The Denver Broncos and their fans have many reasons to be thankful for head coach Sean Payton. While Payton isn't everyone's cup of tea, nor is he right all the time, it's clear that he's done what he set out to do, which is change the culture of the team.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, it seems as though Pete Carroll has fallen into the trap of the losing culture that the Raiders' organization has been unable to shake for the majority of the past three decades.
Carroll is one of the winningest and most decorated NFL head coaches of the last decade-plus, but his time with the Raiders has been forgettable and could be short. At the end of regulation in their most recent loss to the Broncos, Carroll sent out his team for a field goal attempt as time expired to lose by seven instead of by 10. His explanation for the meaningless field goal was equal parts hilarious and ridiculous.
Pete Carroll said he knew late field goal attempt vs. Broncos would "look stupid"
“I knew it was going to look stupid, like you couldn’t figure out why we were doing it. But there was a clear thought of what we were trying to get down there, just to take it down to the very last click. That might not be good enough for you, I understand that, but I think you can see what we were trying to do, but it just didn’t work out.”
- Pete Carroll (via Pro Football Talk)
This is an actual quote from an NFL head coach who is in his 70s. It's mind-boggling.
There was no reason for Carroll to kick that field goal as time expired, because what did he think was going to happen in four or five seconds? Did he think they were going to be able to kick a field goal, recover an onside kick, score a touchdown on the next play, and get a two-point conversion in that amount of time?
Reggie Miller doesn't play in the NFL.
The decision to kick that field goal brought out more tinfoil hats than it did people thinking Carroll was doing an admirable job of trying to put his team in a position to win. The Broncos were 7.5-point favorites going into the game, so Carroll's decision to kick a field goal almost looked like an intentional way of making sure the Broncos didn't cover the spread to a lot of folks.
Again, it's all tinfoil hat theories, but that is the type of bad beat that raises eyebrows in the sports betting world. Especially when, by the coach's admission, the decision "looks stupid" and no explanation for it would be good enough.
At any rate, Broncos Country has every reason to be thankful for Sean Payton, whose goal of flipping the culture of the organization has actually seen fruit, unlike what Pete Carroll is doing with the Raiders.