Broncos coach Sean Payton recently coached one of the teams of current and former NFL players (with a stray YouTuber or two) against the U.S. men’s national flag football team.
It didn’t go well for the non-flag players.
“Well, that was humbling,” Payton said Tuesday of the experience during the AFC coaches’ breakfast. “You remember the Home Alone series, and Macaulay Culkin was inside [the house]. Macaulay Culkin was the international team, and I felt like [Kyle Shanahan and I] were the two guys outside getting hit in the head with the iron and tripping over the garden hose. It’s an entirely different game.”
Payton was likely Harry, which would mean Shanahan was Marv.
“Listen, it was kind of cool to be around those guys,” Payton said. “That was a big deal. I think when this first was announced, there was this feeling there would be 10 NFL players on [the 2028 U.S. men’s Olympic] roster, and I’ll be surprised if there’s one. I just think we have plenty of players that can acclimate, but it’s going to take a month or two. Then if you’re one of those players, do you have that month or two? If you’re training for that, you’re not training for. . . .”
In the transcript supplied by the Broncos, Payton didn’t finish the thought. But it’s obvious — if you’re training for flag football, you’re not training for tackle football.
That’s the ultimate question. Will tackle football players make the commitment necessary to train for flag football, at the risk of undermining their preparation for the version of the game that pays the bills?
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