After chewing out his defensive coordinator on the sideline and snapping at a reporter from the podium following Denver’s 19-17 win over Green Bay, Payton finally had something to celebrate in Denver with his team’s first win after three losses at Empower Field.
“Sometimes it’s hard to be pleased or not upset, you know,” Payton said Monday. “You want to play your perfect game and that was a good win for us and yet I’m driving home last night, you know, heading to get sushi — I don’t like sushi — and finding myself circling around the parking lot like, ‘All right, why can’t I be happy
Well, you’re searching for the perfect game, and so I’m just that way. I’m gonna wear my emotions on my sleeve.”
Hold up, before we go any further. Why is he going to a sushi place if he’s not a big fan of sushine
So, my wife likes it. My kids like it. Everyone in the party likes it. So I’m a team player,” Payton explained. “The nice thing is, it was the first time we were going out to celebrate at home after a win at home, so that was good.”
Even in celebration, however, Payton was bothered by mistakes that were made, timeouts that had to be wasted, plays that didn’t work. After the game, he snapped at a reporter who asked him about ending a skid in which the Broncos had lost 10 consecutive games in which they led at halftime, three of which came on his watch.
Despite that short fuse, linebacker Josey Jewell said he appreciates Payton’s high standards.
“He likes his stuff exact, which any head coach, any coach should like it exact,” Jewell said. “You know you can’t play a perfect game but you can get pretty darn close and that’s what he expects out of us and that’s what we should expect out of ourselves.
“So, I think that’s always great that he always expects more and I think we’ve got to keep on expecting more if we’re going to want to win more games here.”
Asked about his first home victory — and avoiding the first 0-4 home start in franchise history — Payton said he hopes there are a lot more meaningful milestones ahead.
