TRANSCRIPT: Sean Payton’s Press Conference 1/21
Sean Payton speaks ahead of the Broncos vs Patriots AFC Championship showdown on Sunday.
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Here’s what Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton had to say during his press conference on Wednesday, January 21, 2026.
OPENING STATEMENT:
Back into our normal Wednesday routine. Good weather, good practice. Any questions?
On the fact he didn’t have a chance to the team on Saturday, what was the messaging Monday:
“Listen, they were good. Obviously, these guys can communicate so much quicker now. Spoke to him [Bo Nix] right prior [to his surgery], surgery went well, all those things. All the players individually had their own, I’m sure, visit with him.”
On when he has a player that hasn’t played on the field for as long as Stidham has in-game type situations, how does he approximate in a week’s time the speed that he has to play at in a play-off game:
“Well, they practice at that speed. It’s happened before. It’s happened to me a number of times. He’s a veteran, real good decision maker, good arm strength. He’s seeing a real good defense each week. There’s X amount of routes teams run, and then it’s putting the plan together accordingly.”
On the fact that one of his first moves coming to Denver was signing Stidham…
“That’s right.”
On what was it about his game that made you want to sign him?
“There’s certain things. We always do that with our personnel.”
Is there a realistic chance [inaudible … on a player’s return]:
“I won’t comment on that.”
On what it’s taken for that player just to…
“I won’t comment on any injury.”
On what he’s seen out of Stidham this week:
“We just had our first practice. It went well.”
On in meetings, if he’s seen him attack the week any differently:
“No, he’s a pro. He’s really in tune to it. To answer your question, there was an extra day because we played Saturday. Sunday, we had extra time on New England, then Monday, then Davis, as soon as things are going into the plan, they get emailed to the quarterback room. I would say he, along with Sam and Ben are getting the game plan realtime. Like last night, we’re doing base, once we finish discussing a play, a run or pass, we put a dot on it. Right away, and this is so much different than 10 years ago, right away, that play gets sent to these guys. It got dotted, it’s in. In the old days, at the end of the night, you’d send an email, they’d get it all. And I would say, look, one of the harder things to do in-season is to prepare at that position. At any moment, you could go into a game. You know what I mean? And it’s hard because you don’t often get reps with the… Now, he takes all those reps against the defense. Obviously, now he’s getting all the reps with the offense, but like that ’85 Bears team, if you were a backup quarterback, you were playing. That documentary, I don’t know how many, I think 12 of the 16, they knew they were going in. But he’s on top of it.”
On the fact he brought up Jeff Hostetler or Nick Foles on Sunday and if he talked to Parcells about Hostetler or do any research on how those guys were:
“We’ve had a couple of conversations. That injury happened a little earlier. We’ve had a couple of conversations. We speak regularly, so the topics might vary. Obviously, that topic came up, and then there were other things that we discussed.”
On the fact he mentioned the takeaways going into last week, obviously a critical part of that and how much can that be something that can get on a roll:
“We’ve watched it, and they had bad weather in this past game. So as I’m watching the Houston offense and look, both defenses are playing well and turning the ball over. Then I watch a series end with a turnover, and then I clicked the clicker, and, man, it’s still 13-7. The weather, I think, had a lot to do with some of the turnovers. But I think as we started the postseason and we said, ‘Hey, this has to be a point of emphasis,’ and to be plus four after the first week is a good thing. I think, in all honesty, fortunately, we were. It was one of those games where that single-handedly was the difference.”
On as he looks back into his history with game planning for backup quarterbacks, what does he think about when he had to plan for Teddy [Bridgewater] or [Cade] McCown that maybe can help-
“The message always, I feel like when Drew went down in LA, we flew from Los Angeles, our plan was we were playing at Seattle, so we stayed in the West Coast and we practiced at UW. We stayed in Bellevue. Our first team meeting, and I made the same comment, I said, ‘I’m not worried about Bridgewater. I’m worried about everyone else in this room making sure that their level is up to speed.’ Then [Alvin] Kamara was out then after that game. Then so Bridgewater, Latavius, they won two, won three, won four. After the fifth one, this is about when Drew’s thumb is getting better. I was just kidding him. I got to say that because sometimes when I’m kidding and people don’t know I’m kidding, then all of a sudden I’m a bully. I called Drew and said, ‘How are you doing?’ He said, ‘I’m getting ready to come back.’ I said, ‘Well, make sure you take your time. Things are going well here.’ I think the most important thing is like, all right, it’s the same with tight ends or receivers or runners. Like, what are the things that they like? What are the things that they do well? What are the things? And then building around that, and then understanding what kind of game do we see this being played? There are a number of things that go into a game plan, but it would start with his skillset, but then also the opponent.”
On the fact the past month, he’s had a message to fans every single week about noise and if he has a message for them this week with it being the final game [in Denver for this year]:
“Well, they’re going to have plenty of rest after this one, two weeks. I can’t … This is a team at the line of scrimmage that does a lot. Josh is fantastic at putting together good plans offensively. There’s alerts, there’s kills.”
“Look, let’s go. Again, I keep emphasizing, just as the huddle begins until the ball’s snapped.”
On, with so much at stake, how does he just convey to Jarett, ‘Hey, go out and be yourself and play football.’
“That’s his personality. He’s going to rip it. That’ll be our approach. I mean, hey, he’s got this calm demeanor that I think suits him well. He’s played in big games, college. I said this at the start of the season. I felt like our two was inside the best 32. I think everyone feels that way, but that’s why that sign was important. You don’t know when it’s happening, but I’m glad it happened. I’m glad that acquisition took place.”
On the fact Mike Vrabel said a couple of days ago that they were actually trying to get him back and what was his impression:
“I think the impression is, look, and I know Bill well, Belichick, and I consider Vrabe’s a good friend in this industry. I have a ton of respect for Josh. I think there are a lot of people that felt that way.”
On when he looks at his team, if he sees traits of him as a player, Vrabel, that translate to how-
“Oh, absolutely. Look, I remember him, A) as a playe, way back when I was with the Giants, and then he was there when we had joint practices. I think it was Tom [Brady]’s first or second year. We had just gone to the Super Bowl. They were going to win the Super Bowl the next year, upset the Rams. Bledsoe is going to get hurt, and Tom is going to play. But I’d say got to know him more professionally when he became the head coach of Tennessee. We would be at these league meetings, and he’s passionate. I think his team, you see them play to that passion. When the Lions were asking me about Dan Campbell, I made this comment, and it’s a compliment to both coaches. I said, ‘You’re getting an offensive version of Vrabel, a guy who was a heck of a player, tough, and their teams will reflect that.’ Then look, there’s that uniqueness of going back home for him, a place that certainly, he’s got a lot of pride for what they’ve done there.”
On the fact he did a lot of research on the quarterbacks in the 24 draft and what did he think of Drake Maye in his evaluation coming out:
“Real good. I mean, look, that class, when you watch what the group of them are doing, there’s been a couple of injuries, but I think, we had high regards for him.”
On RJ’s 24-yard catch and run on the game winning drive in overtime and his ability to make those plays in space, and how significant that has been:
“You saw it on film. Now, his senior year, they threw it to him more. But there’s times where he’s like, maybe the ball’s dumped to him, the defender has an angle, and so he has that make you miss. I would say that balance, that short area quickness that makes him effective, ball in hand as a receiver.”
On the fact he’s mentioned Josh McDaniels a couple of times and people talk about [himself: Sean Payton] and Andy [Reid] as play callers or Kyle [Shanahan] and [Sean] McVay in their tree, and Josh didn’t maybe get brought up as much and why he thinks that is, and his thoughts on McDaniels as a playcaller:
Well, forget the tree thing for a second, all right? Man, he’s won a lot of Super Bowls, and I just know from quarterbacks that I’ve worked with, I know Josh well enough to know, we study, certain films we study. We study his film. When we look at league trends, there’s certain offenses we’ll look at. He, like ourselves, believes in having a two-back offense at times to control the game, a fullback. It’s always good tape, and there’s a lot that goes into it. It’ll be a good challenge for our defense.”
On the fact that 10 years ago now, Jarrett Stiduham was viewed as the number one dual threat coming out of high school, and how he views him as a runner:
“I never knew he was the number one dual threat coming out of high school, and nor do I really care. I view him as someone who can move and elude. He’s got a good pocket awareness. Now, he’s a different type quarterback than Bo [Nix], but I can recall all the homework, Baylor, the transfer, all of it. I would say he’s a real good foot athlete. You see that.”
On, in term of Bo’s recovery, if he can around the guys?
“Yeah. I’m sure there’s going to be a protocol back in Alabama. I don’t have a date of when he arrives back, but we look forward to seeing him soon.”
On if he’d like him around the guys?
“Absolutely. Oh, yeah, absolutely. All of our guys that have been injured are part of this team. So, yeah, the sooner the better.”
On if he’s helping Jarrett at all this week, like virtual?
“Well, he just had surgery. He just had surgery.”
On the fact there’s not a lot of film on Jarrett Stidham and if, as teams look for an advantage, if there’s an advantage that Josh McDaniels knows him so well:
“I think there’s enough film, and certainly Josh knows him. I don’t think it’s this like, ‘We’ve never seen who this person is.’ It’s what we do with him that’s going to be most important. But certainly Josh knows him. He coached him, and he and I have talked about him.”
On the fact both Hostetler and Foles obviously had the ultimate win getting to the Super Bowl and winning, and how can Jarrett look to follow in their footsteps, in his opinion:
“Well, it’s a team game, right? Both cases, there were different scenarios. But the key is how we as a team prepare this week for the team we’re getting ready to play Sunday and we’re playing a real good team. Both teams ended up with the same record. That’s really the short answer.”
On after their wild card game, a couple of the Chargers players said they couldn’t figure out what they were doing coverage-wise, and obviously, they forced turnovers last week and if that’s a strength of their defense, the disguise part of it …
“Every week, you put on film and defenses have gotten so good at showing man. Let’s say you put a back outside of a receiver, and a linebacker went out, then you brought him back in. Mike [Shanahan] was one of the early people to do this, [Shanahan]. He’d put a big body outside of a receiver, and then he’d see a safety or a linebacker. Back then, it was right away ‘Man.’ Then you’ll see that, and then they’ll spin and play two. It’s this back and forth, how do we uncover man or zone? That’s a big point of tonight on third down. It starts with how can we uncover the coverages? I think a lot of teams in the last two or three years have gotten very apt at that. You don’t want these always. This is a team that does a good job with that. They keep a top on the coverage. They got real good corners and safeties, and then extremely talented nickel. So, how do you determine it? There’s different ways you try to create movement, maybe. But that’ll be a big study tonight.”
On how does the altitude and elevation affect the visitors:
“I just know how it affected us, and we didn’t know what to do. At the time, we were coming two days early, which was the worst thing to do. Then, later getting here, finding. So, I don’t really know. I know there’s science to it, and so that’s all I know.”
On with the way that things have played out in the last few days, and he’s seen a lot in your career, how unique has it been, both to Jarrett, the position that they’re in, trying to do this as a play caller:
“There’s nothing like it. Advancing to this position, there’s nothing like it. When your alarm clock goes off, and you’re eating faster because every minute… That’s why I said three more questions. There’s going to be one more after this because there’s work to do. But I say that respectfully, but there’s nothing like it when it’s just ticking, and you’re wanting to make sure you looked at every bit of film that you haven’t missed anything, and you’re playing another good football team. Then you know what’s at stake and you know what’s next. Yeah, it’s exciting.”
On what’s been his impression of the leap that Drake Maye made here in your one year, two:
“Really impressive. I think his decision-making… One of the strengths with watching him is not only when he comes underneath, it’s his touch underneath to the underneath throws. Sometimes those balls are six yards away from the halfback. Then I wasn’t aware, he finished the season fourth in rushing yards behind the guys that we would expect near the top. So he’s extremely fast. And those come from, obviously, pocket scrambles, but he can run. We had that challenge a week ago. It seems like every third week, you have that challenge of someone that you have to make sure your pocket rush is on point.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was done based on the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. If you spot anything, please let me know in the comments below.)
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