Sean Payton criticizes his defense while firing shots at Bryce Young-led Panthers offense

Despite Denver's stellar performance, Sean Payton criticized his defense with subtle shots fired at their opponents.

Sean Payton criticizes his defense while firing shots at Bryce Young-led Panthers offense

Sean Payton and Bryce Young (Via Imago)

With a stellar victory against the Carolina Panthers, the Denver Broncos have improved to a 5-3 season record, ranking just below the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West division. However, head coach Sean Payton wasn’t quite impressed with the win, speaking mainly from the defensive point of view.

Payton’s decision to start rookie Bo Nix has turned out fruitful for the Broncos, as the quarterback delivered a four-touchdown performance against the Bryce Young-led offense. Broncos’ defense also came through by successfully picking off Young twice and held the opposing offense at merely 14 points. 

YouTube video

In the post-game press conference, Payton was asked about the stellar play by the Broncos defense, and his response came with subtle shots fired at the Panthers’ quarterback Young, whose team is sitting at a bizarre 1-7 record. He exclaimed that this victory wasn’t quite surprising for him, and he expected better from his team.

FS Video

I said this, it’s not a good offense we played. It’s just the truth. So we expected that, and we’re going to see a lot better teams.

Sean Payton remarked in the post-game presser

As much as Payton’s words were bitter to the ears of Carolina, he wasn’t lying as their offense is ranked at the fourth-last position with an average offensive yard of 281.6, and offensive touchdown of 12.

RELATED
“No place in the game for this!” Emmanuel Acho thrashes Saints lineman for deliberately trying to injure Justin Herbert
Emmanuel Acho thrashes Nathan Shepherd's dirty play that forced Bradley Bozeman to shove him

Sean Payton shifts focus to next Week’s challenge against top-ranked Ravens

While the Broncos held the Panthers to 284 yards and 16 first downs, the head coach wanted to see a better execution from his team and not allow Young to score even those two touchdowns he did with 224 yards. It all makes sense as they are scheduled to face a much better offense just next week. They are up against the top-ranked offense of the Baltimore Ravens in Week 9.

Sean Payton
Sean Payton (via Imago)

I’ll sleep fine. We have a big game this week against a much better team. Tomorrow, we’re watching this tape. We’re all in there. It’s important. This can happen sometimes… In losses, you can miss some things that are really good, and then in wins, if you’re not careful, you can miss some things that have to be cleaned up.

Sean Payton added
RELATED
(Video) ‘Helpless’ Caleb Williams left fuming on sidelines seeing Jayden Daniels hit a Hail Mary game-winner
Caleb Williams cannot fathom the last second loss against the Commanders


The Broncos head coach took no glory in their second consecutive win. Instead, he is diverting all his focus on next week’s game against the AFC North team. Though it was evident that Payton had no respect for Carolina, an NFL head coach making such a blunt remark about the opponents is rarely seen in the league.