After a flurry of managerial issues — headlined by a Week 1 snafu that produced a bizarre 64-yard field goal attempt — nearly led the Broncos to 0-2, they made an in-season addition to their coaching staff. Nathaniel Hackett bringing Jerry Rosburg out of retirement to aid with game management helped Denver in Week 3.
Hackett said he worked with GM George Paton and assistant GM Darren Mougey to find solutions to the issues plaguing him on the managerial front to start his HC career. Hackett called Rosburg, whom he had not previously worked with, to see if he would come out of retirement to help the Broncos, Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com notes.
“For me, I felt empowered that I was able to make a decision. Hey, let’s fix it. I’m the leader of the team. Let’s do it,” Hackett said of the hire, via NBC Sports’ Peter King. “This was the first time, the past two games, that I felt I was hurting my team. Did I have enough info? I don’t know. But I knew the setup wasn’t right. I needed help to make the tough decision.”
Calling the decision to add Rosburg “difficult,” Hackett said (via King) he brought the 66-year-old retiree to the Broncos’ facility last week and introduced him to the team days before the game against the 49ers. Indicating to his players that he would ask them to take a critical look at themselves for mistakes they make, Hackett said he did the same. With Hackett not initially planning to add an assistant and having not worked with Rosburg previously, it is worth speculating if the Broncos’ front office pushed the move.
“Jerry was great,’’ Hackett said, via Legwold. “We had been evaluating everything on how we were managing things up to that point. I wanted to be sure I was able to be an efficient play-caller for Russell [Wilson] and the offense. … For me as a coach, all coaches, we want to grow … he’s a guy with a ton of experience that’s run game management before. And after talking with him, he was all for it, excited about it.”
From fourth-down decisions to challenges, Rosburg advised Hackett during Denver’s Week 3 win. The Broncos lost both the challenges Hackett made, but the team’s situational problems largely receded compared to the avalanche of scrutiny Weeks 1 and 2 brought. Denver doubled its delay-of-game penalties from last season in just two games, being whistled for this infraction four times, and incurred 25 penalties — including six false-start violations — against the Seahawks and Texans. The Broncos were also the 21st century’s first team to start 0-for-6 in red zone touchdown opportunities.
Hackett’s ignominious moments — the Seattle field goal choice and Broncos fans counting down the play clock against Houston — have defined his early tenure, and Wilson has struggled adjusting to the former Packers OC’s scheme. Denver’s defense, which ranks as a top-three unit in yards and points allowed, has played a key role in helping the team through its early offensive and managerial issues. The team settling down on the management front does represent a positive early-season development for Hackett’s operation, which also features first-timers at OC (Justin Outten) and DC (Ejiro Evero).
OK, but now he has to either adjust the scheme to Wilson or adjust Wilson to the scheme, because game management is not exactly the only problem with that offense.
They need to adjust the scheme to Wilson. Whenever it’s done the other way around, it almost always ends badly. You don’t want to be asking guys to do things they’re not comfortable with.
I’m with you as a general rule. Smart coaches tend to scheme toward their talent. Especially when it’s a QB you’re fully committed to. And there’s a reason why Wilson doesn’t do things like work the middle all that much. But Lafleur did a great job of meeting Rodgers in the middle. Maybe Hackett can do that with Wilson, but hard to have a less encouraging 2-1 start, though I guess Bears fans might disagree.
Dude is in way over his head.
He’s certainly looked that way. Maybe he’ll grow into it. I feel like the way he’s looked overwhelmed shows why so many newer head coaches don’t also handle playcalling duties. I think it also makes a good case for giving guys their second chance at head coach. Look at a guy like Raheem Morris. He got his first HC job very young and has been a strong coach in various circumstances since. Maybe his first go as a head coach should be seen more as valuable education than mark against him at this point. I certainly doubt he’d seem so unprepared for the job as Hackett.
Way over his head. And trying to be the play caller. When he wasn’t one in his previous job. And trying to force fit the Packers offensive system on Wilson rather than developing the system for Wilson.
He reminds me of the previous head coach of the Bears. Matt Nagy 2.0.
Sirianni adjusted over the course of his first season. Maybe Hackett can too. Nagy spent YEARS not adjusting.
Agreed. Haven’t seen a head coach look this bad early on in a tenure, especially with this talented or a roster.
This move looks desperate and the fact they made it public makes it look even worse.
Think Hackett gets canned & soon.
I’ve made it pretty clear how annoying I find these hires that add to the bloat of front office and coaching staffs. The NFL has a serious addiction to EXCESS that needs to be brought under control. The cost of this addiction eventually falls on the fans.
If something isn’t done, fans will soon need to take out a second mortgage to acquire game tickets then be faced with a $50 charge for a hot dog and beer at the stadium.
You’re always making this point, but it doesn’t make sense on either a football or economic level.
First of all, ticket and concessions prices have little if anything to do with team expenses, other than making sure tickets and concessions themselves are profitable. Teams/stadiums charge the amount that they can get away with and turn a profit on. If fans are filling the stadium, they don’t care about pricing other fans out. That’s just reality. It has nothing to do with what they’re paying anyone. They have a captive audience, just like airports charge way too much for food.
Meanwhile, teams have less allowed practice time and padded practice time than ever, while head coaches have more media responsibilities than ever. They need coaches working on everything from fundamentals to installing schemes and plays to getting new additions up to speed to reviewing game film. Of course there are instances of too many cooks in the kitchen (the end of Doug Pederson’s time in Philly comes to mind), but that’s not really what the big staffs are for.
And to combine the football and economic points, the idea that larger coaching staffs are so expensive that it would trickle down to the fans is ridiculous. The average NFL team has something like 15 coaches now. Let’s bump that up to 20. Now let’s say they were averaging half a million dollars a year (and rest assured, it’s far lower than that). That would total $10 million a year. That’s less than 5% of the salary cap, and the salary cap is an artificially deflated number for teams that are rolling in money. Spending an extra million here or there on stuff that affects the team but not the salary cap is just common sense. Same as spending on new facilities.
This post is about the Broncos, a team owned by a guy who owns a $48 million car. Hot dogs will get more expensive because hot dogs always get more expensive and they can get away with it, not because a team has too many coaches for your particular taste.
I appreciate your response but an owner with a $48MM car only strengthens the argument that the NFL is addicted to excess.
Don’t go if its too expensive for you.