Denver lost a heartbreaker in Week 2 after committing a leverage penalty to turn a missed 60-yard field goal into a much easier 45-yard attempt on an untimed down. Broncos HC Sean Payton talked about the self-inflicted mistakes down the stretch that cost them.
“Let me start by saying, obviously, a disappointing loss,” Payton said, via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “We did a lot of things late in that game to keep us from winning. It’ll be painful to watch that film. And yet, we’ll get the corrections made. So, starts with me, our staff. But we had a number of opportunities to not be in that position late, and unfortunately, we shot ourselves in the foot too many times.”
Payton also took the blame for the critical leverage penalty, saying the were alignment issues caused by calling a unique field goal block attempt for that specific situation.
“We had a certain field goal block [in the game plan] in the event of a game-ending field goal,” Payton added, via ESPN’s Jeff Legwold. “But that’s on me in that situation. It’s not on [special teams coach] Darren [Rizzi], it’s not on Tillman. A 60-yard field goal attempt is different … The alignment got wrong and the [officials’] call was correct … My big regret flying home was, you know … that [block attempt] is more for a gimme than a 60-yard attempt. And that’s on me.”
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