Following Sean Payton's interview with USA Today, Jets players and coaches defended their offensive coordinator and former Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett.
New Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton said the following on last year's team failures...
""Everything I heard about last season, we're doing the opposite ... Everybody's got a little stink on their hands. It's not just Russell. It was a (poor) offensive line. It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. That's how bad it was...""Sean Payton via USA Today
Payton also said the following about the embarrassment of the Broncos in 2023, and the Jets' offseason...
""It doesn't happen often when an NFL team or organization gets embarrased. And that happened here. Part of it was their own fault, relative to spending so much time trying to win the offseason ... We're not doing any of that. The Jets did that this year. You watch 'Hard Knocks', all of it. I can see it coming.""Sean Payton
Payton apologized for his comments, but still, for Jets players, including new quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the Sean Payton comments were disrespectful...Rodgers had an interview following Training Camp practice with Peter Schrager from the NFL Network, where he defended Nathaniel Hackett.
“I think he needs to keep my coaches’ names out of his mouth.”
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 30, 2023
The full Aaron Rodgers response to @PSchrags on Sean Payton’s comments — exclusively on NFL+. pic.twitter.com/ZcCSW8iTuW
Nathaniel Hackett was hired after the Denver Broncos fired Vic Fangio following the 2021-2022 season. Hackett was the third consecutive 'rookie' head coach hire for Denver after Gary Kubiak. Hackett struggled from the beginning of the season. A new quarterback, a new playbook, and the starters did not play in Preseason. When the regular season started, the team was a total disaster.
In his first regular-season game, at Seattle, the Broncos were down by one point. They only needed a field goal to win. With over one minute left in the clock, three timeouts, fourth down, and five at midfield, Hackett let the clock run and sent his kicker for a last-second 64-yard field goal attempt, it was missed and the Broncos started the season 0-1.
In the second game, first at home, the Broncos won against the Texans, but Hackett still had clock-management struggles. Fans even counted down the play clock from the stands. Due to the clock-management struggles, the Broncos hired Jerry Rosburg to help (Hackett) with game management. He stopped calling the offensive plays but still made bad decisions. Denver, under Hackett, had a 4-11 win-loss record and was the worst team in the league in points per game at 15.47. Hackett did not even finish his first season with the Denver Broncos, as he was fired after a 51-14 loss against the Los Angeles Rams on Christmas day.
Now going back to Aaron Rodgers...He has only played once at Empower Field at Mile High. It was on November 1, 2015, when the Broncos defeated the Green Bay Packers 29-10. Rodgers was destroyed by the Broncos' defense. He had the following stat line... 14/22 completions/attempts, 77 passing yards, 0 touchdowns, 69.7 rating, and was sacked three times.
The Broncos lead the all-time matchups against the Jets. Denver has won 22, New York 17, and one tie. In week five of the upcoming season, October 8, 2023, on CBS, the Denver Broncos will host the New York Jets.
Hackett's return to Denver. Aaron Rodgers vs Russell Wilson. Get your popcorn ready after all this drama! What if Broncos fans count the play clock for the Jets, as they did when Hackett was the Broncos' head coach since he will also call the offensive plays for the Jets ...