Is it me or is DA purging everything Sean from the team?

Elvis said
The one season without Drew here was probably the most injury plagued season the team has ever had. Sean had to start 4 different QBs and the whole covid thing was a mess. I feel like he was adjusting pretty well with what plays he could call for the talent he had. With all that adversity, he still managed a 9-8 season. It may have been one of his finest coaching seasons ever honestly.

The Denver situation is a bit different in that he didn't have a great roster to begin with. His largest mistake was probably propping Russ up the way he did early, just to come to the same conclusion everyone else had by the end of the season. Even with that, the Broncos had their best season since 2016. So not a bad first year effort. Not the same as he got here in 2006, but at least trending the right direction.

I really miss Payton's arrogance because most of the time he backed it up and even when he didn't he was defiant about it. I think that gave the players a different kind of swagger than what we do now.

Yeah, I don't disagree about Payton's last season probably being his best coaching job. I'm just saying that even guys like Bridgewater who did a nice job in relief of Brees didn't really set the world on fire in Payton's offense. And, none of our backups or starters since then have either. Carr probably did the best job of anyone since Brees and his season was still mediocre. I just think it's a complicated system that requires an amazing amount of accuracy, commitment to extra work, and anticipation for it to work the way it did with Brees. It can still work with a lesser QB like Carr, but it's never going to look like it did with a guy like Brees until you get a guy like Brees running it.

Anyway, I agree about Payton's swagger and arrogance. I think DA has some of the arrogance, but he totally lacks the swagger that Payton has and I think that may be his biggest weakness. It's probably a lot of why he can't relate to players like Lattimore, MT, and CJGJ. And you saw that swagger on the field under Payton. Of course, winning really helps a team gain swagger and it's incredibly difficult to have if you are having 3 consecutive 7 to 9 win seasons.

I do think it's possible to succeed as a HC without that swagger and arrogance since guys like Bill Walsh and Tom Landry did and you don't have to relate well to players or Bill Bellichick would be a complete failure. But, you have something else to offset that like great Xs and Os and a great staff around you and it's a lot easier if the HC starts off with swagger, arrogance, and personality like Payton.