When the Denver Broncos (1-2) battle the New York Jets (2-1) on Sunday, the Jets will still be looking to take out a measure of revenge on Denver.
Last season, the Jets came into Denver and beat the Broncos 31-21, leading to them carrying their offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, off the field on their shoulders. Hackett, the former head coach of the Broncos, got one of the most satisfying wins of his coaching career.
There is no doubt that Hackett was a terrible head coach for the Broncos in 2022, landing on a short list of first-year head coaches who didn’t even make it out of their initial season with their new team. Hackett deserved to be fired, but the man who replaced him, Sean Payton, chose to pile on .
Payton has since walked those comments back.
At the time, his comments on Hackett, who has worked with Aaron Rodgers for several years, led to Rodgers, the current starting quarterback of the Jets, to say this:
Like Payton, Rodgers has changed his tune on what Payton said and it seems that cooler heads will prevail. That being said, the Jets will take extra pleasure in beating the Broncos as long as Payton is the coach.