During the week leading up to Sunday’s game in Denver, New York Jets coaches and players brushed aside the motivation provided by Broncos coach Sean Payton’s offseason comments calling out Gang Green OC Nathaniel Hackett.
However, after the 31-21 Week 5 win, it was clear the players and club were seething underneath.
A pregame speech from tight end C.J. Uzomah made its way around social media in which the veteran said Payton “made this s— personal…(expletive) him and (expletive) them…”
“We are playing for our boy. If somebody talks s–t about somebody on this team, in our building, in this facility, we are going to play for that person,” Uzomah said after the game, via the New York Daily News. “We downplayed it all week and the emotion came out of me to say what I said and I don’t take that back. That’s what I was feeling in that moment and we were able to come out here and win it for Hack.”
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Payton called out Hackett during a training camp interview with USA Today, in which the new Broncos coach called out the former’s performance last year “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL.”
Hackett declined to speak to the media after the win. He didn’t have to. The players did that for him.
“He a Jet, so he one of us,” Jets linebacker Quincy Williams said. “The biggest thing is if you got a comment about him, you got a comment about all of us, so that was the biggest thing.
“At the end of the day, getting this win for him was very huge. All I got to say is put some respect on my dawg man.”
The team awarded Hackett the game ball after the victory.
“I got one game ball…Hack!!” pic.twitter.com/ugW4xjXgms
The Jets’ social media team was at the ready, immediately posting after the win a meme of actor Kevin James in the movie “Home Team.”
when you lose to the "offseason champs" pic.twitter.com/FzNIqGWZks
Hackett helped his club to the win by smartly saddling running back Breece Hall for a career-high 22 carries. The best offensive player on the field Sunday, Hall jetted for 177 rushing yards, including a 72-yard touchdown blast early in the third quarter that gave Gang Green a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
“It was something that was personal to him,” Jets corner Sauce Gardner said of Hackett. “Even if he’s not telling us and saying yeah this is personal to me, you can just look at how he carries himself the week of the game.
“He had that look on his face like he really wanted this game. It meant a lot to be able to get that win for him as well.”
The victory broke a Jets three-game losing skid with a matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on tap in Week 6.
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