The Broncos do a great job, as plenty of teams (but not all of them) do when it comes to sending out transcripts of the press conferences that happen throughout the week. The most recent wave of transcripts from the Broncos included a significant comment from coach Nathaniel Hackett about the quarterback position.
Asked whether he’d consider making a change at quarterback if he thought it would give the team a better chance to win, Hackett said, “Right now, no.”
That’s what made it to the transcript, which was distributed by the team at 9:04 p.m. ET on Wednesday night -- hours after the press conference ended.
What didn’t make it to the transcript is the fact that Hackett instantly realized the potential import of what he said. Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Hackett reached out to Mike Klis of 9News.com to clarify the situation.
“He initially said ‘Right now, no’ to question whether he would consider making QB chang[e],” Klis tweeted. “Hackett strongly clarified he’s not changing QBs: ‘Not even a thought. Not even a question. Russ is our quarterback.’ He said he F’d up.’”
So here’s the question. Should Hackett have just let the comment stand instead of trying to preemptively conduct a cleanup on aisle five? The Klis tweet wasn’t noticed as widely as the comment in the transcript of the press conference.
To their credit, the Broncos didn’t scrub the remark from the press conference. They also didn’t add a P.S. with the Klis tweet.
Still, the question becomes whether Hackett should have mobilized to try to put the toothpaste back in the tube, or whether he should have just owned his words.
Who would fault him for not guaranteeing that Wilson will start every game for the rest of the year? It’s a reasonable position, given the manner in which Wilson has performed.
Here’s the most important question. Did Hackett accidentally say something he didn’t mean, or did he accidentally tell the truth? If I were betting on one or there other, I’d take the latter.
