Sean Payton's Long-Awaited Homecoming: Broncos vs. Saints

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00:00They know how to do it, DRS, those schedule makers, of course, in the NFL, the first five

00:10divisional duels, significant matchups that have an important implication even outside

00:15of a short week game.

00:17This one from a narrative perspective, as we will break down, certainly does.

00:21But in terms of the matchup, Denver a two and a half point road favorite in NOLA against

00:26the Saints, total is minimal at 36 and a half.

00:31Donnie, we'll break down the matchup in just a second.

00:34But here is why this game has a little bit of added juice.

00:37That would be Sean Payton making his return now in his second year at the helm in Denver

00:43to his former home in New Orleans.

00:45Sean Payton spent 15 years as the Saints head coach from the 2006 season through 2021.

00:53Of course, he was suspended for the entirety of 2012, won a Super Bowl with the Saints

00:58back in 2009.

01:00In those 15 years as the active head coach, led the Saints to double digit wins nine times.

01:05He is the winningest head coach in the history of the Saints.

01:08He is the longest tenured head coach in the history of this New Orleans franchise that

01:12dates back to 1967.

01:15What will the reception be for Sean Payton back in the Big Easy tonight?

01:20Well, they'll probably give him a nice cheer to start the game.

01:23And then once that game starts here, you're going to boom all the way through because

01:25you're always going to be rooting for your hometown team.

01:28But from a perspective for me, I don't really think the fans like, hey, Sean Payton's coming

01:31home.

01:32It's going to be interesting to see.

01:33But Sean Payton going home, knowing that he wants to beat the franchise that he was with

01:36for so long and also a meaningful win, which will really help the Denver Broncos out.

01:40I think it means a lot more from that side of it.

01:43So fans coming on, because I remember also, you know, Philadelphia Eagles fans, Andy Reid

01:46coming home was like, yeah, we want to see Big Red and all that stuff.

01:50And all the years of joy that he gave us, never able to get us over the hump, different

01:53with Sean Payton, because he was able to win a Super Bowl.

01:55We'll get cheered there.

01:56Same thing with Doug Peterson came back to Philadelphia when the Jacksonville Jaguars

01:59went down.

02:00Kind of standing ovation before the game, brought him a Super Bowl.

02:02But once that game starts, you hope that he gets embarrassed and you win your game 35

02:06to nothing at that point.

02:07But the homecoming perspective, I think means a lot for Payton as opposed to the fans and

02:12the Saints themselves.

02:14It certainly does.

02:15Right.

02:16There's not bad blood.

02:17It was Sean Payton that walked away from coaching.

02:20He was a broadcaster for a year and then went to Denver.

02:22In fact, for the Broncos, even a higher Sean Payton as their head coach, they had to trade

02:28with New Orleans and give the Saints draft assets because Payton still was under contract

02:34with the Saints, having retired, not having been fired or ending his contract out in the

02:41terms of it.

02:42So that will add a magnitude to this game.

02:45Now, as we see, Denver is a two and a half point road favorite, short week, Thursday

02:49night football matchup of two rookie quarterbacks, Bo Nix for Denver, Spencer Rattler in his

02:54second career game for New Orleans and a minimal number at 36 and a half.

02:59Do you add the Sean Payton homecoming to your handicap at all?

03:05Not necessarily, but I do think he's the better coach than Dennis Allen.

03:07I do think it's a better football team than New Orleans Saints.

03:10So that's more of the handicap for me.

03:12But there is added incentive in this game because, you know, sometimes we're the locker

03:16room itself.

03:17You understand big events here.

03:18When a football player is returning to play his previous team, the quarterback's always

03:22going to want to take care of him and say, you know what?

03:23I know what this means to you.

03:25I'm not going to force you the football, but if you're there, I'm going to make sure you

03:27get it here.

03:28Same thing with Sean Payton.

03:29The last thing he wants is to go on a Thursday night football game with all the hype of him

03:32returning back and the Saints come away with a victory 24 to 13.

03:36That would be embarrassing for him and his teammates know that and so does the organization.

03:40So I'm not saying they're going to try harder just because of that, because they're professionals.

03:43They're trying hard every game, but it is a little bit of that edge where you know how

03:47big of a game and before the season started, hey, we're playing the Saints this year.

03:51Where do we have them?

03:52Oh, this one's going to be on the road.

03:53You know that he circled the calendar going like this is going to be an emotional week.

03:56It's going to be a short week here.

03:58We better make sure that we're buttoned up for this one.

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