Jets dedicate win over Broncos, Sean Payton to Nathaniel Hackett
New York Jets center Connor McGovern vowed ahead of Sunday's game at the Denver Broncos that he and his teammates would play to honor offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett after Broncos head coach Sean Payton ripped Hackett during the offseason.
Guard Laken Tomlinson and others spoke about that subject following New York's spirited 31-21 win at Empower Field at Mile High.
"He’s trying not to be too emotional, but he was pretty emotional, and he was extremely appreciative of the defense, the way the offense came out in the second half, and how we fought … it felt heartfelt, coming from the bottom of his heart," Tomlinson said about Hackett during a post-victory chat with Steve Serby of the New York Post. "We fight for him, man. We love coach Hackett, and we’d go to battle any day for him."
Denver fired Hackett in late December after he spent less than one full season as the franchise's head coach. Payton accepted the job during the winter and then curiously said over the summer that Hackett was responsible for "one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL" with the Broncos.
The Jets entered halftime of Sunday's sloppy affair trailing 13-8 before speedster running back Breece Hall took a carry 72 yards to the house for a touchdown:
In the end, Hall recorded 177 rushing yards and a score on 22 attempts during a season-saving win capped off by cornerback Bryce Hall delivering a late scoop-and-score:
"Mostly, [I wanted to win] for coach Hackett," Breece Hall acknowledged. "I wasn’t even worried about myself today. He stayed quiet; he stayed humble, respectful, so we wanted to come in to get a win today for him, and we did that."
Hackett largely danced around the Payton storyline last week but received a game ball from head coach Robert Saleh after Sunday's win that improved the Jets to 2-3. Gang Green next hosts the 5-0 Philadelphia Eagles Sunday.
"When someone talks s--- about one of us or one of our coaches or anybody in the building, we want to have their back," tight end C.J. Uzomah added. "We wanted to win for Hack and make him proud and make him proud [to] be back on this field looking across and knowing that we did everything we can to come out with this win and we did."
As of Monday afternoon, OddsChecker listed the Jets as significant underdogs (+230, +6.5) for the home game against Philadelphia. It seems like New York will enter a contest with some noteworthy bulletin-board material to serve as motivation for the second consecutive weekend as the AFC East club looks to get back to .500.
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