The Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett made a questionable decision by keeping the clock running for 40 seconds to allow Brandon McManus to attempt a 64-yard field goal instead of giving Russell Wilson a chance to do his best on fourth-and-five.
“I thought (McManus) had enough leg and he missed it to the left but we should’ve never been in that position from the very beginning,” Hackett said.”If you’re not gonna score in the red zone, if you’re gonna have too many penalties, they’re gonna lose the turnover battle.”
This decision resulted in the Broncos losing 17-16 to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football in Week 1. With just over four minutes remaining and all three timeouts remaining, the Broncos took over at their 22-yard line.
The offense milked the clock as they neared midfield, but they took too much time off. This situation then left Wilson with 20 seconds left on a fourth-and-5 from the Seattle 46-yard line.
Rather than giving a chance to the $242 million contract quarterback, Hackett pushed the time to try a 64-yard field goal with McManus, but the kick missed wide left. Hackett was asked after the game about his decision to take offense off the field at the last minute.
“We weren’t moving the ball that efficiently at that time,” Hackett said. “We were just getting little chunks and wanted to be sure that we got to guarantee ourselves a chance to be able to win the game.”
McManus is widely known as a good kicker, but it didn’t work for the last game. According to The Athletic’s K.C. Joyner, kickers are 2-of-29 on field-goal attempts of 64 yards or more since 2000. Only two field goals of 64 yards or more have ever been attempted in NFL history.
Andrew Mason of 104.3 The Fan in Denver also said that there are only eight successes out of 69 times on kicks for 63 yards or more. This was a low-percentage kick, even for a widely known good kicker.
“He had plenty of distance,” Hackett said in the postgame. “He just missed it. Brandon gave it his best shot. That’s a long field goal to hit. I think he’s completely capable of that. Obviously, I wish we had gotten a lot closer, but it put us in that weird spot there because we were in the field-goal range but we were in that fourth-down situation.”
Wilson didn’t question Hackett’s decision for the last game against his former team. He believes what Hackett chose at that moment.
“I believe in Coach Hackett and believe in what we’re doing,” Willson said. “Anytime you can try to find a way to make a play on fourth-and-5, that’s great too, but I don’t think it was the wrong decision. I think he can make it.”
Broncos fans aren’t impressed with Hackett
Hackett rested the Broncos’ starters during the preseason. Many young coaches have adopted this strategy, but Broncos’ vocal group fans complained when the Broncos had struggles in preseason games. Hackett’s strategy only led the team to an ugly season opener Monday night.
In the first half, Denvers’ defense was uncoordinated. As a result, the Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith tore apart the Broncos’ defense. The Broncos’ offense scored three points in three second-half trips inside the 5-yard line, but they lost two fumbles on running plays. The last game was Hackett’s debut as head coach, but many fans in Colorado aren’t too impressed with his performance so far.