The Denver Broncos are on a bye this week and coach Sean Payton has utilized an approach borrowed from Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, who is now a division rival.
Including the playoffs, Reid has an all-time record of 27-4 following a bye week. Clearly, he’s doing something right.
Payton struggled coming out of bye weeks in his early years with the New Orleans Saints, so he reached out to Reid, a coach with a proven record.
“Our record after the bye was like, gosh,” Payton recalled. “Andy Reid was in Philadelphia, and I called Andy up. I said, ‘What are you doing?’ Andy was like 9-0 after the bye. Andy said, ‘Look, I get them out of here after Monday, and if they win the game, sometimes I don’t even have them come in Monday.’ I said, ‘What about the coaches?’ He said, ‘I do the same thing.’ We started doing that in New Orleans and started having some success.
“Our guys are all in here today [Oct. 30], and we’re meeting on the game and watching film of the game. They’ll have a good break here. Everyone will be back on Monday [Nov. 6]. We’ll have a bonus prep day Tuesday because we’re playing on Monday night. The unusual part of next week for you and everyone will be Wednesday is the day off, which is like a Tuesday, then just do the math going forward. To your question, we looked at who was doing a good job with it. Andy was the one that kind of really told me what he was doing, so I’ve implemented that since.”
After starting his time with the Saints 0-3 after byes, Payton went on to go 10-3 in his next 13 post-bye games in New Orleans. Implementing what he learned from Reid must have paid off, and Payton will look to put it to use in Denver. After their bye, the Broncos will go on the road to face the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football in Week 10.
