Through all of the media reward of Broncos coach Sean Payton for his supposedly deliberate and intentional technique of publicly criticizing former Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett and others (together with individuals nonetheless with the Broncos) in feedback to Jarrett Bell of USA Today, there was one risk that many ignored.

What if Payton simply made a mistake by saying what he mentioned?

Meeting with reporters on Friday, that was Payton’s clarification. He made a mistake, and he regrets it.

“I had one of those moments where I still had my Fox hat on, and not my coaching hat on,” Payton advised reporters. “And, you know, I said this to the team in the meeting yesterday. We’ve had a great offseason relative to that. And I’ve been preaching that message, and here I am, the veteran. You know, stepping in it. I was a learning experience for me. It was a mistake, obviously. I needed a little bit more filter. . . . .

“I said what I said, and obviously I needed a little bit more restraint, and I regret that.”

It was the fitting play. It was the one play. No broader technique was served by castigating Hackett, or by firing pictures at colleagues for his or her coddling of quarterback Russell Wilson.

It’s really refreshing. We all make errors, every so often. We can both come clean with the error, or we will double down. Payton picked the fitting path.