Nathaniel Hackett’s debut as Broncos head coach was nothing short of a disaster, and his first home game didn’t inspire much hope either.
Denver was able to eke out a 16-9 win in its home opener Sunday against the Texans. However, many of the issues that plagued Hackett and his staff against the Seahawks showed up again in Week 2.
The most prevalent issue was Hackett’s clock management. The Broncos struggled to get properly lined up and snap the ball before the expiration of the play clock on Sunday. That caused the team to burn timeouts at inopportune times while taking several key delay-of-game penalties.
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One of the most notable sequences was extraordinarily frustrating for Denver fans. It saw the Broncos call an option run on third-and-1 from Houston’s 35-yard line with tight end/fullback Andrew Beck. The Texans snuffed out the play and stopped Beck for a loss.
As questionable as that play call was, the follow-up was worse. The Broncos waffled on whether to go for it on fourth-and-2 or to kick a 54-yard field goal. Eventually, they opted for the latter option, but by the time Brandon McManus and the field goal unit got onto the field, the play clock had run out, resulting in a delay of game penalty.
Then, instead of trying for a 59-yard field goal at the high altitude in Denver, the Broncos opted to punt.
Please watch this entire sequence. Nate Hackett has officially lost it. Denver went from 3rd and inches, a TE rush attempt, a long FG attempt, and then a punt. Lord pic.twitter.com/3Eugrn7sHG
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) September 18, 2022
The restless Denver crowd had already begun to boo the offense in the first half; but after that sequence, one of the loudest choruses of boos rained down upon the new Denver head coach.
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During his postgame news conference, Hackett acknowledged that they were warranted.
I don’t blame [the fans]. I’d be booing myself. I was getting very frustrated.
The crowd’s criticism of Hackett didn’t stop with the boos. Eventually, the crowd was counting down the time remaining on the play clock as it ticked down into single digits. This served as a not-so-friendly reminder to the Broncos that they had to snap the ball.
Broncos fans are helpfully/mockingly shouting out the play clock on every play as Denver struggles to manage the clock. pic.twitter.com/53p339HGME
— Kyle Clark (@KyleClark) September 18, 2022
This didn’t come only because of the field goal-turned-punt debacle; the Broncos burned a couple of timeouts in the fourth quarter of their one-possession game against the Texans because of poor clock management.
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On one play with 9:55 remaining the quarter, the team had to call timeout because return man Montrell Washington was not on the field for a punt. Later, the team burned its final timeout with 7:38 remaining in the game after it couldn’t get lined up in time to run a second-and-16 play.
Hackett acknowledged the struggles after the game and said that the team would “evaluate everything” as far as its pre-snap operation is concerned. He also said that he would work with quarterback Russell Wilson to find a way to clean up communication between them.
But at the end of the day, Hackett knows that the issues with time management and penalties simply cannot continue.
“That’s inexcusable,” he said. “That’s on us. That’s us hurting ourselves.”
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