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Nathaniel Hackett: 'Nobody's as Frustrated as I Am' at Broncos Losing 7 of 8 Games
November 30, 2022
It's been a miserable season for the Denver Broncos, who have now lost seven of their past eight games after Sunday's 23-10 loss against the Carolina Panthers.
And to be expected, head coach Nathaniel Hackett isn't happy.
"Nobody's as frustrated as I am," he told reporters Monday. "This is not where we wanted to be at this time in the season. None of us thought it was going to be like that, and that responsibility is fully on me. I want to be the one that can do everything to help this football team. Because we as a group have to come together and try to find a way to win a football game. We can't play the way that we played yesterday and expect to win a football game. It starts with me from the preparation."
The expectation when the Broncos traded for Russell Wilson this offseason was that the veteran quarterback would help transform the offense and help take last year's 7-10 team to new heights.
Instead, the Broncos are just 3-8, are averaging an NFL-worst 14.3 points per game and are 25th in yards per game (319.1).
Add in the fact that the Seattle Seahawks own the Broncos' 2023 first-round pick as part of the Wilson trade—currently the No. 4 selection overall—and it's hard to find many silver linings for this team at the moment.
They've been such a tough watch that the NFL flexed away from them in prime time—in a matchup against one of the most exciting players in football, Patrick Mahomes—to instead feature the Miami Dolphins vs. Los Angeles Chargers in two weeks:
Hackett's offensive scheme clearly hasn't worked, but Wilson bears equal blame. The 34-year-old has thrown for just 2,369 yards, eight touchdowns and five interceptions, completing a career-worst 58.9 percent of his passes while taking 35 sacks in 10 games.
A lot of frustrations seemed to spill over Sunday:
"We are in this together, period," Mike Purcell told reporters about the incident. "He's the quarterback of our offense. They were about to take the field. Obviously, we let up a touchdown, so we weren't doing our job. But you've got to get a spark somewhere. They were about to take the field, so that's all it was."
Wilson said Purcell yelled to him, "We've got to f--king go."
"I agreed," he added. "So me and him are on the same page. There is no animosity at all. We've got to win. We've got to come out here and have some grit to us. We've got to be able to win these football games. Those guys are out there battling every play. On offense, we've got to be able to capitalize."
To this point, the offense hasn't done much of anything. Until that changes, the frustrations will persist.