Sean Payton insisted Monday that he was only trying to compliment Jacksonville last week when he referred to the Jaguars\u2019 2025 success in the context of playing in a \u201csmaller market.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also complimented Jags first-year head coach Liam Coen for seizing on the comment and turning it into motivational fodder for his team, which stomped Denver, 34-20, on Sunday and halted the Broncos\u2019 11-game winning streak<\/a>.<\/p>\n A brief reset: Payton on Wednesday was talking about Jacksonville, winners at that point of five straight, rattled off several things the team was doing well and then said, \u201cAs you look at them and you watch the tape, it\u2019s a smaller market, but you see a real good team.\u201d<\/p>\n Coen in his postgame news conference Sunday night responded<\/a> by saying, \u201cGreat team effort. Just thankful that a small market team like us can come into a place like Mile High and get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n Parker Gabriel\u2019s 7 Thoughts on Broncos\u2019 streak-busting loss to Jags, including Sean Payton serving up bulletin board material on a silver platter<\/a><\/p>\n At least one Jaguars player coming off the field yelled, “Just a small market team,” according to a post from the team’s social media captioned, “Small market, big W’s.”<\/p>\n Payton on Monday said his comments last week were “very complimentary” of Jacksonville.<\/p>\n “And those guys are playing outstanding football,” he added. “And so that topic came up strictly because not enough of the country has seen how good these guys are playing.”<\/p>\n