The challenge Sean Payton faces as one of the NFL’s oldest offensive play-callers

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It was in the lengthy ESPN piece detailing the postseason preparation of Broncos coach Sean Payton that he revealed the impact of age on the task with which he’s about to again burden himself: serving as the team’s primary play-caller.

“Playcalling is harder at 62 than at 42,” Payton told ESPN. “As you get older, maybe you don’t like driving in the rain at night.”

It’s more difficult, and yet, he’s about to take it on once again. And when the notion of good play-callers at Payton’s age arose, well …

“I think I’m still one of them,” Payton said Thursday.

Of course, there aren’t many people at Payton’s age taking on the task he assumed this week, grabbing the reins from offensive coordinator Davis Webb after four games in which the Broncos averaged 16.75 offensive points per game while ranking 27th in total offense, 26th in success rate, 24th in yards per play and 21st in EPA per play.

The average age of an NFL offensive primary play-caller today is 44 years and nine months. Just three are older than Payton: Kansas City’s Andy Reid, Frank Reich of the New York Jets and Pittsburgh’s Mike McCarthy, who has Payton beat by 49 days.

Only five NFL offensive play-callers are older than 52 years of age. Nineteen of the 32 weren’t even born when the Broncos traded for John Elway in 1983. Fourteen are 40 years of age or younger.

On the field, the sport is a game for the young. On the sideline or in the booth — whichever vantage a coach seeks to call their plays — it’s more typically a game for those in the middle of their working lives.

There are plenty of reasons for this, of course. But even by Payton’s own admission, handling play-calling duties on the other side of one’s 60th birthday requires tamping down a natural instinct that creeps into one’s perspective with the inexorable passage of time.

IN JANUARY, BEFORE THE BRONCOS’ PLAYOFF GAME, PAYTON EXPLAINED THIS

“The thing that I have to continue to — that changes as you get older — is, you still have to be quick,” Payton noted nine months ago. “Like, play just ran, boom, next play.”

But it’s not simply a matter of streamlining the process between snaps to make things flow. It’s also about Payton’s own thoughts before making each play call. Because as he observed earlier this year, being older can mean thinking about the possibilities and consequences of a play rather than simply making the decision as to which play to use and moving on.

 

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“When I was younger, we’d run a reverse on the 8-yard line and I’d think nothing of it,” Payton said. “And as you get older, you think about all the ramifications … and so, I have to also remove that.

“It was said, ‘As you get older, maybe you don’t drive in the rain at night,'” Payton added. “I can’t let that happen as a play caller, and … that’s something that I have to mentally make sure it’s quick, it’s quick and decisive, and it’s daring at the right time.

“… Those are things that I find that are challenges compared to when I was 33 in New York or in my — whatever.”

It’s not a matter of being “reckless,” Payton said. But he did admit that his perspective was tinged by his background.

“Part of that is being raised by a father who was in casualty claims and insurance,” Payton said.

“We had no trampolines; we had no swimming pools; we couldn’t ride motorbikes; we knew where every sharp edge was and it was like, ‘Aahh.’ But anyway, I think that’s the thing that I’ve got to focus on.”

And now that he’s back calling the plays, an aspect like Payton’s mentality could help determine the success or failure of the offense in the weeks ahead.

Experience is a teacher and wisdom is valued. But sometimes you can have too much of your past holding you back and become trapped in a cul-de-sac of analysis. As he nears his 63rd birthday in December, Payton will try to avoid those pitfalls.

The outcome of the Broncos’ season could well depend on it.

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