Broncos head coach Sean Payton rips Jets, Nathaniel Hackett while discussing Russell Wilson's 2022 struggles
Sean Payton has just begun his first training camp as head coach of the Denver Broncos, and he's already got some choice words for both the man who preceded him, current Jets offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, as well as Hackett’s new team.
In an interview with USA Today, Payton was asked about what went wrong with the 2022 Broncos, who stumbled to a 5-12 record despite adding star quarterback Russell Wilson in the previous offseason.
Payton pointed to what was going on around Wilson, and used the opportunity to take a jab at the Jets and Hackett, who was hired by the Jets to replace Mike LaFleur after a 15-game tenure as Denver's head coach.
“It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed,” Payton said. “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.”
Wilson, a nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback, struggled in his first season in Denver, winning just four of his 15 starts while throwing just 16 touchdown passes to go along with 11 interceptions.
According to Payton, there were plenty of “dirty hands” to blame for Wilson’s struggles, including Hackett.
“Oh, man,” Payton told USA Today. “There’s so much dirt around that. There’s 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms. The offense. I don’t know Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it. This B.S. that he hit a wall? Shoot, they couldn’t get a play in. They were 29th in the league in pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball.
Payton, who coached the New Orleans Saints to a Super Bowl championship but also served a year-long suspension for the Saints’ bounty scandal, told USA Today that he showed the Broncos some videos to push across the point that 2022 is in the past, taking one more shot at Hackett in the process.
“That was a message,” Payton said. “They can only beat the (expletive) out of you so much. 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.”
For what it’s worth, the Jets will play the Broncos in Denver for a Week 5 matchup on October 8.
