Sean Payton takes blame for late FG penalty, says Broncos shouldn’t have tried to block 60-yarder

INDIANAPOLIS — In the seconds before Indianapolis kicker Spencer Shrader attempted a last-ditch, 60-yard field goal Sunday night, the Broncos’ most interior defenders switched positions. OLB Dondrea Tillman flipped DL Eyioma Uwazurike from the defense’s left to right of Colts long snapper Luke Rhodes and wedged himself in on the left. By now, what happened next is already in the pantheon of brutal recent-memory Denver losses. Shrader, attempting a kick 12 yards longer than any of his previous NFL attempts, came up well short. Broncos win. Except Tillman was called for a 15-yard “leverage” personal foul because he put his left hand on Indianapolis’ right guard while leaping over the top of him and the long snapper in an attempt to block the kick. Denver head coach Sean Payton on Monday acknowledged the Broncos erred in their alignment and execution of the play but said more to the point that they should not have tried to put a special field goal block on given the distance and unlikely nature of the kick in the first place. “My big regret flying home was, that’s more for a closer field goal,” Payton said Monday of getting aggressive with a block call. “That’s more for a gimme than for a 60-yard attempt. And that’s on me.” Payton’s post-mortem: He made strategic error to try to block a kick Shrader hadn’t shown he could make in the first place. But then Denver compounded it with a tactical error, too. The point of the block special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi called is to get Tillman, whom Payton said is a good leaper, a free jump in the middle of the formation. Tillman was supposed to work with D.J. Jones to the defense’s right of the long-snapper, but the late switch with Uwazurike put him on the wrong side of the formation. Then he put his hand on the guard’s back — a penalty — and Uwazurike made contact that would have been legal on a guard but is illegal to make on the long-snapper. “The call was correct. That was leveraging,” Payton said. “You can’t put your hands (down) and elevate yourself off one of your own guys or off one of the opponent players.” Tillman after the game only said he hadn’t seen the film and didn’t want to speculate about whether he’d actually committed a penalty. “I was just going for the ball, trying to make a play,” Tillman said. Asked about his role on the play, Tillman said his job was, “just try to make a play, really.” Adding to the risk factor of the call: This was Tillman’s first time ever lining up anywhere near the long snapper on a field goal block in a game situation. According to a Denver Post review, Tillman has been on the field for 54 field goals and extra points in the preseason, regular and postseason since he signed with the Broncos last summer. Until the 60-yard kick, he’d never lined up as far inside as he did on that snap. He’d played almost exclusively over the tight end or wing further out in the formation. That spans a wide variety of situations and two different special teams coordinators. Long kicks, short kicks, kicks the Broncos were desperately trying to block and ones extra points in preseason games. He’d never been in that spot before. Related Articles Broncos stock report: Bo Nix’s accuracy back on track, but where’s Evan Engram? Parker Gabriel’s 7 thoughts after the Broncos’ Week 2 loss to Colts How Broncos WR Troy Franklin started ‘stopping like a Tesla’ en route to Week 2 breakout Renck: Blaming refs for Broncos’ loss to Colts is just plain dumb. This one’s on Denver Broncos analysis: ‘Leverage’ serves as final dagger, but Sean Payton’s team set itself up for failure several times The Broncos’ typical formation Sunday featured six rushers to one side of the snapper and four to the other, with safety Talanoa Hufanga back from the line of scrimmage. Tillman occupied the No. 4 spot on the six-man side in each of the Colts’ previous kicks and on the 45-yard re-do that won Indianapolis the game after the penalty. They had a different idea for a late-game scenario. “We had a certain field goal block in the event of a game-ending field goal — much like the PAT where Justin Simmons jumped cleanly and blocked the PAT in New Orleans,” Payton said, recalling the play the former Broncos safety made against Payton’s Saints in 2016. “But that’s on me in that situation. It’s not on Darren. It’s not on Tillman.” Overall, a bad idea in the first place that ended up costing the Broncos dearly because of poor execution. Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.