As Week 5 of the 2023 NFL season approaches, a much-anticipated game between two teams with just two combined wins will receive some attention.
The New York Jets head to Colorado to take on the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High for a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff.
Jets fly over prior to a game between the Denver Broncos and the Washington Commanders at Empower Field at Mile High on September 17, 2023, in Denver. (Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)
Prior to the season, the game was billed as Aaron Rodgers vs. Russell Wilson, two strong defenses against offenses that struggled in 2022, and Nathaniel Hackett’s return to Denver after a disastrous tenure as head coach last season.
And then Broncos head coach Sean Payton stirred the pot with his comments to USA Today in the summer and the game took on a new edge.
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While Rodgers’ season-ending injury caused some steam to leak out of Sunday’s matchup, the bad blood from the summer has not been forgotten by fans of the NFL, no matter how much the two teams will try to downplay it.
“In football life, that was like 20 years ago, so that’s a non-topic,” Jets head coach Robert Saleh said Monday of Payton’s July bombshell, according to ESPN. “But for Hackett, obviously, it’s going to be a personal feel to go back. But I think he understands just living as a coach’s kid, understanding the process, he’ll know how to handle himself. He’ll know exactly how to keep his emotions in check and make sure we do what’s best for this organization and this team as it stands now. I fully expect him to be perfectly fine and levelheaded.”
Let’s take a look at how the Jets and the Broncos became much-watch TV on Sunday.
Nathaniel Hackett’s miserable season in Denver
While it won’t be remembered as the kicking-off point of the beef between the two teams, Hackett’s lone year in the Mile High City is integral in explaining the war of words.
Hackett was named head coach of the Broncos on Jan. 27, 2022. Less than one year later, he was out of a job.
Then-Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett walks the sideline at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver on December 11, 2022. (RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
Hackett’s time in Denver got off to an immediate rough start when the head coach chose to attempt a 64-yard field goal instead of going for it on 4-and-5 against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1.
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Things only went downhill from there as Hackett’s offense struggled in Russell Wilson’s first year at quarterback in a Broncos uniform. Hackett was fired after a 4-11 start, putting an end to the shortest tenure for any non-interim head coach in franchise history, according to ESPN.
Sean Payton takes shot at Hackett, Jets
Super Bowl-winning head coach Sean Payton took the Broncos’ job on February 3, 2023, after one year as an analyst for FOX Sports.
In a July interview with USA Today, Payton took aim at the 2022 Broncos team and the coaching job that led to Denver missing the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year.
“But everybody’s got a little stink on their hands,” Payton told USA Today. “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.”
The interview was littered with digs toward Hackett – who took the offensive coordinator job in New York – after Wilson had his worst season in the NFL.
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton watches the action during the game against the Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago on October 1, 2023. (Robin Alam/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“Oh, man,” Payton said. “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.”
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Payton also took a little jab at the Jets’ organization, saying New York was trying to win the offseason.
“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.”
Payton regrets comments, Aaron Rodgers gets involved
One day after his comments were widely criticized, Payton apologized, adding he should have shown “more restraint.”
Addressing the media for the first time since his interview with USA Today was published, Payton said he felt regretful almost immediately after he called out the Jets for the “pomp and circumstance” of their offseason and Hackett for the “worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.”
“It was a learning experience for me. It was a mistake, obviously,” Payton told reporters.
“I needed a little bit more filter. There’s a pound of flesh for these guys and, as a coach, you stick up for them and, after a while, we’re passed that season last year. And I said what I said, and obviously, I needed a little bit more restraint. And I regret that.”
Aaron Rodgers of the New York Jets takes the field prior to a game against the Buffalo Bills at MetLife Stadium, September 11, 2023, in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Michael Owens/Getty Images)
The apology didn’t get it done for Rodgers, who spent three years with Hackett calling plays in Green Bay.
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“Yeah, I love Nathaniel Hackett. And those comments were very surprising for a coach to do that to another coach,” Rodgers told NFL Network’s Peter Schrager. “My love for Hackett goes deep. We had some great years together in Green Bay. Kept in touch. Love him and his family – incredible family man, incredible dad.”
“And on the field, he’s arguably my favorite coach I’ve ever had in the NFL – his approach to it, how he makes it fun, how he cares about the guys. Just how he goes about his business – with respect, with leadership, with honesty with integrity,” he said.
“And it made me feel bad that someone who’s accomplished a lot in the league is that insecure that they have to take another man down to set themselves up for some sort of easy fall if it doesn’t go well for that team this year. I thought it was way out of line, inappropriate, and I think he needs to keep my coaches’ names out of his mouth.”
Hackett responds, says Payton ‘broke the code’
In his first public comments since Payton ripped his lone head coaching performance, Hackett told reporters that he felt Payton violated an unwritten “code.”
“I do,” Hackett said when asked if he felt that Payton broke or violated the code. “I do. I just think that within this glass house that we all live … it’s one of those things that it’s very expected. You knew it was going to happen. You knew he was going to handle it that way at some point. It’s how it was going all last year.”
Without mentioning Payton by name, Hackett began his press conference by addressing the controversy.
Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett of the New York Jets looks on during the second half of a preseason game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on August 12, 2023, in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
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“I’ve been involved in this business my whole life – 43 years – and as a coach, as a coach’s kid. We live in a glass house. We know that,” Hackett said.
“And it’s one of those things that there’s a code, there’s a way things are done in that house,” he continued. “This past week, it’s frustrating, and it sucks, but we’re all susceptible to it. There are things you do, mistakes you make, and it costs you time on the field, costs you your job, all those things. And I own all that stuff.”
Hackett said he had not received an apology from Payton and did not expect him to reach out.
“I’ve never met the guy,” Hackett said.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj and Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.