Denver Broncos Coach Sean Payton 'Addicted' Again After A Year Away From Game - 'Everything Matters'

HOUSTON - Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton can't stop talking about his New Orleans days.

"Brings it up every week," one veteran Broncos reporter said here Sunday. "Every week. 'This is how we did it in New Orleans.'"

Payton's Broncos played as close to New Orleans (four hours west) Sunday as he has been this season in his first year with the Broncos after leaving the Saints on his own following the 2021 season. The Broncos' magical, five-game winning streak ended with a 22-17 loss to the Texans, dropping them to 6-6.

New Orleans Saints Must Miss Sean Payton

But Sean Payton is likely very glad he is not in the post-Drew Brees New Orleans now. That is getting almost as bad as what post-Katrina New Orleans was. The fans who did show Sunday in New Orleans booed the Saints and the latest Brees replacement - Derek Carr - just about every time he ran on the Superdome field in a 33-28 loss that dropped the Saints to 5-7.

And Payton's replacement, his former defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, is not faring much better in year two. Allen finished 7-10 in his first season in 2022 - New Orleans' first losing season since 7-9 in 2016.

Payton is only one game better than his old team and also in second place in his division, but hope is much higher in Denver than in the Big Easy. The Broncos have already won more games than they did last year under coach Nathaniel Hackett, who was fired after a 4-11 start before Denver finished 5-12 for its sixth straight losing season.

Sean Payton Turned Around Denver From 1-5 Start

Denver's just-finished five-game winning streak was its longest since 2015 when coach Gary Kubiak and quarterback Peyton Manning won seven straight to start the season. Denver won the AFC West at 12-4 and won the Super Bowl. And it has not had a winning season since through three head coaches pre-Payton.

"We're playing for a lot," Payton said Sunday. "And I think they (the players) know that."

Denver is just a game behind West leader and Super Bowl champion Kansas City, which dipped to 8-4 Sunday with a 27-17 loss to Green Bay. The Chiefs are slipping with two losses in their last three games. They also lost 24-9 to Denver.

The Broncos play at the struggling Los Angeles Chargers (5-7) on Sunday (4:25 p.m., CBS). After visiting NFC North leading Detroit (9-3) on Saturday, Dec. 16, Denver closes the regular season with three games against teams with current losing records - New England (2-10), the Chargers and at Las Vegas (5-7).

"We're at December now, and we're playing for a lot," Payton said.

In Decembers of the recent past, Denver has often been looking for a new head coach.

Denver talked to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh and San Francisco defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans last off-season and reportedly were turned away by both. Harbaugh stayed at Michigan. Ryans took the Houston job and beat Payton Sunday to go to 7-5 for second in the AFC South.

Broncos Doing Better Than Payton's Old New Orleans Saints

The Broncos "coaxed" Payton out of retirement and TV work at FOX for $18 million a year over five years. Harbaugh and Ryans may not have been more favored hires than they were cheaper ones.

This could be Denver's most fun December since the last Super Bowl season, particularly after a 1-5 start.

"With the way the season started, and then where we're at right now," Payton said and paused.

The start included a 70-20 loss at Miami - site of Payton's greatest career achievement. His Saints and Brees beat Indianapolis and Manning, 31-17, in Super Bowl XLIV there on Feb. 7, 2010. But nearly 13 years later, it may have been his worst moment.

"Um, yeah," he said when OutKick asked him if that was one of the tougher things from which he has come back. "This game challenges you in so many different ways that it does, um, you form a little grit and callous and become tougher, and you do learn a lot about everyone else in the building. It's a great laboratory for human behavior. It's great to have the right people."

Sean Payton and Denver quarterback Russell Wilson before the Broncos' infamous 70-20 loss at Miami on Sept. 24 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Even if not your first choice. Payton settled on former Denver head coach Vance Joseph (5-11 and 6-10 in 2017 and '18) at defensive coordinator in an awkward hire, to say the least. Joseph's unit gave up the most points in an NFL game since 1966 in that 70-20 loss at Miami. The Dolphins' 726 total yards were just 10 short of breaking the NFL record set by the Los Angeles Rams in 1951.

Payton wanted to hire Vic Fangio as his defensive coordinator, but Fangio went to Miami instead. A defensive guru as a coordinator at six NFL teams now, Fangio also lost as a Denver head coach - 7-9, 5-11 and 7-10 from 2019-21. Joseph has turned it around, though, and has kept Denver in games when Payton's offense failed. That was the case Sunday.

There were similar starts to Payton's disastrous Denver opening in New Orleans.

"Couple times," Payton said.

There were two 0-4s with the Saints in 2007 and '12 that Payton never quite recovered from, finishing 7-9 each time. And there were 1-3, 0-3 and 0-3 starts from 2014-16 in New Orleans as well. He survived at 7-9 each time again, but no postseason.

But this bounce back could end up in the playoffs. If not by winning the AFC West, Denver is right in the thick of the wild card race.

"I don't have to frame anything right now," Payton snapped back in classic style at a reporter who asked, "How do you frame 6-6?"

"Other than, the margin for error obviously is slim," Payton said.

And he said it with zest, more so than, say, most of his commentary on FOX. Kicking back was not the call for Payton, who will be 60 on Dec. 29.

Sean Payton Craved The Stressful NFL Life While Out

"The thing you enjoy is everything matters," Payton said to OutKick's question on how much he likes the return after a year off. "Every day, every minute, preparing third down, red zone, next opponent, next opponent, you get to Monday. First Monday in a while where we've lost. Long day. Everything matters. Clock's ticking. And on to the next opponent."

Denver nearly won its sixth in a row Sunday in the same fashion it won three of the five on its winning streak - in come-from-behind fashion in the final moments. Former Saint kicker Wil Lutz, whom Payton traded a seventh round pick for in August, nailed a 52-yard field goal with 3:50 left to beat Green Bay, 19-17. That started the streak on Oct. 22.

Lutz booted a 36-yard field goal as time expired to win 24-22 at Buffalo on Nov. 13 on Monday Night Football. And rejuvenated quarterback Russell Wilson (same 5-foot-11 height as Brees) threw a 15-yard touchdown with 1:03 to go to beat Minnesota, 21-20, on Nov. 19.

Denver drove 72 yards in 14 plays in the final minutes Sunday, down 22-17, to reach a 1st-and-goal at the Houston 8-yard line with 23 seconds to go. Alas, Wilson threw an interception in the end zone on 3rd-and-goal with nine seconds left, and it was over.

Still, Denver trailed 13-0 in the second quarter, 16-3 in the third and 22-10 in the fourth and nearly pulled out another one.

"We got back in the game. We felt that momentum swing," Payton said, like it was the old days in New Orleans. "And I'll give it to our guys. We continued to battle."

They've come a long way from Miami.

Former Saints kicker Wil Lutz came to Denver to rejoin his former coach Sean Payton, who traded for him last August. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

"You're kind of scared to let him down," said Lutz, one of four former Saints on the roster. "That's how a leader is, right? Coach, he tries to get the best out of everyone. Look, he's a proven winner. He won a Super Bowl down in New Orleans. We should've had another one (infamous no-call on pass interference at the goal line in 2018 NFC Championship game vs. Rams). He's a leader. He's an offensive guru. Guys want to win for him."

Lutz was with Payton for four straight NFC South titles from 2017-20. There were seven division crowns in all for Payton in New Orleans, three NFC title games, nine playoff appearances in 15 seasons and nine double-digit win campaigns.

That's what Sean Payton missed.

"Is it addictive? I think the winning part is," he said. "The winning part is. There's nothing like it. And so, at some point, that stops for everyone."

Payton is not there yet.

He still obsesses during game weeks as during his first season as a head coach in 2006 in New Orleans, getting the job just months after Katrina.

"You might find something that's so significant on Friday that means the difference between winning and losing," he said. "And then when you're out of it for a year, just not as much feels that way, or matters. Sometimes, some things do, but you miss that sense of urgency. That, 'Man, it's ticking.'"