Sean Payton picks Eagles in Super Bowl, throws down gauntlet vs. AFC West

Sean Payton threw down the gauntlet against the rest of the AFC West in his introductory press conference Monday, starting by predicting Philadelphia will beat Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII.

“I’m picking the Eagles,” Payton said unprompted. “We never want anyone in our division to win anything, right? A perfect weekend for a Bronco fan is we get a win, and the other three lose.”

The Broncos will need Payton’s confidence, and a lot more, in order to reverse their recent misfortune within the division.

Since winning Super Bowl 50, Denver is 12-30 within the AFC West and is currently riding a 15-game losing streak to the Chiefs. Kansas City has been to five consecutive AFC title games and is making a third Super Bowl appearance under coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Payton is an NFC lifer — prior to his 15 seasons leading the Saints, he was an assistant with the Eagles, Giants and Cowboys — so Denver marks Payton’s first time coaching in the AFC. But he insists that when he decided to take the Broncos job, he wasn’t worried about the opposing firepower booked into his schedule six times each season.

“A lot of people said to me, ‘Hey, you’re going to a place where you’ve got (to face) Kansas City, and the Chargers obviously with a young quarterback in (Justin) Herbert, and Vegas trying to turn it around,’” Payton said. “But I spent more time looking inward towards the team, than outwards towards the (divisional) opponents.”

Payton drew parallels from the NFC South when he arrived in New Orleans in 2006, and the AFC West now, saying that the defending divisional champion Buccaneers were the team that he had to find a way to get around in order to make the Saints relevant.

“(Jon) Gruden was coaching there, they had just won a Super Bowl two years prior, and they had that great defense,” Payton said. “(We want to topple K.C. in the same way) but there’s certainly a respect level for the opponents in our division.”

The Chiefs have a much firmer grip on the AFC West now than Tampa Bay did on the NFC South then. Kansas City has won the division seven years in a row to correspond with Denver’s seven-year playoff drought since winning Super Bowl 50.

Payton said much of the Broncos’ success within the division and beyond will come from “details,” a coaching mindset rooted in focus on the minutiae. And he believes the Broncos will be much better within the AFC West in 2023, after turning in a 1-5 record within the division over each of the three previous seasons.

“This pocket tissue I’m wearing has an angle going upwards, and the horse (lapel pin) I’m wearing has an angle going upwards,” Payton said. “This morning when I put it on, it’s symbolic of the direction we’re headed right now.”

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