Sean Payton Still Taking Shots at Atlanta Falcons

ATLANTA, GA - You can take the coach out of New Orleans, but you can't take New Orleans out of the coach.

Former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton returned to Mercedes-Benz Stadium to face the Atlanta Falcons as the head coach of the Denver Broncos in the AFC West.

Payton can't go more than a week without reminiscing about his time with the Saints in his Broncos' press conferences, so it was no surprise that he might still hold a little animosity for his long-time rival in the NFC South. Payton is 22-9 all-time vs. the Falcons.

Walking off the field for his coach interview with his team having built a 24-0 lead at halftime, Payton was asked about his triumphant return to Atlanta. He looked around and quipped, "A lot of people dressed as empty seats."

“A lot of people dressed up as empty seats today.”

Sean Payton (still) has no love for the #Falcons. pic.twitter.com/KipI1wNJyG
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 15, 2026

The Friday, August 14th preseason game wasn't well attended, and owner Arthur Blank has a pricing problem in the lower bowl that has frozen out most Falcons fans who would attend. In a transient town like Atlanta, the lower bowl is either filled with opposing fans buying re-sold tickets or left empty, while the true Falcons fans are relegated to the upper deck.

It makes for a poor home-field advantage and worse optics for television. The resale market for preseason games was going to be non-existent, and what the Falcons got was an empty lower bowl that Payton took advantage of.

The Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints is one of the more underrated rivalries in sports, because the rivalry itself was built on two teams trying to stay off the bottom of the NFL pecking order.

That changed during Payton's arrival in New Orleans, which coincided with Matt Ryan's tenure as Falcons quarterback - the two most successful stretches in both teams' histories.

Payton went 14-3 with the Broncos last season and is one of the few coaches who takes the preseason seriously. While he held out starting quarterback Bo Nix, who had ankle surgery during the offseason, the starters and a deep second unit played deep into the game as the Broncos dominated Atlanta 27-7.

The difference in philosophy and depth charts could be seen on several key plays. Riley Moss will be a $20 million cornerback on his next contract; he had the first interception of Cooper Rush, who joined the Falcons two weeks ago as a camp quarterback. Rush threw another interception to backup corner Jahdae Barron late in the 1st half.

Barron was the Broncos' first-round pick last year.

Watching $15 million edge rusher Jonathon Cooper line up against seventh-round pick Ethan Onianwa, who struggled to lock down a starting job at Ohio State last year, further exacerbated the matchup problem the Falcons had on Friday night.

Blank needs to figure out how to get Falcons fans back into the lower bowl if he wants to avoid the empty seats, or seats filled with Bears, Steelers, and Packers fans when the blue-blood franchises come to town.

Until then, Sean Payton will always be there to remind him of the team's shortcomings.

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