Dysfunctional does not begin to describe the New York Jets, and Broncos' head coach Sean Payton is again proven right about this franchise. Sean Payton's infamous USA Today interview back in 2023 was met with a ton of criticism. He basically indirectly bashed the heck out of the New York Jets and the previous coaching staff in Denver before he got there.
The comments seemed to be met with universal hate, with some people claiming Payton broke some unwritten rule of being a coach in the NFL.
Here is the bulk of his comments that were made last year:
"“It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed,” Payton said. “And that happened here. Part of it was their own fault, relative to spending so much (expletive) time trying to win the offseason – the PR, the pomp and circumstance, marching people around and all this stuff.
“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. Remember when (former Washington owner) Dan Snyder put that Dream Team together? I was at the Giants (in 2000). I was a young coach. I thought, ‘How are we going to compete with them? Deion’s (Sanders) there now.’ That team won eight games or whatever. So, listen…just put the work in.”"
His comments were very clearly centered around Nathaniel Hackett and the New York Jets. In 2023, the Jets traded for Aaron Rodgers, only to lose him a handful of plays into the season because of a torn Achilles. Rodgers returned to the lineup in 2024. However, through five games, the Jets sit at 2-3 and have fired their head coach Robert Saleh.
Somehow, Hackett has kept his job over Saleh, which just goes to show you that not only does Aaron Rodgers have too much influence with the Jets, but that Payton's above comments have never been more true. The Denver Broncos beat the Jets in Week 4. It was an ugly game that I'm sure Payton had circled on his calendar.
The Jets named defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as their interim head coach, and I guess it's not a surprise that Hackett wasn't named the interim HC. Not only was his tenure with the Denver Broncos bad in 2022, but it was so bad that I'm not sure Hackett has any sort of shot at earning another head coaching job down the line.
The Denver Broncos have to be feeling pretty good about themselves, and this is just another thing that puts an extra pep in their step this week. They've won three games in a row, have a top-2 defense, and are seeing their rookie QB take positive strides nearly every week.
Life is good at the moment for Broncos' fans, but that doesn't mean it'll always be pretty. The Jets have the longest-active playoff drought streak in the NFL, and the Broncos actually have the second-longest. For this year, at least, the Jets may still keep that unfortunate streak alive.