Sean Payton passes mentor Bill Parcells on career coaching wins list with victory No. 173

Payton, who spent three years with Parcells in Dallas, is now tied for 14th on wins list

The student has surpassed the teacher -- at least in the wins column. With the Broncos' 21-17 comeback road win over the Eagles, Sean Payton earned his 173rd career coaching victory, passing his mentor Bill Parcells on the all-time list.

The 173 wins are tied with Jeff Fisher and John Harbaugh for 14th all-time. Only Andy Reid (275) and Mike Tomlin (186) have more among active coaches.

"He and I spoke this past week," Payton said. "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.'"

Payton, 61, started his NFL coaching career in Philadelphia as the Eagles' quarterbacks coach from 1997-98. However, his final assistant coaching stints came under Parcells with the Cowboys. He served as assistant head coach/quarterbacks in 2003 and 2004 and assistant head coach/passing game coordinator in 2005. The Saints hired Payton ahead of the 2006 season, which ended up being Parcells' final season as a coach, too.

Payton will go for career win No. 174, which would tie Mike McCarthy for 13th, against the Jets in London in Week 6.