Broncos All-Pro Dishes on How Payton/Hackett Beef Affected Players

Reality has bitten down harder on the Denver Broncos than anyone could have possibly imagined in the wake of coaching heavyweight Sean Payton taking command this year. Payton's summer criticism of New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett displaying one of the worst coaching jobs in NFL history last season with the Broncos was accurate, but it backfired in grand style.

Post-game, Payton was rather curt in his response to further questioning about how he courted beef with the Jets and Hackett. Payton's blunt retort came as no surprise really, but failing to back up his bold declarations is becoming a worrying trend.

“They played better than us. I credit [Jets HC] Robert [Saleh] and that staff,” Payton said. “They won the game, and that’s how I look at it.”

Just how much Payton's smack talk caused internal distractions within the Broncos' camp is open to debate. However, star cornerback Patrick Surtain II dismissed the issue in the immediate aftermath of giving the Broncos a chance with his spectacular late interception, getting the ball back to Russell Wilson and the offense one last time down three points.

“Obviously, there was a little talk before the season but as players, we look past that,” Surtain said post-game. “We're focused on winning. We know ballgames because in this league, wins matter. Not the offseason. Not all [of] the noise externally. The only thing that matters within this organization is winning. That's what we're focused on.”

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In the second half, the Broncos went three-and-out on four straight possessions, so Surtain's late-game lifeline was a badly needed play in the clutch. How the wheels still managed to come off the Broncos' offensive wagon falls on Payton, who, by his own admission, became too one-dimensional with his play calling.

“We start the first series in the second half, we have a penalty—I thought we were better with the penalties, but the minus plays put us behind the chains,” Payton said. “I felt like we were third-and-long too much. The part that I’m frustrated with myself is that we became one-dimensional, and I know better. I have to be more patient relative to how we run the ball, and it was that type of game.”

Whatever way you choose to slice it, Wilson's resurgent play this season hit the skids against the Jets. Repeated failures to get the ball downfield led to subsequent issues with holding onto the ball too long, allowing the Jets to feast.

Never one to shirk responsibility, Wilson lamented the failure to stack wins during the softer part of Denver's schedule.

“That's the truth. We really should and could be 4-1,” Wilson said post-game. “But 'coulda, shoulda, woulda' is not good enough. The good thing about it and the perspective of it all is that, as we continue to go throughout the season, it's a journey.”

Moving into a short week with the first tilt of the season vs. the Kansas City Chiefs on deck, the difficulty level is only going to increase for the Broncos. Finding a silver lining in the storm and giving his team a reason to believe won't be easy for Payton.

“Part of this is making something good happen, then part of that is learning how to avoid the bad things from happening,” Payton said. “No one’s going to hand it to you, not in this league. I think we all know that.”

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