Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton painted a vivid picture of his preparation routine this week, and it includes more than just cutups and game plans. At one point in a press conference on December 3, he described getting on a film-watching roll with the “Mountain Dew and the Cokes going” as he chases any edge he can find before game day.
Underneath the joke was a serious message: Payton said he hates losing “more than anything in the world” and called fear of failure a major motivating factor as he shapes the Broncos’ culture.
Sean Payton Admits Soda-Fueled Film Binges for Broncos Game Plans
Payton was asked about how he builds and maintains the winning environment that players have talked about in Denver. He quickly turned the conversation into a window into his week, from early cutups to late-night tweaks.
He explained how he’ll watch a 43-play cutup in the morning and see one thing, then watch the exact same reel again later and suddenly notice something completely different. That’s when, he admitted, the caffeine hits and the film binge really starts.
“When you get on one of those rolls, you know, with the Mountain Dew and the Cokes going and it’s like you just want to don’t don’t interrupt, you know, you just keep going,” Payton said.
When the ideas aren’t flowing, he said, sometimes he has to “blow out the handles,” step outside, take a cold shower or do something to reset his brain before diving back in. For him, there’s always another look, another clip, another adjustment that might swing a game.
He also pushed back against the old coaching cliche that “the hay is in the barn” by the end of the week. Payton said he’s “constantly looking for that edge or one more clip of film, one more cutup,” pointing to an example from his past where a play added on Saturday night ended up being the difference between winning and losing.
Inside Payton’s Fear of Failure & ‘Maniacal’ Attention to Detail
The soda line might grab attention, but Payton made it clear there’s a deeper engine behind the late nights and endless cutups.
“I hate losing more than anything like in the world,” he said, adding that “fear of failure is a very significant motivating factor.” He called that feeling “healthy” in the right context, especially for quarterbacks and coaches racing a weekly clock to master checks, kills and adjustments.
He described himself as “almost maniacal with the details,” saying there is “nothing that’s too small” to get attention. That goes beyond scheme and into everything around the players: the entryway, locker room, signage and postgame routines.
Payton’s goal is for players to feel like the staff has “thought of everything.” That mindset, combined with the constant push for an edge on film, is what he believes separates teams once the season reaches its most important stretch.
He even joked that the stress explains why “a lot of these QBs lose their hair and coaches lose their hair, turn gray,” a nod to the pressure that comes with his approach.
Why Payton Compares the Broncos to a Garden
Payton also offered a different analogy for the Broncos’ day-to-day reality: a garden that can get out of control if you stop caring for it, even for a short stretch.
“You can go a couple days and all of a sudden like what happened here,” he said, describing the constant check-ins with players, surprise injuries on Mondays and weekly roster challenges that pop up at positions like tight end and running back.
He emphasized building relationships beyond football, saying he believes this Broncos team “loves playing together” and is “pretty unselfish,” which he noted is rare in today’s sports environment. For him, that starts with procurement — drafting and signing players with the traits and values the staff wants, and then removing those who don’t fit.
Payton also highlighted the puzzle of getting the ball to all his playmakers, mentioning how he and his staff constantly ask whether they’re doing enough to feature players like RJ, Jaleel and others while still trusting them in critical jobs like pass protection.
As the Broncos head into what he called “five real good games” at an important stage of the season, Payton’s soda-fueled film grind and fear-of-failure mindset are part of a bigger picture. The coach who hates losing more than anything is still chasing one more edge, one more play and one more reason to keep the Mountain Dew flowing deep into the night.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post How Mountain Dew & Coke Are Fueling Broncos Coach Sean Payton appeared first on Heavy Sports.