Late in the Monday Night Football game between the Denver Broncos and Cleveland Browns, ESPN's Joe Buck made the case that Sean Payton should be the NFL Coach of the Year before things got ugly.
Buck's argument: Payton has the Broncos in the middle of the playoff race with a rookie quarterback. Six quarterbacks were drafted in the first round of the 2024 NFL draft, four of them are currently starting, and two have their teams firmly in the playoff mix: Bo Nix [Broncos] and Jayden Daniels [Washington Commanders].
Has Buck forgotten that Washington coach Dan Quinn has the Commanders at 8-5 with a rookie quarterback and a completely revamped roster thanks to years of poor draft performance from Ron Rivera?
So was Buck's exuberance just a blip? It didn't take long for him to respond, mentioning Quinn's candidacy for nfl Coach of the Year, but only in passing.
“By the way, I’m not diminishing Dan Quinn, who did a great job in Washington, and he’s doing it with Jayden Daniels,” but you can hear it [Mike] Tomlin and Dan Campbell, who was great, [Kevin] O'Connell in Minnesota and Jim Harbaugh with the Chargers. But the only one who will do it with a rookie quarterback is Sean Payton.”
Wait, what?
Joe Buck on Sean Payton and rookie quarterbacks.
– Awful Announcement (@awfulanncreasing)
Instead, he had a chance to back down but repeated his inaccurate statement about Payton.
X – formerly of Twitter – noticed Buck's stupid attitude.
Joe Buck “I’m not belittling Dan Quinn.” He then names all the coaches with good teams right now and then says, “But the only one doing it with a rookie quarterback is Sean Payton.”
– Dre (@DCSportsDre)
Joe Buck just said Peyton is the only one who can do it with a rookie QB…
– HTTR (@DMVnativeChris)
Joe Buck had a trip with the coach of the year/rookie QB, he thought.
— Ben Standig (@BenStandig)
Oddly, Joe Buck and Troy Aikman repeated the complete lie that Sean Payton was the only coach in the nfl this season to have success with a rookie QB.
The producers literally said “Dan Quinn” in their ears, and Jayden Daniels said, but Joe still repeated the FALSE line
— Andrew Jerell Jones, Luke 1:37 (now also BlueSky) (@sluggahjells)
Doesn't Joe Buck realize Jayden Daniels is a rookie QB?
— Nick Dawson (@dawsonnick90)
Hey Joe Buck, it's not just one guy doing it to a rookie QB. Quinn does it too…
– WKC (@WashingtonFanKC)
“The one guy who does it to a rookie QB…”
Is Joe Buck forgetting that Dan Quinn's QB is also a rookie?
– JosinaAnderson (@JosinaAnderson)
“Sean Payton is the only head coach to have success with a rookie QB” Joe Buck
– MISTER. 405 (@Copo_72)
Joe Buck: “Payton is the only coach in the Coach of the Year race to do it with a rookie quarterback.”
Then Dan Quinn remembers, who also does it with a rookie quarterback. Then he goes on to say…the same thing???
—Joshua Queipo (@josh_queipo)
Dan Quinn hears Joe Buck say that Sean Payton is the only Coach of the Year candidate to do it with a rookie QB
– Bill (@BuyHimOutBoys)
Interestingly, Buck said the Broncos were only expected to win four or five games. Almost no one predicted the Commanders would be better than the Broncos, but Quinn and Daniels have already doubled Washington's win total in 2023 with four games to go.