Sean Payton appeared to have the Denver Broncos poised for an upset after the first drive of Sunday's wild-card playoff game against the Buffalo Bills.
After taking the opening kickoff, the Broncos marched down the field in five plays to open the scoring and take a 7-0 lead. But that was the closest the Broncos would come as the Bills scored 31 unanswered points to win 31-7 and advance to the divisional round.
After the game, Broncos head coach Sean Payton came under fire for the team's lack of aggression against a superior Bills team. Sean Keeler of the Denver Post wrote that Payton didn't just take his foot off the gas, he "yanked the emergency brake, got out of the car, handed the keys to Josh Allen and crawled home on all fours."
Payton adopted a more conservative approach following the opening drive, running on a majority of first- and second-down plays and regularly putting quarterback Bo Nix in long third-down situations. The Broncos converted just two of nine third downs in the game, handing the ball back to a Bills offense that held a time-of-possession advantage of 41:43 to 18:17.
Others joined Keeler in placing the blame on Payton for a failed gameplan.
"What we're witnessing from Sean Payton in the 2nd half is some of the worst play-calling you'll ever see," noted reporter Frank Ammirante in a post on X.
Payton had other miscues, including his failure to throw a challenge flag on a fourth-quarter catch from Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid that appeared to hit the ground.
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