On Thursday night, Sean Payton became one of eight NFL head coaches to cover all 32 teams. As a former former coach of the New Orleans Saintsthat was a team he could never beat as long as he was there.

About three years after leaving the Saints, Payton is now the head coach of one Denver Broncos team that moved to 4-3 on the season after a dominant 33-10 win in New Orleans. The Broncos made Payton proud during his homecoming at Caesars Superdome.

With a win over all 32 teams now under his belt, Payton joins an elite fraternity of NFL coaches who have accomplished the feat, including Mike Shanahan, Bill Belichick, Tony Dungy, John Fox, Mike Holmgren, Bill Parcells and Andy Reid. Three of those coaches, including Payton, coached the Broncos.

After the game, Payton was presented with the game ball. Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix talked about what that moment was like.

“It was great. The Saints mean a lot to him,” Nix said after the game. “He was there for a while (and) had tremendous success. It’s hard to go back to a place you called home and fought for for so long, and now you’re playing against. It was special. It was a great moment. I’m happy for him.”

It’s hard to call Broncos-Saints a revenge game because it doesn’t feel like there’s any real antipathy between Payton and his former team. Now, Saints fans might disagree, but it seemed like his reception in the Superdome went about as well as you could hope, given the circumstances.

“I loved it,” Payton said of his welcome to the Superdome. “You don’t forget the faces, the smiles or the dialect. They were great.”

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One day, Payton will retire from coaching. Depending on what he does in Denver, there’s a chance he could be in the running for the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of the continued success he had in New Orleans, winning a Super Bowl and the offensive ingenuity he brought to the NFL . Maybe he’ll end up in Canton.

Payton will surely end up in the Saints Hall of Fame and Ring of Honor one day. He is related to that organization, and vice versa.

Yet they are the demands of the NFL. There was a game at stake. Pride was on the line and Payton came out on top against a seriously depleted Saints side.

But Payton got it done, and the Broncos are 4-3 with a 10-day break between games. Call it a mini-bye. As cool as it was to see so many familiar faces in his old stomping grounds, Payton is probably relieved to have that Saints match taken off his docket.

“It was quite emotional,” Payton said.

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