Sean Payton discusses conversion decision, timeout usage

Sean Payton admitted Monday to second-guessing his decision to bypass a two-point conversion attempt with 8 seconds remaining in the Broncos’ 30-24 overtime loss to Cincinnati on Saturday.

“Oh, certainly. You go through it all the time, relative to what the call would have been based on the outcome,” Payton said. “You always second-guess or — you always do that as a head coach.”

Ultimately, the choice — which was a surprising one given the percentages involved and the game flow — came down to a “gut” feeling.

“And so, I know I kind of felt I trusted my gut at the moment,” he said..

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As for the use of two timeouts during the Bengals’ second overtime drive:

PAYTON DEFENDED HIS TIMEOUT CHOICES

… “Listen, you have ’em, and part of it is just calming things down,” he said when asked about utilizing timeouts while the Bengals drove to what would be a missed 33-yard field-goal attempt.

Payton explained that the timeouts — which were called with 4:15 and 3:32 remaining in the extra frame — were used “partly to give our guys a break.” Denver’s defense was fatigued by then, having lingered on the field as the Bengals marched up and down the field at will throughout the contest. Cincinnati didn’t even punt until overtime.

Of course, the timeouts were called with 33 and 39 seconds remaining on the play clock, respectively. Thus, the timeouts appeared to have been called a game-clock saving mode — which would have mattered if the Broncos were trying to escape sudden death with a win.

But that’s something that would have been largely irrelevant in the specific scenario presented Saturday, since the Broncos needed only a tie to get the desired result. That was a point Payton mentioned after the game.

But to focus on Payton’s point regarding the defense needing “a break,” Cincinnati ran 24 more plays than the Broncos, and had a massive time-of-possession advantage — 14 minutes and 59 seconds. In overtime, the Bengals held the ball for nearly seven minutes, while the Broncos had it for not even two minutes as they went three-and-out both times. So, there was something to that.

But nevertheless, such scrutiny comes with end-game decisions that don’t work out — especially given the extensive work the Broncos put into game management and rehearsing end-of-half scenarios. For a second-consecutive week with a playoff spot on the line, the choices drew scrutiny.

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