-
Jeff Legwold
Just two days after Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton said the team’s offense «didn’t do enough» to earn a Super Bowl trip, he fired offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
With backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham in the lineup for an injured Bo Nix, the Broncos gained just 32 yards in the second half of Sunday’s 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game, had only one first down after halftime and didn’t have a possession in the third or fourth quarters longer than 17 yards.
After the loss Payton was asked what he would be most critical of in the aftermath of the loss, he said he would start with himself and added: «I think the big thing, that first half, momentum and field position didn’t yield what it needed to yield, we needed more than that. It’ll start there.»
New Orleans Saints and had been the Broncos’ offensive coordinator since Payton was hired in 2023. Payton, however, is the team’s playcaller on gameday. As the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, Lombardi was in the coaches’ booth on gameday and among those on the headset with Payton during games as Payton was the voice in Nix’s helmet.
The Broncos sported one of the league’s best defenses this season — No. 1 in sacks and in red zone in the regular season, second on third down, third in scoring defense and surrendered the fewest yards per play overall (4.46). Fueled by that defense, the Broncos also went 11-2 in one-score games in the regular season, most one-score wins in NFL history, before winning another one-score game, in overtime, over the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional round.
But Payton had expressed his frustrations about the offense at various times this season, including Sunday night following the loss to the Patriots when the Broncos, as the snow swirled in the second half, made it into Patriots’ territory just once after halftime only to have a potential game-tying field goal blocked.
The Broncos were 14th in the regular season in scoring — 23.6 points per game — 10th in offensive EPA and 12th in QBR. In his end-of-season wrapup Tuesday, Payton expressed particular frustration with the team’s run game and said he had already met Monday with run game coordinator/assistant head coach Zach Strief, who also coaches the offensive line, about plotting a plan for improvement.
«That’ll be an important study and with urgency, and then also with the runners, who are we asking [to carry the ball],» Payton told media in Denver. «… I think that we research and look into heavily. I want to play from the gun, but I also will always want to play with a two-back or multiple tight end mindset [and] have that flexibility … I think it’s one of the key things that we have to do this off season.»
J.K. Dobbins suffered what turned out to be a season-ending foot injury in the Nov. 6 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, yet he still finished as the team’s leading rusher — by 232 yards — and still had the team’s most runs of 10 yards or more (21), or seven more than the next running back (rookie RJ Harvey).
Internally, the two most likely candidates to fill the job would be Strief, who Payton promoted to assistant head coach last offseason or quarterbacks coach Davis Webb, who is still a candidate in the Las Vegas Raiders’ search for a head coach. Broncos senior offensive assistant Pete Carmichael was also the Saints’ offensive coordinator for much of Payton’s tenure.
However, Payton has consistently said he would not surrender playcalling duties, so unless he has a major change of heart in that regard, the Broncos’ offensive coordinator would be a prominent voice in the weekly game-planning as well as in Payton’s ear on gameday, but Payton would still call plays. Long term, many inside the Broncos’ complex believe that will make it difficult to keep Webb even if he doesn’t get a head coaching job in this hiring cycle.
