Nathaniel Hackett intimated he’d moved on. His eyes didn’t. They were still gleaming an hour after Jets 31, Broncos 21.
The former Broncos coach, who had a 4-11 record in 11 months in charge at Dove Valley, one of the shortest tenures in franchise history, declined comment when approached by The Denver Post in the visiting locker room following New York’s victory.
The scoreboard said plenty.
So did the Jets players late Sunday afternoon.
“(It’s) like (tailback Dalvin Cook) playing the Vikings. He wants to win really bad, ” New York tight end C.J. Uzomah said after the visitors handed the Broncos their fourth loss in five games to open the season, and a fourth game in which they’ve given up 28 points or more.
“We wanted to win for (Hackett). It’s the nature of the beast, right? We know he wanted to win this one … I’m glad, I’m really glad, we got this for him.”
The Jets hired Hackett as offensive coordinator late this past January, approximately a month after the Broncos fired the 43-year-old coach in the wake of the “Christmas Day Massacre” against the Los Angeles Rams, a 51-14 defeat.
A miserable year in Broncos Country was a historical footnote until Hackett’s replacement, former longtime Saints coach Sean Payton, threw a heavy dose of shade at his predecessor this past summer.
Payton told USA Today in an interview published at the start of training camp that Hackett’s ’22 season “might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL … that’s how bad it was.”
The first-year Broncos coach came out after the interview surfaced to say he regretted the comments, and that “obviously, I needed a little bit more restraint.”
Payton has since declined to discuss the comments with Denver media despite repeated questions on the topic. Hackett told New York media after the story was published that he felt Payton violated the code when it comes to NFL coaches ripping their peers and that he was “thankful that we got that out of the way … we all understand the way certain people feel and think.”
Former Broncos lineman and current Jets center Connor McGovern said Hackett downplayed Payton’s comments during team meetings and planning sessions in the days leading up to the highly anticipated Week 5 matchup.
“He didn’t say a single word about it,” McGovern said, “and when people mentioned it, he (kept) a straight face. Everybody knew how important it was, but he’s a true professional.”
Hackett was named a team captain before the game by Jets coach Robert Saleh. Saleh confirmed after the win that Hackett received the team’s game ball.
And if Hackett didn’t want his true feelings known, his players weren’t shy about theirs. Uzmoah during pregame warm-ups Sunday dropped several profanities in the direction of Payton to fire up his teammates, which were subsequently captured on film, including:
“Their coach (Payton) made this personal … well, (expletive) him and (expletive) them! Let’s go win this (expletive) for Nathaniel Hackett!”
Which they did, outscoring the Broncos 23-8 in the second half and outgaining the hosts, 407-308. All without the services of star quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who continues to rehab a torn Achilles.
“It was really just to motivate the guys,” Uzomah saod. “When someone talks (expletive) about one of us, or (about) one of our coaches, or anybody in the building, we want to have their back.”
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