Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton had some issues dealing with the Broncos, and Payton let the football world know about it in some fairly obvious ways. One was to fire three of his coaches, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, receivers coach Keary Colbert and cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch, and Payton also created something of a mess with his starting quarterback, Bo Nix.
We all know what happened to Nix at this point. He broke his right ankle near the end of Denver’s 33-30 OT win over the Buffalo Bills in the division round, and Nix’s medical situation was serious enough that he immediately flew to Alabama to have surgery.
That was when Payton proceeded to do a deeper dive than usual on Nix’s medical situation, stating that prior breaks had created a condition in which Nix was “predisposed” to another break in that area.
Payton also said it was a matter of “when, not if” with regard to the broken bone that ended Nix’s season, and his comments were especially shocking given how quickly coaches and players tend to gloss over medical situations to reveal as little as possible.
It took a while for Nix to fire back, but he finally did. His initial comments were simply about denying the condition, but according to Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, there was a bit more to the story, which wasn't surprising given that Payton seemed surprised to learn that Nix had broken the same ankle before.
“Nothing predisposed, nothing that was there originally,” Nix said in Volin’s regular Sunday NFL column. “I don’t think he really should share how many surgeries I’ve had in the past, to be honest with you — he doesn’t even really know that.”
Volin summed up the aftermath of all this by stating that it revealed what he called “fractures in their building.” It’s hard to look at it any other way, given that owner Greg Penner also felt compelled to weigh in on the controversy.
“His surgery was a straightforward surgery that went very well, absolutely no issues there or concerns going forward,” Penner said in an article published here earlier in the week.
The differences in the comments from Nix and Penner versus those of Payton are stark, and they indicate that there are clearly some issues to be resolved behind the scenes. Add in the coaching firings and Lombardi’s statement that Payton was “in a mood,” and it indicates that Payton might have had something close to a meltdown.
We may learn more about all this going forward, but it’s far more likely that the Broncos mostly go silent for at least the next few weeks. They had a winnable game last Sunday that almost resulted in a Super Bowl berth, but they won’t be returning to the AFC Championship any time soon if they don’t resolve their communication issues.