ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Early in the 2022 Denver Broncos season, fans gave an assist to the team after numerous delay of game penalties and botched timeout calls.
The home crowd resorting to counting down the play clock at Empower Field at Mile High was one of the most memorable and embarrassing moments in team history.
New head coach Sean Payton reassured fans in Broncos Country that he knows how to manage a game.
With 15 years of NFL head coaching experience, Payton said he is confident in his in-game clock management skills.
"There's certain things you learn from experience," Payton told reporters after Monday's introductory press conference at UCHealth Training Center. "I played quarterback, I think that helps, but also I was around some really good people. I mentioned earlier I used this term 'bloodlines' or people you worked with. Sometimes we don't get to control that, none of us, all of you, we've been influenced by people.
"But then sometimes you're around someone really special so I became more and more comfortable and yet I still want to hear those assistant coaches in my ear always relative to timeout usage, fourth quarter.
"But I don't anticipate the crowd having to count down the 30-second clock," Payton said.
Minutes after he was introduced Monday, Payton addressed how he'll work with his Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson.
"Here's what I know: [Wilson's] a hard worker. I know he's an extremely hard worker. That's important and I think you take that skillset, he's won a lot of games in Seattle," Payton continued. "We played him quite a bit just because we were both playoff teams in the NFC at that time, and then you go from there.
"And I think that's the same case, although it's a much more visible position, it's the same case and same goal for us with every player on this roster. What do they do well? It's easy to point out what players don't do well. There's certain coaches that tend to look at it that way. I kind of was taught early on, what is it they do well and let's have him do those things.
"None of us want to be at a karaoke bar with a song we don't know the words to," Payton said. "So how do we get them comfortable and highlight their strengths. And that's the process that's going to begin right now as I'm learning about every one of these players, not just Russell."
After Monday's press conference, Payton was asked about Wilson's personal quarterback coach, Jake Heaps, who was in the Broncos' building during the 2022 season.
"That's foreign to me. That's not going to take place here," Payton told reporters. "But our staff will be here, our players will be here, and that'll be it."
"Certainly we’re not going to have private individuals out there coaching," Payton said to 9NEWS. "If they’re on our staff they’ll be out there."
Sean Payton introduced as Broncos head coach
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