As Talanoa Hufanga, P.J. Locke and Ja’Quan McMillian gathered around the officiating crew to protest a key pass-interference call near the end of Sunday’s game against the Giants, they were joined by one of their own in a blue hoodie and headset.
Sean Payton was already not happy about a first-quarter offsides call on Pat Surtain II. And not happy about three straight weeks of flags that tilted away from the Broncos. And not happy, certainly, about this late-game PI call on Riley Moss that turned a Giants third-and-10 from the 40-yard line into first-and-goal from the 2.
So he ventured all the way out to the officials’ huddle and barked at them.
“It was silly,” Payton said after the Broncos’ eventual 33-32 win at Empower Field. “I just felt like, ‘Man.’”
He trailed off, explaining his previous frustrations.
“I just wanted them to hear me,” the head coach said. “Can’t do that.”
It drew an ultimately inconsequential unsportsmanlike conduct call, as McMillian tried but failed to get in front of Payton in time. Still, it was one of the more absurd moments within a completely absurd fourth quarter, as the Broncos roiled against an officiating crew that dinged them for 12 flags.
“Listen, I can’t criticize the officials, but I can disagree with ‘em,” Payton said postgame.
Payton lit into Moss on the sideline, slapping his clipboard, after the cornerback got a bit too handsy with Giants receiver Beaux Collins in the end zone. And Payton said the Broncos “have to learn from” another key fourth-quarter penalty, when John Franklin-Myers slammed Giants QB Jaxson Dart on fourth-and-18 and drew a roughing-the-passer call.
But Broncos linebacker Justin Strnad, for one, didn’t disagree with Payton’s decision to venture out from the sideline.
“I couldn’t agree more with him running out there,” Strnad said. “I had a few words myself for the referees. Didn’t agree with some of the calls they had today.
“Just, I don’t even wanna – I might get fined if I say it, so,” the linebacker continued. “I appreciated him.”
McGlinchey toughs it out: Already missing a key member of their starting offensive line in Ben Powers, the Broncos lost right tackle Mike McGlinchey for stretches of the fourth quarter Sunday.
Twice, McGlinchey walked off the turf gingerly with what appeared to be a leg injury. Twice, he returned to the game, finishing out the final snaps on the Broncos’ late game-winning drive. The right tackle was in the locker room postgame, a good sign for his long-term health.
“Man, this dude came back in, and he understood the severity of where we were trying to go,” receiver Courtland Sutton said postgame.
“For myself, I get to look at that and say — we have a lot of guys who understand where we’re trying to go,” Sutton continued a few words later, “and also understand the selflessness that it takes to be able to have a great team.”
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