Nathaniel Hackett 31, Sean Payton 21.
Vic Fangio 70, Sean Payton 20.
Josh McDaniels 17, Sean Payton 16.
Make it stop.
Man, I’ll betcha Vance Joseph ’18 wishes he could get a crack at Vance Joseph ’23. I mean, why should all the other disgraced, shamed former Broncos coaches have all the fun right now?
Frank Filchock just rolled over in his grave. Then he grabbed a clipboard.
Make it stop.
Seriously, Billy Turner. Make. It. Stop.
“You know what?” Turner, the former Broncos offensive tackle, told me before he packed up his locker late Sunday and joined his New York Jets teammates on the bus back to sanity.
“They’ve got some great players on this (Broncos) team. This is a good football team. Those years that I was here (and the) years I haven’t been here, it’s always been a good football team with special players. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t able to win (in Week 5), but that’s not to say they don’t have a good football team and they don’t have a lot of things in the tank.
“They just got to figure some stuff out.”
So, so, sooooo much stuff.
So, so, sooooo many bad contracts. Broncos general manager* George Paton (* = in title only) now has to undo all of George Paton’s clever chess moves. And fast.
Paton broke the bank for Courtland Sutton in 2021 in order to make No. 14 feel like he was essential and untradeable. Two years later, only half those things are true. The wrong half.
Jerry Jeudy is picking fights on social media with ex-Broncos who’ve actually been to Pro Bowls.
Pat Surtain, father of Broncos star Pat Surtain II, has gone public with how sick he is of watching his kid’s team stink up the joint.
Hang on. Wasn’t getting rid of Hackett supposed to make the jokes stop? Wasn’t Payton supposed to be the grown-up this locker room needed?
Grown-ups in the professional world don’t let their ego write checks that their skills can’t cash.
Grown-ups in the professional world don’t need a mercy kneel from Mike McDaniel to avoid having 73 points hung from their backside.
Grown-ups in the professional world don’t give a mediocre opponent a reason to actually care.
Grown-ups in the professional world don’t go out of their way to pick a fight with their predecessor in public.
“I don’t think anything needs to be said about any of that (expletive),” Turner said of Payton’s decision to throw Hackett and the 2022 Broncos coaching staff — “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL” — under the first bus that passed Potomac Street.
“(We) walked away with a victory. Happy for Hack. Happy for all of us. But especially happy for Hack.”
The Broncos coughed up 31 points, at home, to a Jets offense without Aaron Rodgers. Think about that. And if Huggy Bear wasn’t the one calling New York’s offensive plays, they would’ve racked up even more.
“I want you guys to know, it’s an honor to be with you guys,” Hackett said via the Jets’ “X” account after coach Robert Saleh presented him with a game ball. “Watching that defense go out there, sack (Russell Wilson), get turnovers — it’s absolutely beautiful. Watching this offense run that (expletive) ball! … This is only the beginning. We can all get better. Myself included.”
Because Hackett’s gonna Hackett, the Jets’ clock management to end the first half was a clown show. Down 13-8, New York dawdled getting calls in, dawdled to the line, and coughed up a chance at easy points before the break. That bit looked eerily familiar. And kinda hilarious, when it’s happening to the other guys.
The Jets still got the last laugh.
That’s how bad it was.
Sorry.
That’s how bad it is.
“I mean, it’s fun, yeah,” Turner continued. “But victories are fun. That’s why you play the game. But not only that, we were able to walk away with a victory after all the commotion and theatrics that occurred months ago.”
Your thoughts, Sean?
“Already addressed it,” Payton said.
So, so, sooooo much stuff.
Oh-and-three at home. 0-3 against the “soft” part of the fight card. All three of those hairy “L”s are on Payton’s tab in one way or another, from the bonkers onside kick that opened a lost season to giving a “meh” Jets team a reason to give a hoot. And a cause to rally around.
“Not much needed to be said,” Turner said. “Although things were said, nothing needed to be said.”
Road teams are 10-6 over their last 16 visits to Denver. Eight of those wins have come by seven points or fewer.
Forget Disneyland. The visitors locker room at Empower Field is the happiest place on Earth.
Turner’s gone. Hackett’s gone. The Broncos were 2-3 after five games last year. They’re 1-4 now.
Make. It. Stop.
“There were some hecklers (for Hackett), that’s to be expected,” Turner said of his return to the Mile High City. “But again, nothing needs to be said about that. (When you) walk out of this stadium, and this tunnel, with a victory, that’s all that needs to be said.”
If only Broncos Country could get a look at the fine print on the deal John Elway must have signed with Beelzebub to squeeze four more great years out of a mid-30s Peyton Manning. If only he hadn’t signed it in blood.
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