Sean Payton isn’t even in the NFC South anymore and is still dominating

The bitterness of an NFC South rivalry never really dies, does it? Even after Sean Payton took a job about 2,000 miles away from any NFC South team, the former New Orleans Saints head coach and current Denver Broncos coach still seems hellbent on destroying his old rivals.

On Sunday, that rival was perhaps the most bitter of his old rivals, the Atlanta Falcons. It was never a game — Denver blitzed Atlanta from the opening kick en route to a 38-6 decimation of Kirk Cousins and Atlanta. With that win, Payton made some Broncos history as this Broncos team is the first ever to sweep the NFC South.

Payton has been galivanting through the NFC South this year — his games against the four teams in his former division haven't even been close. Denver beat the Saints 33-10, the Panthers 28-14 and the Bucs 26-7. Maybe the Broncos players give a little extra effort to beat the old foes of their head coach? Maybe Payton stays up extra late to gameplan? Whatever Payton is doing, it's working.

Denver continues to surprise

We all keep waiting for the Broncos run this year to run out of steam, but that's just not happening. They actually seem to keep gaining steam, and today's decimation of Atlanta shows that Denver is revving up, not slowing down.

Bo Nix, who was more of a bridge quarterback prospect than anything else, is starting to play like a real quarterback option as the season progresses. Today was a career day from Nix, who threw over 300 yards for the first time in his young career and also hurled a career-best 4 touchdowns. He looks poised right now, and these stats aren't coming in blowout losses, either. Denver is now 6-5 on the season, and playoff dreams definitely aren't pipe dreams for Broncos fans.

If only there were a few more NFC South teams on the schedule for Denver, they could guarantee a few extra wins.