The Seattle Seahawks are hosting the Denver Broncos in Week 1 once again, and the 12th Man will surely be there to let the Broncos hear it. With a reputation as perhaps the loudest fanbase in all of sports, the 12th Man has a handy knack for making their presence felt just with their screams. It can be quite jarring for teams who have not played at Lumen before.
However, one person in the Broncos organization is acutely aware of the challenges the 12’s present: Denver head coach Sean Payton. For years before becoming the Broncos top man, Payton was of course the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. During his tenure in the Big Easy, Payton had plenty of run-ins with the Seahawks in Seattle. Although he won his last two showdowns, Seattle was a verifiable House of Horrors for Payton’s Saints.
Payton’s Saints have lost two playoff games at Lumen, including the iconic Beast Mode game where the 7-9 Seahawks upset the defending world champion Saints. Payton also was blown out of the water 37-7 on Monday Night Football in 2013 when New Orleans was 9-2. Needless to say, Payton is well aware of the challenges Lumen Field presents.
Speaking to the media, Payton made discussed the kind of environment his team – and specifically, his rookie quarterback – will face on Sunday:
“It’s going to be loud,” Payton said. “I would imagine there will be some similarities to when Oregon goes to Washington and they’re playing in front of however many thousand people. That’s another loud stadium an hour down the road. So we’ll deal with the crowd noise this week. This won’t be the first game we paly where it’s loud.”
Bo Nix may be a rookie quarterback, but he at least has a great frame of reference for how rabid the Seattle faithful can be. Nix’ Ducks played the Huskies in Seattle this year, and while Oregon did lose, Nix threw for over 300 yards.
It’s going to take another incredible performance from the 12th Man to rattle this Broncos team. Fortunately, I have all the confidence in the world they are more than up to the task.
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