Nathaniel Hackett misplaced his job a day after the Denver Broncos confirmed extra combat on the sideline and within the postgame handshake line than they did of their 51-14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
With the embarrassing loss, the Broncos fell to 4-11 and prompted CEO Greg Penner to half methods with the rookie head coach whose mishandling of the offseason and mismanagement of video games had been hallmarks in a misplaced season that featured a stunning nosedive for quarterback Russell Wilson.
Guaranteeing Hackett would get no mulligan, the Broncos cratered on Christmas when the one combat they confirmed got here in the course of the postgame handshakes when Randy Gregory interrupted all the vacation cheer by throwing a punch at LA offensive lineman Oday Aboushi.
That, and guard Dalton Risner’s sideline shove of backup QB Brett Rypien for strolling over to the O-linemen after back-to-back sacks of Wilson and imploring them to present their quarterback a hand and assist him up as a substitute of simply watching him.
Risner chalked that as much as miscommunication and hugged it out with Rypien.
Gregory had no actual solutions for his actions, which led to a retaliatory punch from Aboushi and prompted the NFL to droop each of them for one sport.
“Y’all wish to know if I hit him within the mouth, I did,” mentioned Gregory, who additionally misplaced his cool in the course of the sport, throwing his helmet after the Broncos fell behind by three touchdowns within the second quarter and later hitting quarterback Baker Mayfield within the head within the fourth quarter.
Gregory has had a tough first season in Denver. He bought a five-year, $70 million deal in free company from Denver regardless of lacking 31 video games in 5 years in Dallas due to accidents or suspensions and by no means gathering greater than six sacks in a season.
After present process a shoulder operation that sidelined him for your complete offseason, Gregory has missed extra video games (9) than he has performed (six) due to a knee harm suffered in Week 4, and he has as many sacks this season (two) as he had 15-yard penalties Sunday.
What appears to be like much more like a blunder with every passing week is the $245 million extension Wilson signed earlier than he threw a single go for the Broncos that counted.
Wilson is 3-10 in his first season in Denver. He has thrown only a dozen touchdown passes to go together with 9 interceptions and he has been sacked 49 occasions, an enormous share of that are the results of him holding onto the ball for too lengthy and having misplaced a few of his famed means to flee.
Like Gregory’s, Wilson’s dreadful season additionally hit all-time low Sunday. He threw interceptions on his second and third go makes an attempt, placing the Broncos in an early 17-0 gap from which they by no means recovered.
Rypien led Denver to a season-high 24 factors in a win over the Cardinals per week earlier when Wilson was sidelined with a concussion. Below Wilson, the Broncos are averaging 14.8 factors per sport.
Denver’s protection lastly faltered, permitting Mayfield to finish 24 of 28 passes, surrendering 230 yards on the bottom and failing to power a single punt all afternoon.
“ I allow us to down,” mentioned Wilson, who had by no means earlier than thrown three interceptions and been sacked six occasions in a sport.
“The fact is it’s been a storm,” Wilson mentioned. “It’s been a storm all yr. Not what we hoped for, not what we dreamed for. But it surely doesn’t imply it’s going to finish that method for years to come back. We’ve bought to vary it and it begins with me.”
WHAT’S WORKING
The brand new possession group, which spent numerous hours making an attempt to determine easy methods to repair this mess, began with the dismissal of Hackett and the naming of senior assistant Jerry Rosburg as interim head coach.
WHAT NEEDS WORK
Wilson talks an excellent sport however not performs one. His terrible season helped usher Hackett out the door. The offseason will present whether or not Wilson owns as much as his position within the franchise’s nosedive.
STOCK UP
WR Jerry Jeudy had one other strong sport, with a season-high 117 yards on six catches.
STOCK DOWN
NFL schedule makers. After Wilson’s arrival, the Broncos had been placed on prime time for six of their video games. They had been flexed out for one among them and scored 16, 11, 8, 16 and 14 factors within the others.
INJURIES
WR Kendall Hinton (hamstring) missed the sport, and WR Courtland Sutton (hamstring) performed and caught 5 passes for 64 yards however was visibly upset on one play the place he was open on the sideline just for Wilson to disregard him and throw deep over the center.
KEY NUMBERS
51 — Most factors surrendered by the Broncos since 2010.
UP NEXT
The Broncos go to Kansas Metropolis, the place Mahomes and Andy Reid are closely favored to make it 15 consecutive wins over downtrodden Denver.
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