{"id":677342,"date":"2026-01-14T19:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/677342\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T19:41:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T19:41:10","slug":"sean-payton-was-so-rude-to-broncos-reporter-over-dre-greenlaw-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/677342\/","title":{"rendered":"Sean Payton was so rude to Broncos reporter over Dre Greenlaw question"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jan. 14, 2026, 1:10 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

The Denver Broncos<\/a>‘ defense was No. 3 in the NFL this season<\/a>. It has veritable Pro Bowl and All-Pro-caliber players at every level of the unit, like 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, cornerback Patrick Surtain II<\/a>, and edge rusher Nik Bonitto. It does not necessarily need more help, but it’s still hard to be upset about linebacker Dre Greenlaw’s return. The veteran defender missed the last couple of weeks of the regular season as he nursed a hamstring injury. He’s back practicing with the Broncos this week, and he should be available for the team’s AFC Divisional Round matchup with the seasoned Buffalo Bills<\/a> this Saturday.<\/p>\n

Naturally, Greenlaw’s return for the AFC’s top playoff seed sparks several worthwhile questions. How healthy is he? Are there any concerns about his potential rust on a defense that has otherwise mostly been in rhythm all year? What does Greenlaw specifically bring to the table for a Denver unit that doesn’t have many, if any, glaring flaws?<\/p>\n

The best person to ask these questions would be Broncos head coach Sean Payton. And a good way to frame them in a concise fashion would be by using football technical terms, like “attacking downhill,” as a means to reach Payton where he is, while also hopefully providing valuable, educational context for fans.<\/p>\n

Payton was asked about Greenlaw in this fashion. He could’ve taken the question for what it was and treated a person doing their job with some respect. Instead, he took the opportunity to be condescending and rude, and to make fun of someone for daring to ask a question that wasn’t cookie-cutter, like “what is the vibe of this team?” or “do you feel like this group is special?”<\/p>\n

How instructive:<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

I still don’t understand Payton’s approach here. Does he think it’s amusing that a reporter who isn’t actively employed by a football team doesn’t know football on the same level he does?<\/p>\n

Of course they don’t! They’re not a professional football coach like he is. Why would that be funny? Why would that bother him? And even if they don’t know football as much as Payton, which is undoubtedly true, why would it be a problem to ask someone like Payton, who has decades worth of experience playing and coaching football, to explain a specific, important player’s job on a more technical level so everyone watching can have a better understanding? That’s the job of a reporter! It’s threading a needle: meeting a coach where he is while also giving fans a clear, comprehensive conduit to their favorite team.<\/p>\n

It was such a harmless approach in this press conference that I’m baffled Payton spent any time making fun of a working professional for it. At least he eventually (didn’t really) answered the question, I guess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jan. 14, 2026, 1:10 p.m. ET The Denver Broncos‘ defense was No. 3 in the NFL this season.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677343,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[95878,232,231,258,2426,7,6,95940,95941,95882,95887,96033,95886,97238,95896,95888,95895,96687,96117,95897,96116,98741,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-677342","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-broncos","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-broncos","12":"tag-denverbroncos","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnfl","16":"tag-sstsnnfl","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagamerican-football-conference","19":"tag-tagbuffalo-bills","20":"tag-tagdenver-broncos","21":"tag-tagdre-greenlaw","22":"tag-tagnational-sports","23":"tag-tagnfl","24":"tag-tagnfl-hub","25":"tag-tagnfl-playoffs","26":"tag-tagnik-bonitto","27":"tag-tagoverall-negative","28":"tag-tagpatrick-surtain-ii","29":"tag-tagsean-payton","30":"tag-tagsports-news","31":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115895159007066161","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}