The story of the day on Tuesday featured the unexpected disclosure of a behind-the-scenes beef between the Seahawks and Broncos. And while the whole thing was eye opening (and likely not intended for air), one specific line caught my eye.
Regarding Broncos coach Sean Payton’s assertion that the Seahawks had obtained training-camp footage through improper means, Macdonald said, “He thought it was a Michigan thing where we had a plant.”
That’s a reference to the 2023 Connor Stalions scandal in Ann Arbor, where Stalions developed a mechanism (in violation of NCAA rules) to scout future opponents with the goal of figuring out their sideline signals. In this specific context, Payton presumably suggested that the Seahawks sent someone to Broncos training camp to record their plays.
Beyond the fact that Macdonald’s journey included a year on Jim Harbaugh’s Michigan staff (2021, as defensive coordinator), the 2024 Seahawks employed former Michigan assistant Matt Weiss as an outside contractor. And while Weiss’s coaching career has imploded due to criminal allegations of widespread hacking, it’s fair to point out that the 2024 Seahawks had a distinct Michigan component.
That’s not to say Payton’s allegations had any merit. Faced with a threat that the Seahawks would sue the Broncos if Payton went public with his suspicions of shenanigans, the issue died. And it would have remained unknown if Macdonald had spoken about it into a hot mic.
It will be interesting to hear what Macdonald and Payton have to say about it today, when they meet with reporters for their usual Wednesday press conferences. Regardless of their likely efforts to downplay the situation and move on, the Seahawks have self-applied the kind of scarlet letter that will give the coaches of the teams they beat the same kind of excuse that plagued the Patriots during their run of dominance.
Pressed by owners as to why the Seahawks keep beating their teams, coaches can resort to the notion that the Seahawks cheat. Even without a shred of evidence to support that claim.
If/when that happens, it will trace to the fact that Macdonald got way too comfortable — and said way too much about a topic that otherwise would have never come to light.
Meanwhile, the Broncos host the Seahawks in 22 days, for a Thursday night game. Which will create a motivation for multiple media outles to fully explore the rabbit hole that, as of Tuesday morning, no one even knew existed.
Broncos Clips
Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald launched his career as a head coach with a win over Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos. The game from September 2024 moved back to the front burner on Tuesday, thanks to footage from Macdonald’s recent interview with Graham Bensinger.
The excerpt, which wasn’t released when the first clips and quotes began to be circulated, relates to a squabble that emerged regarding the use by the Seahawks of fan-generated video from Broncos training-camp practices. It got ugly, as Macdonald told the story to Bensinger.
It could get ugly between the Seahawks and Bensinger’s camp. As we understand it, the conversation was not intended by Macdonald for public consumption. The Seahawks, we’re told, didn’t even know that portion of the “more off than on” the record discussion had been recorded until Tuesday morning.
The situation is another reminder that everything is potentially on the record, absent a clear agreement between the parties that it’s not. And while Bensinger’s people didn’t breach any journalistic rules by using it, the fact that it was posted could make future subjects more leery about agreeing to be interviewed.
On or off the record, others are befuddled by Macdonald’s decision to air gripes from two years ago. And there’s a question as to whether the various things Macdonald said to Bensinger (regarding Payton and others) are the product of arrogance or naiveté.
“What’s the point?” said one source connected to neither the Seahawks nor the Broncos. “It was reckless.”
The Broncos declined comment on the situation. Undoubtedly, Payton will be asked about it when he conducts his usual Wednesday press conference.
Either way, the kerfuffle adds a little extra sizzle to a spicy Week 6 Thursday night game between the two teams.
The Week 6 game between the Broncos and Seahawks has gained a new subplot.
During an appearance on In Depth with Graham Bensinger, Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald recounted a story involving Broncos head coach Sean Payton from his first season in Seattle. The Seahawks played the Broncos in Week 1 that year and Macdonald said that the team’s staff collected fan videos posted to social media from Broncos practices as part of their preparation because they were “public knowledge.”
The Seahawks won 26-20 and Macdonald said Payton “got wind of” how they used the videos in the middle of the season. Payton called Seahawks General Manager John Schneider and, per Macdonald, “lost it.”
“He basically threatened to come out publicly and do a whole Patriot Spygate type of thing,” Macdonald said. “I’m sitting there like, ‘Oh my god. We didn’t cheat.’ They thought it was a Michigan thing where we had a plant and the whole thing. So we had to counter with him and say, ‘If you come out with this, we’re going to sue you because it’s not true.’”
Macdonald said that Payton eventually dropped the issue, but that it felt like the two teams were involved in something more geopolitical than football until that happened.
“It was like the Cold War,” Macdonald said. “He’s like, ‘I’m going to hit the button. I’m going to hit the button.’ ‘Well, we’re going to hit the button.’ None of us hit the button.”
Macdonald said he and Payton subsequently crossed paths at the Scouting Combine, but the issue didn’t come up. Payton will likely be asked about his version of events at some point before the Week 6 meeting between the teams.
The Rams did not have an issue playing without star receiver Puka Nacua on Monday night, defeating the Giants, 28-6.
But the team would surely like to have Nacua healthy sooner rather than later, particularly as Los Angeles will face Denver on Sunday night in Week 3.
Head coach Sean McVay said on Tuesday that he was unsure of Nacua’s potential availability for the coming weekend as he deals with the psoas issue.
“I’m hopeful that he’ll play,” McVay said, via Gary Klein of the L.A. Times. “If he’s ready to go, great. If not, then we’ll continue to roll.”
Nacua missed practice on Friday and Saturday after the injury popped up during the week. He was listed as questionable for Monday night and was inactive for the contest.
“You have to redirect your whole kind of plans, and you almost have to operate where it’s like, ‘All right, if [Nacua] plays it’s a bonus, but we can’t count on him playing even though we were hopeful that there might be a chance,” McVay said. “It really just boiled down to ... when you have soft tissue injuries with guys like that, that are skill players, you’re going to err on the side of caution.”
Nacua caught five passes for 74 yards in the Rams’ season-opening loss to the 49ers.
Los Angeles’ first injury report of the week is due out on Wednesday.
The regular season consists of a unique rhythm. Stories emerge, they burn brightly, and they get supplanted by the next shiny object.
The shiny object in the aftermath of Week 1 came from an ESPN splash report that the Broncos spoke to Hall of Famer Drew Brees about playing for Denver in the 2025 AFC Championship.
Brees told Ed Werder that the Broncos contacted Brees. Broncos coach Sean Payton said that Brees contacted the Broncos. While not technically relevant to the question of whether the Broncos committed a tampering faux pas, given that Brees remains on the Saints’ reserve/retired list, the distinction could be relevant to whether the league, which enforces the tampering rules randomly and unpredictably, does anything about it.
Brees addressed the situation on the latest episode of the Let’s Go! podcast, where he’s now a regular presence.
“So my wrist and my shoulder, I don’t throw with my right side anymore,” Brees told Jim Gray. “I mean, I could throw it 10 yards and it’s with a lot of pain, you know? So that’s definitely not gonna get the job done. Now, my mind, my body, everything else feels great, but my right wrist, right shoulder wouldn’t allow it to happen. But did I think about it? Absolutely. 1000 percent. I would’ve loved to come back and play for the Broncos in the AFC Championship game, get my coach and a bunch of the other guys that I know in that organization, the Penner family, to the Super Bowl. Would’ve loved it.”
Here’s how it happened, from Brees’s perspective:
“The thought crossed my mind to the point where I got up the next day after — here’s the story. So I get the knock [from the Hall of Fame], I get the knock literally on Monday, January 19th. It was the day after the divisional round where the news had come out that Bo Nix had hurt his foot, he was gonna be out. So Jim Porter, who’s the president of the Hall of Fame, we’re there, we’re having this moment. Dan Fouts is telling me I’m in the Hall of Fame. And I look at Jim Porter and said, ‘Well, I guess this means I can’t go back and play for the Broncos this week.’ And he goes, ‘Actually, you can do whatever you want.’ He said, ‘Voting’s already been done, you’re in, you can do whatever you want.’
“And so I’m telling you when I say I like flipped the switch, I flipped the switch. Immediately texted Pete Carmichael and Joe Lombardi, my OC and quarterback coach with the Saints, they were with the Broncos. I said, ‘You guys need me this week?’ I said, ‘I might be able to be ready.’ And they’re like, ‘Are you serious? We’ll go down and tell Sean [Payton] right now.’ I said, ‘Wait, let me get up tomorrow. Let me give this thing a go.’ So I got up the next morning and I gave it a go. I had my 13-year-old son catching balls for me in the backyard. And man, it just was not happening with the right side. Left side, inside the 20 I would have been lethal. At least could have gotten them in and out of the right plays. But no, it wasn’t going to happen.”
The key, from the perspective of the rules and whether they’ll be enforced, is that (per Brees) he called the Broncos. Even if he said last week to Werder that the Broncos called him.
For now, there’s no reason to believe the league will do anything about it. (The NFL declined comment on the matter last week.) If it happens, the official story from Brees is that he made the first move about the possibility before quickly deciding it was an impossibility, physically.
The Broncos traded for wide receiver Jaylen Waddle this offseason in order to add more explosiveness to their offense, but Waddle wasn’t able to make a difference in their Week 1 loss to the Chiefs.
Week 2 provided more proof of the concept that the Broncos had in mind. Waddle had five catches of at least 14 yards, including a 49-yard leaping grab over a defender to set up Denver’s first points of the day in the second quarter. Waddle wound up with eight catches for 138 yards as the Broncos came back from 10 points down to beat the Jaguars 20-13 at home on Sunday.
Head coach Sean Payton said Waddle’s impact on the game was “significant” and fellow wideout Courtland Sutton said that he thinks even bigger things are coming.
“I think that’s only the tip of the iceberg for him,” Sutton said, via the team’s website. “We have more plays in our back pocket that we didn’t even get to get to. And for him to be able go out there and do what he did and us be able to have the success, and him being able to go and put together a very efficient day today, it was very promising. And I look forward to seeing where that goes the rest of the season.”
The first seven quarters of the Broncos’ season produced 16 points and 444 yards, which set the stage for a lot of hand-wringing about the state of the offense if the fourth quarter on Sunday went in a similar direction. The Broncos picked up 124 yards and 14 points to pull out the win, which makes it easier to talk about the brightness of a future with Waddle playing a central role in the passing game.
The Broncos offense took a big step forward in the final quarter of Sunday’s home game against the Broncos.
After being limited to 16 points through the first seven quarters of the season, the Broncos found themselves down 13-3 to the Jaguars in the fourth quarter. They responded with a pair of touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to take a 20-13 lead over the Jaguars and then put together an impressive four-minute offense to run out the clock on their first win of the season.
Quarterback Bo Nix converted one third down with a 29-yard strike to wide receiver Jaylen Waddle and rookie running back Jonah Coleman picked up another one with a 12-yard run that forced the Jaguars to use their final timeout. Coleman was pressed into duty with RJ Harvey inactive and J.K. Dobbins leaving with a hamstring injury, and the fourth-round pick came through with one more big run to allow the Broncos to run out the clock.
Coleman also scored the go-ahead touchdown run with 7:21 left to play. It was his first NFL score and he finished the day with 10 carries for 39 yards.
That score came after Jaguars kicker Cam Little missed a 54-yard field goal and the first Broncos touchdown came after cornerback Riley Moss picked off Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence. Waddle had two catches on that touchdown drive and finished the day with eight catches for 138 yards.
That’s the impact Denver was looking for when they traded for Waddle this offseason and it helped get Bo Nix on track after a bad interception in the end zone to kill a first half scoring chance. Nix finished 22-of-31 for 288 yards and a touchdown to tight end Nate Adkins.
Neither team scored in the first quarter, but the Jaguars got a touchdown to open the second quarter and took a 10-3 lead into halftime. They extended it to 13-3, but the interception and missed field goal opened the door for the Broncos. Denver’s defense forced a punt after Coleman’s touchdown put them ahead and the offense was able to slam the door.
That’s a good development for offensive coordinator Davis Mills and the Broncos will now turn their attention to a Sunday night game against the Rams. The Jaguars will try to stop the bleeding at home against the Patriots.
Jaguars head coach Liam Coen’s team lost its lead and Coen lost his cool just before the Broncos moved in front for the first time all day.
Coen was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct for arguing with officials after cornerback Travis Hunter was flagged for defensive pass interference on a pass to Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton. The Broncos were set to be at the 6-yard-line after the pass interference, so running back Jonah Coleman only had to go three yards on the next play for a touchdown.
The score has the Broncos up 20-13 with 7:21 left to play.
The Jaguars led this game 13-3 in the third quarter, so a failure to turn things back around should lead to a lot of other angry reactions around Coen’s team.
The Broncos have tied the Jaguars in the fourth quarter, but they may be down another running back the rest of the way.
J.K. Dobbins is questionable to return with a hamstring injury. RJ Harvey is inactive on Sunday, which leaves Jonah Coleman and Tyler Badie as the team’s available backs.
That setback did not keep the Broncos from finding the end zone for the first time in Sunday’s game. Bo Nix found tight end Nate Adkins for a touchdown to tie the game 13-13 with over 11 minutes left to play in Denver.
Adkins’s touchdown came after Broncos cornerback Riley Moss picked off Trevor Lawrence. The Jaguars quarterback will have to be sharper to pull off a road win over the Broncos for the second straight year.
The Broncos ran six offensive plays inside of the Jacksonville 10-yard-line during the first half of Sunday’s game, but they don’t have much to show for it.
Three J.K. Dobbins runs from the 1-yard-line resulted in a loss of a yard and a field goal while a Bo Nix pass into the end zone late in the second quarter went for a Jourdan Lewis interception. The Jaguars moved the ball well after the turnover and got in position for a Cam Little field goal that sent them into the break with a 10-3 lead.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence is 12-of-17 for 138 yards, but he’s been sacked twice to keep the Jaguars offense from fully catching fire. Parker Washington has six catches for 80 yards while Brian Thomas has three grabs for 40 yards.
Nix and Jaylen Waddle hooked up for a 49-yard gain to set up the three failed Dobbins runs. Waddle has four catches for 71 yards and Nix is 11-of-16 for 156 yards, but his mistake overshadows any positives halfway through this game.
