DENVER — Somewhere at a Denver-area sushi restaurant Sunday, there was this frustrated man driving his nice car around the parking lot, needing to work off steam from his first home victory – a victory, mind you -- before he joined the party waiting for him inside.
That man with so much of Denver’s 19-17 win against the Packers on his mind, and mishaps eating away at his heart, was Broncos head coach Sean Payton.
Nothing personal, Vance Joseph.
Payton admits he gets caught up in the intensity of the game. And as the boss, any imperfection drives him to visible frustration.
Joseph, as the Broncos’ defense coordinator who calls his plays from the sidelines next to where Payton patrols, got caught up in the line of head coach’s fire Sunday. Two personnel issues – one a late substitution package and the other not having enough men on the field – caused the Broncos to burn two defensive timeouts in the second half.
The 72,000-plus in attendance and millions watching at home could see Payton direct his frustration at Joseph, who otherwise has done an impressive job turning around the Broncos’ once struggling defense in recent weeks.
“Listen, I’m in a great spot with him,’’ Payton said in his day-after game conference call with the local media Monday. “You have to understand one thing about me. He won’t be the only one. I was frustrated, you don’t want to use those timeouts. Sometimes, it’s hard to be pleased or not upset. You want to play your perfect game.
“That was a good win for us and yet I’m driving home last night, heading to get sushi -- I don’t like sushi -- and finding myself circling around the parking lot like, 'Why can’t I be happy?’ Well you’re searching for that perfect game. I’m just that way. I’m going to wear my emotions on my sleeve whether offense or defense. We got caught with 10 (men on the field). Obviously the (ejection) to Kareem (Jackson) was one thing but it also attacks a goal-line grouping and we’ll get that cleaned up. But all good there.”
Hold on there, coach. You reportedly make the big bucks. Why eat at a sushi restaurant if you don’t like sushi?
“I’m a good team player here,’’ Payton said. “My wife likes it, my kids like it. Everyone in the party likes it. So I’m a team player. The nice thing is it was the first time we were going out to celebrate at home after a win at home. So that was good.’’
And then he addressed what couch-potato psychologists are wondering about how the Broncos’ head coach is wired. “Why can’t I be happy?” is how Payton put it.
“There’s that competitive part in you that wants to score 30 points,’’ Payton said. “That wants to take advantage of the first trip to the red zone and score a touchdown. There’s that competitive part in you where you want to finish the game where it’s not coming down to the last drive.
“Sometimes there’s these utopia games that don’t really exist and then there’s-- between that utopia game and the game you just played there are some games you feel like you’re capable of playing. And as coaches we ask ourselves all the time, ‘Are we approaching it the right way?’
“Look, me getting emotional and angry during games is nothing new. Maybe it’s new a little bit here but whether it’s Vance or whether it’s Joe Lombardi or Zach Strief the line coach, there will be a number of times where that takes place. And then literally two weeks later somebody will mention it and I will not have remembered it. That’s just in-game.
“I think there’s an element of you wanting it to be, not perfect, but man, you know what it can be.’’
He mentioned the second-and-6 naked bootleg play during the Broncos’ game-winning field goal drive late in the fourth quarter. Russell Wilson, the quarterback, had running back Javonte Williams wide open in the flat. Easy pitch and catch for a first down. Wind down the clock a few more minutes before hitting the game-winning field goal. But Wilson threw it low and inside of Williams, who could have caught it, but didn’t. Third-and-six. Clock stops.
Wil Lutz bailed out the misplayed pass by nailing a 52-yard field goal with 3:50 left. And backup safety P.J. Locke made a game-sealing interception, so the Broncos won, any how. Still, the second-and-6 naked boot that wasn’t executed …
“Those are the things where you pull your hair out,’’ Payton said. “And sometimes we’ve got to sit outside restaurants with food we don’t like.”
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