Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton wishes he'd have made a better play call on the infamous fourth down early in the 10-7 AFC Championship Game loss to the New England Patriots.
"Now, specifically, to the fourth-down call. I don't know which is the greater regret -- the decision, certainly the play call," he said Tuesday, via the team's official transcript.
Facing a fourth-and-1 from the Patriots' 14-yard line after Jarrett Stidham's scramble, Payton called a pass play that was dead on arrival. The Patriots stacked the line and then squeezed the middle, taking away the QB sneak and inside run. New England didn't buy the play-action fake, with Cory Durden and Milton Williams both pressuring Stidham immediately. At that point, the QB was just trying to get rid of the ball. Pats corners played tight at the line, giving the pass zero chance of being completed.
"I think probably what irks me more is the call more than the decision," Payton said. "It's still early in the game. Now we knew there were going to be flurries. Well, we have a new feel for flurries here, or what can change at the base of the mountain. There are those moments that you wish you had back."
The real kicker is that had Stidham been two or three yards shy of a first down on his scramble, perhaps Payton's decision would have been different. Perhaps the Broncos take the 10-0 lead, and when the "flurries" come, they're tied instead of trying to play catch-up in a snowstorm. Perhaps the entire game unfolds differently.
Payton isn't worried about shouldering the criticism for the decision or play call that might have cost the Broncos a shot at playing for a Super Bowl.
"I don't pay attention to all the criticism," he said. "If I paid attention to that, I don't know that we'd ever be in this position."
