Sean Payton owned the Falcons during his time as Saints coach and he didn’t miss the chance to do it again with a verbal dig.
Payton, now tthe Broncos coach, took a shot at his former NFC South rival while speaking to Denver reporter Cynthia Frelund of NBC 9News at halftime of the teams’ preseason game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Friday night.
The 62-year-old Payton, who is in his 19th season in the league, is 22-9 against the Falcons in his career and an even more impressive 11-4 against them in Atlanta.
Frelund set him up perfectly by saying: “We know you win here in Atlanta and it looks like you are going to continue that streak.”
It gave the Super Bowl-winning coach an opening to go after the rather light attendance for the game, which the Broncos dominated 27-7.
“A lot of people dressed up as empty seats today,” Payton responded with his team ahead 24-0.
The official attendance was 68,183, but open red seats were very noticeable at the stadium, even in the field level sections.
Payton previously trolled Roddy White in 2020 by retweeting the former Falcon’s receiver post that Atlanta was going to “whip” the Saints after the coach chose to start Tayson Hill over Jamis Winston.
Hill threw for 233 yards and rushed for two touchdowns in a 24-9 win.
Payton’s Broncos aim to improve off an impressive 14-3 season that saw them lose to the Patriots in the AFC Championship without starting quarterback Bo Nix, who broke his ankle in the Divisional Round.
The Falcons hope new head coach Kevin Stefanski and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is competing with Michael Penix Jr. for the job, can get them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
Tagovailoa struggled in his debut, going 3-of-5 passing for 22 and only targeting tight end Kyle Pitts.
Lucky for Atlanta, they won’t see Payton and the Broncos during the regular season given their history.
