Sean Payton has been beating up on the Atlanta Falcons for two decades. Friday night he added a preseason chapter, and he could not resist twisting the knife.
The Broncos rolled into Mercedes-Benz Stadium and hung a 27-7 preseason beatdown on the Falcons. At halftime, with Denver already up 24-0, Payton walked into his interview with FOX’s Cynthia Frelund and pointed at the seating bowl behind him.
“A lot of people dressed up as empty seats today,” Payton said. The clip was viral before the third quarter kicked off.
This is textbook Payton. He spent his Saints tenure carving up Atlanta in the NFC South, and the mutual dislike between him and that fan base never really cooled off. Preseason or not, he was not going to visit the ATL and act polite about it.
The wild part is that he was not even wrong. Mercedes-Benz Stadium looked half empty on the broadcast, and this was the home opener of the preseason. Falcons fans are already voting with their feet on the Raheem Morris era after last year’s flop, and Payton just handed local sports radio a full week of material.
What makes it work is the timing. Coaches usually save this stuff for after a real regular season win. Payton did it up 24 in a preseason exhibition, which is peak Sean Payton confidence. He knew his backups had already put the game away and he made sure everyone remembered who he was talking to.
For Denver, the football part is more interesting than the trash talk. Bo Nix looked sharp in limited work, the first team defense did not allow a point, and Payton is quietly building a roster that could push double digit wins in a stacked AFC.
For Atlanta, none of this helps. The Falcons are trying to sell hope after another underwhelming offseason, and now they are the punchline of the first big preseason moment. Morris has to answer questions about his coach getting outclassed on the sideline while his own guy got roasted from midfield.
Circle Denver at Atlanta the next time it happens in a game that counts. Payton just gave that matchup a permanent edge, and he does not forget these things. If the Broncos ever return to Mercedes-Benz Stadium with playoff seeding on the line, expect the volume to be turned all the way up.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.