Are the Broncos better than last season? Sean Payton gives his take
After the team's 30-9 preseason win over the San Francisco 49ers on Saturday, Denver coach Sean Payton was asked if his squad has improved yet again.
"The question was, is this team better than last year?" Payton said. "I think this year's team has a chance to be, but I think the biggest thing we always talk about, you're not ever picking up where you left off, but I do think this year's team has a chance to be better. We've added depth at certain positions we didn't have a year ago.
"We were in the largest cap deficit dead money in the history of maybe all of sports, but certainly in the NFL with 90-some million. We're not in that position this year, it's two-thirds of an operating budget, but this team's going have to do that. Same amount of games, one game more, they're going to write this chapter and we're going to all be here for it. And our job's to try to accomplish that, but we're right at the beginning with a lot of work ahead of us.'
Not much of a prediction from Payton.
The veteran coach has not shied away from talking Super Bowl -- he has clearly set that as a goal for the Broncos -- but Payton's not making any grand predictions to the media. Denver has a "chance" to be better than last season. Eleven wins would be an improvement for their overall record, but winning the division and advancing in the playoffs is the immediate goal, with a Super Bowl title the ultimate goal. There's a lot of work to be done, but the Broncos seem to be trending in the right direction.
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