Denver Broncos HC Nathaniel Hackett must learn to hate the Raiders
Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett has spent the first four regular season weeks of his NFL coaching career dealing with boo birds in his own stadium, coming under fire from local and national media, and taking a lot of heat for his decision-making, in general. It’s safe to say it hasn’t been a seamless transition for Hackett going from Aaron Rodgers’ great pal and offensive coordinator with the Green Bay Packers to being the head coach of Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos, but it’s still very early.
Despite some of the issues the Denver Broncos have had early this season, something that was overlooked last week leading up to the team’s loss against the Las Vegas Raiders (which was pointed out by a friend on Twitter) deserves a little extra attention now, especially in hindsight. Early in the week as the Broncos prepared to face off against the Raiders, a couple of players were quoted by the media expressing their hatred for some of the Broncos’ most bitter division rivals.
Pass rusher Bradley Chubb expressed his hatred for the Raiders, and defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones talked about his hatred for the Chiefs. Those guys came into the league in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and as members of the Broncos, they have experienced their fair share of losing to the Raiders and Chiefs. Their hatred is understandable if only from that perspective, but these guys don the orange and blue every week. Of course they hate the Raiders.
What needs to be addressed here is potentially another huge issue that Hackett will need to come to terms with. In one of his press conferences leading up to the game against the Raiders, he downplayed the “hatred” talk and called it “another game”.
Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett must learn to hate division rivals
"“I mean, it’s a great rivalry [and] it has been for a long time. It’s part of the [AFC] West and the West is the fastest way to have a chance to get to the playoffs. There’s definitely emphasis on that. From that standpoint, can’t really hate anybody in this world. That’s too much energy, but we’re just—it’s another game, we’re excited to go against the Raiders.”Broncos HC Nathaniel Hackett (via team PR)"
Of course, in one regard, Hackett is absolutely right. Life’s too short and hating people is not something to really condone. And nobody is mistaking hatred for the Raiders or Chiefs or Chargers as hatred for specific people as human beings. We all hate Derek Carr, but he’s an awesome guy. Unfortunately, it’s his job to beat the Denver Broncos.
Every Broncos fan hates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, but you understand that hatred is purely from a football fan’s perspective. If anybody saw Mahomes at the grocery store, they’d want to run up to him and get a picture and an autograph. We all know how football hatred works, right? That’s lesson 101 for you right there.
There is a difference between hating the Raiders and hating people, and Nathaniel Hackett has to understand that he not-so-subtly diminished a key aspect of what he himself called a “great rivalry.” It’s only a great rivalry if you hate the other team. That doesn’t mean you have to be petty on the field and try an onside kick coming out of halftime, but looking at this quote and looking back at the game in hindsight, you can’t help but respect the attempt, at the very least.
For decades, the Denver Broncos have hated the Raiders. For decades, the Denver Broncos have hated the Chiefs. For at least a decade, we all had fun hating Philip Rivers and having pity on the Chargers. Hatred in football is part of the fun of it all and it’s part of the emotion of the game. There is longstanding history between these teams that Nathaniel Hackett has not been part of but should undoubtedly be aware of.
There are longstanding losing streaks going against these division rivals that Hackett has not been part of but should be doing everything in his power to end. There’s an emotional aspect of football that goes beyond Xs and Os. It goes beyond being smarter than the other team on Sundays and simply treating every game as though it’s just “another game”. It goes beyond just being an AFC West matchup that is beneficial for playoff standings.
When Nathaniel Hackett signed on to be the head coach of the Denver Broncos, he signed on for everything that comes along with that, which includes an absolute disdain and hatred for the Raiders, Chiefs, and Chargers, and everybody with any level of common sense knows how to differentiate that hatred in the football world from personal, real-world hatred.
The fact that Hackett downplayed the hatred for the Raiders, also somewhat throwing his own players under the bus to the media in the process, is a bit concerning.