Sean Payton followed up his curious decision Sunday not to go for an onside kick in the Broncos’ loss to the Steelers with an equally perplexing explanation.
Speaking to reporters after the 13-6 defeat at home, Denver’s head coach elaborated on the decision to kick it deep with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth, as the Steelers ate up most of the time remaining on the clock to leave rookie quarterback Bo Nix just nine seconds to make magic happen.
“Yeah, we spent a lot of time going through it. Look, back and forth. We had plenty of time to discuss it, there was a player down. We felt like our odds… the long run on third down prior to them punting took about six seconds. We were hopeful to have about two or three plays before we went to the end zone,” Payton said, according to 104.3 The Fan in Denver.
Denver kicked a field goal to cut the lead to seven with 1:54 left, but didn’t think the chances of recovering an onside kick warranted the risk even though they only had one time out left.
“It was just weighing the odds versus recovering an onside kick,” Payton said. “Or getting the ball back with 26 seconds. So, we chose to kick off.”
Nix, the team’s 12th overall pick in this year’s draft, would close out the game with an interception to drop Denver to 0-2 on the season.
Fans then turned their attention to social media as the Payton pile-on was well underway.
“Sean Payton… down by 7 with 1:54 and one timeout decides to kick it deep,” X user @trentbets posted. “I’ve seen a lot of bad coaching decisions in my day, but this is up there.”
“I’ve officially removed my orange and blue glasses. The Denver Broncos are a really bad team and the coaching isn’t any better. Sean Payton is being out coached week in and out. We are low on talent and energy,” X user @kadenstaab wrote, adding, “I don’t have the answer. All I know is this sucks. Rock bottom.”
Denver is riding with Nix after a messy split with Russell Wilson earlier this year.
Wilson signed with Pittsburgh in March, and although he didn’t suit up Sunday amid a lingering calf issue, he was honored with a “petty game ball.”
“I think we all know Russ got kind of did dirty last year,” Steelers quarterback Justin Fields said postgame, according to ESPN. “So I know he wished he could have played today in this game, but it’s awesome getting a win for him. He got a petty game ball.”
The Broncos reportedly informed Wilson last fall that they would bench him if he didn’t waive the injury guarantee of his salary and ultimately followed through at the end of the year, sitting the quarterback for the final two games.
Denver’s decision to cut Wilson resulted in a dead cap hit of $85 million.
The Steelers host the Chargers next Sunday while the Broncos visit the Buccaneers.