Nathaniel Hackett clearly wants no part of the spotlight this week as the New York Jets prepare to play the Denver Broncos in Week 5. Specifically, that means Hackett doesn’t want to discuss any bad blood between him and Sean Payton.

The Jets offensive coordinator and former Broncos coach made that very clear when he spoke with reporters on Thursday.

Pressed about Payton’s derogatory comments regarding the job Hackett did as his predecessor in Denver last season, Hackett refused to take the bait.

“This game is about those guys on the field. It’s not about me,” Hackett said. “Gotta go win a football game.”

Hackett answered “no” when asked if he’d heard from Payton since the current Broncos coach said this summer that Hackett delivered “one of the worst coaching jobs in the history of the NFL” last season. Denver fired Hackett 15 games into his first season as coach with the team posting a 4-11 record and quarterback Russell Wilson having the worst season of his NFL career.

Payton said the next day he’d made a “mistake” and planned to apologize to Hackett and Jets coach Robert Saleh. Apparently, he never reached out to either coach, adding a juicy sublot to the game Sunday that features a pair of 1-3 teams.

When asked Thursday if he believes Payton regrets what he said, Hackett replied, “I don’t know. Ask him.”

Nathaniel Hackett, Jets look for big win in Denver against Broncos

The Jets rallied behind their OC at the time and likely will have Payton’s comments on their bulletin board this week. Injured Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who’s extremely close with Hackett from their days together with the Green Bay Packers, was particularly angry with Payton. Saleh was none too pleased either, though he’s downplayed that angle ahead of this week’s game.

Submarined by a torn Achilles sustained by Rodgers in Week 1, the Jets offense is last in the league under Hackett averaging 252.8 yards per game. They are tied for 25th in the league averaging 15.5 points per game.

Zach Wilson and the offense came alive in a controversial 23-20 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs last week. Hackett said he “hopes” the 24-year-old quarterback continues to turn a corner this week against the Broncos defense, which is last in the NFL.