Sean Payton reflects on Broncos ‘tussle’ and is using it as a teaching moment

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton wasn’t ready to call it a fight.

Even if what happened at training camp practice on Tuesday looked like a fight.

“Let’s call it a tussle,” Payton said on Wednesday. “I got a chance to watch the film. There were no punches, it was just a tussle.”

Broncos QB Bo Nix felt some pressure from Nik Bonitto and Malcolm Roach and hit the ground. Nix chucked the football at Roach in frustration and then fireworks ensued.

But Sean Payton is using what happened as a teaching moment, especially with a tweak in the NFL rules this year involving scuffles on the field.

“We covered last night, what’s new, from an officiating standpoint this is our first season where they can go to replay in New York and remove a player. So, with that being the case, it’s going to be hard to be the guy that gets the first jab… they’re going to be able to go to replay and get it right,” Payton said.

The old saying “it’s the second offender who gets busted” might be going away. Sean Payton is rightfully pointing out that if a player does anything unnecessary, they might get tossed from the game. Even if the referees don’t initially catch it.

“So, we discussed that, we had examples of shoving and then the officials just getting bumped, you’re ejected. All of it, we kind of covered, especially with the replay now being changed,” Payton said.

And while it might have been a “tussle” to Payton at training camp, he’s focused on how this could eventually affect a regular season contest.

“I said to them last night, let me know the game we’re fighting, then obviously we’re not as concerned about winning that game. And then I’ll kind of measure up the head coach and see where we go and we can all get ejected,” Payton said with a small smirk. “But the games are too important.”

The games are indeed way too important for a Broncos team that has Super Bowl aspirations to be messing around with fighting.

And Sean Payton is using a scrap at training camp in August to drive that point home.

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