Sean Payton Is Doing Sean Payton Things
Dustin Baker
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Long an irritant to Minnesota Vikings fans, Sean Payton has authored his ‘there you go again’ moment with the Denver Broncos.
Payton took over as Denver’s head coach in February.
Sean Payton Is Doing Sean Payton Things
With the Broncos, Payton has the opportunity to whisk the club to prominence almost immediately based on roster talent. Denver traded for quarterback Russell Wilson 16 months ago, on tap in the court of public opinion to really take off in 2022.
But then the opposite occurred, the Broncos stunk, Wilson became the butt of jokes, and Denver fired first-year skipper Nathaniel Hackett before the season even concluded. In partnership with new ownership, the Broncos searched far and wide for a new head coach and settled for a ‘coach trade’ with the New Orleans Saints for Payton’s services.
Fast forward to now, and Payton is up to his old tricks, stirring the pot and inexplicably trashing last year’s iteration of Broncos. Payton told USA Today this week, “It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed. And that happened here. Part of it was their own fault, relative to spending so much f-cking time trying to win the offseason – the PR, the pomp and circumstance, marching people around and all this stuff.”
The Broncos finished 5-12 last year.
Payton was also specifically asked about Wilson and his role in the 2022 season. He replied, “Oh, man. There’s so much dirt around that. There’s 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms. The offense. I don’t know Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it. This B.S. that he hit a wall? Shoot, they couldn’t get a play in. They were 29th in the league in pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball.”
Wilson was on pace for a Hall of Fame career — and might still be — before the 2022 season. He became the focal point of memes and generalized scorn due to Denver’s poor performance in 2022.
“They can only beat the sh-t out of you so much. But everybody’s got a little stink on their hands. It’s not just Russell. It was a [poor] offensive line. It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. That’s how bad it was,” Payton continued.
Payton also touched on the New York Jets, who hired the aforementioned Hackett as offensive coordinator this offseason. He claimed their assembly of Aaron Rodgers or would-be dream team wouldn’t quite thrive as some expect.
After the release of the Payton interview with USA Today, Saleh responded in a press conference and defended his coworker Hackett, “If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t popping. So hate away. Obviously we’re doing something right if you’ve gotta talk about us when we don’t play you until Week 5.”
The Broncos and Jets square off on October 8th.
Payton has a history of impish comments, prematurely taunted Vikings fans with a ‘skol chant’ before his team was victimized by the Minneapolis Miracle in 2018, and was suspended for BountyGate over a decade ago.
Billy Turner, who played for the 2022 Broncos but is now employed by the Jets, wrote on Instagram about Payton’s comments, “Seems like someone started training camp and is trying to soften the blow after realizing what he’s in for this season. F-cking bum. #BountyGate. #childish.”
The Vikings also play the Broncos this season — in Denver on November 19th.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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