Broncos: Sean Payton has strong words on 2023 schedule
The Denver Broncos schedule came out recently and Sean Payton had some strong words on what they will be doing in 2023. The Denver Broncos have a pretty tough schedule with some very good teams on it. I mean, heck, they play in the AFC West, which means they will play the defending champions twice […]
The Denver Broncos schedule came out recently and Sean Payton had some strong words on what they will be doing in 2023.
The Denver Broncos have a pretty tough schedule with some very good teams on it. I mean, heck, they play in the AFC West, which means they will play the defending champions twice and the Chargers twice, another playoff team last year. And, who knows, the Raiders could be good too, and they beat the Broncos last year.
The Broncos do have some positives to their schedule though. They have two straight home games to open up the season, and they have a Week nine bye week, the perfect week to have one because it's the exact midway point.
But, the Broncos' new head coach, Sean Payton, had some strong words when he saw the schedule for the first time.
"I would say if this makes sense I felt like it was very unremarkable," Payton said to describe the 2023 schedule. "I mean, it was like when I looked at it all, it was, I don't want to use the word calm, but I mean, I don't know that anything stood out. I look at three things right away when the schedule comes out. You know, where's the bye at and, midseason, that's, that's fine.
"Travel logistics. I think we, we've got a couple of East Coast games where we might go, you know, two days in advance – Miami early on, Buffalo Monday night. So, that creates that little shorter window. Our schedule will be different than anything you're used to. If we end up flying home and landing after two AM, we're probably going to stay in, so we'll probably stay in Buffalo after that game, fly back Tuesday, players will be off Wednesday, and then push the work week back a day. But outside of that, we're on the rotation of the nine home games versus the eight."
Unremarkable is a good way to put it, for him at least. Maybe Payton thinks the things that are bad with their schedule, like the three straight road games in three different time zones, will only make the team better. Maybe he thinks the four of the last six games being road games is a good thing.
Either way, there is nothing he or the Broncos can do. That is their schedule and they have to abide by it. But still, unremarkable is a way of putting it that I certainly did not think of.
