ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Never mind what you think the Broncos should do about their inept offense, or what the radio and TV guys think should happen, or what the newspaper scribes say needs to happen.
How does head coach Nathaniel Hackett stand in front of his team and convince the players and assistant coaches the offense can get better? After starting with his usual accountability message that “starts with me,” Hackett gave a peek into the meeting room.
“I want to always hold myself accountable, make sure I’m giving the guys ample opportunities to make plays,’’ Hackett said. “And then talking about all the things we can do better as a team. When we do that we put the tape up there in front of the entire group. We talk it through. We talk about where maybe I went wrong. Where maybe a player went wrong.
“It’s an open forum. We want to have that relationship in that room so we can see those things where, ‘Hey, if you make this play here and there, things change.’ It’s not just one guy. It’s multiple guys and we need to get everybody on the same page because we got to get a win.”
The 3-6 Broncos meet the 2-7 Las Vegas Raiders in a matchup of bottom-division AFC West teams Sunday afternoon at Empower Field at Mile High. The Broncos have lost their six games by a combined 30 points – 5 points per defeat – while the Raiders have lost six games by a combined 26 points and have blown three 17-point leads.
In all, the Broncos and Raiders have combined for 11 one-score games.
“Somebody’s got to win this game,’’ Hackett said. “There’s been a lot of one-score games between both of the clubs. It speaks to they’re a really good football team. I know everybody looks at records, but in the NFL I believe everybody’s really, really good. Somebody’s going to have to make that last play to make it who comes out on top.”
At least the Raiders have a good enough offense to get three 17-point leads. The Broncos have only scored more than 16 points in two games. Asked about his offensive identity, Hackett said:
"It’s not a good one. It hasn’t been a very successful offense. ... For us right now, [we need] a lot of improvement to gain that identity."
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