One day after securing a 28-14 victory over the Carolina Panthers in Week 8, Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton was still answering questions about his postgame interaction with Jaycee Horn.
The Panthers cornerback appeared to approach Payton as players and staff were mingling on the field, accusing the coach of “running up the score,” calling the perceived tactic “lame.”
Payton denied knowing what Horn was saying postgame. But he has more direct on Monday.
“Listen I said it last night, we’re trying to finish the game the right way,” Payton told reporters via teleconference on October 28. “We’re not trying to run up the score on anyone. It’s the National Football League. I’ve been in games with a 28-point lead in the fourth quarter and lost. So we’re trying to finish. The [Michael] Burton throw from [Courtland] Sutton is trying to continue a drive.
“I want them [Broncos players] to take on a winning personality,” Payton said. “I want them to take on a personality that understands what wins in our league. And look, I say this all the time: Confidence is born only from demonstrated ability.
There are certain things … that we have to improve on. That has nothing to do with the earlier question relative to were we trying to score. That has nothing to do with that. There’s no story there. We’re trying to win a football game, we’re trying to extend the drive. I’m throwing the ball to my fullback, Burton, alright? So I’m not necessarily expecting a touchdown. We’re trying to close the game out. And it wasn’t 50, 60, or 70 [points]. I think – I didn’t look at that at all. I just looked at that as us trying to win a football game and learn to close out a game.”
The Broncos also ran a fake field goal with a multi-score lead in the fourth quarter even after a false start penalty moved the ball back five yards.
Panthers HC Dave Canales Speaks on Sean Payton, Broncos Running Up Score
Panthers head coach Dave Canales did not take offense to Payton’s play-calling, expressing similar sentiments about his counterpart trying to keep the Broncos offense on the field.
“They’re just competing,” Canales told reporters on October 27. “I don’t know how else to – what else to tell you about it. He’s competing to try to make sure they can stay on the field, run the clock out, and end the game in that situation. And if it happens to be the call that was set up there, that’s that’s their decision to make.
“I think they [Panthers players] were a little bit frustrated. But at the same time, it’s like, we got to put ourselves in position in better position by playing well throughout the whole game. So I never really think about and fault the other coaches for just competing for whatever we’re giving them or whatever they were seeing.”
Sean Payton was confronted on the field postgame by Carolina’s Jaycee Horn, who said he was “trying to run the score up.”
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Horn clarified that he was jawing with Broncos players, not Payton. The coach simply got caught in the crossfire, per The Athletic’s Joe Person on October 28. Horn did say he felt the Broncos’ were “disrespectful” with their style of play, per Person.
Sean Payton Reiterates Criticism About Turnovers
Payton was blunt in his assessment of the Panthers’ offense after the game, saying it is “not a good” unit. He said that he warned players about the mistakes the Broncos made – Sutton and fellow wideout Lil’Jordan Humphrey both lost fumbles – could come back to bite them.
“We did a number of things that were really good. And most importantly, we got the win,” Payton said. “Here’s the thing, we can’t turn the ball over the way we did offensively, alright? We can’t. We can’t fumble on the first drive, we can’t fumble later in the game. And I put up some numbers for these guys just to see where we’re at relative to the season, relative to historics history, relative to – and so it’s not the perfect game we’re searching for. But it’s the game that we know, when played with bigger stakes against a better team that it’ll cost you.”
“We have to be better at that. And so the turnovers bothered me, the late drive, and how we played defensively bothered me. And look, I just think that – what’s the bar? What’s the expectation? And it has to meet or exceed mine.”
