5 significant, noticeable differences from the Broncos without Hackett

It’s only. been one game for the Denver Broncos in the post-Nathaniel Hackett era, but even with only a short time to do things differently, interim head coach Jerry Rosburg put his stamp on the team as he was given the head coach seat and obviously allowed to make changes. Although the Denver Broncos still lost the game in Kansas City to the Chiefs, it was apparent that Rosburg felt wholesale changes needed to be made.

We saw the firing of assistant coaches Butch Barry (offensive line) and Dwayne Stukes (special teams). We saw some other significant changes to the coaching staff, the depth chart, and more. What were the biggest and most significant changes? Let’s take a more in-depth look.

5 major changes from the Denver Broncos without Nathaniel Hackett

1. Offensive coordinator Justin Outten actually coordinating the offense

For the majority of the 2022 season, fans have been wondering what Justin Outten actually does for the team. We know he is the “offensive coordinator” by title, but what does that actually mean for his role considering for the first part of the season, the one calling plays was Nathaniel Hackett before he handed those duties over to Klint Kubiak?

Was Justin Outten just there?

It was fair to wonder, at the very least, but one of the first orders of business for interim head coach Jerry Rosburg was to actually give the offensive coordinator play-calling duties against the Kansas City Chiefs, and I would say we saw some nice things from the game Outten called from the box.

We’ll get more into specifics there, but clearly, Rosburg saw something in Outten in terms of preparation and creativity that was actually worth mining and the early (albeit brief) results have been positive.

2. Russell Wilson on designed running plays (with success)

We all know that one thing Broncos fans have been clamoring for all season is more running from Russell Wilson. Now, people didn’t exactly expect what we saw on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs in terms of designed quarterback runs for Wilson, but that was a pleasant sight to behold.

What more people expected throughout the 2022 season from Russ was plays like this:

When the play breaks down, you make the play with your legs. That’s what Russell Wilson has done so well all throughout his career, but we haven’t seen a ton of that. Now, we can’t sit here and say that Nathaniel Hackett is the reason that wasn’t happening, but there’s something to be said about Wilson’s comfortability in the offense and how willing he is to play out of structure.

You can tell that Wilson is able to improvise and make those positive plays when the play otherwise is broken down when he’s comfortable with the rest of the structure. Against the Chiefs on Sunday, we saw a confident Russell Wilson. We saw a player operating on instinct rather than just trying to force square pegs into a round hole, which is what we’d seen a lot of throughout the 2022 season.

Maybe there really is something to the “let Russ cook” thing…

3. Albert Okwuegbunam out of the proverbial “dog house”

At this point in time, nobody really knows what kind of grudge was being held against Albert Okwuegbunam. Over the course of the offseason, it seemed like Okwuegbunam was the unquestioned TE1 in Denver and we saw something completely different early on in the season.

Okwuegbunam ended up being part of a true “committee” approach at the tight end spot with guys like Andrew Beck, Eric Saubert, and Eric Tomlinson all getting into the mix. As the first few weeks of the season went along, it became very clear that the Broncos were just getting by as much as they could at tight end until Greg Dulcich got into the lineup, which he eventually did in a road game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Dulcich’s return to the field after a hamstring injury kept him out the first handful of games seemingly provided Hackett with the excuse he needed to completely bench Okwuegbunam, but whose fault is it — in all reality — that fans and analysts were able to notice the Broncos had thrown on 100 percent of the plays in which Albert O. was on the field?

That’s not on Okwuegbunam, that’s on the coaches.

In Okwuegbunam’s first real opportunity to get involved in the offense since very early in the season, it should come as no surprise that he came through…

Broncos interim head coach Jerry Rosburg gave this statement after the Chiefs game when asked about Okwuegbunam:

"I have been in Albert O’s ear all week long because I think he is a highly talented individual. I haven’t seen him much on the field this year. I am just curious as to why that was because he is a good looking athlete. You may have seen me in the tight end drills earlier in the week. It was for a reason. I was happy he turned it about. Whatever jitters he might have had, it seemed to me like he settled down because he is a big, talented guy, and he needs to play and play well. Broncos interm HC Jerry Rosburg (via Broncos PR)"

Isn’t it interesting the verbiage Rosburg uses here? “I am just curious as to why…”

It’s clear whose “doghouse” Okwuegbunam was in, and it’s also clear that it was wrong for him to be there. The guy can help the offense.

4. Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton simultaneously thriving

Alright, what gives here? Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy only combined for 11 receptions and 82 yards in this game against the Kansas City Chiefs, what’s all this “thriving” talk?

I will grant, it may be a bit of hyperbole, but there’s more than meets the eye with the box score in that Broncos-Chiefs Week 17 matchup regarding Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy. First of all, Sutton had a massive play completely wiped out by a bogus penalty call from the officials.

You can see it for yourself…

This is a brutal call, and frankly this kind of thing has happened to Sutton on a couple of occasions this year. Remember when Jets rookie cornerback Sauce Gardner gave Court “the Sauce”? Exactly.

Unfortunately, and for whatever reason, Sutton’s not getting these calls going in his favor and frankly, it has contributed to a down year for him. You can’t help but wonder if some of these plays had stood or at least put the Broncos in better field position how different things might be.

But to the point at hand — we saw Sutton play a great game against the Chiefs and the Broncos did a good job of also creating touches for Jerry Jeudy. Jeudy and Sutton’s usage in the offense helped Albert Okwuegbunam score later in the game, and you can see evidence of that in Tim Jenkins’ great breakdown of the offensive performance (specifically breaking down Russell Wilson).

5. Montrell Washington benched for Kendall Hinton

One of the final major changes made was actually one of the bigger surprises. We had heard Jerry Rosburg speak in the days leading up to the Broncos’ matchup against the Chiefs about some potential changes to the special teams after he had fired coordinator Dwayne Stukes, replaced him with Mike Mallory, and then said he’d be getting hands on with that unit.

Rosburg knows special teams well — he has coached them for a really long time at the highest level.

He spoke on Montrell Washington and his growth as a young player, his skill set and his abilities out there, and it seemed like we would see a different approach from Washington himself on Sunday. What we actually saw was Kendall Hinton out there returning punts with Washington deactivated. Hinton did a fine job helping the Broncos in the field position battle, returning three punts for 37 yards.

That was a substantial change to the special teams operation which ranked 32nd in the NFL this season.

We also saw more Alex Singleton out there, and that paid huge dividends as well as Singleton popped the ball loose on a punt return from Kadarius Toney of the Chiefs to set up the Broncos’ first touchdown of the game.

Denver Broncos can only take so many “big swings” at a head coach

The Denver Broncos are apparently going to be taking a big swing at their next head coach, but there are only so many big swings to take.

The special teams operation, overall, was just better from the Broncos in this game. It was merely one area where we saw massive differences between the way Hackett was running things and the way Rosburg wants to run things. Perhaps it will continue to be even better in Week 18 against the Chargers.