Former NBA exec: Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett should play video games to refine late-game coaching
Nathaniel Hackett made a terrible decision at the end of Monday Night Football's matchup between his Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks.
Down one point and with the ball with about a minute to go, he decided to take the ball out of Russell Wilson's hands on a crucial 4th-and-5.
Rather than trust the quarterback who his franchise traded away a king's ransom for and subsequently paid a $242.5 million contract to, Hackett — a first-time head coach in his first ever game with the "big" headset — decided to not use his timeouts and let the clock bleed down so his kicker could attempt a 64-yard field goal.
That's right, rather than trusting Russell Wilson tp pick up five yards in a one-minute situation with two timeouts at his disposal, Hackett felt a 64-yard field goal was the answer, which of course it wasn't.
Kicker Brandon McManus shanked the kick and Wilson and the Broncos walked away 0-1 while the fanbase he spent 10 years playing for cheered his Week 1 demise.
Who knows what would have happened if Hackett immediately called a timeout when third and long became 4th-and-5 with about a minute to go, but he would have at least had one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL with the ball in his hands and if the down was converted, two more timeouts to work with.
Frankly, it was an egregious mistake from Hackett in his first game on the big stage. So much so that in a rare show of contrition from an NFL head coach, he said on Monday that he should have gone for it rather than kick the field goal.
Perhaps Hackett will learn from the mistake and move forward as a better coach, but at least one person, former NBA executive John Hollinger, thinks a more proactive approach is needed for the young coach.
Hollinger isn't asking for more film study from Hackett, but an argument can be made that playing video games is close enough. In fact, playing a game like 'Madden' actually simulates real-time coaching decisions, as silly as that sounds.
Nothing is stopping Hackett — or any NFL coach for that matter — from changing the settings to hard, changing the game time to a realistic 15 minutes, and then making decisions regarding play-calling as well as timeouts as they happen.
Hey, it's 2022. Eventually, coaches may be able to call games in virtual reality while sitting on their couches at home.
Why not give it a try?
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