Sean Payton Dishes on Overlooked Key to Broncos' 2023 Success
Former ESPN host Trey Wingo recently interviewed Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton on The 33rd Team podcast. Payton can be a great interviewee, giving very raw and honest answers.
There is one question during this interview that stuck out. Based on the team's actions in 2023, the Broncos have shown they believe exactly what Payton would go on to say to Wingo.
Wingo's question to Payton was, “What did you learn from a year away from the game?"
Payton:
"Well, I mean look, you shift gears completely having that opportunity to go into a studio with the people of FOX was fantastic. You want to be good at whatever you do so I was lucky enough to be with some really good people on two different shows. That kind of keeps you in the arena a little bit. It is not quite the same relative to obviously the hours of 2022 tape you are looking at that, and yet you are still able to see a lot of the games. I would say one thing that stood out, at the beginning of the season, it is important, and it will be important for our team. We saw a number of teams that had changes. Minnesota, New York Giants just naming a few Miami. That early part of the schedule relative to the confidence of the players and getting on a winning docket fairly quickly and how that can manifest itself throughout the course of a season. That happened to us in 2006 in New Orleans. We did not even realize how important it was. We went on the road and won in Cleveland. The Superdome still was not ready we went on the road and won in Green Bay and man I say this all the time, confidence is born out of moments that you actually do it. We can wish for and think it, but I think that early start for a number of clubs a year ago from afar watching the locker room scenes watching a lot of video that I normally would not watch. Being in the studio and seeing those teams get that taste early that is one thing."
The three teams Payton listed — the Giants, Vikings, and Dolphins — all started out last season with early wins that built up the confidence of their respective locker rooms. The Giants started 6-1 for the season, building a nice cushion in their division and helping them find their way into the playoffs.
The same happened for the Vikings, who started 8-1, winning a lot of one-score games, which set them up for one of the best seasons (record-wise) of their franchise history. The Dolphins are a little bit different because they started out 3-0 before an injury to their quarterback derailed their season a little, but they still made the playoffs.
What it Means for Broncos
If the Broncos want a chance to end this playoff drought, the early season success or failure will be one of the biggest indicators of where the 2023 campaign is going. Over the past seven years, the Broncos have struggled early on in the season, digging a hole that was too deep to crawl out and find success.
By the time the Broncos found their footing for the season, the margin for error had already disappeared, and any loss in the middle or late part of the season usually meant doom for any playoff hopes.
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