What the Broncos said – 2024 Week 1: Seahawks vs. Broncos

SEAN PAYTON: When we left the field, it was important to us that we were efficient on offense in this game, and I think that's where we really struggled. That led to some longer yardage situations. I didn't feel like we ran the ball particularly well enough, not nearly consistent enough, and obviously there's more stress on the quarterback, but our third downs, the numbers aren't going to be great. I haven't seen them yet, but I know because of the yardages we were operating from. You know, it was a game where you could feel the momentum shifting, in the first and second half, and I just told the team that there aren't many games where the momentum doesn't shift in one of the two teams' favor. That's pretty common, and then it's important to get it back as quickly as possible. We saw a little more tempo on offense to get their offense going, and we ended up falling short. We didn't score enough. We had some chances early, we had the early turnover, and we ended up settling for a field goal. So I'm sure after watching the video we have a lot of practice to do.
Q: Did you find Bo Nix a little nervous at the beginning?
SEAN PAYTON: No, I didn't. I thought he seemed calm and composed. I felt like he was very comfortable and ready.
Q: In your experience, how did he deal with the adversities he faced?
SEAN PAYTON: Here's what I think. I don't know how many balls we dropped, and I've said this before. For any quarterback, we need to be more effective running. If you take away his rushing yards, I think we're at about 60 yards in the run game versus their 140, so not nearly good enough.
Q: Did you see the last drive where he scored a touchdown that gave him confidence for the future?
SEAN PAYTON: I think part of being a young player is that he's pretty confident – I don't want to say he's a kid, but yeah, I felt like he was on the ball and competing the whole time. We just needed to handle him better, and that's my impression just watching it without watching the video.
Q: When you look at the total number of runs, like you said, that part just wasn't that great for you?
SEAN PAYTON: There's always that balance of, man, we try and then it's hard to maintain, and whether it's the base personnel, we'll look at the tape and say this and that, but we as coaches have to evaluate the running plan and figure out why it wasn't as effective as we'd like it to be. It's going to be tough to play quarterback, period, when that's the best we can do running the ball.
Q: What did the Seahawks do offensively in the second half, especially the third quarter?
SEAN PAYTON: Lots of tempo. Lots of, maybe at the line, shifts, so they went from the huddle to more tempo and hit us with some gun runs. Looked like some check-with-me plays at the line.
Q: Sean, how is Garrett Bolle's ankle? It seems like he's trying to get back on track?
SEAN PAYTON: Yeah, I think he's going to be OK. He had an MRI. I think the scan was fine. I think he has a bruise.
Q: I'm just wondering if you wanted to reach 40 (passing) attempts?
SEAN PAYTON: No. That's a side effect. Often times you get to the fourth quarter and no way. No.
Q: With some of the empty and four wide seats, was that an attempt to give Bo some (opportunities)?
SEAN PAYTON: There are just weird situations where you're trying to get finishes. Sometimes we're deep and we're trying to get a certain matchup. A lot of times you see something on defense that you want to get. I thought he was there. It never seemed too big or confusing to me. He was sharp and I thought he even extended some plays with his feet. And we'll watch the tape again, but we've got to be better around him.
Q: Has the defense slackened?
SEAN PAYTON: Yeah, I don't know. That's a good question. It's a fair question. Time of possession wise, we certainly would have liked to have had a drive early in the second half. We were three and out and then we allowed a touchdown on the next drive, I think, so the momentum shifted early in the third quarter and yeah, we were struggling at that point. It took us a while to get back on our feet.
Q. You settled for a field goal in the red zone early. How much can that take the wind out of your sails?
SEAN PAYTON: Well, when that happens, everybody has in the back of their minds – we had the early turnover and we're, you know, in a pretty good position. We made a good play, the play we wanted, but I think we got a false start, right? First down or after. There's a first and goal after one or two runs and that just can't happen.
Q: Sean, two safeties in the first half and your botched punt. Isn't that frustrating?
SEAN PAYTON: Yeah, it didn't come out enough. Well, the safeties are the safeties and the interesting thing about the safeties is I don't know – we could obviously catch the ball and with eight you have a chance to potentially return it. I would say it's maybe not as punishing as it has been in the past because you have time to hang off and stuff, but it is what it is. But yeah, the botched punt, the interception, we have to be better and I have to be better. What was frustrating was our offensive efficiency in terms of down and yardage on first or second down. There were too many third downs and eight or more.
Q: Why do you say you need to be better?
SEAN PAYTON: Anytime we have a plan like that and we don't execute it or we don't run the ball as well, I have to look at the reasons why. That's the reason.
Q: You had a lot of possessions, but I think seven three-and-outs. How difficult is it to get into a rhythm when you can't do that?
SEAN PAYTON: Yeah, I think that's very difficult. And when you play well offensively, you often get first downs on first or second down, so there's kind of a CFL number that we look at. How good are you on first and second down at converting first downs, and obviously today that was a minute, I guess.
Q. Coach, fourth and first attempt on your own 39. Did you consider trying there? Why did you ultimately decide against it?
SEAN PAYTON: Yeah, time-wise, I thought we had plenty of time, but yeah, I've thought about it.
Q. How do you think you were able to predict what a first-year employee would do? I'm just wondering how well you were able to predict what they might do.
SEAN PAYTON: We didn't get as much man coverage on defense. We got a little more fire zone coverage. I think on offense, they ran some no-huddle shift motion package plays in the second half that we didn't play as well. Yeah, but we got the base run like we thought we would, the nickel like we thought we would. Yeah. And there's that personnel difference here again with Woody, and Mike is certainly smart enough to try to do the things that fit this team.
Q: You have a lot of experience evaluating quarterbacks. Sometimes you can be really critical. With Bo, it seems like you might add context in the first game.
SEAN PAYTON: We'll watch the tape, but he gave us a chance. Our defense was average at best and I believe that. At one point in the game, I came to the bench and talked to the receivers and said, “Look, here we go, you know? I don't know how many drops we had, but, man, let's help this guy.”