NEW ORLEANS – With the emotions of returning to a city where he coached for 16 years, on a night the New Orleans Saints had set aside to celebrate their all-time quarterback in Drew Brees, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton knew he more than a moment to take it all in.

“I’m glad I got here early, like early, six hours before the game early,” Payton said. “I had just enough time to grab some coffee. … That part of it, coming back here, was special.”

Payton, now in his second season with the Broncos, returned to the Superdome for the first time Thursday night as the opposing team’s head coach, venturing into the stadium’s visitors’ locker room for the first time and then watching his current team take on a put in an elite defensive performance. in a workmanlike 33-10 win over the Saints.

It moved the Broncos to 4-3, their best record after seven games since the 2016 season, when they were 5-2 after their seventh game.

“It was nice to get the win against his former team, especially for our coach, the rest of the staff and the guys who played here,” Broncos tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “Really proud of how we handled it, what we did.” did.”

Payton was the Saints’ coach from 2006 to 2021, and Brees was his starting quarterback throughout his tenure. Brees was honored at halftime as the newest member of the Saints’ Hall of Fame and ran out of the tunnel before the game to a thunderous roar from a sellout crowd after the Saints defense was introduced.

But after all the pre-match swirling gave way to kickoff, the Broncos simply dispatched the injury-ravaged Saints on all fronts in a short week. The Broncos defense finished with six sacks and a defensive touchdown and held the Saints to 271 yards, 92 of those yards coming in the fourth quarter when the Broncos had many of their backups in the defensive lineup.

The Broncos also rushed for 225 yards on offense — 88 yards and two touchdowns from running back Javonte Williams and 75 yards from quarterback Bo Nix — while Denver scored on six straight possessions in the middle of the game. All in all, the focused effort Payton said he wanted on a shortened practice week.

“It’s easy to complain in a short week,” Payton said. “But overall I’m happy with how we played.”

In addition to Payton’s early arrival at the Superdome, he spent a little more time than usual chatting with his family and a large group of friends from the New Orleans area. Payton and a number of Broncos coaches and staff members who had worked with the Saints during his time in New Orleans also briefly attended an event for Brees earlier Thursday.

The Broncos have a long list of assistant coaches who were on Payton’s staff with the Saints, as well as former Saints players who are now on the Broncos’ roster. Payton said running back Tyler Badie, whose family moved from the New Orleans area to Maryland after Hurricane Katrina, showed him a photo before the game of 12-year-old Badie in a Saints jersey, standing next to his father at training camp – – “It makes you feel old,” Payton said.

After the win, Payton was given the game ball in the Broncos locker room.

“(It) meant a lot,” Payton said. “Because there were a lot of moments here. Because you get a chance to see old players and then be with this team, this ownership group, that’s the reason you miss it, the year I was out (2022) … you miss relationships, you miss making of memories.”