Jets coach Robert Saleh had a message for Payton in handshake line

Things were saucy between the Denver Broncos and New York Jets, before, during and after their Week 5 matchup where the visitors won 31-21.

The two teams played last year to a quiet midseason Jets win, with the biggest storyline being the NFL’s two best corners, Patrick Surtain II and Sauce Gardner, sharing a field. The feud began in earnest a few weeks later when the Broncos fired rookie head coach Nathaniel Hackett after a disastrous stint as leader of the Orange Crush. Hackett was hired by New York this offseason to be their offensive coordinator and design an offense for his friend Aaron Rodgers.

Meanwhile, Sean Payton was hired to replace Hackett and was very open about how he thought the coaching in Denver before he got here was bad. All the while Payton was tasked with fixing star quarterback Russell Wilson after the worst season of his career.

So here comes Jets coach Robert Saleh, who wanted to stew the beef. Pregame, Saleh brought up that Payton never reached out to Hackett about those offseason comments, despite saying Payton saying that he would. Saleh also made Hackett an honorary captain for the week all the while the Jets got behind the motto of feeling that the Broncos did Hackett dirty.

“Stay humble,” Saleh clearly says to Payton as they shook hands at midfield postgame.

Did Saleh tell Sean Payton to stay humble after yesterdays game? 👀
pic.twitter.com/0nw9IwLMQK

— DraftKings (@DraftKings) October 9, 2023

Payton has said multiple times that one of the fixes for Wilson would be reducing variables and more or less simplifying the veteran quarterback’s job.

“Let me say this the right way. They were getting us on a lot of screens and the quarterback was getting a lot of yardage with his feet,” Saleh said postgame. “It was just a matter of taking out the screen game, taking out the QB scramble, make him play quarterback. Felt like the way they were calling it wasn’t letting him play quarterback, but, anyway.”

At one point in the game, Wilson’s offense had only gained one yard in the second half and had gone -20 yards over 12 plays, leading to three three-and-outs with a turnover too. But Wilson gave Denver a last-ditch chance, though, it only came after the Broncos had already blown a 13-8 lead.

Most of the postgame from the Jets side was spent celebrating Hackett and trolling the Broncos, as the team moved to 2-3. The Broncos are 1-4 and play Kansas City on Thursday.

***