Nathaniel Hackett won the Nathaniel Hackett Bowl. Revenge must be sweet for Hackett and the Jets, who won in Denver in consecutive years. This time, however, the stakes felt much higher after Sean Payton's comments in the offseason about the coaching job Hackett did in Denver. Although Payton has certainly made his presence felt in Denver, the results haven't been there. The Broncos are now 1-4 on the season with four days to prepare for a road trip to Kansas City.
With a 1-5 record looming, questions remain about this franchise and what we can expect moving forward. Are the Broncos about to truly throw in the towel on this season? This roster doesn't look like the "sleeping giant" George Paton said it was just two years ago. Instead, it looks like there's no giant anywhere in sight. It looks like Jack climbed the beanstalk and found an empty house at the top.
Talking is part of how we cope, but obviously this is painful to have to go through in real time. Nobody wants the Broncos to be suffering like this, but this team is showing its true colors. This is a team with a Super Bowl-winning head coach and quarterback, and as a collective unit, they make everything look incredibly difficult.
Let's look at five Denver Broncos who were embarrassing (or embarrassed themselves) in this one against the Jets.
5 Denver Broncos who were embarrassing in tough loss vs. Jets
1. Sean Payton, head coach
This Denver Broncos team is an abomination to the franchise's history. Fans are die-hard, but wanting to be associated with this team has become increasingly difficult. Despite Sean Payton's demand for near perfection in certain areas, results are not happening. The Broncos were sloppy in this game against the Jets. They had no downfield passing game to speak of. The play-calling in the red zone throughout the first half was horrifying and overly conservative.
Ultimately, this team's lack of execution falls on Sean Payton. They are not sound in the fundamentals of the game. They are not cohesive. Did we expect Sean Payton to fix things overnight? Well, kind of. Based on the way he talked all offseason, it sure felt like we could all expect a reasonably significant amount of change early on.
But as much as we liked his candor in the USA Today interview, that candor needs to be backed up with results. Right? We understand this. Sean Payton can't just be out there flaunting his stats and history with the Saints. He has to lead this team to results. We've seen the resurgence of Russell Wilson, but unfortunately, it feels like this Broncos team is worse off.
How is that even possible?
An accurate picture of this team needs to be painted. The Broncos are what the pessimists thought they were. We're to the point that even a shocking upset victory over the Chiefs on Thursday night would only muddy the waters even more substantially for this franchise.
Ultimately, this is Sean Payton's team for the foreseeable future. His job is nowhere near in jeopardy this early on in the process of taking over the team. But we expected the Broncos team, bad as they were last year, to be much more disciplined in situational football, to be more fundamentally sound, to be harder to beat. They aren't.
2. Run defense
The Denver Broncos' run defense is non-existent. The defensive line is horrible. There are no linebackers fitting running lanes. We're seeing poor angles taken on attempted tackles. The Jets had 234 rushing yards in this game, averaging 7.3 per run. The Broncos had virtually no answer throughout the game for Breece Hall and everyone was holding their breath late in the game when he got the ball.
At some point, Sean Payton is going to have to blame the scheme and the players here. There is just nothing working. They have been gashed every single week on the ground this season against every team they have played, and it has cost them in key situations like late against the Jets when Tyler Conklin and Garrett Wilson broke free on wide-open play-action throws from Zach Wilson.
The Broncos have given up over 200 rushing yards in two of their last three games.
3. Marvin Mims
Look, this was a brutal game for the rookie out of Oklahoma. As exciting as he has been throughout the season, this was an inexcusably bad game from him.
He fumbled a punt return that he should have called a fair catch on with the defender bearing down. He couldn't haul in a (bad) pitch from Sameje Perine on an attempted reverse play that caused the Broncos to turn the ball over at midfield. He couldn't get into the end zone on a designed play in the red zone.
It was just a forgettable day for Mims. He'll be alright, but these are rookie growing pains that he's going to have to learn from very quickly.
4. Mike McGlinchey, OT
How is it even possible that Mike McGlinchey is as bad as he is at protecting the quarterback? His incompetence in the pass protection department is rather staggering, and it's unacceptable for a former top-10 pick and big-money free agent.
McGlinchey has struggled all season with flinching before the snap, to the point that fans are calling him McFlinchey. He's been atrocious in pass protection, and has Russell Wilson out there running for his life or having to avoid pressure on almost every dropback. We knew when he came in as a free agent that he was a better run blocker than pass protector, but you expect at least competence from him in the latter area.
We're not seeing that.
5. Fumbling/not recovering fumbles
One of the common themes in this game from both sides was sloppiness. Thankfully for the Denver Broncos, at least for a while, the Jets were matching their sloppiness a little bit. Unfortunately for the Broncos, bad fumbles and missed opportunities to recover fumbles by the Jets cost this team dearly.
The Jets fumbled the ball a whopping four times in the game. The Broncos only managed to recover one. They were able to strip-sack Zach Wilson twice in this game, and the Jets recovered both. On one of the strip-sacks, by defensive lineman Elijah Garcia, Garcia shot up to celebrate his sack instead of attempting to recover a live, loose ball.
Michael Burton forced a fumble on a Jets punt return and the ball bounced right at Alex Singleton, who couldn't pounce on it.
On top of missing three chances to recover fumbles they forced, the Broncos fumbled the ball three times and lost all three. The muffed punt by Marvin Mims led to the Jets' first three points of the game. The fumbled attempt at a reverse play ended with the Jets scoring three points. As the Broncos attempted to come back late in the 4th quarter, a fumble by quarterback Russell Wilson was picked up and returned for a game-sealing touchdown.
Three fumbles leading to 13 points for the Jets in a game decided by 10. And the Broncos could only recover one of their four forced fumbles on the game.