NEW ORLEANS – With the feelings of a return to a city where he coached for 16 years, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton knew on a night the New Orleans Saints had set aside to celebrate their all-time quarterback Drew Brees he would need more than a moment to take it all in.

“I’m glad I got here early, about six hours before the game,” Payton said. “I had just enough time to have a coffee.” … The coming back here part was special.”

Payton, now in his second season with the Broncos, returned to the Superdome for the first time as an opposing head coach on Thursday night, venturing into the stadium's visitors' locker room for the first time and then watching his current team put on an elite defensive performance in a workmanlike 33-10 win over the Saints.

That brought the Broncos to 4-3, their best record after seven games since the 2016 season, when they were 5-2 after their seventh game.

“It was nice to get the win against your former team, especially for our coach and the rest of the staff and the guys that played here,” Broncos tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “Really proud of how we handled what we did.”

Payton was the Saints' coach from 2006 to 2021 and Brees was his starting quarterback throughout his tenure. Brees was honored at halftime as the newest member of the Saints' Hall of Fame and ran out of the tunnel before the game to a roar from a sellout crowd after the Saints' defense was deployed.

But after all the pregame buzz gave way to kickoff, the Broncos simply defeated the injury-plagued Saints on all fronts in a short week. The Broncos' defense finished the game with six sacks and a defensive touchdown and held the Saints to 271 total yards, 92 of those yards coming in the fourth quarter when the Broncos had many of their backups in the defensive lineup.

The Broncos also rushed for 225 yards on offense – 88 yards and two touchdowns from running back Javonte Williams and 75 yards from quarterback Bo Nix – while Denver scored six straight possessions midway through the game. All in all, it was the focused effort Payton wanted from a shortened training week.

“It’s easy to complain about a short week,” Payton said. “But overall I’m happy with our performance.”

In addition to Payton's early arrival at the Superdome, he spent a little more time than usual before the game talking to his family and a large group of friends from the New Orleans area. Payton and several Broncos coaches and staff members who worked with the Saints during his time in New Orleans also briefly attended an event for Brees earlier Thursday.

The Broncos have a long list of assistant coaches who were on Payton's staff with the Saints, as well as former Saints players who are now on the Broncos' roster. Payton said running back Tyler Badie, whose family relocated from the New Orleans area to Maryland after Hurricane Katrina, showed him a photo of 12-year-old Badie in a Saints jersey before the game, standing next to his father at training camp – – “Then you feel old,” Payton said.

After the win, Payton was presented with the game ball in the Broncos' locker room.

“(It) meant a lot,” Payton said. “Because there were a lot of moments here. “Because you get the chance to see old players and then be with this team, this ownership group, that's why you miss it, the year I was out (2022 ) … you miss relationships, you miss making memories.”