CAN HE HACKETT?
Coordinator defends his offense despite paltry production
If it’s broken, don’t fix it? No, there won’t be wholesale changes to Nathaniel Hackett’s offensive system and philosophy, regardless of who is playing quarterback.
The Jets’ embattled and unpopular, to put it lightly, offensive coordinator received support Tuesday from Aaron Rodgers, whose comeback attempt from a torn Achilles is now officially over. Hackett strongly defended himself and his system on Thursday, as his offense enters Week 16 with the third-fewest points, passing yards and rushing yards in the NFL.
“There’s so many things that we look at so specifically, and you look at last year, you look at this year, you look at all that, and you look at the other years that have been so positive,” Hackett said before the Jets held a walk-through practice. “Jacksonville, Green Bay, Buffalo and all the different places I’ve been and the his- tory of it, and you have to continually build those pieces.
“We just got here this year. We’ve had an unbelievable amount of changes, so there’s reasons why everything happened, and so as long as we’re able to identify those and get those pieces in the right places, it will be very good.”
Rodgers dubbed Hackett’s offense “quarterback-friendly.” Asked what makes it quarterback friendly, Hackett doubled down on the characterization and pointed to how “intricate” the system is.
But recently, his offense has been as friendly to quarterbacks as the Grinch this time of year. And really, despite Hackett’s claims of previous success, how prolific or quarterback-friendly has Hackett’s offense ever been?
He was offensive coordinator for two years with the Bills (2013-14), and his offenses ranked 22nd and 18th in scoring respectively. With EJ Manuel in 2013, the Bills ranked 28th in passing, and with Kyle Orton a year later, they ranked 18th.
Hackett had Blake Bortles as his quarterback all three years as the Jaguars’ offensive coordinator and drew acclaim for orchestrating the fifthhighest scoring offense in the league in 2017. It overwhelmingly came through the league’s best rushing attack, however, with the 17th-ranked passing offense. Hackett had the 25thranked scoring offense and 20thranked passing offense his first year. In his third year, Hackett had the second-worst scoring offense and 26thranked passing offense, and he was subsequently fired after the season. Put bluntly, Hackett’s offenses were far from quarterbackfriendly until he teamed up with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. And head coach Matt LaFleur called plays on offense throughout Hackett’s Packers tenure.
As the Broncos’ head coach last year, Hackett initially called plays before a woeful offensive start prompted him to hand those duties over to quarterbacks coach Klint Kubiak, and Hackett was fired before he could even complete his first season in charge.
The Jets are expected to start their fourth quarterback of the season in Trevor Siemian for Sunday’s clash against the Commanders, as Zach Wilson remains in the concussion protocol. But once again this season for Hackett, it’s no Rodgers, no fun.
“It’s always a humbling league,” Hackett said. “There are so many things you have to prepare for, and every time you think that you’ve seen it all, you have to realize you have not seen it all. From the different things that we’ve faced throughout this year, I think that those are the things that make you stronger, and as long as you take it that way and are able to grow from it, it’ll make you better.
“I think for us, looking at all the young guys who are growing and getting the opportunity out there, it might not be pretty sometimes, but there are some things that they’re gaining to be able to help this organization in the future.”
Rodgers will return next year, and his endorsement of Hackett means there’s a very strong chance Hackett will as well. But is Rodgers’ return, a quarterback Hacket didn’t even call plays for, enough reason to believe his offense will be fixed?
Though it’s perhaps unfair to judge Hackett’s results with Wilson, Siemian and Tim Boyle as his quarterbacks for all but four plays this year, coordinators all across the league have figured out ways to create functional offenses with backups.
Despite the results, Hackett still believes in his system and philosophy. The Jets better hope a quarterback-friendly offense that has rarely ever actually lived up to that billing is at least Rodgersfriendly.
“We’re our toughest critics, without a doubt, as coaches, and we take pride and we work hard to try to do everything we can to get these guys to be successful and get everybody the ball, and that’s what we do,” Hackett said. “That’s the only thing that we look at.”