Heartbroken Denver Broncos coach breaks silence on brutal firing after agonizing Super Bowl miss
Former Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi has spoken out after he was brutally axed by the franchise earlier this week.
Lombardi, who had served as Denver’s OC for the past three years, was ruthlessly fired on Tuesday two days after the Broncos’ Super Bowl dreams were crushed by a 10-7 defeat to the New England Patriots in the ACF Championship.
The 54-year-old had worked on Sean Payton’s staff for 15 years, firstly spending 12 in New Orleans, before following the head coach to Denver.
His firing stunned the NFL world but Lombardi bore no grudges against Payton and the Broncos as he branded the decision ‘part of the business.’
‘Sean decided to move on, and I guess that’s all there is to say,’ Lombardi told Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette as he broke his silence on his exit.
‘I don’t think it’s ever a surprise [in the NFL]. Not really. . . . I think you could tell he was in one of those moods where he felt like some changes needed to be made, and I guess he decided one of those was me. So I’ve been around him long enough to kind of read the tea leaves, I guess.’
Joe Lombardi has spoken out after he was brutally axed by the Denver Broncos this week
The 54-year-old had worked on Sean Payton’s staff for 15 years in New Orleans and Denver
Lombardi, who has also had stints with the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Chargers, was unable to find a rhythm in the season’s biggest game.
The Broncos were without starting quarterback Bo Nix for the game and it proved costly as the Denver offense struggled to break down the resolute Patriots.
However, Lombardi insisted that he didn’t see himself and his dismissal as a scapegoat for the AFC Championship defeat.
‘Well, we made it to the AFC Championship,’ Lombardi said. ‘I don’t know why there needs to be a scapegoat, so I’m not sure what I’m being scapegoated for. I thought it was a good season. So, no, I didn’t feel like that in any way. I just think he just wanted to go in another direction.’
Lombardi previously left Payton’s staff as quarterbacks coach to take offensive coordinator positions elsewhere but his latest exit marked the first time that the head coach has fired him.
‘I mean, he employed me for a long time. I’m appreciative of that,’ Lombardi said of Payton.
Payton held a standard end-of-season press conference earlier on Tuesday. During that briefing, Payton gave no indication that a coaching shake-up was imminent.
The dismissal came two days after the Broncos lost in the AFC Championship game
Lombardi held no grudges against the Broncos as he insisted his exit was ‘part of the business’
However, the tone shifted rapidly on Tuesday evening when NFL Network confirmed Lombardi had been let go.
Speculation has been mounted that the Broncos may have fired Lombardi to clear a path for Davis Webb.
By promoting Webb to the coordinator role, Denver could potentially ‘entice him from leaving’ for a head coaching vacancy elsewhere.
Webb is currently considered a top candidate for the Las Vegas Raiders head coaching job.
