How Sean Payton made Broncos' offense worse after taking over play-calling duties

Early in the 2026 season, the Denver Broncos made a huge change to their offense: Sean Payton took play-calling duties back from Davis Webb.

The offense was really struggling to get anything going early this season, and Payton felt a change was needed. Well, the Broncos made the switch in Week 5, and they're 3-0 since then. But that doesn't tell the full story.

As ESPN's Jeff Legwold highlighted, the Broncos offense has actually regressed in one very important phase of the game: third downs. Payton's version of this offense is worse on third downs than Webb's, as they're struggling to convert all kinds of third downs.

Broncos' third-down production has gotten worse since Sean Payton took over

"Since coach Sean Payton took back playcalling duties in Week 5, the offense has gotten worse on third down," Legwold writes. "Denver was 4-26 (15.4%) on third down in the two games combined before Sunday."

Payton's first two games didn't go well on third down, and even in their Week 7 30-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals , the Broncos went just 3-of-11 on third down.

Denver went 2-of-12 in Week 1, 4-of-11 in Week 2, 7-of-13 in Week 3, and 8-of-17 in Week 4 on third downs with Webb as the play-caller.

Overall, the Denver offense went 21-of-53 on third down with Webb calling the plays in Weeks 1 through 4 (39.6%), and in three games with Payton as the play-caller, the Broncos offense has gone 7-of-37 (18.9%) on third down.

The Broncos have clearly regressed since Payton took over, with their third-down conversions with Payton being more than twice as worse as it was under Webb.

That's made worse by the context that Webb's version of the offense faced the Kansas City Chiefs , Jacksonville Jaguars , Los Angeles Rams , and San Francisco 49ers , while Payton's faced the Los Angeles Chargers , Seattle Seahawks , and Cardinals.

While the Seahawks are the most challenging defense on that schedule, the Cardinals and Chargers are two of the worst defenses in the NFL. For Payton's offense to struggle that much on third down against them is a bad sign.

While the Broncos' win-loss record looks better with Payton calling the plays again, this important third-down statistic shows the offense has taken a noteworthy step back since he took over play-calling duties in Week 5.