Sean Payton Reveals Whether Broncos Will Fire Vance Joseph
In the wake of the Denver Broncos' humiliating 70-20 defeat at the merciless hands of the Miami Dolphins, it seemed that defensive coordinator Vance Joseph wouldn't be long for his job. Fast forward to Monday morning, however — after the emotions had stabilized at Broncos HQ — and head coach Sean Payton shot down the notion of firing his defensive coordinator three games into the season, even after his unit relinquished a devastating 70-burger.
Coach Payton was asked during Monday's conference call whether any jobs are in jeopardy now that he'd had time to watch the film.
“No," Payton said. "And that wouldn’t be something I’d share on a conference call if that ever were the case. So, no, to answer your question."
It's not exactly an unequivocal denial, but it was pretty strong. If Payton were going to fire Joseph, or demote any player on defense, he wouldn't reveal or discuss it on a conference call.
Instead, it would be a breaking news tweet from an insider like Adam Schefter nationally or 9NEWS' Mike Klis locally. And if Payton was going to fire Joseph after Week 3's embarrassment, it would have happened already.
This leaves Broncos fans dying to know why Payton hasn't fired Joseph. Here's my best, most educated guess.
Payton cut against NFL convention by hiring Joseph as his defensive coordinator six months ago. Payton made the decision in the face of what he knew would be a wall of criticism and doubt after Joseph became one of the most scorned head coaches in Denver sports history, leading the Broncos to 11 total wins over two seasons at the helm.
Payton knew hiring Joseph would create complexity and complicate things down the road if the Broncos failed to deliver as a team or if the defense struggled. But Payton still made that decision because... why? I honestly couldn't tell you.
Payton must have seen something in Joseph. And it was enough to offset all the downside risks of hiring him.
Whatever the motivation for the Joseph hire, Payton is now fully dealing with the blowback, and by not firing the defensive coordinator, the head coach is opting to fall on the grenade, as it were. And that's as it should be. The buck stops with Payton anyway, and that's all the more true since Joseph didn't hire himself.
Here's the bottom line, though: Payton likely feels that firing Joseph now would only make him look worse internally and externally, although it would appease the fans. The Broncos' new head coach has to maintain the perception that he knew what he was doing then, just as he does now.
"We're fixin' to find out" was a maxim Gary Kubiak used on a number of given subjects when asked to speculate on the Broncos' future. Payton and his staff are in the midst of searching for those same revelations in the wake of relinquishing the most points in a single NFL game since 1966. Only time will tell what Payton will be able to take away from these epiphanies.
“This is one of those weeks where you take a butt-whupping like that where you find out a lot about everyone,’’ Payton said on Monday. “It’s a tough film to watch. I debated whether we were going to show it or not. But I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t. We’ve got to sit in here, and today, as unpleasant as it’s going to be, we’ve got to get these things cleaned up."
The day after the most humiliating defeat, arguably, in team history, Payton's message to Broncos Country was one of confidence. Alas, the new head coach has already lost the benefit of the doubt, and that'll only worsen with his decision to stick with Joseph.
“First off, to the fans, we’re going to work our tail off and get this ship straightened away," Payton said. "That’s going to happen. There’s going to be a process involved in that. Certainly, there’s a lot of work ahead of us. The key is finding these guys, putting them in the right positions to be successful, and then that confidence that comes with winning. That’s the main thing.”
Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
