The head coach was supposed to bring a wave of fresh thinking to Denver. But he is losing games and confusing his young quarterback
It was only last season that Sean Payton rocked up in Denver and set a blowtorch to everything that came before, labelling Nathaniel Hackett’s spell in charge of the Broncos one of “the worst coaching jobs” in NFL history. It would be nice to know where he thinks his first two games of this season stack up in the rankings.
The Broncos have started the season 0-2. Push the timeline back further and Denver have only won two of their last eight games, with both wins coming over a team quarterbacked by Easton Stick. Through two weeks this season, the Broncos’ offense has laid an egg in four out of eight quarters. Payton, once at the vanguard of offensive football, looks someone out of ideas – or at least out of time. His offense is stuck in 2013, and is led by a rookie quarterback, Bo Nix, who looks in over his head. The advanced metrics this season put Denver’s offense ahead of only the awful Carolina Panthers, a team who benched their quarterback this week, in part, because they are worried he has trouble seeing over the line of scrimmage.