Week 5’s showdown between the New York Jets and the Denver Broncos just got a little more interesting. Current Broncos head coach Sean Payton took some parting shots at former Broncos head coach and current Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
In an interview with USA Today’s Jarrett Bell, Payton spoke about his team and his expectations for the Broncos this season. He also was not shy about his thoughts on what he referred to as an embarrassing season that the Broncos are coming off of in 2022 under head coach Hackett, who was fired a day after an embarrassing 51-14 loss on Christmas Day to the Los Angeles Rams, lasting just 15 games as head coach before landing on his feet in New York.
Payton also blames Hackett for what was by far the worst season in the career of quarterback Russell Wilson.
“They can only beat the (expletive) out of you so much,” Payton told Bell. “But 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.”
Payton isn’t much of a fan of all the PR the Jets are getting, including their appearance on “Hard Knocks”. He also believes all the attention the Broncos received last season didn’t help Denver.
“It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed,” Payton told Bell. “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.”
So mark your calendars. Jets-Broncos, Sunday, October 8 at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS.
