Sean Payton takes back Broncos play-calling from Davis Webb

The first sign came early Thursday, before any of the insiders had weighed in, and nobody was pretending it was a small tweak.

ProFootballTalk

@ProFootballTalk

With the offense struggling and the Seahawks looming in seven days, Sean Payton will be calling the plays again on Sunday against the Chargers. t.co/Gxho8YRSUf

Here's the backstory. Payton has called his own plays for most of his 20 seasons as a head coach. In February he gave the headset to Webb, the former backup QB he'd just promoted to coordinator. 4 games and a 2-2 record later, Denver's offense ranks near the bottom of the league in several key categories, and the experiment is over.

By late morning the national insiders had it, and they all used the same soft language. It was a 'collaborative' approach, they said. Payton would have an 'increased role', and Webb would stay a major voice in the game plan and on game day. Some people defended the offense, and the best defence had numbers behind it: Denver's 4 opponents have all been top-10 scoring defenses, and this week it gets one that isn't.

Field Yates

@FieldYates

I understand the adjustment because the Broncos offense has clearly struggled this season, but it's worth noting they've faced the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 9th best scoring defenses in their four games. This offense will get on track. The Chargers on Sunday (allowed 26.5 PPG) are a good opportunity for that to happen.

Adam Schefter@AdamSchefter

The Broncos are taking a more collaborative play-calling approach this week with HC Sean Payton having an increased role in the process and OC Davis Webb continuing with a significant game-planning and game-day role, per sources. Denver is looking to spark its offense ahead of Sunday’s game at Los Angeles vs. the Chargers.

That's the cynical read too, and it's probably the right one. Denver's first game with Payton calling plays comes against a winless Chargers team that gives up points in bunches. If the offense finally gets going in LA, Payton gets the credit. If it doesn't, at least there are fewer excuses left. And the 'collaboration' framing lasted only a few hours.

Adam Schefter

@AdamSchefter

Sean Payton to reporters today: “We’ll make a change offensively. I’ll call the plays.”

So that settles it. No committee and no shared headset. It's Payton in Bo Nix's ear on Sunday. He also tried to soften the blow for the guy he's replacing, and went out of his way to talk Webb up while taking his job.

Jeremy Fowler

@JFowlerESPN

Broncos head coach Sean Payton announces today that he will be calling plays moving forward. "We'll make the change offensively," he said. Cites OC Davis Webb as a future head coach

Calling Webb a future head coach is nice, but it doesn't change much this week. Webb is still 1 of the youngest coordinators in the league, and he just lost play-calling 4 weeks into his first season doing it. Payton is all in on fixing this himself. The Chargers come first, then the Seahawks 7 days later. If Denver can't score on a winless team with the old play-caller back, the problem was never only the guy with the headset.