Sean Payton: ‘I’m going to be pissed off if this is not a playoff team’
After an abysmal season last year, newly hired head coach Sean Payton has some high expectations for the Broncos this season. Denver’s new head coach even added that he will be pissed if they aren’t a playoff team.
Last season, the Denver Broncos season didn’t quite go to plan. After acquiring Russell Wilson in a blockbuster trade with the Seattle Seahawks, expectations were through the roof. Well, that roof quickly collapsed on the Broncos season. Denver would finish dead last in the AFC West with a record of 5-12. Now, Payton looks to turn the Denver ship around and make the playoffs.
“I’m going to be pissed off if this is not a playoff team,” Payton said, according to Jarrett Bell of USA TODAY Sports.
Payton brings in a much-needed leadership and winning mentality to the Denver organization, one that has struggled for the past few years. Payton holds a record of 152-89 across 15 years in the league.
“Winning,” Payton added. “It’s the salve for the whole organization. Makes everyone feel better.”
There were two apparent woes in the Broncos season; coaching and Russell Wilson. Payton recently ripped apart former Bronco’s head coach Nathaniel Hackett.
“It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL,” Payton told Bell. “That’s how bad it was.”
But Hackett wasn’t the only reason why the Broncos choked their season away. Russell Wilson was the other.
“Oh, man,” Payton said regarding Wilson’s struggles. “There’s so much dirt around that. There’s 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms. The offense. I don’t know Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it. This B.S. that he hit a wall? Shoot, they couldn’t get a play in. They were 29th in the league in pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball.”
When Wilson joined Denver, a corny saying followed him. “Broncos country, let’s ride” became a national sensation and ultimately shifted towards a national disaster. Denver and Wilson became the laughingstock of the NFL and media teams bought into the hype and it got even worse. Now, Payton is looking to change that too.
“It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed,” Payton said. “And that happened here. Part of it was their own fault, relative to spending so much (expletive) time trying to win the offseason – the PR, the pomp and circumstance, marching people around and all this stuff.”
“Everything I heard about last season, we’re doing the opposite,” said Payton. “We’re not doing any of that. The Jets did that this year. You watch. ‘Hard Knocks,’ all of it. I can see it coming. Remember when (former Washington owner) Dan Snyder put that Dream Team together? I was at the Giants (in 2000), I was a young coach. I thought, ‘How are we going to compete with them? Deion’s (Sanders) there now.’ That team won eight games or whatever. So, listen…just put the work in.”
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