Sean Payton gets national praise for bold decision in Broncos win

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton made a bold decision in the team’s 26-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.

And it’s earning him some national praise and recognition.

Peter Schrager of “Good Morning Football” named Payton his NFL Coach of the Week on Monday morning, saying what Payton did to start the game deserves to be applauded.

The Broncos won the coin toss, but in a rare decision, Payton took the football rather than defer the option to the second half. Schrager noticed, and liked the message it sent to the Denver sidelines.

“My Coach of the Week is Sean Payton. The @Broncos were winless with a middling offense through two weeks. They won the coin toss, Payton opted to take the ball first, and they set the tone and never looked back. A season-saving win and a huge statement.”
–@pschrags pic.twitter.com/T8p6BY29MV

— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) September 23, 2024

Rather than be passive and wait to get the football in rookie QB Bo Nix’s hands, Payton went aggressive right away. The choice paid off in a big way, as Nix marched the Broncos 70 yards for an opening touchdown. They went up 7-0 fewer than four minutes into the game, and never even came close to trailing in the dominant victory.

“Yeah, look, I typically, like most coaches, will defer and every once in a while, you send a little message and we felt like we had a good set of openers,” Payton said of electing to receive the opening kickoff.

Not only did Nix scramble for his second touchdown rush of the year, but he hit some big plays on the drive. He found Courtland Sutton for 22 yards on the first play of the game, then later hit Josh Reynolds for 31 yards to get Denver into the red zone.

It’s a nice bit of acknowledgement from Schrager to Payton, and one the coach earned. He set the tone early by wanting the ball, Nix rewarded that thinking, and the Broncos never looked back.

They’ll look to keep that momentum rolling this coming Sunday against the New York Jets. Another surprising win would get Denver to 2-2 on the young season.

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