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Broncos’ Sean Payton Calls Out Everyone Involved in Russell Wilson’s Struggles Last Season

The new Denver coach believes his veteran quarterback still has plenty left in the tank.
Broncos’ Sean Payton Calls Out Everyone Involved in Russell Wilson’s Struggles Last Season
Broncos’ Sean Payton Calls Out Everyone Involved in Russell Wilson’s Struggles Last Season

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It’s no secret that Russell Wilson’s first season with the Broncos was disastrous.

His coach, Nathaniel Hackett, proved to be in way over his head in his first head coaching job, while Wilson and the offense struggled to gel and consistently put a competent product on the field.

The end result was a 5–12 record and Wilson putting up some of the worst stats of his career. In 15 games, Wilson completed a career-low 60.5% of his throws for 3,524 yards and 16 touchdowns to 11 interceptions.

New coach Sean Payton believes that Wilson’s down year was a result of incompetent coaching, and that his quarterback has plenty left in the tank.

“Oh man, there’s so much dirt around that,” Payton said of the team’s struggles. “There’s 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms. The offense … I don’t know Hackett. A lot of people had dirt on their hands. It wasn’t just Russell. He didn’t just flip. He still has it. This B.S. that he hit a wall? Shoot, they couldn’t get a play in. They were 29th in the league in pre-snap penalties on both sides of the ball.”

It sounds like Wilson is in a much better situation heading into the 2023 season, and it’s just a matter of time until we find out just how much he has left in the tank.


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Mike McDaniel
MIKE MCDANIEL

Mike McDaniel is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where he has worked since January 2022. His work has been featured at InsideTheACC.com, SB Nation, FanSided and more. McDaniel hosts the Hokie Hangover Podcast, covering Virginia Tech athletics, as well as Basketball Conference: The ACC Football Podcast. Outside of work, he is a husband and father, and an avid golfer.

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