Why Sean Payton will help the Denver Broncos win games
In 1996, after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-20, making their record 1-14, then Jets head coach Rich Kotite stepped to the microphone and decided to quit. Kotite said he would coach the last game of the year against Miami. ''I feel I've always been a bottom-line guy,'' Kotite said. ''And when you're 3-13 and 1-14, that just doesn't cut it.''
The Jets had spent over 70 million dollars to add talent during the 1996 off-season, hoping to improve on their 3-13 record from Kotite’s first season. When that failed, Kotite fired himself, saving owner Leon Hess from having to rid himself of a man he treated like a son. Hess loved Kotite. He even fired Pete Carroll after just one season to bring Kotite to the Jets, believing Kotite had the necessary skills as an offensive play caller and head coach to refurbish the Jets into winners. The winning never manifested itself and after two seasons, out went Kotite, and in came Bill Parcells, who had just left the Patriots after taking them to the Super Bowl.
And because Parcells is a Hall of Fame coach, the Jets went from 1-15 to 9-7 and a Keyshawn Johnson dropped pass away from beating the Lions in Week 17 to make the playoffs. Parcells made this rapid improvement with essentially the same players that Kotite used. The next year, the Jets made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game, losing to Denver, 23-10.
Parcells molded the Jets, held everyone accountable, developed all three phases of the team, improved the talent, and the Jets vastly improved, proving the point that coaching matters in the NFL. And the same thing will happen in Denver when a Parcells disciple, Sean Payton, takes over for Nathaniel Hackett and improves the Broncos.