Sean Payton Channels Bill Parcells To Help Broncos Move Past Brutal Loss To Dolphins

The Denver Broncos are gearing up for a clash with the Chicago Bears that everyone is jonesing to see (kidding), and head coach Sean Payton is giving some insights into how he's preparing after his team suffered one of the most unholy beatings in recent memory.

As you're no doubt aware, the Broncos were part of NFL history by being on the receiving end of 70-20 pantsing at the hands of the Miami Dolphins.

So, you can understand why a lot of people assumed that this week, Broncos players would be hearing Sean Payton screaming in their sleep.

However, that doesn't appear to be the case. Payton instead said he used some of what he learned from legendary head coach Bill Parcells who he worked under with the Dallas Cowboys.

“See if this makes sense,” Payton when asked if he had been laying into his team this week, per Pro Football Talk. “I’m going to go back to Bill . The hardest time working with Bill was when you were three or four wins in a row. I mean, you couldn’t wait for the game. You’d have a couple tough losses, and then he’d be a little bit more ‘pick-me-up.’"

That just feels very Bill Parcells, doesn't it?

Payton said that coaches need to use their gut to determine what their team needs. He said that it all started early in the week with a team meeting and practice and even said he was pleased with what he saw on the energy front.

So, there's no need for him to put the fear of God into his team like he said Parcells was prone to do if he deemed it necessary.

"I can remember — we were 4-1 playing Detroit. They had kind of had one of those streaks from the year before. I don’t know how many games, but we were a heavy favorite. He had us all convinced by Friday we were playing the ‘85 Bears.

"You couldn’t get to the game fast enough. I think you trust your instincts relative to your team and where you’re at.”

Payton said he used Parcells' method of 'creating a crisis' to guide his 2009 New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl title.

“We’re playing the Colts in that Super Bowl,” Payton said regarding his 2009 Saints. “We just won the NFC Championship game, and the city is celebrating like there’s no tomorrow. The Colts just won in Miami four years earlier. They’re at the same hotel, same hotel room. I remember our conversation.

"He’s like, ‘You have to have a crisis now.’ You have to be careful if you’re creating one. It was kind of given to me. Tuesday used to be the media day and we had five players miss buses, 9:30 buses. When they got to the locker room, we had a ‘come to Jesus’ crisis. I think that was necessary.”

There was no need for Payton to create the most recent crisis. That one was certainly just handed to the Broncos. Time will tell if his methods pan out, but something tells me things might be a little different if his team falls to the Bears on Sunday afternoon.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle

Written by
Matt is a University of Central Florida graduate and a long-suffering Philadelphia Flyers fan living in Orlando, Florida. He can usually be heard playing guitar, shoe-horning obscure quotes from The Simpsons into conversations, or giving dissertations to captive audiences on why Iron Maiden is the greatest band of all time.