Sean Payton felt ‘real good’ about Broncos facing Chiefs in playoffs
Jan 15, 2025, 1:30 PM
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton held his end of the season press conference on Wednesday.
And Payton made a bold statement that will certainly turn some heads.
Coming off a 10-7 season and a loss to the Bills in the first-round of the playoffs, Payton was asked about the gap between the Broncos and the elite teams in the AFC, meaning Buffalo, Baltimore and Kansas City.
Payton gave a revealing answer, including an interesting statement on the Chiefs if you read and listen closely.
“I’m telling you what, I didn’t see a gap last weekend until the second half, and then you see a gap because you’re losing. But I felt real confident we could go in there and play well and win. We obviously didn’t play well enough. Those lines are much finer than we think,” Payton began.
He has a point. Denver was down 13-7 to the Bills late in the third quarter before a touchdown on fourth-and-one for Buffalo swung the game in their favor and they ran away with a 31-7 victory.
But it’s what Payton said next that will create a stir, particularly in Kansas City.
“We’re not looking backwards, we’re looking ahead, and it starts with the division. There’s a lot of confidence in this team. If we could get past that game, the next game we had to play, we felt real good about,” Payton said.
The head coach is declaring the Broncos felt “real good” about playing the Chiefs, their only possible opponent in the divisional playoffs based on seeding.
Wow.
Sure, they’re back-to-back Super Bowl champions, but Denver went into Arrowhead earlier this year and should’ve won. A blocked 35-yard field goal at the buzzer prevented a walk-off win, but rookie QB Bo Nix did everything he could to get the team into position.
The Broncos then smacked the Chiefs at home 38-0 in the final regular season, but Kansas City rested a ton of key starters and had no interest in winning the game. It’s a fascinating statement from Payton.
And for good measure, he also took one last shot at former QB Russell Wilson in his final media session of the 2024 season.
“Obviously, we’re still not there yet, and yet we’re a lot closer than we were at this time a year ago. That was misery, sorrow, drudgery, give me some other adjectives there, just ahhh. That was brutal,” Payton said.
Sean Payton went out with a bang, as he tends to do. He’s much happier than he was this time last season — and he thinks the Broncos could’ve beaten the Chiefs this coming weekend.
