Davis Webb had a night to forget in his debut as the Denver Broncos' new play caller.
Webb had previously called plays in preseason, but Monday's prime-time clash with the Kansas City Chiefs marked his regular-season debut in that role. Denver's offense was penalized for delay of game, burned a timeout, hurried a snap to beat an expiring clock on a 3rd-and-short situation, ran a shotgun play on 4th-and-short and seemingly abandoned the run game in Webb's debut.
At halftime of an eventual 31-10 loss, ESPN asked Broncos head coach Sean Payton how it was not playing calls. "Um, ask me in another half," Payton said.
Payton didn't get another interview with ESPN after the game, but he was asked during his post-game press conference what it was like
to see the offense struggle when he wasn't calling the plays.
“As a head coach, whether you are calling the plays or not, it is frustrating," Payton said. "It is disappointing. I don’t know if the feeling is any different whether you are calling them or not, honestly.”
Denver's offense went 2-for-12 (17%) on third down, 0-for-1 on fourth down, 1-for-2 in the red zone and mustered just 176 net yards while only rushing 15 times.
After the game, Broncos quarterback Bo Nix shifted the blame from Webb to himself.
"I think the players did not make it easy on him today," Nix said. "Pretty pitiful, actually. ... He shot it with conviction. We called exactly what we prepared for and what we wanted to get to. We just didn’t execute, and then we were behind. I don’t think we did a whole lot of good consistently enough to win the game at all.”
Nix was asked in a follow-up question how he thinks Webb is feeling after the loss.
"I think exactly like he would’ve responded with a win," Nix said. "He would’ve acted the same way, say it wasn’t good enough, finding ways to continue going next week. I think he’s going to move on really well.”
Webb and Denver's offense will get their first opportunity to move on when the Broncos host the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2. Payton didn't give any indication that Webb is on any kind of hot seat, but it's reasonable to wonder if the experienced coach will take back play-calling duties if the Broncos' offensive struggles continue in the coming weeks.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: Sean Payton comments on Davis Webb's play-calling debut with Broncos
