Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton was not happy following the team’s 28-14 win over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.
Broncos wide receivers Lil’Jordan Humphrey and Courtland Sutton both lost fumbles in the win, and those two turnovers led to the Panthers’ only two scores of the game. In his post-game interview on KOA Radio, Payton said: “It just can’t be ‘My bad’ anymore, or else we’ll find some other receivers.”
Payton didn’t go that far in his post-game podium press conference, but the coach reiterated that the fumbles were not acceptable.
“Here’s the thing, we can’t turn the ball over the way we did offensively,” Payton said. “We can’t fumble on the first drive, [and] we can’t fumble later in the game. I put up some numbers for these guys just to see where we’re at relative to the season and relative to history. It’s not the perfect game we’re searching for, but it’s the game that we know when played with bigger stakes against a better team, it’ll cost you.”
KKTV 11 cameras caught Payton yelling at Sutton on the sideline after the receiver’s fourth-quarter fumble:
https://twitter.com/corey_rholdontv/status/1850750484719501394?s=46
Sutton is Denver’s best wide receiver, so he seems extremely unlikely to get benched, but Humphrey’s role will be worth monitoring this week. LJH posted this on his Twitter/X page on Monday:
https://twitter.com/LJ_Humphrey23/status/1850765470682530070
In addition to the two fumbles, Broncos receivers also dropped multiple passes on Sunday. With the NFL trade deadline approaching, one has to wonder if Denver might consider bringing in a new wide receiver.
Sutton, Humphrey, Devaughn Vele, Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims are the five WRs currently on the active roster. The Broncos also have A.T. Perry,
David Sills and Michael Bandy available on the practice squad. We’ll see if Denver adds anyone to the mix before the Nov. 5 trade deadline.