Sean Payton Continues to Pay the Price for His Preseason Error in Judgment

In the world of pro sports, most coaches are hesitant to provide "bulletin board material" to the opposing team. Pregame quotes, by and large, are intentionally generic and inoffensive; you don't want to face someone who's dead set on proving you wrong. Sean Payton, however, did the opposite.

In fairness to the veteran bench boss, he didn't take a shot at the New York Jets ahead of their Week 5 showdown. During training camp, however, Payton threw some serious shade at Nathaniel Hackett, the man who preceded him as head coach of the Denver Broncos.

The catch, however, is that Hackett is now New York's offensive coordinator.

And, after the dust cleared on Sunday, the Jets made sure that Payton ate his words.

The Jets Beat Payton Then Had Fun on Social Media

For those who have forgotten, Payton grabbed offseason headlines by saying that Hackett did "one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL." The Broncos leader was also critical of the hype the Jets were receiving, suggesting that it was more important to "put the work in" than trying to "win the offseason."

On Sunday, October 8, though, it wasn't the offseason anymore. And New York beat Denver on the football field.

The Jets came from behind, outscoring the Broncos 23-8 in the second half to claim a 31-21 victory in Colorado. In an ironic twist, the home team didn't look very different than Hackett's squad from last season; sloppiness, including three turnovers, and general struggles on both sides of the ball sunk the AFC West squad.

After the final whistle, it was clear that the Jets had some extra motivation behind their performance. The team made a point to congratulate Hackett, and the offensive coordinator also headed home with the game ball. Gang Green's social media team also got in on the action on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

First, the team shared an image of actor Kevin James portraying Payton, harkening back to his comments about the Jets focusing on preseason hype.

Later, New York shared an image of Garrett Wilson wearing sunglasses and a bucket hat. The trolling there is a bit more subtle, but astute football fans will remember that Payton installed a rule during the preseason forbidding his players from donning the same attire after they were done working out.

This Humbling Isn't Anything New for Payton

While the Broncos coach had plenty of success before moving to Denver, this isn't his first time eating humble pie. Payton had to swallow a previous serving earlier this season when his Broncos were drubbed by the Miami Dolphins.

In addition to surrendering 70 points—for all of his struggles, Hackett never suffered that fate—the defeat came at the hands of Tua Tagovailoa. During his time as a TV talking head, Payton suggested that the Dolphins could make a quarterback change and replace Tua with Teddy Bridgewater.

That, of course, didn't happen. In an ironic twist, though, Tagovailoa did head to the bench against the Broncos, but only because the contest was so one-sided.

This Is a Problem of Payton's Own Making

Sometimes, NFL coaches can be dealt a tough hand. As the cliché says, you can't fire the entire team; sometimes the bench boss has to take the fall for larger failings.

In this case, though, it's tough to feel too bad for Payton.

Is Denver's roster flawed? Sure. Hitching the team's collective wagon to Russell Wilson seems like a mistake, and the Broncos' defense is surrendering an eye-watering 450.6 yards per game. The head coach obviously shoulders some blame for that, but the roster wasn't entirely his own creation.

The target on the club's collective back, however, is.

While head coaches can't exactly step in front of the microphone and tell the world how bad their team will be, there's something to be said for humility. Payton isn't the most popular guy around, but if he had taken the podium during the preseason, said that Hackett did his best in a tough situation and predicted that the Broncos would be tough to play against, that would have been fine. Instead, he blasted his predecessor and turned his eyes toward a playoff berth.

Ultimately, you'd think a veteran head coach, let alone one who also worked in the media, would understand the risks of letting it fly during the offseason. For whatever reason, Payton didn't hold back.

Now he and, to a lesser extent, his team are paying the price after embarrassing defeats.