Sean Payton is happy the Broncos beat the Falcons, but some of his players still won’t stop doing one thing that he hates
The Denver Broncos cruised to a 27-7 win over the Atlanta Falcons to kick off preseason action.
The Denver Broncos cruised to a 27-7 win over the Atlanta Falcons on Friday night to kick off the preseason.
Denver jumped out to a 24-0 lead in the first half, which led to a fun quip from Broncos head coach Sean Payton at halftime.
Payton, of course, spent over 15 years in the NFC South as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints, and the Falcons were obviously a top rival.
Anyway, Payton was pretty happy with what he saw from his team on Friday night — especially the Broncos’ two interceptions, one of which was returned 97 yards for a touchdown by defensive back Jahdae Barron.
Payton, however, noted after the game that Denver had a couple of more opportunities for interceptions, but the players choosing to wear sleeves got in the way.
It’s no secret that Payton thinks wearing sleeves makes it tougher to catch the ball. It’s something he harps on regularly.
It was mentioned, in fact, in the excellent profile of Payton earlier this summer from ESPN’s Seth Wickersham.
From ESPN: As Payton runs through third-down slides, he notices that one of the Broncos ballcarriers is wearing sleeves under his jersey.
“I hate the sleeves,” he says. Too slippery, too easy to fumble.
Twenty minutes later in his office, the sleeves are still bothering him. An old play pops to mind. He scrolls around and finds a clip of Jerry Rice from the 1986 season. Divisional playoffs, 49ers at the Giants. Rice in sleeves. First quarter, first drive, Niners ball at midfield, with a chance to take control of the game: Rice catches a slant and breaks into the clear… then fumbles, untouched. Goddamn sleeves. The ball bounces around and rolls into the end zone. Giants recover. New York would win 49-3.
Sleeves are pretty common throughout the NFL, and since Payton isn’t making it a mandate for wide receivers and defensive backs to not wear them, then I doubt we’ll see every Denver wide receiver and defensive back go sans sleeves anytime soon.
