It’s safe to say Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton isn’t a big fan of New York Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
Hackett served as the Broncos’ head coach last year before being fired with a 4-11 record 15 games into the season. Hackett was a first-time head coach and his handling of the play clock and in-game management was often criticized.
Denver quarterback Russell Wilson had the worst season of his career in 2022 and while the QB deserves blame for his poor performance, Payton also criticized Wilson’s old coaching staff in a recent interview with USA TODAY‘s Jarrett Bell.
“There’s so much dirt around that,” Payton said when Bell asked about Wilson’s poor season. “There’s 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms.
“The offense. I don’t know Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it. This B.S. that he hit a wall? Shoot, they couldn’t get a play in. They were 29th in the league in pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball.”
Payton also pointed out the poor offensive line play (the coach made it a priority to sign guard Ben Powers and right tackle Mike McGlinchey after he arrived).
“[E]verybody’s got a little stink on their hands,” Payton told Bell. “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.”
This certainly isn’t the first time Payton has criticized Hackett. At the NFL owners’ meetings in Arizona this spring, Payton made it a point to say that the Broncos would tackle at practice and play their starters during preseason, two things that Hackett did not do in 2022.
During his introductory press conference earlier this year, Payton also said he doesn’t anticipate the crowd having to count down the 30-second clock this season (something Hackett endured last fall after countless delay-of-game penalties).
“Everything I heard about last season, we’re doing the opposite,” Payton said.
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