You better not dare be smoking in Broncos head coach Sean Payton's postgame news conference
Things are going pretty well for the folks in the Mile High City when it comes to their football team.
The Denver Broncos are fresh off a trip to the AFC Championship game less than a year ago, and this year's team is off to a 7-2 start as they lead the pack in a competitive AFC West division.
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A lot of that is due to the wizardry of head coach Sean Payton, who came onto the scene in Denver in 2023 and turned a franchise that had not been to the playoffs since winning Super Bowl 50 nearly a decade ago into a legitimate contender.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton watches during the second half of the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots in Denver, Colorado, on Jan. 25, 2026. (John Locher/AP Photo)
Payton's no nonsense approach to coaching coupled with his offensive acumen seems to have been the panacea for a Broncos team in limbo for much of the late 2010s and early 2020s.
That no nonsense approach apparently extends to the beat reporters in Denver, too.
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After the Broncos' 26-21 win over the then-AFC South-leading Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon, Payton took the podium to discuss the victory before taking exception to a reporter apparently daring to have a smoke right in the middle of his postgame press conference.
There's just one problem: the reporter in question wasn't taking a drag off a Marlboro Red but was just chomping on a good old Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil.
As a man who lost his father-in-law to lung cancer a few years back, I have to commend Coach Payton's stance on smoking, but this was an absolutely wild interaction.
You can tell Payton was pretty embarrassed about the whole thing too, but fortunately both he and the reporter took the exchange in stride.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton speaks during a news conference following the AFC Championship Game between the Denver Broncos and the New England Patriots in Denver, Colorado, on Jan. 25, 2026. (Garrett W. Ellwood/AP Photo)
The Super Bowl-winning head coach could barely make it through his answer without busting out in laughter.
The good news here is that when Payton decides it's time to hang up the visor and whistle, he has a career as a D.A.R.E. officer at any school district in either the Denver or New Orleans areas.
"Hey kids, I'm officer Sean, and I don't care if you're a Super Bowl champion or a Broncos beat writer, I better not EVER catch you smoking or doing drugs! That's not what winners do."
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Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton looks on as players take part in drills at an NFL football training practice Monday, July 28, 2025, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Let this be a lesson to anyone trying to sneak an E-Cig into a postgame presser moving forward: just say "NO."
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