Broncos’ win in Sean Payton’s emotional New Orleans return reveals building blocks
NEW ORLEANS — Sean Payton was so fixated on having the Broncos start fast Thursday night that he showed up at the Caesars Superdome, a cathedral full of memories, six hours before kickoff.
He drank extra coffee, went back over the game plan for the umpteenth time and prepared for the emotions he knew would hit when all the familiar feelings of the place began flowing back, even if he spent the week downplaying that aspect of this particular game.
"It meant a lot because there were a lot of moments here," Payton said after the Broncos' 33-10 victory over the New Orleans Saints , the team he coached for 15 seasons before leaving in early 2022. "To be with this team and this ownership group, it's the reason you miss it. The one year out (of coaching in 2022), you miss it. You miss the relationships and the memories."
Broncos owner Greg Panner handed Payton a game ball in the visiting locker room shortly after the coach shared bear hugs with former players like Cameron Jordan and Alvin Kamara . Other players who spanned the earlier parts of Payton's tenure, which began in 2006 as the city was recovering from the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina, were here, too. That included Drew Brees, who formed the other half of one of the NFL 's most prolific quarterback-coach duos for a decade and a half before retiring after the 2020 season. In between meetings Thursday afternoon, Payton and other Broncos coaches with Saints tied popped over to the Hilton hotel where Brees was being honored with a lunchtime ceremony ahead of his induction into the team's Hall of Fame.
"We were all kind of underdressed in our travel sweats," Payton said. "This is a city that dresses up a lot."
But if Thursday was a rendezvous with the past, it also offered glimpses of the future he is trying to build with a Broncos team that won for the third time in four games. There will be no replicating what Payton did in this city. Even during his long tenure in New Orleans , the blueprint changed. Brees may have been a constant, but sustained success for the better part of 15 years requires reinvention.
With the Broncos, Payton is still tinkering. But a formula for the current iteration has become increasingly clear. Lean on a defense that has produced one of the the NFL's best pass rushes (six more sacks Thursday), take care of the football ( Bo Nix threw no interceptions for the third time in four games) and support the rookie quarterback with an effective run game (225 yards rushing Thursday, the most for the team in a game since 2013).
Payton reiterated Thursday that no two game plans are the same. What worked on a short week against a banged-up and reeling Saints team may not fly when, say, the Broncos hit the road for games against the Ravens and Chiefs in back-to-back weeks in November. But there is a winning path emerging, even though the Broncos have to walk a tightrope at times to navigate it.
Nix misfired on three straight passes on Denver's opening drive, forcing a punt. The Broncos scored on their next six possessions, running away from a decimated Saints team that lost a fifth straight game. Javonte Williams , who scored two rushing touchdowns for the first time in his NFL career, had 59 rushing yards by halftime. Nix badly missed on a couple of throws that could have made life easier on the Broncos, but he went 3-of-3 for 48 yards on Denver's touchdown drive to start the second quarter and authored a two-minute drive that ended in a field goal.
For the third time this season, Nix didn't throw an interception or take a sack. He also rushed for 75 yards on 10 carries, most of them scrambles. The rookie quarterback has a long way to go, but his decision-making and competitiveness continue to stand out.
"When you watch him play, you don't feel like you're in harm's way," Payton said. "Again, he's tough to sack. He made a lot of plays with his feet. Man, he had some close, big-play opportunities, but there's a confidence as a play caller you get that allows you to be more aggressive. So we wanted to tonight and came out with that mindset."
Nix must be more than a quarterback who takes care of the ball and makes dynamic plays with his feet for the Broncos to ascend to a new level offensively. He'll need to more consistently hit open targets when the Broncos do get aggressive with the shots they take. He'll need to make more of the drive-extending plays like the one he failed to make when he short-hopped a throw to wide-open tight end Adam Trautman deep in the red zone on third-and-1.
"I think about the ones I could have back," said Nix, who finished 16-of-26 passing for 164 yards. "That's just competitive nature for guys. But you do want to give yourself grace at times. They are trying to keep you from doing all the good stuff. You live and you learn and you continue to work. Nobody's ever played a perfect game. That's why we're all still here trying to figure it out."
The Broncos defense, which has a league-leading 28 sacks, continues to dole out plenty of grace for Nix. Nik Bonitto had a sack for the fifth straight game, the longest streak in the NFL. Cody Barton and Ja'Quan McMillian got on their board with their first sacks of the season, giving the Broncos 12 different players this season who have recorded a takedown. Entering Week 7, nine different teams didn't have 12 sacks overall.
"This defense is fun, it's aggressive, and everyone has a chance to eat," said Barton, who forced a fumble with his first-half sack on Spencer Rattler and scored his first NFL touchdown in the fourth quarter after scooping up a Rattler fumble forced by McMillian and returning it 52 yards into the end zone. "Today, some of those splash plays came my way. If this game is tomorrow, you don't know who it's going to be. That's kind of what this defense is, and it's a lot of fun."
Payton left the Superdome with another memory Thursday, but it's one that belongs in an orange-and-blue box. Slowly but surely, the Broncos are creating more of those.
"It's like I told them a couple weeks ago, (Pat) Surtain's interception (against the Raiders ), right in front of our bench, there will be a day when I don't remember his name and I'm having applesauce out of a straw," Payton said. "But I'll remember that play. That's part of it. ... It was kind of emotional."
Since last season's 1-5 start, the Broncos are 11-7. Only seven teams have a higher winning percentage in that span. That's certainly not a finish line, but the Broncos are building. An emotional win Thursday in New Orleans was another step.
(Photo of Cody Barton and defensive teammates after a turnover on Thursday: Michael Owens / )
