Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton knows some wins mean more than others. Most coaches respond to questions about this with bland “a win is a win” platitudes, but Payton isn’t most coaches. He connected this team with toughness, then reached into the wayback machine to come up with an analogy for beating the Kansas City Chiefs yesterday.
"[There is a] Nick Saban quote about toughness, about how much you can take,'' Payton said in an ESPN story written by Jeff Legwold. "He likened it to hurricane windows -- you can get the 139s, the 150s or the 189s [wind-speed rating].
"It's finding the 189s -- sometimes you've got to pass on what may look attractive, but it's finding those guys who can tune out the noise. And there's been a lot of noise. ... I hear some of the narratives and I just want to, like, cry.''
We’re not sure where Saban got this analogy from—he did have a fairly horrific NFL coaching experience with the Miami Dolphins back in the day, so maybe that's where the hurricane thing comes from—but Payton won’t be crying any time soon. He’ll send his team off for some R&R during the bye week riding an eight-game winning streak and in control of the AFC West.
"If you tracked any championship team you would find the tough wins, the close ones. ... There's going to be those heavy wins,'' Payton said. "I'd be lying to everybody if I didn't say [Sunday's win] was a big one.''
Part of what made it big was the Broncos did something the rest of the AFC has been trying to do for years. They not only beat the Chiefs, but they also beat up Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, sacking him three times and limiting him to just one touchdown in four red zone trips, and they added a key interception in the second half.
"They've been running this league for a while, been the top of the conference a long time,'' Broncos linebacker Jonathan Cooper said. "They're a good team, but we're a good team. [You] can turn on the film: We're learning how to win games, and we've got a really good team. ... Overall, that point is being made -- at 9-2 it's hard not to get that point.''
To finish off his point, Payton used that wind-speed reference as a comparison point for last year’s Denver loss in Kansas City, when a 35-yard field goal that would have tied the game was blocked by the Chiefs.
"That loss in Kansas City was when the 189 miles an hour was tested,'' Payton said. "A gut-wrenching loss, [but] after that loss there was a feeling that we belong here. There was some irony, obviously, [Sunday] when we were taking the knee to kick the field goal.''
There’s still work to be done, but these Broncos seem to know exactly who they are.
"At the end of the day, we've just got a bunch of ballers,'' Broncos safety Talanoa Hufanga said.