Nathaniel Hackett shows some self-awareness, says he was “booing himself”

The Broncos won an extremely ugly football game on Sunday.

Denver escaped the Houston Texans, 16-9, thanks to a stellar defensive performance and timely touchdown throw from Russell Wilson. But it wasn’t all roses for the Broncos, as several head-scratching moments had fans irate both in the stadium and at home.

Broncos fans booed the team several times, as a comedy of errors led to some terrible football. Denver committed 13 penalties for 100 yards. They burned all their second half timeouts early, because once again delay of game penalties were an issue. Anyone who watched knows there’s a ton to fix. And to his credit, head coach Nathaniel Hackett acknowledged postgame fans have a right to be unhappy.

“I don’t blame them. I mean, heck, I was booing myself. I was getting very frustrated. I mean get down to the red zone two times and don’t get another touchdown, which is unbelievably frustrating. I don’t think we’ve scored in there yet. And that’s something that all of our guys got to step it up. Whether we run the ball more, whatever we’re doing. We’ve just got to execute at a higher level,” Hackett said.

Yes, the red zone once again plagued Denver the week after being the story in Seattle. Denver settled for two very short Brandon McManus field goals, and the only TD actually came from outside that area. Wilson hit Eric Saubert for a 22-yard score early in the fourth quarter. Hackett knows the delay of game penalties have to stop.

“Yeah, we’re just going to have to evaluate everything. Whether it’s getting the personnel out there, or lack thereof. And making sure the plays are coming in nice and clean. And just getting into the huddle and out of the huddle. So we’ve got to talk about that and I’ll talk with Russ and find out anything I can do to help him. That’s inexcusable. That’s on us, that’s us hurting ourselves,” Hackett said.

The good news? The Broncos are 1-1 on the season and back to .500. That bad news? It was one of the least satisfying wins in franchise history. And not every opponent is going to be as offensively inept as the Texans.

The Broncos have a lot to fix before San Francisco visits town next Sunday night.

***