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The New Orleans Saints won a sloppy game against the Denver Broncos in Week 12, taking advantage of the declawed Broncos offense to win 31-3. Forced to play without any of their four quarterbacks after a positive COVID-19 test ruled them all out as high-risk close contacts.
Denver turned to a disjointed offense built around wildcat plays to their running backs and a handful of pass attempts for practice squad wide receiver Kendall Hinton, which didn’t find much success against the tenacious Saints defense.
When asked after the game if he had any sympathy for what the Broncos and his counterpart Vic Fangio had experienced, Saints coach Sean Payton expressed empathy for everyone after a tumultuous year, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think it’s tough for all (of us),” Payton shrugged during his postgame media conference call, continuing: “This is a challenging year, I felt bad for the cardboard fans. It is what it is.”
It’s a funny jab from Payton at the Broncos’ spectators at Empower Field at Mile High, which includes 1,800 cardboard cutouts of characters from “South Park,” the long-running Comedy Central animated series set in Colorado.
Still, the Saints have had their own COVID-19 struggles. They were targeted by the league office for joining many other teams in not wearing masks during a postgame celebration two weeks ago, losing half a million dollars and a future draft pick. Standout left tackle Terron Armstead missed this Broncos game after testing positive, which severely limited what the Saints offense could do.
Payton himself recovered from a coronavirus infection early this year and knows personally just how challenging it can be. So, yes, he’s got an idea of what sort of interruptions the pandemic has introduced to daily life.
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