It was a milestone Sunday for Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton, who banked his 173rd career win and finally passed his old mentor, Bill Parcells, on the NFL all-time wins list. The Broncos rallied from a 17-3 deficit to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 21-17 at Lincoln Financial Field in Week 5. Payton’s 173 wins now tie him with Jeff Fisher and John Harbaugh for 14th place on the all-time list, behind only Andy Reid (275) and Mike Tomlin (186) among active coaches.
“He and I spoke this past week,” Payton said in the postgame press conference. “No one keeps track of that kind of stuff … He shared a lot of memories about coaching in this division, because he coached in it forever. That was [Joe] Gibbs in Washington, that was [Tom] Landry. That was [Dick] Vermeil. It was a salty division. Still is. And I was talking to him about coming to Philly, and he agreed, and he talked about going to Washington and that old stadium. When you play a tough opponent like Philly on the road, I told my team, ‘You're gonna forget the money, the car — all that stuff, but you're not gonna forget, just these moments. This trip over to London now. Ultimately, that's what you do it for. You're making memories.'”
Denver owner and CEO Greg Penner presented Payton with the game ball to commemorate the milestone.
The 61-year-old began his NFL coaching career with Philadelphia as a quarterbacks coach from 1997-98 and later served under Parcells with the Dallas Cowboys as assistant head coach/quarterbacks (2003-2004) and assistant head coach/passing game coordinator (2005). The New Orleans Saints hired him ahead of the 2006 season, which overlapped with Parcells’ final season as a coach.
The fourth quarter belonged to Denver quarterback Bo Nix, who instigated a pyrotechnic comeback. Behind 17-3 at the end of the third quarter, Nix piloted three scoring drives on three possessions. He completed 9 of 10 passes for 126 yards in the fourth quarter, including an 11-yard touchdown pass to Evan Engram that narrowed the Eagles’ lead to 17-16.
Nix’s overall stat line included 242 passing yards. It was his second consecutive strong performance after throwing for a career-high 326 yards and two touchdowns against the Cincinnati Bengals the previous week.
Running back J.K. Dobbins contributed a 2-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth, following up his 101-yard performance against Cincinnati with 79 yards against the Eagles. Wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin were the Broncos' prime movers on the decisive drives, with Franklin catching the two-point conversion pass from Nix that gave Denver an 18-17 lead with 7:36 remaining. Wil Lutz sealed the comeback with a 36-yard field goal with 1:11 left.
The Eagles receded to 4-1 following the loss. It was just their second loss in the last 22 games. The Broncos’ victory was their first road win of the 2025 season and their first against a team with a current winning record. At 3-2, Denver will meet the winless New York Jets in Week 6 in London, where Payton will look for his 174th career win, which would tie him with Mike McCarthy for 13th on the all-time list.
