Nathaniel Hackett is not off to the best start in his first season as head coach of the Denver Broncos, and many fans are already calling for him to give up offensive play-calling duties. That is not going to happen — at least not yet.
Hackett spoke on Monday about the importance of him and quarterback Russell Wilson doing a better job of getting on the same page. However, he insists that managing the team while also calling plays is not too much responsibility.
“I think I’ll continue the play calling. I think that’s been pretty efficient up to this point,” Hackett said, via Laurie Lattimore-Volkmann of Mile High Report. “We’ve done a good job moving the ball. We’ve had a good plan from that standpoint. We just have to finish those drives. I think from the game management standpoint, we just have to tighten that whole thing up. A lot of us — we are all working together for the first time, so we just want to be sure we’re more efficient in that and have the ability to make better decisions and quicker decisions.”
Hackett has certainly looked overwhelmed at times over the first two weeks of the season. The Broncos had multiple personnel issues in Sunday’s win over the Houston Texans that resulted in delay of game penalties. They were also booed for one embarrassing sequence at the goal line.
Then there was the issue in Denver’s Week 1 loss to the Seattle Seahawks where Hackett made a horrible decision to attempt a 64-yard field goal rather than going for it on 4th-and-5. He admitted he should have handled the situation differently.
Despite all that, Hackett says he will continue to call plays. He has spoken at length about needing to better evaluate the information he receives during games. If Denver’s issues on offense continue, he is going to have to make a major change eventually.
