Nathaniel Hackett’s off to a rocky start with the Denver Broncos.
After questionable decision-making arguably cost the team a chance to win their season opener last week, Hackett did get a win in his home debut on Sunday, but it certainly wasn’t pretty.
Denver defeated the Houston Texans 16-9 in Week 2, but the score shouldn’t have been that close. The Broncos went 0-2 in the red zone (after going 0-4 inside the 20-yard line last week) and the team’s offense continued to look sloppy and discombobulated.
Fans at Empower Field at Mile High grew so discontent that they booed their own team on Sunday. After the game, Hackett was asked about those boos.
“I would be booing myself; I was getting very frustrated,” the coach said. “We get down to the red zone two times. Don’t get another touchdown, which is unbelievably frustrating. I don’t think we have scored in there yet. That’s something that all of our guys have to step it up. Whether we run the ball more, whatever we’re doing, we just have to execute at a higher level.”
After Denver committed two delay of game penalties, fans later began counting down the play clock. Helpful, but also likely done in part to mock the team. Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson had a diplomatic response to the count down after the win.
“Yeah, I guess that was helpful if needed,” Wilson said. “I guess they do that in basketball sometimes — you know I’ve been around some basketball players and stuff like that. You know, this crowd was amazing tonight.
“Once again, how they were especially when the defense was out there with the game on the line — I know how hard that is as a quarterback hearing all of that noise and all that tenacity. That was great that our fans were really into it and just a great football crowd for sure.”
Wilson’s flattery won’t make fans forget their frustrations. Hackett’s right — the offense deserved to be booed. Now it’s on him to fix it.
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