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Sean Payton’s Absurdly Long Play Calls Are Once Again Causing Problems For Broncos Quarterback

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Sean Payton Play Call Bo Nix
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Sean Payton is 0-2 with rookie quarterback Bo Nix in his second season as head football coach of the Denver Broncos after an ugly loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. There are a lot of things that need to be fixed on offense if he is going to turn this team around in the near future.

Part of the issue might be the 60-year-old’s lengthy play calls, as we saw on Sunday.

It is well-documented that Payton uses some of the most complicated phrasing in the NFL when it comes to the huddle. A close-up shot of his play sheet went viral last season and left a lot of fans to question whether the overly meticulous verbiage is really necessary.

Sean Payton Play Call
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This is not a new thing either.

Drew Brees spoke about his former head coach’s system while in the booth shortly after his retirement. The legendary quarterback rattled off an example of the verbose play calls that seemingly went forever.

Brees was very familiar with the language after reciting Payton’s offense for 15 years.

Bo Nix is still learning!

The 24-year-old rookie ran a fast-paced, no-huddle offense at Oregon. College football did not have in-helmet communication while he was in school.

Payton prefers a huddle. He can talk to his quarterback through his helmet.

It is a big adjustment for Nix and the lack of experience cost Denver a timeout in the loss to Pittsburgh. Payton’s lengthy play call took awhile to relay from the sideline as the play clock wound down. His quarterback could not snap the ball in time and called a timeout to avoid the delay of game penalty.

If Nix was able to spend less time in the huddle, he would’ve been able to snap the ball before the clock hit zero. The length of the play call prevented him from doing so.

Payton simplified his instructions for Russell Wilson at the start of last season because he was taking too long to relay the information— even while wearing a wristband. It might be a good idea to do so again for/with Bo Nix as he gets more comfortable as a professional.