Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton is walking back unusually harsh criticisms he made of former Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett and the New York Jets, calling his previous comments “a mistake.”

“I had one of my moments where I had my Fox hat on, and not my coaching hat,” said Payton, who spent the 2022 season working as a Fox Sports analyst. “It was a mistake by me. I said what I said, but I needed to have some restraint.”

In comments made to USA Today earlier this week, Payton described the chaos surrounding the Broncos’ wretched 2022 season and made it clear that, in his opinion, Russell Wilson was not the only culprit. Payton had harsh words for former Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett in particular, “It might have been one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL. That’s how bad it was.”

Head coach Nathaniel Hackett of the Denver Broncos looks on before a game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Empower Field At Mile High on December 11, 2022, in Denver, Colorado. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

Payton also took a shot at Hackett’s new employer, the New York Jets.

“It doesn’t happen often where an NFL team or organization gets embarrassed. And that happened here. Part of it was their own fault, relative to spending so much (expletive) time trying to win the offseason – the PR, the pomp and circumstance, marching people around and all this stuff.

“We’re not doing any of that. The Jets did that this year. You watch. ‘Hard Knocks,’ all of it. I can see it coming. Remember when (former Washington owner) Dan Snyder put that Dream Team together? I was at the Giants (in 2000). I was a young coach. I thought, ‘How are we going to compete with them? Deion’s (Sanders) there now.’ That team won eight games or whatever. So, listen…just put the work in.”

Jets coach Robert Saleh responded by welcoming the “hate” and saying Payton was free to say “whatever the hell” he wanted.

“As far as what we have going on here, I kind of live by the saying, ‘If you ain’t got no haters, you ain’t popping.’ So hate away,” Saleh said.

“Obviously, we’re doing something right if you’ve got to talk about us when we don’t play you until [Week 5]. And I’m good with it, but the guys in our locker room, they’ve earned everything that’s coming to them. I’m really excited about what’s going on. I think Hackett is doing a phenomenal job here and the coaching staff is doing a phenomenal job. We’re focused on us. I get it. There’s a lot of external noise. There’s a lot of people hating on us. There’s a lot of people looking for us to fail. There’s a lot of crows pecking at our neck. All you can do is spread your wings and keep flying high until those crows fall off and suffocate from the inability to breathe.”

Payton addressed Saleh by saying he has “all the respect in the world” for him.

“I think the world of Robert. I know him. I don’t know Nathaniel. But at the right time. It certainly will bring more interest in the game when we play them, but that seems like years from now. But I’ll handle it the right way.”

The Broncos host the Jets on October 8.