Thursday Night Football: Sean Payton and Broncos leave New Orleans with a 33-10 win

Sean Payton returned to New Orleans, where he coached from 2006-21, and left the team with a stunning victory. In the fourth quarter, Caesars Superdome was empty and the Saints fans who remained booed the home team.

With the rookies all over the field, it had the feel of a preseason game.

However, Payton and the Broncos weren’t kidding, they smelled blood in the water and the Saints had plenty of injuries. The Broncos never let off the gas and outscored the Saints 33-10.

The Saints were outscored 60-10 in the final six quarters.

They began Thursday night’s game without quarterback Derek Carr, center Erik McCoy, tight end Taysom Hill and receivers Chris Olave and Rasheed Shaheed, among others, and finished it without guard Nick Saldiveri (shoulder) and cornerbacks Paulson Adebo (knee) and Marshon Lattimore (paralyze).

The Broncos added insult to injury.

They outscored the Saints 389 to 271 as Denver rushed for 225 yards. Rookie Bo Nix completed 16 of 26 yards for 164 yards and also ran for 64 yards on 10 carries. Javonte Williams had 14 carries for 88 yards and two touchdowns and caught three passes for 23 yards. Courtland Sutton had no goals.

Broncos linebacker Cody Barton had a 52-yard return after a Spencer Rattler fumble, and Nik Bonitto had one of Rattler’s six sacks, becoming the first Denver player to have a sack streak since Von Miller in 2018 out of five games.

Rattler lost two fumbles and completed 25 of 35 passes for 172 yards before Jake Haener replaced him in the fourth quarter. Rattler also ran for 34 yards on five carries. Haener went 3-for-4 for 38 yards and threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Cedrick Wilson with 1:22 left.

Alvin Kamara only had 24 yards on 13 touches.

The Broncos improved to 4-3, while the Saints fell to 2-5 with their fifth straight loss.