It turns out Sean Payton wasn’t taking a shot at Russell Wilson after all, at least according to the Denver Broncos head coach.
Payton walked back his postgame comments, which the New York Giants backup QB perceived as a slight at him, after Broncos practice Wednesday.
Payton was Wilson’s head coach for the 2023 season in Denver, after the Broncos acquired him from the Seattle Seahawks and gave him a five-year, $245 million contract in early 2022.
Wilson played 30 games but was benched during the 2023 season for Jarrett Stidham then was released — Denver spent a first-round pick on its current quarterback Bo Nix in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Wilson, of course, started the first three games for the Giants but did not win a game and has again been unseated by a rookie QB, Jaxson Dart.
Dart earned high praise from Payton during his postgame press conference — after the Broncos rallied by scoring 33 fourth-quarter points in their one-point win over the Giants at Empower Field at Mile High on Sunday.
Sean Payton’s Comments Were ‘Strictly About’ Jaxson Dart
Given the way things ended between Payton and Wilson, and the way the coach’s comments were laid out, the whole world could see what Payton was trying to say about his now-former QB.
“They found a little spark with that quarterback,” Payton said after the Giants’ 33-32 loss. “I was talking to John Mara not too long ago, and I said we were hoping that change would’ve happened long after our game.”
Wilson called the comments “classless” and accused Payton of “bounty hunting in the media” — a reference to Payton’s actions of putting a bounty on opposing players’ heads as New Orleans Saints coach that landed him a year-long suspension from the NFL in 2012.
Yet, Payton said he did not intend to do so and even could understand why Wilson would have read his comments in that way.
“In the euphoria, the way that game unfolded, that was strictly about Dart,” Payton said Wednesday. “That was in no way, shape or form anything that was directed at Russ, and I might be able to see how he might perceive that. Coming off that win and watching how [Dart] played, that wasn’t any intention at all.”
Russell Wilson and Sean Payton Have A Tenuous Relationship
Payton studied under Bill Parcells, who as Giants fans of a certain age know is famously old school, especially in his treatment of quarterbacks.
Payton, of course, was the Giants offensive coordinator early in his career — he fulfilled that role when they represented the NFC in Super Bowl XXXV. So Payton’s post-game comments were made in the spirit of him celebrating his long-time employee.
“I have a ton of respect for [the Giants] organization,” Payton said after the game. “I spent four of my early years there coordinating a Super Bowl, first game in this stadium before 9/11, close with the Mara and Tisch family.”
Yet, Wilson was sacked by Payton and has long held a grudge against his former boss — presumably for how he was treated during their one year together. Though it’s safe to assume the majority of Giants fans have more of a soft spot for Payton than Wilson at this point.
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