DENVER — Think about it. Nathaniel Hackett’s offense and the Denver defense went at each other for nearly a full season last year.
“It’s basically like training camp last year, going against his offense and competing, but on a bigger stage, obviously,’’ Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II said Thursday. “It’s a lot of concepts that’s involved that I’d seen last year, how they prioritize certain players throughout their game plan. It’s pretty familiar when you see it on film. So nothing different.”
Hackett was the Broncos’ head coach and offensive play caller last season. Well, he was the play caller until general manager George Paton had Klint Kubiak take over play-calling duties after nine games.
Hackett was still very much in charge of offensive game planning, though, as the head coach. Well, he was until owner Greg Penner dismissed him the day after the Christmas Day debacle in Los Angeles.
Hackett is now the offensive coordinator, with play-calling responsibilities, for the New York Jets, who play the Broncos this Sunday (2:25 p.m. kickoff) at Empower Field at Mile High.
“Yeah, we had to watch the tape from last year,’’ said Broncos inside linebacker Josey Jewell, who will return to the lineup Sunday after missing last week’s game at Chicago because of a groin pull. “Put it on every once in a while so it will be fun to see him again.’’
The Jets are averaging 15.5 points per game through four games. The Broncos last year ranked last with 16.9 points per game, so the tape looked familiar.
“There’s a lot of similarities I think between that one [2022 Broncos] and this one [2023 Jets],’’ Jewell said. “I honestly couldn’t tell you a lot of the difference. I think there’s a lot of duo, a lot of stretch, gap-scheme stuff and then the passing stuff’s pretty similar to me. I haven’t seen anything crazy different.”
Familiarity with Hackett’s system should help the Denver defense, which could use it. The Broncos are allowing 37.5 points per game, last in the league.
“We saw it through that whole year, so yeah, I think it’s definitively to our advantage,’’ Jewell said. “Hopefully when we’re out there we can just react quick to it.”
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