Give Nathaniel Hackett his BFF QB, and the results change

RESTON, Va. — Not much has been said about Nathaniel Hackett this week.

The revenge angle — on the Broncos and on Sean Payton in the wake of his comments last year after “two lattes” — has faded. Payton quickly shot down any notion of making that an issue this week.

Revenge wasn’t even on the mind of defensive end John Franklin-Myers.

“It’s gonna be another week, one of those chances to go out there and just be dominant. Put on a dominant performance,” he said. “Play physical, run to the ball and play with the effort and physicality.

“I always do, except I know the guys.

“These guys, good friends of mine, but ain’t no friends in this business. So like I said, ain’t no friendly fire.”

Broncos DE John Franklin-Myers, on facing his former Jets team this weekend: “… These guys, good friends of mine, but ain’t no friends in this business. So like I said, ain’t no friendly fire.” pic.twitter.com/9Vh398ItH9

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) September 28, 2024

But there is no denying that the offense of Nathaniel Hackett — for so long non-functional as he cycled through quarterbacks in recent years and then guided Russell Wilson to the lowest passer rating of his career — works better when you give him the quarterback he always wanted.

Hackett didn’t call plays in Green Bay when he was the Packers’ offensive coordinator and Rodgers was their quarterback, accumulating back-to-back NFL MVP trophies. Matt LaFleur, then and now their head coach, handled that responsibility. But it didn’t take long for Hackett to reach cruising altitude — and in doing so, find production he hasn’t experienced in the 2020s.

3

Offensive touchdowns that the New York Jets have had in each of their last three games.

The Broncos reached this tally just twice in nine games with Nathaniel Hackett as their play caller. The Jets last year hit this mark only once, which means that Hackett’s offense has as many 3-touchdown games in the last three weeks as it had in his previous 26 games as a play-caller, during which time his offenses averaged a meager 1.15 touchdowns per game. His Jets attack had just one touchdown in its trip to Denver last year, but other factors ensured a humbling Broncos loss that dropped Denver to 1-4.

The Broncos are 8-7 since then. So they’ve become a different team. But the offense of Nathaniel Hackett is different with Rodgers at the wheel.

“You feel like you’re seeing the quarterback we all remember,” Payton said. “He’s quick, the ball is out, he’s got great command of what they do — 180 penalties drawn with his hard count. Historically speaking, he’s one of the top quarterbacks we’ve ever seen, certainly in that area.

“He does a great job getting the plays they want to get to. You see the skillset that we all saw prior to the [Achilles tendon] injury.”

2-13

The record of teams in games started by Aaron Rodgers in which he had a negative touchdown-to-interception margin. Rodgers typically has one such game a season, given 15 previous campaigns as a full-time starter.

Some other numbers of note regarding team success and Rodgers’ production:

• 21-24: Record when Rodgers has an even TD/INT margin
• 127-39-1: Record when Rodgers has a positive TD/INT margin
• 38-2: Record when Rodgers completes at least 75 percent of his passes
• 112-33-1: Record when Rodgers is not intercepted
• 38-43: Record when Rodgers is intercepted at least once
• 23-4: Record when Rodgers is not sacked
• 24-28-1: Record when Rodgers is sacked at least four times
• 59-20: Record when Rodgers passes 30 or fewer times

100

Yardage total that no Broncos running back has hit so far this season through three games. This marks just the second time in the last 30 years that Denver did not boast a single running back to break the century mark over the collective course of the season’s first three games. The other instance came in 2015, when the Broncos ended up splitting the duties between C.J. Anderson and the late Ronnie Hillman.

Quarterback Bo Nix leads the Broncos with 107 yards on 18 carries so far this season. His scrambles have helped save the team’s ground game from non-functionality so far this season.