, I said it last night: We’re trying to finish the game the right way,” Payton said. “We’re not trying to run up the score on anyone. It’s the National Football League.
“I’ve been in games with a 28-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost, so, we’re trying to finish. The [Michael] Burton throw from [Courtland] Sutton is trying to continue a drive.
“Play better.”
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Those final two words could be perceived as a shot at the Panthers. But “play better” is also an exhortation to his own team.
“I want ’em to take on a winning personality,” Payton said. “I want ’em to take on a personality that understands what wins in our league. And look, I say this all the time: Confidence is borne only from demonstrated ability.
“Now, do I feel like we’re a more confident team today in October than we were when we started the season? Absolutely. And in that, there are certain things, though, that we have to improve on.”
And as Payton sees it, that’s about his own team, not an injury-wrecked foe that has won just 3 of its last 25 games.
“That has nothing to do with the earlier question relative to were we trying to score? That has nothing to do with that. There’s no story there. We’re trying to win a football game.
“We’re trying to extend the drive. I’m throwing the ball to my fullback, Burton, all right? So, not necessarily expecting a touchdown. We’re trying to close a game out.
“And, you know, it wasn’t 50, 60 or 70 [points]. I didn’t look at that at all. I just looked at that as us trying to win a football game and learn to close out a game.”
And these Broncos are still learning that. Which runs in contrast to when Sean Payton came to Denver with his New Orleans Saints in 2020 for a game in which the Broncos didn’t have a quarterback after COVID-19 protocols — and a subsequent attempt at subterfuge — led the league to force the Broncos to play. Leading 24-3 in the fourth quarter, the Saints ran on all but two snaps in the final period of a 31-3 final.
But those Saints had three-straight division titles under their belt and were on their way to a fourth. They knew how to win. These Broncos sit in a different spot.
“The turnovers bothered me. The late drive and how we played defensively bothered me,” Payton said. “Look, I just think, ‘What’s the bar? What’s the expectation?’ It has to meet or exceed mine.”
