Chasing Loses. Has Sean Payton lost his touch?
By Adam Uribes
· Opinion
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· 2 min read
One more first down probably puts this one to bed. The most conservative approach makes this game winnable going away!!
And then Gamblin’ Sean struck again.
If this doesn’t make you want to throw up in your mouth, Taylor Swift may have had it right, partially anyway. Maybe Sean Payton is the problem?
Like meat on the bone, accusations need to surround facts. At around the five-minute mark in Sunday’s game, Sean Payton’s itchy gambling finger started trembling. Facing a fourth and inches inside Denver territory, Payton elected to send the offense to get the last few chain links to extend the drive. Yes, there is an allure to having the advantage of sealing the game with your offense. For a guy like Payton, it isn’t a shock to assume he wanted Nix and the offense either putting the game out of reach or kneeling to close the game. It is also not unreasonable to think that with as much emphasis as Denver made on their run game during the offseason, the conversion should be straightforward.
But the Denver defense would need to put on their Superman capes and rescue Payton from himself after the botched sneak, forcing a three-and-out and giving the ball back to Denver with just over four minutes left. Denver would get two first downs to take the ball down to just about midfield. One more first down probably puts this one to bed. The most conservative approach makes this game winnable going away!!
And then Gamblin’ Sean struck again.
With no timeouts and Mark Sanchez, of all people, pleading with Payton to run the ball, Payton decided to empty the backfield to throw a screen to Marvin Mims. Again, the Broncos got bailed out by a (soft) roughing call, but that still stopped the clock even with the advancement of the ball close to field goal range.
Payton fought the urge to pass and ran the ball the next three plays for 2 yards. Keep in mind, the rationale for going for it at this point on 4th and 8 is field position; not wanting to give the Titans too much of it, and how much is needed for a higher percentage field goal attempt for Wil Lutz. So the most logical, if boring and conservative, choice SHOULD have been to punt the ball away and let the defense carry the day like it had done All. Day.
Instead, Payton said, “hit me” with 19 in hand, and the game got unneedingly interesting. Denver held on to win, but questions should be asked about how much rope Payton will get to make these kinds of choices before it comes back to bite him.
There were some poor clock management issues in wins versus New York and the same in the loss to the Bengals last year. Special teams had gaffes that cost Denver two games last year. Payton revamped the unit this year with his handpicked coach, only to have another return snafu that set up a Tennessee score. Did we also forget the muffed punt that set up great Tennessee field position that the Denver defense managed to erase by pushing Cam Ward and friends back out of field goal range? Let this sink in: Denver may have been one or two bounces from being 0-1 heading into the first road trip of the year. There are no style points in winning, but Denver, statistically anyway, deserved to lose that game on Sunday.
Week One can be Fools' Gold for winners and losers in the NFL. If Carolina had Riverboat Ron back in the day, we got our own version in Blackhawk Payton. Every novice gambler gets sucked in with images of the reward being worth the risk. Sean Payton could do more to ease the concerns of Broncos Country with his reckless approach as of late. But who wants to bet he will or won't???
Tags: Broncos, Broncos Country, NFL, Denver, Football, NFL, Blogs