Sean Payton is the only NFL head coach to be suspended for an entire season, but Colin Cowherd thinks the league is still out for even more revenge.
It’s been 14 years since Payton was suspended for the 2012 NFL season as head coach of the New Orleans Saints because of his role in the team’s bounty scandal. And now that he’s head coach of the Denver Broncos, Payton is still often at odds with the NFL for his willingness to be critical of their rules and policies. Because of that, Cowherd believes the Broncos’ tough regular-season schedule is no coincidence.
“I’m not a conspiracy guy,” Cowherd insisted, “but I believe this. I think Sean Payton has a mixed relationship with the league office. He’s taken shots at quarterbacks, he’s taken shots at coaches. NFL does not like friendly fire. Zip it.
“Look at Denver’s schedule, they’re punishing them. That’s the toughest six-game schedule I have ever seen in my entire life, and I’m a geek on this stuff. I am a nerd on schedules. I’ve never seen anything like that.”
That’s quite the conspiracy for someone who doesn’t believe in conspiracies. But the Broncos were destined to walk away from schedule release day with one of the toughest regular-season schedules for several reasons.
The first reason being that Denver faces a first-place schedule after winning their division last season. A challenging schedule is also just the nature of being in the AFC West, where the Broncos automatically have four games against the Chargers and Chiefs. Additionally, they’re scheduled to face the NFC West based on rotation, which features three 2025 playoff teams, including the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks. All of this was already known, and not based on any sort of conspiracy.
Where Cowherd thinks the Broncos are being punished, however, is in their front-loaded regular-season schedule. The Broncos are scheduled to play five playoff teams in their first six weeks, with the one non-playoff team being a road game against the Chiefs in Week 1 on Monday Night Football.
With games against the Cardinals, Dolphins, Jets, and two matchups with the Raiders on the back half of their schedule, Cowherd thought the NFL could have done a better job of balancing opponents, particularly as quarterback Bo Nix returns from an injury. But for that to happen, Payton may have needed to start playing nicer with the NFL a long time ago.
About Brandon Contes
Brandon Contes is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He previously helped carve the sports vertical for Mediaite and spent more than three years with Barrett Sports Media. Send tips/comments/complaints to bcontes@thecomeback.com