Sean Payton made a bold move in Super Bowl history by surprising Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts with a daring onside kick right after halftime at Super Bowl 34, leading the New Orleans Saints to their only Lombardi Trophy.
Payton continued his risky coaching style by attempting an onside kick with the Denver Broncos against the Las Vegas Raiders in their opener last year.
That attempt failed when cornerback Tremon Smith touched the ball before it had traveled the required 10 yards, which might have contributed to Payton’s loss in his Denver debut. However, it showed that he hadn’t lost his adventurous approach after being hired by Greg Penner from Fox’s broadcast team.
The NFL’s new kicking rules have reduced coaches’ ability to surprise opponents with onside kicks and have made them think carefully about using them in critical situations.
Now, teams can only attempt an onside kick in the fourth quarter if they are behind. Additionally, they must declare their intention to try an onside kick. On Sunday, two teams attempted and failed.
Green Bay’s Evan Williams recovered the Colts’ onside kick with 1:47 left, and the Packers ran out the clock for a 16-10 win over Indianapolis.
Soon after, Minnesota’s Nick Muse recovered the 49ers’ onside kick with 1:12 remaining, and Sam Darnold kneeled out the clock for the Vikings’ 23-17 win.
It looked like the Broncos might become the third team to try an onside kick when they reduced the Pittsburgh Steelers’ lead to 13-6 with Wil Lutz’s short field goal with 1:54 left in the game.
But the expert in onside kicks decided to kick off instead, even though he had only one timeout left and rookie quarterback Bo Nix had not yet thrown a touchdown in any of his 77 passes, which is the third-most in the league.
“We spent a lot of time going through it back and forth,” Payton said after Nix’s second interception as the game ended confirmed the Broncos’ loss.
“It was just weighing the odds versus recovering an onside kick or getting the ball back with 26 seconds. “We chose to kick off.”
The Steelers ran the ball three times before newly signed punter Corliss Waitman, who had played for the Broncos in 2022 and received a “petty game ball” along with quarterback Russell Wilson and receiver Brandon Johnson, kicked a great 54-yard punt to the Denver 10.
Marvin Mims Jr. returned the punt nine yards, leaving the Broncos with 81 yards to cover in just 9 seconds.
Josh Reynolds caught Nix’s pass for 13 yards and, while being tackled, pitched it to Mims, who ran out of bounds at the Denver 34 with 1 second left.
With 66 yards to go, Nix set up in the shotgun for one last play, stepped up, and threw his 35th pass of the game over the middle, where Damontae Kazee easily intercepted it at the Steelers’ 40.
Avoiding the onside kick was one of several surprising decisions by Payton.
Down 13-0 with 10:45 left, the Broncos faced fourth-and-6 at the Pittsburgh 16 when Payton sent Lutz out for a short field goal. This put the Broncos on the scoreboard but still left them with a two-score deficit.
“Time-wise we felt like we were still in a good position, looking at the clock,” Payton explained.
The Broncos’ main problem has been their poor running game. With rushing totals of 35 yards and 25 yards, Nix has been Denver’s leading rusher in both of its games.
