ENGLEWOOD, Colo — One by one, the Broncos’ three big bosses – Sean Payton, George Paton (George Paton!) and Greg Penner – took the podium in the press room of the Pat Bowlen Fieldhouse.
Each in their own way carried the same message during the Broncos’ season-ending press conferences. Progress was made in 2023. But not enough. An 8-9 record and home for the post-holidays is not good enough.
“First of all I thought we took a big step forward this year,’’ Penner, the Broncos’ controlling owner and chief executive officer, said to open his 13-minute press conference. “I was proud of the resilience of the players showed as well as the leadership of Sean and George and the whole staff.
“With that said, we understand the championship standard we have here both for the organization and our fans’ expectations. This is a proud franchise and we grade ourselves by our winning record and this year we didn’t meet our expectations.’’
Other than those who fired their head coach or GM, Penner was the only NFL owner who addressed his team in a season-ending press conference. He used it to drive home a message to his loyal customers.
“The main message for Broncos Country that I would have is we’re just as inpatient as you are to win here,’’ Penner said. “And we understand we have a lot of work to do this offseason to get better.”
Said Sean Payton the coach: “My appetite is where it should be and it’s a little bit stronger (than 8-9). And I said this at the start of the season (to USA TODAY) and it was really a discussion kind of off the record, but became … I felt like we had a chance, our team had a chance to get into the postseason. And I feel the same way now. And so I’m disappointed because of that, and disappointed that I look back on a handful of things I could have done differently and better and …
“Now make no mistake we finished where our record (8-9) was and we could have pointed to a few games that could have got us to 9 or 10 (wins). But we could have pointed to a few games that got us to 6 really quickly as well.’’
Payton later added this end-of-season, state-of-the-team address came way too early in January. Meaning his Broncos were not among the 14 teams who are getting ready for the playoffs.
“Obviously, we’d still like to be playing,’’ said GM George Paton. “The season didn’t end how we would have hoped. I do believe we made a lot of progress in a lot of different areas. And that’s a credit to Sean, the coaching staff and the winning culture they’ve established really in a short time. Hasn’t even been a year.’’
Inside the NFL industry, there are some media, agents and personnel people who didn’t think Paton would make it to the season-ending press conference following the apparent final nail in the Russell Wilson trade he made two years ago with the quarterback’s late-season benching.
But Paton received strong support from both Payton and Penner.
“Listen, we’ve had a real good working relationship from the beginning,’’ said Payton, who is believed to have at least unofficial final-say authority on all team-related matters. “All of that has gone well. Again, we communicate two, three, four times a day. So, yeah, that’s worked out really well.”
Penner was asked to explain his confidence in Paton and how the triangle leadership team of himself, Payton and Paton worked together during the season.
“I thought it worked really well especially the partnership between Sean and George,’’ Penner said. “That relationship between head coach and GM is critical. I was impressed with the way they handled going from free agency to the draft. It was great to see a number of young players that George and his staff had drafted previously step up and play key roles.
“So we thought there was improvement this year and I think George can help us build a winning roster here.”
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