Sean Payton explains why he's "fortunate" his return to New Orleans is on a short week and how that could help the Denver Broncos

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Sean Payton and Drew Brees are the two most important figures in the history of the New Orleans Saints.

In 15 seasons as the Saints’ head coach, Payton put the franchise on the NFL map and played a part in rebuilding the city after Hurricane Katrina.

No coach in Saints history has more wins (161), playoff appearances (nine) or Super Bowls (1) as Payton.

On Thursday Night Football, both Payton and Brees will be back in New Orleans as the future Hall-of-Fame quarterback is put in the Saints’ Hall-of-Fame and Payton marches the Denver Broncos into his former home.

“It will be unique,” Payton said on Monday, about his return to New Orleans. “Certainly, there will be emotions going back there with players, but I do think that comes up quite a bit in our league. With players and in this case certainly the amount of time I was there, I understand it. We have to deal with the crowd noise. That place is loud, and you guys know that.”

While the Broncos’ head coach clearly wants to focus on football, and how to bounce back from the team’s 23-16 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, he knows there will be an emotional part of his return too.

In 2013, when Peyton Manning returned to Indianapolis for the first time as a member of the Broncos, the Colts waited until just before kickoff to honor their former quarterback with a video tribute. Manning admitted after the game the tribute and timing of it did impact him in the game.

“I think that’s pretty clever by Indy,” Denver’s head coach said on Monday morning, when asked if the emotions could impact him on Thursday night. “I’m usually I would say kind of wound up pregame and ready to go. Obviously for a player, it’s different.”

That night, the Colts handed Denver their first loss of the season after starting 6-0.

Payton wants to keep his focus on the game and the Broncos getting their fourth win as much as possible.

“For me, I think first off the evening’s about the game,” Payton added. “Then secondly, Brees is getting honored at halftime. I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of flowers and warm fuzzies for yours truly, and I get it. It’s a good question. Listen I can’t stand losing. It’s about our team and me as the head coach of the Broncos getting ready to play on an early week and trying to play one of our better games.”

Playing on Thursday Night Football has it’s own laundry list of challenges, from injuries to cramming in seven days of work into four days, but Payton is actually happy his return to New Orleans is on a short week.

“Fortunately it’s a short week because I haven’t had [a] chance to dive into all the other stuff,” Payton added.

“All the other stuff” Payton is referring to is also a laundry list of things.

“One of the things we talk about with our players is trying to handle all this stuff ahead of time,” the head coach added. “I have a great wife whose tickets are done with, family, my children. I think those around us know how challenging the short week is as compared to as if it was a full week.”

“I say this, it’s about the game. It’s about the win,” the Broncos’ head coach added. “The significance of us playing our best football on a short week and it’s about our team. I’ll address that with them tomorrow morning and [say], ‘Hey, let’s understand the significance of getting our fourth win.’ I think that’s the number one thing and then go from there.”

Sean Payton has never beat the New Orleans Saints as a head coach. On Thursday Night Football, he’ll have an opportunity to do that for the first time in his career in front of fans that cheered for him for a decade and a half.