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Up next in 10
D.A. is furious — and he explains why.
In the AFC Championship Game, Sean Payton made the controversial decision to go for it on 4th-and-1 instead of kicking the field goal and trusting his defense to protect a 10-point lead.
The play failed. And the game unraveled.
D.A. believes that decision wasn’t about analytics or aggression — it was about ego.
He rolls back an interview from earlier this season with a Broncos reporter who pointed out something telling: Payton was noticeably hesitant — sometimes outright refusing — to credit defensive coordinator Vance Joseph by name, even as the Denver Broncos defense carried the team week after week.
Only when it became impossible to ignore did that change.
D.A. posits that the 4th-and-1 call was about wanting the offense — and Payton himself — to get the credit, rather than letting an elite defense finish the job.
And that’s what makes this sting the most:
A great Denver defense never even got the chance.
This is a must-watch for Broncos fans who are still angry — and still searching for answers.
#BroncosCountry #EgoCall #DefenseRobbed #AFCCG #NFLPlayoffs #SeanPayton #HotTake #NFLTwitter #FootballTalk #YouTubeShorts
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0:00
Did Shawn Payeyton go for it on fourth
0:02
and one out of desperation,
0:06
out of aggression, or out of ego?
0:11
Unfortunately, I think it was the
0:13
latter. And I'll explain why coming up
0:15
here next. Just a reminder to subscribe
0:18
to the channel. Click on this button
0:20
below me. That way, you are connected to
0:22
fresh football videos every single day,
0:26
including throughout the off season.
0:29
I am reminded of a conversation I had
0:31
with a friend of mine, Brandon
0:33
Crystalall, who covers the Broncos
0:35
earlier in the season. And this was
0:37
following the Broncos win in London over
0:39
the Jets in which once again the Broncos
0:41
offense did not look good at all. But
0:45
they got the victory because of the
0:47
defense. Here's the clip. Today is the
0:50
first time really since the season
0:52
started that he called Vance Joseph out
0:54
by name and praised the work the defense
0:55
did. Despite having the best defense in
0:58
the league, at least an acknowledgement
1:00
of, okay, Vance really is scheming up a
1:02
good defense. They keep getting creative
1:03
with ways to get to the quarterback. I
1:06
have to lean into that and embrace it.
1:08
They really are keeping us afloat and
1:10
are the reason that we're not only four
1:11
and two, but we're in those two tough
1:13
losses to the Chargers and and the Colts
1:15
earlier in the year. They both have
1:17
immense respect for each other as
1:18
coaches. It was just interesting to me.
1:20
This is the first time that he's
1:22
mentioned Vance's name in a while.
1:24
And I thought how interesting that is
1:26
that the head coach might purposefully
1:30
not mention his defensive coordinator by
1:33
name
1:35
throughout the early part of a season.
1:39
And why would that happen? Well, it
1:42
might happen because Shawn Peyton really
1:44
likes Shawn Peyton and really likes that
1:47
Shawn Peyton is known for his offensive
1:50
acumen. I just wonder for a guy that
1:54
didn't want to gloss
1:56
that side of the football earlier in the
1:59
season, then had to kind of come around
2:00
to doing so, was he resistant to letting
2:05
them be the stars of the show? the fact
2:08
that Shawn Payeyton
2:10
might resent the success of the other
2:14
side of the football because it meant
2:15
that his offense wasn't the reason the
2:20
Broncos were winning really stuck in my
2:23
crawl all season long. And when I saw
2:25
that fourth and one, I had to think, is
2:29
this because Shawn Payeyton wants to
2:32
make sure he gets credit
2:35
if the Broncos get to a Super Bowl? I am
2:39
really upset that a great defensive
2:43
effort and a really good defense all
2:46
season long was robbed had stolen from
2:50
them a chance to singlehandedly win an
2:54
AFC Championship game. You know, after
2:56
the game, you could see the pain on the
2:59
faces of the Broncos players
3:01
specifically on defense. Nick Bonito
3:03
saying that he still didn't feel like
3:05
the best team won that game. How can you
3:07
blame him considering that you go into a
3:10
championship game with a backup
3:12
quarterback and you know that backup
3:14
quarterback not only can't move the
3:16
football after the first two drives but
3:18
also a snowstorm comes in and you have
3:20
to defend a 12yd field after a terrible
3:23
turnover. It just feels really unfair
3:26
that a great defense like the Broncos
3:29
had a chance ripped from them to be the
3:33
heroes. They should have been allowed
3:37
the chance with a 10-point lead at home
3:40
to do their damage and defend full
3:43
fields. Just keep punting the ball away.
3:48
Just keep forcing the Patriots to go the
3:50
length of the field against that defense
3:52
in that stadium with those conditions
3:55
and let the defense eat. And if it was
3:58
the 85 Bears or the 86 Giants or the 92
4:03
Cowboys or the 2000 Ravens or the 2013
4:07
Seahawks or go down the list if you
4:10
would have given them a 10-point lead in
4:11
a playoff game and said, "You guys go
4:14
win that game." They all would have
4:16
grabbed that opportunity and run with
4:19
it. That's all they would have wanted. A
4:22
unit playing together aggressively,
4:24
finishing off plays, hitting hard,
4:26
getting after the passer. They had five
4:27
sacks of Drake May yesterday. Did Drake
4:30
May even throw five passes? Did he even
4:32
draw back the pass five times? Of
4:35
course, that's hyperbole, but the
4:37
Broncos defense did so much right. So
4:40
much right. And they were robbed of a
4:43
chance to win it themselves. And what
4:45
could have been more beautiful than a
4:48
defense pitching a shutout against an
4:52
MVP caliber quarterback who had M.
4:55
Collins back healthy. Stfan digs in that
4:58
lineup. His running game on point. What
5:01
could have been more beautiful? It's not
5:03
the same as the Patriots defense
5:05
shutting down a backup QB that hasn't
5:07
thrown a pass in three years. It would
5:10
have been a stand. Let's see what you
5:13
got. You've been staked a double-digit
5:16
lead and now you got to hold it. And the
5:18
Broncos defense would have taken that
5:21
and loved playing that way. We were
5:24
robbed of seeing what that would look
5:27
like if you gave them a 10-point lead
5:29
and just didn't screw it up. They might
5:33
singlehandedly win you an AFC
5:36
championship. And I realize that's
5:38
oversimplifying things because there's a
5:39
lot of football to be played after 10
5:41
nothing. But let's face it, once the
5:44
storm rolled in, nobody was doing
5:47
anything at that point in time. So it
5:49
just became
5:50
a countdown to the storm. And Shawn
5:53
Payeyton should have known when the
5:55
storm was coming in. Should have known
5:58
that it was gonna be really hard to
5:59
score in the second half. So you have a
6:03
10 nothing lead in the first half and
6:06
you've basically got to find your way
6:09
through three or four Patriots offensive
6:14
drives before the storm rolls in. The
6:17
Patriots have to score and score soon or
6:20
else they're going to be the ones
6:22
desperate in a blizzard to move the
6:24
football and be forced to do it through
6:26
the air, which causes a lot of problems
6:29
for the offense and potential turnovers
6:31
and big plays for the defense. It's
6:33
exactly where you want Drake May and the
6:36
Patriots offense having to move the
6:39
football quickly in the middle of a
6:41
snowstorm. I think there's a possibility
6:45
that Payton looked at a situation at 10
6:50
nothing and said that won't be enough to
6:53
win this game and I'm not going to score
6:55
much more because the effectiveness of
6:57
Jared SDM is going to wear off soon and
6:58
he would have been right. The first
7:00
couple of drives, Stiden was very good.
7:03
Effectiveness waned every single moment
7:05
after that. And so he might not admit
7:08
it, but I think internally you could you
7:10
could understand him saying, you know
7:12
what, if this is the last time we're in
7:15
scoring position, we got to get 14 cuz
7:18
10 ain't going to cut it today. And
7:20
that's admitting that your backup
7:21
quarterback is just not get going to get
7:23
the job done the rest of the way. It
7:26
could be sheer aggression where you go,
7:29
"Hey, fourth down. Let's go for it
7:32
because we've got momentum and because
7:35
I've got the play and because we can do
7:37
this right now. Keep the pressure on the
7:39
Patriots. We want to be up 14 nothing,
7:41
which is what Payton did admit to after
7:44
the game that he wanted 14- nothing.
7:47
That 10- nothing do for him. 14 nothing
7:51
was what he wanted."
7:54
Okay. But in the Seth Wickerssham
7:56
article where he detailed how Shawn
8:00
Payeyton prepared for the week, Payton
8:02
watched last week's Rams and Bears game
8:06
and said, "Why don't they just kick?"
8:08
When it came to going for it on fourth
8:10
down instead of taking the points. So
8:12
while as a spectator Shawn Payeyton
8:14
would say take the field goal there,
8:16
when it was him in that role, he didn't.
8:18
And again, why
8:22
was it that he wanted to be the reason
8:26
that the Broncos were in a Super Bowl?
8:32
And that's going to haunt me. That's
8:34
going to haunt me because I love a great
8:36
defense. and had you given the Broncos
8:41
defense a 10-point lead
8:43
and just told Jared Sidum, "Do not cough
8:47
the football up." And so maybe you just
8:49
go run punt run punt run punt just to
8:54
make sure that Sidum can't screw it up
8:56
because the turnover that he committed
8:58
on his own 12 yard line is inexcusable,
9:02
absolutely inexcusable and ruined the
9:04
entire day. So that the Broncos defense
9:06
gives up one legitimate scoring drive.
9:09
One in which the Patriots drove 68 yards
9:14
and kicked a 23-yd field goal. Also got
9:17
a controversial fourth down and one,
9:20
which they said was a first down, but
9:22
replays would suggest that maybe Drake
9:24
May didn't get it. The Broncos defense
9:27
did everything they possibly could to
9:29
actually pitch a shutout. everything
9:32
except they had to defend a 12yd field.
9:36
So they give up the seven on the 12-
9:37
yard field and then one more drive that
9:42
included a controversial fourth down
9:44
conversion.
9:46
If you gave the Broncos a 10- nothing
9:49
lead and even when Jarrett did him on
9:52
third and four drops back to pass, you
9:53
go, you know what, it's a draw. On third
9:55
and anything, it's just a draw. We are
9:57
not throwing this football. You're not
10:00
going to fumble this football. We're not
10:02
going to put it in harm's way. The
10:04
Broncos are probably in a Super Bowl.
10:07
But if winning a playoff game
10:10
is 10 nothing,
10:13
does Shawn Payeyton feel vindicated in
10:17
his his expertise? Or would that be a
10:21
shut out from Vance Joseph's defense
10:24
that got all the credit? Never going to
10:27
sit right. Never going to sit right with
10:28
me. Never going to sit right. Just kick
10:31
field goals and force the other team to
10:34
have to make plays. Vrabel ultimately
10:37
did that in the fourth quarter.
10:38
Snowstorm came and he said, "We're just
10:39
going to punt it away. We'll run three
10:41
times, punt it away. You do it. You do
10:43
the hard work." Shawn Peyton should have
10:46
said the same thing about the Patriots
10:47
offense. We'll take 10-point lead and
10:50
you do the hard work. Now, thanks for
10:53
watching everybody. Click on this button
10:55
below me to subscribe. Make sure you're
10:56
subscribed. Fresh football videos every
10:58
single day of the off seasonason. I'm DA
11:01
Damon Amandelara.
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