It\u2019s been a long two weeks, but the day has finally arrived! By the end of today we\u2019ll know if the Denver Broncos season is going to continue for another week or if the Buffalo Bills dashed our hopes for the season.<\/p>\n
A lot is riding on head coach Sean Payton\u2019s shoulders in the game and playcalling is going to be a big part of whether or not the Broncos win. That and execution of those called plays, of course.<\/p>\n
On that topic, Payton was asked a question that led into far deeper insight into Payton\u2019s mindset in games. The question was about sticking with the run game and staying committed to it even if its not working early on. He started to answer it, but then talked about the difference between how he approached calling plays when he was younger compared to now.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll make a note on the sheet, \u2018Run it.\u2019 It\u2019s important,\u201d Payton said. \u201cThe thing that I have to continue that changes as you get older is you still have to be quick. Play just ran, next play. I said this. When I was younger, we\u2019d run a reverse on the eight-yard line, and I think nothing of it. As you get older, you think about all the ramifications. So I have to also remove that. It was said as you get older, maybe you don\u2019t drive in the rain at night. You begin to\u2026 I can\u2019t let that happen as a play caller. That\u2019s something that I have to mentally make sure it\u2019s quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone in the mid-40s or later in life probably understands better what he is talking about here. You think more about the ramifications of your decisions the more experience you have with the mistakes you\u2019ve made in the past.<\/p>\n
For Payton, though, he has to remember to keep the edge that made him great for the past two decades in the NFL. Be decisive and don\u2019t dwell on the ramifications.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s quick and decisive, and it\u2019s daring at the right time,\u201d Payton continued. \u201cNot reckless, but those are things that I find that are challenges compared to when I was 33 in New York or whatever. Part of that is being raised by a father who was in casualty claims and insurance. We had no trampolines, we had no swimming pools, we couldn\u2019t ride motorbikes. We knew where every sharp edge was, and it was like, \u2018Ah.\u2019 (Laughs) But anyway, I think that\u2019s the thing that I have to focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n
There have been times when people \u2014 including myself \u2014 have lamented certain play calls or tendencies Payton has. Looking back, I would probably need to attribute half of those failed play calls on poor execution as opposed to predictable or poor play design.<\/p>\n
In the playoffs, it comes down to turnovers and big plays. Payton\u2019s job is to scheme some big play opportunities, but the players still have to execute. This game is going to be one hell of a measuring stick for how far this group has come along. I can\u2019t wait!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a long two weeks, but the day has finally arrived! By the end of today we\u2019ll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,83996,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-684058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-broncos","11":"tag-denver-broncos-playoffs","12":"tag-denverbroncos","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115910215182771929","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684058","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=684058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}