Broncos coach Sean Payton pointed the finger at himself after his team fell to 1-4 with a loss to the Jets today.
“I’ve got to do a better job. It starts with me,” Payton said.
It’s hard not to say Payton is right about that: Payton was the one who said that last year’s Broncos were the worst-coached team he’d seen, and now this year’s Broncos look even worse than last year’s team. Payton said he did a poor job of managing the offense in the red zone, and he said he was kicking himself for abandoning the run.
“The part that I’m frustrated with myself is that we became one-dimensional, and I know better. So I have to be more patient relative to how we run the ball,” Payton said.
Payton was asked about his past criticism of last year’s Broncos head coach, Nathaniel Hackett, who is now the Jets’ offensive coordinator. Payton declined to answer any questions specifically about Hackett but did say that Jets head coach Robert Saleh deserved credit for the win.
“I credit Robert and that staff. They won the game,” Payton said.
Ultimately, Payton’s team isn’t playing up to the standards he expects.
“This one hurts. We didn’t play well,” Payton said. “We didn’t play well enough.”