The first game between Sean Payton and Sean McVay was everything you’d expect from two offensive wizards.
Almost 1,000 combined yards of offense, 80 points between the two teams, a 200-yard receiving night from Michael Thomas and big plays galore. The , but lost the sequel — the — later that year.
Nearly a decade later, both coaches are in different spots. Payton, 62, is still chasing that elusive second Super Bowl, albeit with a different franchise. He’s now one of the oldest coaches in the league, forced to bend over on the sideline during games because of a chronic spinal disc issue that flares up when he stands for long periods. McVay is no longer the offensive wunderkind that stormed into the league in 2017. He now has his own coaching tree — including the head coach of the Broncos’ most recent opponent — and previously contemplated retirement.
There are plenty of similarities to draw between the two. Both worked under Jon Gruden — Payton in Philadelphia and McVay in Tampa Bay. They have both admitted to studying each other’s offenses to try to draw inspiration. Payton was 42 when he got his first head coaching job, McVay was the youngest coach ever at the ripe age of 30 when the Rams hired him. Each was considered the best offensive mind in football at some point in their careers.
Payton was uniquely aware of the comparisons.
“This dude wants to be me,” Payton would say about McVay,
There was some tension between the two early in McVay’s coaching career, Whitworth said. Now, that relationship has matured and grown to where the two consider each other “good friends.” Payton bought McVay a Benjamin Button cake for McVay’s birthday in Cabo, and the two discussed their respective contract extensions this offseason and look at each other’s team on film.
“Yes, we do that a lot of times,” Payton said about borrowing ideas from McVay. “You’re kind of looking at everyone’s tape when you get to the trend folder, trend third down, trend red zone and then specifically there are probably four or five teams that we want to pay attention to and certainly he’d be one of them.”
Payton can even publicly joke about McVay’s age.
“He’s the only coach in NFL history that came straight out of high school and he’s actually getting younger each year. At some point he’ll have to get out of it because he’s too young,” Payton said Friday.
Heavier formations for Denver?
It was about a year ago when McVay reinvented the Rams’ offense. After a rash of injuries decimated the team’s receiver room, McVay started trotting out more tight ends onto the field. The Rams put three tight ends on the field more than any team in the NFL for multiple games. In a copycat league, that shift has permeated through the NFL. Teams are using heavier formations on offense and are lining up under center more than ever.
The Broncos followed that trend in Week 2. Bo Nix was under center just eight times in 51 non-kneeldown snaps against Kansas City. He was under center 22 times against the Jaguars. The team used multiple tight ends against the Jaguars almost half of the time. Nate Adkins played well against the Jaguars and Evan Engram continues to be a stabilizing option for Nix underneath. If that duo, along with Adam Trautman, are plus-blockers in the run game and catch underneath passes from Nix, their value skyrockets.
“He does a lot of things well. He can play in the kicking game; he blocks well,” Payton said about Adkins. “I don’t want to use the word Swiss Army Knife, but he’s one of those guys where once you describe the assignment, he’s really good blocking in space.”
Denver’s offense is still searching for its identity, but the Broncos will get a first-hand look at how a multi-tight-end offense can be run effectively when the Rams come to Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday night.
