Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton drew some not-so-positive attention recently for comments he made to USA Today’s Jarrett Bell about some of his coaching peers.
To be specific, Payton railed against the efforts of his Broncos predecessor Nathaniel Hackett and his coaching efforts a season ago.
Sean Payton Pulls No Punches on Nathaniel Hackett
“Oh, man,” Payton began. “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.”
He’d go on to defend his much-maligned (and extremely well-compensated) signal-caller in Russell Wilson, citing team-wide discipline issues and (again) poor coaching.
“This B.S. that he (Wilson) 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 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.”
As you can see, Payton wasn’t exactly gushing with praise for Hackett’s efforts in Denver a season ago. And his comments aren’t without merit. Denver was a massive disappointment last year, finishing with a paltry 5-12 record and a league-worst scoring offense.
Given some of the parallels, it’s no great surprise that Payton’s critical remarks extended to the New York Jets.
After all, the Jets, like Denver a year ago, acquired a superstar quarterback via trade. And like in Denver a year ago, that quarterback will be coached by Hackett. The former Denver shot-caller will reprise his (much more fruitful) role as Aaron Rodgers’ offensive coordinator in New York.
In turn, New York has garnered a lot of media attention. Payton noticed, but he sounds unimpressed.
“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.”
Payton Walks Back His Comments
Payton’s intent may not have been to ruffle any feathers. And many would contend that what he said wasn’t wrong. Nonetheless, he recently walked back his comments, acknowledging in a more recent interview, again per USA Today, that he maybe spoke a little too freely for someone with his position and influence in coaching circles.
“Listen, I had one of those moments where I still had my Fox hat on and not my coaching hat,” Payton said. “It was a learning experience for me. It was a mistake. Obviously, I needed a little bit more filter … I needed a little bit more restraint. And I regret that.”
Payton would cite the two lattes he had pre-interview for making him a little too flippant with his words. He’d go on to say that he intended to reach out to both Hackett and Jets head coach Robert Saleh to formally apologize at a later date.
Kudos to Payton for owning up to his mistake. But Saleh, who’s established already that he’s not one to mince words, fired back at the tenured coach during a recent post-practice interview (per Yahoo).
“I live by the saying, ‘If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t popping.’ So hate away,” Saleh told reporters after hearing Payton’s comments. “Obviously, we’re doing something right if you’ve gotta talk about us when we don’t play until Week [5]. And I’m good with that.”
As Saleh alluded to, the Jets and Broncos will square off in Week 5 of the 2023 NFL season. That was already an enticing matchup, given that it pitted long-time on-field rivals Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson against one another in different uniforms for the first time.
Add in the burgeoning animosity between coaches, Payton’s forthcoming apology notwithstanding, and that has the makings of a hotly contested brawl.