At his Monday press conference, Nathaniel Hackett owns his mistakes
Sep 19, 2022, 3:48 PM
Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images
At least Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett knows his team’s performance against the Texans wasn’t good enough.
Denver escaped against Houston with a 16-9 win, but a comedy of errors left fans with an awful taste in their mouths. The team committed 13 penalties for 100 yards and was incredibly sloppy. The in-game decision making wasn’t quick enough, with indecisiveness leading the Broncos to multiple delay of game penalties.
24 hours after the very public booing by fans, Hackett was grilled by local media on Monday. To his credit, he owned his mistakes, including making decisions faster and with more confidence.
“When it comes to the operations, that’s something that we’re talking about quite a bit. There’s a lot of things. We’ve got to make sure the communication is clear and concise. I need to do better at making decisions faster and quicker. And getting that information to the quarterback and being on the same page with him. That’s stuff we’re talking about this morning and all the way to this evening. It’s got to improve,” Hackett said.
That’s a start. But now Hackett has to do it on Sundays. After two games, the conversation about him is not a pleasant one. Hackett has become a punchline throughout the NFL world. Meme after meme is being made about the head coach. And they’re not very nice.
Hackett says when it comes to fourth downs, the Broncos need a better plan. When to go for it, when to kick a field goal and when to punt all to have be considered a play or two before it actually reaches that point.
“We just have to work things out together. We have to communicate better. It starts with me and getting the proper information that I need. I get excited, I’m a little aggressive at times. And then sometimes that might not be the right decision. So I just need to be sure that all the right information is given to me at the right times so we can make the right decisions. That’s just got to be better,” Hackett said.
Again, accountability is nice to see. But even though his press conference on Monday was better, without any lame jokes mixed in, fans don’t care. They care about the product on the field.
And that needs to improve and it needs to improve fast.
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