Parker Gabriel, Broncos beat reporter: Please take your seat at the roundtable and you shall have your voices heard. It’s mid-December. The Broncos are playing meaningful football. And they’re going into a Saturday night, prime time tilt against the Detroit Lions with plenty on the line. Denver’s 7-6 and, really, the most important thing is to win the three remaining AFC games on their slate after this weekend. But a win in the Motor City could still be the difference and it could put the division more realistically in play if Kansas City stumbles any further (although, the Bengals are the best team left on the Chiefs’ schedule). Here’s the topic for today: Lions coach Dan Campbell is a Sean Payton protégé and also the odds-on favorite for NFL coach of the year. Can Payton press him for it? And, if not one of these two former Saints, then who? A couple of rookies in DeMeco Ryans (Houston) and Shane Steichen (Indianapolis) have been impressive and, uh, have you seen how good Kyle Shanahan’s team is? At this point, I’m going Ryans, Shanahan then Steichen. But there’s enough football to be played still where Payton and Campbell could top my list by the first weekend in January. Maybe one of them will start the campaign Saturday night.
Ryan McFadden, Broncos beat reporter: This is a good question. Sure, Dan Campbell might be the favorite to win the award but if the Broncos get into the playoffs, I think Sean Payton deserves it. In October, we were having discussions about whether the Broncos should tank and look toward the future. I’ll even admit that I thought this team was beyond fixing and needed to rebuild. Now, this team is 7-6 and one game behind the Chiefs in the AFC West. From losing to the Dolphins by 70 points to being in the playoff race, this has been a wild season for Payton. If he ends Denver’s playoff drought in his first year, he deserves the award. Another coach who should be in consideration is the Browns’ Kevin Stefanski. Cleveland lost star running back Nick Chubb and quarterback Deshaun Watson and the team is still 8-5 and second in its division. Wanna know what’s more impressive? The Browns have won with four different quarterbacks. Campbell, Payton, DeMeco Ryans, Kyle Shanahan and Shane Steichen have made strong cases. But don’t forget Stefanski, either.
Sean Keeler, sports columnist: Winning with the Lions is like winning with the Cardinals or Browns. Or Rutgers. Or Kansas. Or San Jose State. It’s hard. Really, really hard. You’ve got generations of ghosts, decades of failure, reaching out with invisible hands of doom, waiting to trip you up and crush your fans’ collective souls. The football gods would rather watch the Cowboys, Packers, 49ers, Broncos or Steelers. So Campbell is my guy unless the Honolulu Blue go straight off a cliff (and while those back-to-back roadies at Minnesota and Dallas won’t be fun, they shouldn’t). If Payton wins the AFC West, though, especially with 10 or 11 wins? After 1-5? After that 70-burger? Man, that’s a heck of a case, all of a sudden, and from out of nowhere. Whoever winds up with the best record among the pool of Campbell, Ryans, Steichen and Payton probably gets my nod, once the dust settles. And we’ve got a lotta dust yet to go.
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