Strike 1: When this season’s over, Sean Payton will get votes for NFL Coach of the Year. And he deserves them.
Payton’s Denver Broncos have overachieved in 2024. Remember just a few short months ago when, from a pure talent perspective, more than one “expert” said Denver had one of, if not the weakest roster in the NFL? Remember when the wise guys in Las Vegas set the over-under for Broncos wins at 5.5? Remember when optimists wearing orange colored glasses were the only ones predicting a winning season?
Whether or not you bought into the preseason talk, Payton and his coaching staff have very clearly done more with less this season, and as a result the Broncos will very likely be in the playoffs for the first time in nine seasons.
That’s “Coach of the Year” kind of stuff.
Even so, along the way there have been some very curious decisions made by the head man, including agreeing to moving their road game against the Chargers in Los Angeles up to a Thursday night, when they could have said no (Denver had already played their one requisite Thursday night tilt for 2024 earlier in the season.) But Payton didn’t hesitate to give the thumbs up to a move that put his team at a disadvantage.
There have been some other kinds of things – like forcing his prized rookie quarterback to carry the load with his arm rather than rely on any sort of running game at critical moments – that have left Broncos Country scratching its collective head.
But perhaps there’s a method to Payton’s madness? He is playing with “house money” this season, after all.
No doubt the head coach knew what the “experts” knew before the season. He knows his roster still isn’t as good as the AFC’s best teams. He didn’t make any bold proclamations before the season about being a playoff team or anything like that. He has continually said the Broncos are a work in progress. And he’s putting them through the work, while carefully watching the progress. It’s on the job training, as it were.
It’s possible that while Payton and his coaching staff are working diligently to earn that coveted spot in the AFC postseason, the head coach is already looking ahead to 2025 and beyond.
It would make sense.
There remains no substitute for experience. Coaches – most of whom have been there, done that – can tell their players over and over what to expect in demanding situations, but until the players themselves have gone through it, they really can’t know. By putting Bo Nix and the rest of the Denver offense in adverse situations – like what existed in LA against the Chargers last Thursday night – Payton is exposing his young players to situations they’re likely to face again and again in future seasons, when the house money is gone and winning is paramount.
With their salary cap situation improving next year and the year after that, and with a chance to continue to draft and develop more raw talent the way he did while building the New Orleans Saints into a Super Bowl champion, Payton and his staff see the opportunity to continue to build on the Broncos ascent. If that means making things more difficult this year, then so be it. It’s all part of the process.
Broncos Country will be thrilled with a playoff game during a season that had very low expectations going in. Those expectations will now grow – by a lot – moving forward. All the more reason to use 2024 to get fully prepared.
