Sean Payton and his Denver Broncos coaching staff spent hours on one single play in preparation for the AFC Championship Game.
That type of preparation is insane. But it’s what makes Payton one of the best coaches in the NFL today.
Seth Wickersham’s in-depth article and his appearance on the Rich Eisen Show give us behind the scenes access to the Broncos braintrust.
Sean Payton, Denver Broncos coaching staff spent hours on one play before AFC Championship
We all know players are feeling the nerves of big games as they approach.
Apparently, coaching staffs are feeling that pressure too.
That per Seth Wickersham, who’s done really great, in-depth reporting about Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos the last two years.
“But to witness it, and to watch Payton and the Broncos spend an hour sometimes on a single play, sometimes multiple hours over the course of days,” Wickersham said on Eisen’s show. “And you know, he nearly broke himself that week. I was privy to his sleep scores in the week leading up to the Patriots and I mean as the week went on they were horrible.”
It was basically the biggest game in Payton’s coaching career since the 2019 NFC Championship Game. And the added pressure of losing Nix seemed to push the head coach to the brink.
“And it got tense at times with the assistant coaches because, you know, it’s 1:30 again and they’re still going. Sean’s a night owl. He gained steam as the night goes on. Those guys [assistant coaches] are exhausted. And just what it takes to win when the odds aren’t really in your favor, you’re starting a backup quarterback was really startling to see.”
From Wickersham’s piece for ESPN:
“During the meeting, he rails about communication issues. ‘Day One s—,’ he says. ‘It’s a cluster on the headphones.” At one point, the Broncos had to burn a timeout because the defense had too many men. “Twelve on the field,’ he says. ‘Why is that a problem?’
“Should not,” Joseph says.
“It’s been all year!”
“It won’t be.””
This seems to be the meeting—or at least one of them—that Wickersham was talking about to Eisen. It sounds heated, explosive even.
Broncos still lost Championship on play coaches planned for
Despite all the preparation and long nights, Payton’s coaching decision to go for it on 4th and 1 sunk the Broncos.
He thought he had a clever play called, but according to Wickersham, the defensive play the Patriots ran was the one they’d prepared for. And it still swallowed up Denver’s attempt.
“And of course, one of the pivotal plays in the Patriots game was that 4th and 1 that he called and the Patriots surprised him by running that exact defense that he was preparing for that night.”
Obviously, there was a lot of game left as it was still the second quarter. But that game partially decided the outcome, a loss for Denver.
The Broncos were already up 7-0 and they were in field goal range. Of course, no one knew it was going to snow that much from halftime on. That neither team would be able to move the ball at all in the second half.
Still, you take the points in that situation. If Wil Lutz hits the field goal, the Broncos are up 10-0 going into the break.
Ultimately, it seems like that bad call by Payton was why he gave up coaching duties to Davis Webb. At least partially.
