Sean Payton is 7-0 against Todd Bowles defenses since 2019 regular season

After the Denver Broncos defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 26-7 on the road in Week 3, Bucs coach Todd Bowles said the Broncos “out-played us, out-coached us and out-hit us and won the game.”

Bowles and Denver coach Sean Payton worked together with the Dallas Cowboys in 2005, and they coached against each other in the NFC South from 2019-2021. Payton knows Bowles well, and he developed a perfect game plan for Sunday’s game in Florida.

“We weren’t going to — we had protection, we had a really good plan relative to getting in and out of some audibles,” Payton said after the game. “Bo [Nix] handled it really well. We were going to have answers if [pressure] came.

“You got to be careful you don’t just caught into — we got in to some of the right looks and I feel like so many different times, having been here — and Todd is someone that I’ve worked with — it is almost like you know the kind of game that it has to be. [The Buccaneers] are counting on takeaways, they are counting on sacks, they are counting on disruption. We just had to do everything to prevent that.”

With the win, Payton improved to 7-0 against a Bowles-coached defense in the regular season since 2019 (New Orleans lost a playoff game to the Tom-Brady-led Bucs during the COVID-19 season).

Denver’s offense came out hot on Sunday, marching right down the field to score a touchdown led by the passing attack. After establishing a lead, the Broncos were able to run the ball to close out the game. It was a plan that Payton’s squad executed perfectly.

“That is where it went against a heavy blitz — this is a team that, historically, is hard to run the ball against,” Payton said. “We have played here a number of times and coached in a number of games against Todd. He does a great job. [The Bucs] provide some challenging pressure looks.

“There is a safety or a blitz every other play so if you are not careful you will end up with some minus runs. I felt like we wanted to be aggressive early and run it later in the game. All those things happened.”

Denver’s offense finished the day with 352 net yards and six scores, by far their best game of the season thus far. The game plan was perfect, and the players executed it well on Sunday.