What did Denver Broncos’ coach Sean Payton say about his mistake during loss to Kansas City Chiefs?

Though they were never likely to have come away with a positive result, the Broncos’ coach didn’t help their cause in any way by committing a major and moreover embarrassing mistake during Thursday night’s clash with the reigning Super Bowl champions.

Broncos Sean Payton admits to ‘boneheaded mistake’

On Thursday night, the Broncos fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in a game that was yet another example of just how poor the team has been this season. More specifically, there was a moment during the first half of the loss that defied logic, when Broncos head coach Sean Payton had his team punt with 22 seconds left to play, but had actually called a timeout prior to the punt. Why does that matter? Simply, because it should have been the Chiefs who called the timeout in order to stop the clock.

What was Payton’s explanation? The former Saints coach thought it was third down and so, called a timeout in order to get another offensive play called. Needless to say, that’s not what happened as he actually did the chiefs a favor. To his credit, Payton admitted to the error postgame, but as you can imagine, it’s not a good look for a team that now sits on a record of 1-5. “Yeah, listen. That’s a boneheaded mistake by me,” Payton said. “They were calling one as well. I’m off a down. That was stupid.” Yes, it was. As a result of the error, the Chiefs were able to take the ball to the Broncos’ 42-yard line, at which point Harrison Butker converted a 60-yard field goal just before the end of the half. Again, the outcome of the game was never really in Denver’s favor, but it is worth noting that they went to the locker room at 13-0 when they didn’t have to.

Sean Payton’s mistake was costly but the Broncos have bigger problems

In the end, the Broncos went down 19-8 and while it’s clear that a seasoned coach like Payton shouldn’t make such mistakes, the reality is it’s not the only issue that the team showcased on Thursday night. With that said Payton’s explanation of his thought process regarding the direction in which the Chiefs had to kick was still interesting to hear.

“We know it’s a short week, but early reports - if you do enough studying - you know where the field goals are going to be tougher, you know where the kickoffs are going to be returned. All the stuff we had heard was dead on,” Payton said. “The wind was blowing towards the tunnel, I don’t know what it got to tonight. Certainly, the kickers handled it well. You knew it was going to be hanging up there a little longer with the punts and the kickoffs. It was kind of blowing in the direction we thought, I don’t know how much. It’s a three-point swing there, but there are so many other things that jump into my mind relative to opportunities missed.” OK then.

Ultimately, Payton probably just added more fuel to the fire that was already burning around him. Quite frankly, ever since the coach had some choice words for his predecessor and current offensive coordinator of the New York Jets, Nathaniel Hackett, one could argue that Karma has not been kind to the Broncos’ new tactician. Indeed, that was made even clearer when the Broncos lost to the Jets in Week 5. On the other hand, one has to be honest about the fact that neither Payton’s social credit nor his coaching error was responsible for the fact that the Broncos could only produce 197 yards of offense. With the backstory to Payton’s first campaign in Denver being as it is, it’s unlikely that the scrutiny he faces will decrease, but it’s worth noting that he’s not the only one a finger should be pointed at in Denver.