Sean Payton rips former Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett & the New York Jets and Robert Saleh hits back. What’s been said?
The new Broncos coach had some choice words for his predecessor and then took aim at the New York Jets. but could it be that he’s actually correct?
Was it a dirty move? Is he just being honest about something that’s true? No matter how you cut it, the comments made by the new Denver Broncos coach about his predecessor were not well-received in every corner. Indeed, others made their displeasure known.
What did Sean Payton say about Nathaniel Hackett?
It would be an understatement to say that Russell Wilson’s first season with the Broncos was a bad one. Consider for a moment that the Broncos ended the campaign with a record of 5-12, while Wilson registered the worst numbers of his career. To be clear, the 34-year-old completed a career-low 60.5% of his throws for 3,524 yards and 16 touchdowns to 11 interceptions. On the other hand, it might be a stretch to say that the sole reason why the campaign tanked was because of the coaching i.e., Nathaniel Hackett. Yet, Wilson’s new head coach, Sean Payton, believes that’s exactly why it did.
Speaking with the media, Payton addressed the idea that first-time head coach Nathaniel Hackett was out of his depth, as he laid the blame squarely at his feed in a rather harsh take on the Broncos’ most recent run. “Oh man, there’s so much dirt around that,” Payton said when speaking about the team’s struggles. “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 didn’t stop there either. “They can only beat the (expletive) out of you so much,” Payton said. “But everybody’s got a little stink on their hands. It’s not just Russell [Wilson]. 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.”
Wait, did Sean Payton also insult the New York Jets?
Yes, he did. Though much of his focus was on his new team’s recent failures, Payton also found time to lay into the New York Jets who recently hired the above-mentioned Hackett as offensive coordinator. “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.”
Jets’ Robert Saleh isn’t about Sean Payton
Given what was said, you can imagine that it didn’t take long for the Jets to respond and it was head coach Robert Saleh who did so on Thursday. “I’m not going to acknowledge Sean. He’s been in the league a while, he can say whatever the hell he wants,” Saleh said. “I live by the saying, ‘If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t popping.’ So hate away. Obviously, we’re doing something right if you’ve gotta talk about us when we don’t play until Week 4. ...There are a lot of crows pecking at our neck.” Incidentally, the teams actually meet in Week 5.
Now, while Payton is basically saying that the Jets are too focused on off-field matters with the PR victories that they’ve enjoyed during this offseason, the reality is there was good reason to do so. Not only did the Jets make the move of the year by trading for four NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, but they also added Allen Lazard, Mecole Hardman, and Randall Cobb, while reports suggest Dalvin Cook could be next. This is to say, that his comparison between the Jets and the team he’s just taken over, is inaccurate at best. Remember, the Broncos were absolutely awful. This could of course just Payton playing mind games. Whatever the case, you can rest assured that when the two teams meet this coming season - In Week 5 not 4 - it’s going to be a wild ride given the war of words that we’ve just witnessed. Remember the date.