Coach Sean Payton left the Saints while still under contract, saying he needed to get away from football - but hidden in that message was the idea that Payton wanted to get away from the Saints and not football.
While working as an analyst for Fox Sports, Sean Payton was pursued as a head coach and it was obvious that Payton would get right back into NFL coaching. The Denver Broncos offered the best situation and Payton accepted the job as the new head coach.
Prior to the season beginning, Payton expressed his self-confidence by breaking an unwritten rule - Payton bashed the Broncos previous head coach Nathaniel Hackett by saying Hackett did one of the worst coaching jobs in the NFL.
Hackett is now the offensive coordinator of the New York Jets. Payton knew he would be facing the Jets in week 5 when he made the statement that Hackett had been "one the worst coaches in NFL history."
This weekend, with Sean Payton's comment about their coach, the New York Jets went to Denver and beat the Broncos in front of the home fans 31-21. The Broncos sit at 1-4 and have lost all 3 home games and it was Payton's mouth that fired up the Jets to win the game.
Jets TE C.J. Uzomah gave the pregame speech and he reminded the players what Sean Payton had said about their coach. Uzomah told the team, "We're playing for our boys, right. Like if somebody (expletive) about somebody on this team… we're going to play for that person."
At 1-4 on the season Sean Payton must feel very regretful that he went outside of the lines to bash the Broncos' previous coach and admitted that "It's difficult to get up in the morning. It's unpleasant."
If Sean Payton - who received universal praise for the job he did with the New Orleans Saints - thought he was going to take over the Broncos and his magical touch would immediately change the path of the Broncos, then he had a shocking awakening.
The fact that Payton had such harsh judgment of Hackett seemed to indicate that Payton himself thought his football IQ would immediately change course for the Broncos.
Imagine how Sean Paytong feels today!
And the moral of this story is don't be too cocky and "do your job." Wasn't that a mantra for Payton when he was with the Saints?
