The New York Jets celebrated Nathaniel Hackett's return to Denver by rallying past the Broncos 31-21 on Sunday behind Breece Hall's 72-yard touchdown run and Bryce Hall's 39-yard game-sealing scoop-and-score off Russell Wilson's fumble in the final minute.
That gave Hackett, the Jets' offensive coordinator who was fired after going 4-11 as Denver's head coach last season, a measure of satisfaction. Especially after new Broncos coach Sean Payton trashed him during training camp for the job he'd done in Denver, particularly the way he handled Wilson during the quarterback's dismal 2022 season
The Jets (2-3) overcame a sloppy, chippy first half to snap a three-game skid and hand the Broncos (1-4) their third home loss under Payton, who drew widespread criticism for excoriating Hackett in an interview with USA Today in July.
After the game, the Jets took their own swipe at Payton in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter: “when you lose to the -'offseason champs'” — including a photo of comedian Kevin James, who portrayed Payton in a movie.
Although Wilson has returned to form under Payton's tutelage, the Broncos are plagued by many of the same problems for which Payton blasted Hackett, and in the second half, the boobirds got as loud as they ever did last year.
The Broncos went three and out on four of their first five drives after halftime and the other possession resulted in a lost fumble on the second snap.
Then, Wilson led the Broncos to a touchdown and 2-point conversion to make it 24-21 late in the fourth quarter. Patrick Surtain II’s interception of Zach Wilson’s pass to Garrett Wilson gave the Broncos the ball back at their 3 with 2:14 left and the Broncos were nearly in field goal range when Quincy Williams strip-sacked Russell Wilson.
The ball popped loose toward the Jets sideline and Bryce Hall left the receiver he was covering, scooped up the bouncing ball and sealed it with his touchdown return.
Fans streamed to the exits after that turnover and it was eerily mostly empty while Jets players hugged Hackett on the sideline.
The Jets had erased a 13-8 halftime deficit with a touchdown and three field goals to take control at 24-13 before Russell Wilson's 3-yard TD toss to tight end Adam Trautman and fullback Michael Burton's 2-point conversion run pulled the Broncos to 24-21 with 4:44 remaining.
Breece Hall's long TD run up the middle came on the Jets' second snap of the second half and put them ahead for good at 15-13.
It was nearly a year ago when Hall's promising rookie season ended at this very stadium when he blew out his left knee after scampering for a 62-yard touchdown. Coach Robert Saleh said earlier in the week Hall no longer had snap restrictions.
Hall ran for 177 yards on 22 carries Sunday, a whopping 8 yards per carry.
INJURIES
Jets: lost their best O-lineman when RT Alijah Vera-Tucker left with a calf injury in the second half.
Broncos: lost DT D.J. Jones to a knee injury he suffered in the second quarter.
UP NEXT
Jets: play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Broncos: visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night.
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