The ties between Denver and New Orleans are strong during Thursday night’s primetime matchup featuring the Broncos and Saints on Denver7.
But those ties are not limited just to Sean Payton, the Broncos head coach making his return to the Superdome, where he coached the Saints for 15 years.
Broncos fans may recognize a name on the New Orleans sidelines: Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.
Kubiak, who attended Regis Jesuit High School and played football at Colorado State, is the son of Broncos Super Bowl-winning head coach Gary Kubiak. Gary Kubiak’s Broncos hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in 2016. Klint joined the Broncos’ coaching staff later that year, serving as an offensive assistant from 2016-2018.
Gary Kubiak stepped down from the head coaching position for health reasons in January of 2017.
Klint Kubiak served a second stint on the Broncos’ coaching staff in 2022, when he was the team’s passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Now, he leads the Saints’ offense – featuring rookie quarterback Spencer Rattler – into a matchup with the NFL’s fourth-ranked defense in his former team.
“They're on a top defense in the NFL. They're extremely aggressive,” he said. “They are a really good front. They put a lot of pressure on the quarterback. They're excellent in coverage. I think just just about every category, they're pretty high up there. So you know, we're going to have our work cut out for us.”
New Orleans is the league’s fifth-best scoring offense, thanks to a combined 91 points in the first two weeks. The Saints have since cooled down on the offensive side of the ball, averaging 320 yards per game, which is good for 18th in the NFL.
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