Sean Payton hopes Broncos' extended road trip will bring his young team together

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Sean Payton hopes Broncos' extended road trip will bring his young team together

2024-09-21 07:49 Last Updated At：07:51

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Sean Payton is hopeful the Denver Broncos' extended East Coast trip will help them bond the way his old New Orleans Saints teams did when they played an East Coast game before flying across the Atlantic for a game in London.

“I do like being away for a week with the team,” Payton said as he prepared the Broncos (0-2) for a game Sunday at Tampa Bay (2-0).

That will be followed by a week's stay at The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia before the Broncos visit the well-rested New York Jets (2-1) at the Meadowlands in Week 4.

The Broncos asked the league to schedule two of their games in the Eastern Time Zone in consecutive weeks so they could stay out East between them.

“The reason we put the request in is just to stay in that time zone, practice and then be more acclimated relative to back-and-forth four different times,” Payton said.

The Greenbrier — which has three practice fields and a sports performance center that features a weight room and meeting spaces — has been used by the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals during the regular season.

Twice during his 15 seasons in New Orleans, the Saints played a game at Carolina before flying out to London for an international game.

The first came in 2008 when the Saints lost to the Panthers 30-7 before beating the San Diego Chargers 37-32 at Wembley Stadium.

The benefit of the extended trip was really apparent in 2017 when the Saints followed a 34-13 rout of the Panthers with a 20-0 shutout of the Miami Dolphins in London, the sparks of an eight-game winning streak that carried them to a 12-6 season which ended with the “Minneapolis Miracle” in the second round of the NFC playoffs.

“When we traveled to London, those are times that you get a little bit better focus I think and you can grow as a team,” Payton said. "Each game will have different challenges. I just finished talking about the entirety of the travel, but the focus obviously starts with the first trip and then we go from there.”

Broncos rookie quarterback Bo Nix, who started an NCAA-record 61 games at quarterback across five seasons at Auburn and Oregon, is a fan of the upcoming long road trip.

“I think going on trips with your teammates and being able to spend a large amount of time that you’re not normally used to spending is always a fun time," he said. “I’ve never been on a team trip and have been like, ‘Man I didn’t have fun,’ or ‘Man I wish we could go home early.’”

“I’m looking forward to it, just the camaraderie," added cornerback Patrick Surtain II. "I think we all have a unique opportunity to really get to spend time bonding with each other also off the football field and build those relationships that we already have. I think this week is crucial because we have two tough opponents on the road. Being able to set our sights away from things out here and go to different scenery, a different landscape, will definitely change the mindset, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Another AFC West team is in the midst of an extended Eastern swing. The Los Angeles Chargers (2-0) stayed in Charlotte, North Carolina, this week to prepare for this weekend's game at Pittsburgh (2-0) after winning 26-3 at Carolina on Sunday.

Notes: Ruled out for Sunday were starting OLB Baron Browning (foot) and safety and special teams ace JL Skinner (ankle).

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In NYC and elsewhere, climate protesters say pace of change isn't fast enough

2024-09-21 07:45 Last Updated At：07:50

NEW YORK (AP) — Six years after a teenage Greta Thunberg walked out of school in a solitary climate protest outside of the Swedish parliament, people around a warming globe marched in youth-led protest, saying their voices are being heard but not sufficiently acted upon.

Emissions of heat-trapping gases and temperatures have been rising and oil and gas drilling has continued even as the protests that kicked off major weeklong climate events in New York City have become annual events. This year, they come days before the United Nations convenes two special summits, one concentrating on sea level rise and the other on the future.

The young people who organized these marches with Fridays for Future said there is frustration with inaction but also hope. People marched in Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, New Delhi and elsewhere, but the focus often is in New York City because of Climate Week NYC. Diplomats, business leaders and activists are concentrating their discussions on the money end of fighting climate change — something not lost on protesters.

“We hope that the government and the financial sector make polluters pay for the damage that they have imposed on our environment,” said Uganda Fridays for Future founder Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, who was among a few hundred marching in New York Friday, a far cry from the tens of thousands that protested in a multi-group mega-rally in 2023.

The New York protest wants to take aim at “the pillars of fossil fuels” — companies that pollute, banks that fund them, and leaders who are failing on climate, said Helen Mancini, an organizer and a senior at the city’s Stuyvesant High School.

“A lot of older people want to make sure the economy is intact and that's their main concern,” said Julia Demairo, a sophomore at Pace University. “I think worrying about the future and the environment is worrying about the economy.”

On a day that was at least 8 degrees warmer than average, protest signs included “This is not what we mean by Hot Girl Summer," while others focused on the theme of fighting the coal, oil and gas industries: “Youth Didn't Vote for Fossil Fuels,” “Don't Be a Fossil Fool” and “Climate Crisis = Extermination By Capitalism."

Nakabuye said she was in New York to represent Uganda “that is bearing the brunt of the climate crisis.”

“We feel like we are creating an impact in the community. However, we are not listened to enough; there is more that needs to be done, especially right now when the climate catastrophes are intensifying,” said Nakabuye . “We need to even raise our voices more to demand change and to demand that fuels should end."

In the six years since Thunberg founded what became Fridays for Future, global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels has increased by about 2.15%, according to Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists who monitor carbon pollution. The growth of emissions has slowed compared to previous decades and experts anticipate peaking soon, but that's a far cry from the 43% reduction that a UN report said is needed to keep temperature increases to an agreed-upon limit.

Since 2019, carbon dioxide emissions from coal have increased by nearly 1 billion tons (900 million metric tons), while natural gas emissions have increased slightly and oil pollution has dropped a tiny amount, according to the International Energy Agency. That growth has been driven by China, India and developing nations.

But emissions from advanced or industrialized economies have been falling and in 2023 were the lowest in more than 50 years, according to the IEA. Coal emissions in rich countries are down to levels seen around the year 1900, and the United Kingdom next month is set to shutter its last coal plant.

In the past five years, clean energy sources have grown twice as fast as fossil fuels, with both solar and wind individually growing faster than fossil fuel-based electricity, according to the IEA. Developing countries — where more than 80% of the world population lives — say that they need financial help to curb their increasing use of fossil fuels.

Since 2018, Earth has warmed more than half a degree Fahrenheit (0.29 degrees Celsius) with last year setting a record for the hottest year and this year poised to break that mark, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the European climate agency Copernicus.

“We're making progress, even if it's slow progress,” said 17-year-old Ashen Harper of Connecticut, a veteran protester turned organizer. “Our job right now is to accelerate that progress.”

In Berlin, hundreds of people took to the streets although in fewer numbers than in previous years. Activists held up signs saying “Save the Climate” and “Coal is Over!” as they watched a gig put on outside the German Chancellor’s Office. Protesters in London held up letters spelling out “Pay Up,” calling for the country to pay more to adapt to climate change and transition away from fossil fuels.

Associated Press journalist David Keyton in Berlin contributed to this report.

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