Sean Payton wasn't able to stew on his decision-making after the Denver Broncos' unacceptable loss in Week 2 against the Indianapolis Colts by driving around the stadium in his car. Instead, he had to take a brutal flight home with the rest of the team chewing on what he should have done differently.
The Broncos obviously lost in heartbreaking fashion after having the game won. They forced the Indianapolis Colts into a 60-yard field goal to win the game, and the Colts missed it. Unfortunately, there was yellow on the field after the missed attempt, and a 15-yard "leverage" penalty against the Broncos allowed the Colts to kick again from 45 yards out.
We all saw what happened.
Sean Payton falls on the sword after "big regret" in Week 2 loss to Colts
Payton met with the media via conference call on Monday, and noted that the decision to call a certain play on special teams was his own, and it ended up being his "big regret".
No kidding.
"The call was correct. That was leveraging. You can't put your hands to elevate yourself off one of your own guys or off one of the opponent players. My big regret flying home was that’s more for a closer field goal. That's more for a gimme than a 60-yard attempt, and that's on me.”
- Broncos HC Sean Payton (via team PR)
What Payton is saying is what pretty much everyone was saying after the game. Why would the Broncos call for an aggressive field goal block from 60 yards out? It makes absolutely no sense. Were they trying to block it and return it for six?
It's not like they should have just sat back and done nothing on the play, but standing up after the ball was snapped and reaching their hands straight up in the air would have been a better strategy than this. It's a major coaching gaffe, on the heels of another major coaching gaffe (on special teams) in Week 1 that have now cost the Broncos a total of six points and one win this season.
The other instance was at the end of the first half against the Titans, when Tennessee would have simply been content to sit on the ball going into halftime but the Broncos decided to kick the ball in play, allowing the Titans to return the ball right into field goal range and cash in on the opportunity.
Payton is falling on the sword for this one, but in reality, it feels reasonable to assume that special teams coordinator/assistant head coach Darren Rizzi would have the authority to make whatever call he would see fit in that moment, even if it meant challenging Payton in the moment.
Otherwise, why else was Rizzi brought in with his wealth of experience? While Payton is taking the diplomatic approach by taking the blame, this one is more likely on Rizzi. The Broncos got overly aggressive at a horrible time, and it cost them a game they should have won.
You can point back to a number of different reasons why they blew the game against the Colts, all of which have validity, but this was one thing that should never have happened, and Sean Payton knows it.