Well, the Oct. 8 matchup between the Jets and Broncos just got very interesting.
In an interview with USA Today, new Broncos coach Sean Payton ripped into his predecessor in Denver, Nathaniel Hackett, who is now the Jets offensive coordinator, saying Hackett’s year in Denver “might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.”
Payton also took a shot at the Jets for seeking attention this offseason.
Jets coach Robert Saleh did not fire back directly at Payton but said Payton’s criticism of the Jets shows the team is doing something right.
“I’m not going to acknowledge Sean on that,” Saleh said. “He’s been in the league a while. He can say whatever the hell he wants.
“As far as what we have going on here, you know I kind of live by a saying that if you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t poppin’, so hate away. Obviously, we’re doing something right if you have to talk about us and we don’t play you until Week [5] and I’m good with it. The guys in our locker room, they’ve earned everything that’s coming to them.”
Payton, who won a Super Bowl with the Saints, was clearly trying to build up Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson, who had a terrible year under Hackett in 2022 after the team acquired him from the Seahawks.
But he savagely criticized Hackett, something NFL coaches rarely ever do publicly to another.
“But everybody’s got a little stink on their hands,” Payton said. “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.”
Hackett was fired after 15 games in Denver.
Wilson had the worst year of his career, throwing 16 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
“There’s so much dirt around that,” Payton said. “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 also took a shot at Hackett for allowing Jake Heaps, Hackett’s personal quarterback coach, access to the Broncos’ training center.
“That wasn’t (Wilson’s) fault,” Payton said. “That was the parents who allowed it. That’s not an incrimination on him, but an incrimination on the head coach, the GM, the president, and everybody else who watched it all happen.
“Everything I heard about last season, we’re doing the opposite.”
Saleh hired Hackett to replace Mike LaFleur as offensive coordinator in January.
Hackett was a big reason quarterback Aaron Rodgers wanted to come to the Jets.
The two worked together for three years with the Packers with Rodgers winning two MVPs there.
Saleh defended Hackett and likened the criticism to crows pecking at the necks of eagles, who can fly high enough to suffocate the crows.
“I think Hackett’s doing a phenomenal job here,” Saleh said. “I think the coaching staff is doing a phenomenal job. We’re focused on us. I get it. There’s a lot of external noise. There’s a lot of people hating on us. There’s a lot of people looking for us to fail. There’s a lot of crows pecking at our neck. All you can do is spread your wings, keep flying high until those crows fall off and suffocate from the inability to breathe.”
Payton said the Broncos were too interested in winning the offseason last year, something he said the Jets did this year.
“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,” Payton said. “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.”
The Jets play the Broncos on Oct. 8 in Denver.
Get your popcorn ready.