Earlier this week, Head Coach Sean Payton was asked if he could sense if a team was hungrier due to roster consistency year-over-year and while the question itself wasn’t that interesting, the way Payton answered it was.
“I don’t think there was ever that meeting where we went in and said, ‘All right, we’re going to keep a lot of the same guys.’ It’s hard to measure,” Payton said. “There obviously was a lot more transition in ’23. Some of those decisions that were made prior to the offseason relative to players’ returning, it’s just, ‘What are we looking for in a player? What’s the skill set? Does he endear himself to his teammates?’ Those types of things. I think that the situational football, more and more, when you just look at the way these games are finishing, a record number of three-point games last year. A record number of lead changes in the postseason. The margins each year continue to just get a little bit closer, so paying attention to that I think is real important.”
The lack of turnover this offseason was a surprise to all of us fans, but looking back at last season and the way this team rallied in those close games is something many of us ignored or just assumed would lead to more change. It is the NFL, after all. Instead, Payton talked about ‘situational football’ and how there were a record number of three-point games last season and a record number of lead changes in the playoffs. The margin of error for a football team has never been smaller.
So how do you overcome margin of error? Well, one way would be to have the same group of players playing along side one another year after year. The level of trust and chemistry with this Denver Broncos team will likely be higher than most other squads next season. That’s an edge all on its own.
