After going three-and-out regularly in four games, Sean Payton called an audible.
The coach snatched back play-calling duties from Davis Webb. Payton believes it can give the Broncos a spark.
It better work.
Otherwise, this looks heartless and desperate.
Not that Payton cares. He is about as sentimental as a photo radar ticket. Had Payton directed “The Shawshank Redemption,” Andy would have drowned Red in the final scene on the beach in Mexico.
He has no time for feelings when the Broncos need to start winning. And whether that would continue has become an increasingly uncomfortable question because of an embarrassing offense.
The Broncos are terrible in first quarters. They are awful in the first half. And if not for fourth-quarter sorcery against the Jaguars and Rams, they would be winless.
So, despite everyone insisting after the loss to the San Francisco 49ers that it was no time to panic, Payton pushed the big red button in his office. It wasn’t the “Easy” one from Staples.
“Everyone is disappointed in the unit itself. We feel like there is more there, ” Payton said Thursday. “This is something to change it up.”
When Payton promoted Webb to offensive coordinator in February, it always seemed like a matter of when, not if, the boss would call plays again. Webb had leverage in the offseason, positioned to leave as a top assistant for multiple teams after nearly landing head-coaching jobs in Las Vegas and Buffalo.
So Payton, in my opinion, reluctantly agreed to promote him, even though he insisted on Thursday “that I would not have done it if I didn’t think it was going to make us better.”
He sold the change before the season with a quip, wondering aloud how many good 62-year-old play-callers are in the modern NFL. (Spoiler alert, Payton believes he is still one of them).
There are definitely not many 31-year-olds in the cockpit.
Webb deserved better.
His cameo came against the four best teams currently in the NFL. In a just world, he would have received two more chances.
A third of a season for a team with the loftiest of expectations is an adequate sample size.
Instead, Webb’s resume included Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame and Miami. And Payton takes over against Kent State. Sure, it was a coincidence.
But Payton is not worried about optics, the calendar or what is equitable. His team. His rules. He is a Hall of Fame-caliber coach.
Why? He trusts his instincts.
And every fiber of his being told him it was time to shake the snow globe.
“Really, was it a challenging, difficult decision? Yes,” said Payton of a switch that officially happened during meetings on Monday. “I have done this long enough to know I have a future head coach, and he will be one, all the things hard to find. It will happen.”
This is straight from the George Costanza breakup playbook. It’s not you, it’s me.
Webb will make some team really happy someday. But right now, this relationship dynamic is not working.
At least Payton had the decency to meet the media for an unscheduled press conference Thursday rather than send Webb to the wolves (think Nuggets’ David Adelman as the first public voice on Michael Malone’s firing).
What happened should surprise no one. Payton, like every great coach I have covered over the past three decades, is controlling. He empowers his assistants. But he is not running a democracy. If he feels like something is off, he acts.
Could there be consequences, unintended or otherwise? Of course.
It is hard to see Webb remaining with the team after this season. Bo Nix wanted him in the OC role, and it lasted a month. Nix has regrets — he said multiple times that the offense let Webb down — and it is fair to wonder whether the quick hook will impact his relationship with Payton or inspire him to snap out of his funk.
To hear folks inside the building tell it, everyone handled it well. Not that they had a choice.
There is likely some truth to this because the players know it doesn’t matter who calls the plays if they don’t clean up their mistakes.
“Webb, Coach Sean (in charge of offense), that doesn’t really pertain to us. We have to make the spark,” running back J.K. Dobbins said. “We have to play better.”
Watching the Broncos’ first four games, it seemed like Webb was calling the plays he thought Payton wanted. It did not look like the attack we saw during training camp or in the preseason.
That is why this experiment was always destined to fail. Webb was running Payton’s offense, not his own. And who runs Payton’s offense better than Payton?
With this week as proof, no one.
“The hard thing when you are not the head coach, there are things that you want to feel like are cleared,” Payton said. “When you call them as the head coach, you prepare in your mind to say, ‘I don’t have to run it by anyone.’^”
When Payton was asked who he consulted about the move, I almost burst out laughing. He asked the man in the mirror.
This is a Payton production. He is tired of watching the only offense in the NFL that is averaging less than 200 yards passing and 85 yards rushing.
The regression is real, and particularly concerning with Nix, who has two fewer passing touchdowns and 53 fewer rushing yards than this time last season.
Payton wants a better pass-run balance (it sits at 135 to 90) and faster starts. The Broncos have scored 13 first-half points. The irony is that they had the same issues a year ago.
That is when Payton first questioned whether he was still fit for the task. There were forgettable performances against the Titans, Jets, Chiefs, Chargers and Raiders, the latter a Thursday night debacle where the Broncos had more penalties (11) than points (10).
Some of us are old enough to remember that Payton handed off the headset because he struggled with the mechanics of choosing and relaying the plays to Nix.
A year later, why will this be better?
“It will be fast,” Payton promised.
Perhaps as quick as demoting a first-time OC after four games?
Given his record with the Broncos, Payton has earned the right to do whatever he wants. Life is not fair. And football is definitely not.
There is no good time to demote a coordinator during the season, but once Payton realized it was going to happen eventually, the time became now.
The Broncos have been underwhelming. But there is still hope in a season with 13 games left and Super Bowl dreams flickering.
A championship is what motivates Payton. This was his decision, and his alone.
His resume says he should be trusted. His offenses in Denver make that harder than expected. Just ask Davis Webb.
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