The Broncos lost badly to the Dolphins on Sunday. The Broncos became the first team to give up 70 points in more than 50 years.
Some would think coach Sean Payton would react by going harder on his players. Actually, it was the opposite.
“See if this makes sense,” Payton told reporters on Friday when asked whether he was tougher on the team. “I’m going to go back to Bill [Parcells]. The hardest time working with Bill was when you were three or four wins in a row. I mean, you couldn’t wait for the game. You’d have a couple tough losses, and then he’d be a little bit more ‘pick-me-up.’
“I think you have to use your gut relative to what they need. That began Monday with the team meeting, and then at practice. I felt really good about the energy this week. I can remember — we were 4-1 playing Detroit. They had kind of had one of those streaks from the year before. I don’t know how many games, but we were a heavy favorite. He had us all convinced by Friday we were playing the ‘85 Bears. You couldn’t get to the game fast enough. I think you trust your instincts relative to your team and where you’re at.”
Payton also discussed Parcells’s habit of periodically creating a crisis.
“We’re playing the Colts in that Super Bowl,” Payton said regarding his 2009 Saints. “We just won the NFC Championship game, and the city is celebrating like there’s no tomorrow. The Colts just won in Miami four years earlier. They’re at the same hotel, same hotel room. I remember our conversation. He’s like, ‘You have to have a crisis now.’ You have to be careful if you’re creating one. It was kind of given to me. Tuesday used to be the media day and we had five players miss buses, 9:30 [a.m.] buses. When they got to the locker room, we had a ‘come to Jesus’ crisis. I think that was necessary.”
The broader point is that, sometimes, yelling at the players won’t help. They know they got their asses kicked. They know it was as bad as it could get. Rubbing their faces in it could only make it worse.
So far, it appears Payton’s approach has worked.
“I can only go by the practices,” he said. “I thought we had one of our better weeks. I thought the energy was good. You pick yourself up. This is a grit league with toughness required. I thought [it went] well.”
Of course, the bad news for the Broncos is that, if/when they ever start putting it all together and winning games, Payton could become far less pleasant to be around. Especially if/when Parcells tells him he should create a crisis.
