Colorado Question: Who Saw Sean Payton Doing Much Worse At Denver Than Deion Sanders At Boulder?

Sean Payton inherited one of the worst teams in the NFL at Denver after last season. The Broncos had lost for six straight seasons under three head coaches.

Deion Sanders took over one of the worst major college football teams at Colorado following the 2022 season. The Buffaloes suffered five straight losing seasons (excluding the COVID year of 2020) also under three head coaches, including a 1-11 campaign last year.

Sean Payton called Denver's 70-20 loss at Miami "embarrassing." (Getty Images)

Sean Payton produced one of the NFL's most elite offenses consistently with quarterback Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints from 2006-21. He won the Super Bowl in the 2009 season, took the Saints to three NFC title games and won four straight NFC South titles over his last five seasons there.

Sanders coached high school football briefly before taking Jackson State to a pair of Southwestern Athletic Conference titles in 2021 and '22.

Sean Payton Already Setting Records With Denver

Payton is 0-3 and just got beat 70-20 at Miami as his defense allowed the most points in any NFL game since 1966. The 726 total yards by the Dolphins were the most in an NFL game since 1951 and second most in history.

"I'll be brief," said Payton, who basically lost his briefs in that game. "That was embarrassing."

Sanders started off 3-0 and reached No. 19 in the nation as he took over college football's first month like only Coach Prime could. He started with a 45-42 upset over No. 17 TCU, which reached the College Football Playoff national title game last season.

Colorado Buffaloes Off To Solid Start Under Deion Sanders

Yes, Deion got blown out Saturday, 42-6, by No. 10 Oregon, and Ducks coach Dan Lanning called off the dogs in the second half after a 35-0 lead at halftime. But the Buffaloes held them under 50 at least. Sanders will likely lose big again Saturday versus No. 8 USC (FOX, noon), though. The Trojans (4-0) are favored by three touchdowns.

But there is still hope in Boulder. There doesn't seem to be much of that in Denver.

"Tired of losing, man," Denver offensive tackle Garet Bolles said Sunday around cuss words. "I’ve been here for seven years, and all I’ve done is lost. It’s frustrating."

Neither Payton nor Sanders tend to be very humble, but Payton in particular spoke freely before the season. He ripped former Denver coach Nathaniel Hackett, who was 4-11 last year in his only season with the Broncos before getting fired.

Coach Prime Not Eating Words Like Sean Payton

He called what Hackett did in 2022 "one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL," then matched it on Sunday. He added, "Everything I heard about last season, we're doing the opposite."

Until Sunday, that is.

And this: "It doesn't happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed. And that happened here."

And Payton chose that same verb on Sunday.

Payton may have also motivated Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa's performance Sunday. Over a year ago, he made some choice comments on Colin Cowherd's show when Payton was out of coaching and working as a studio analyst for FOX. He intimated 2022 Miami backup Teddy Bridgewater would replace Tagovailoa as the starter.

Sean Payton, Denver Broncos Roasted On Social Media

And lately Payton has been eating his words. The below X mention used a picture of actor Kevin James. He portrayed Payton in the movie "Home Team" about the year Payton was suspended from coaching in 2012.

  And there were others:

Yes, Payton is learning what Louis Armstrong was singing about.

Also on Instagram, roadrunner62 said, "Apparently, Tua and the Dolphins heard Sean."

"Great talent evaluation," said fishburghpurdy said of Payton's Bridgewater comment.

At the moment, Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph's job is safe. Payton hired Joseph before this season to be his DC. Joseph previously was Denver's head coach, going 5-11 and 6-10 in 2017 and '18. He previously played and coached at Colorado.

Denver may have a chance next week, though. The Broncos play Chicago (also 0-3) at 1 p.m. on CBS. The Bears lost, 41-10, to Kansas City last week.