Broncos head coach Sean Payton started a mini-war of words with his comments to USA Today’s Jarrett Bell about Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, saying his work last season in Denver was “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.”
On Friday, Payton backtracked and showed regret for those comments, saying he was wearing his “FOX hat” and not his “coaching hat”.
“Listen, I had one of those moments where I still had my FOX hat on and not my coaching hat on,” Payton said, via NFL Network’s James Palmer. (H/T Jordan Dajani of CBS Sports) “I said this to the team in the meeting yesterday, we’ve had a great offseason relative to that. I’ve been preaching that message, and here I am, the veteran, stepping in it. It was a learning experience for me, it was a mistake, obviously. I need a little bit more filter.”
Payton had been operating quietly and wanting to keep the Broncos lowkey on the radar. His comments Thursday were certainly the furthest thing from lowkey, so he quickly doused the flames. At least after Jets head coach Robert Saleh and offensive tackle Billy Turner had their own respective responses.
So perhaps, for now, this episode is behind us. But, as you may have heard recently, the Jets visit the Broncos in Week 5. Wonder if this will be brought up again then.