Russell Wilson went back into the history books in firing back at Sean Payton for insulting comments that the Denver Broncos head coach made about him after Payton’s Broncos beat Wilson’s Giants on Sunday.
Following the Broncos’ insane comeback in a 33-32 victory over the Giants, in which New York allowed all 33 of those points in the fourth quarter as Denver erased a huge deficit, Payton couldn’t resist a huge dig at Wilson. The head coach and quarterback spent 1 unsuccessful season together in Denver in 2023, which turned out to be Wilson’s final season there.
Payton knows all too well that former Ole Miss star quarterback Jaxson Dart replaced Wilson as the Giants’ starter and has given New York a serious spark. Wilson was benched by the Giants just like he was benched by Payton with the Broncos in 2023 and, well, even after getting the better of the Giants last Sunday, Payton couldn’t resist throwing another punch their way. Specifically, the punch was aimed at Wilson, who was an innocent bystander of the Giants’ collapse, with Dart being the starter now.
After the game, Payton revealed that he told Giants owner John Mara that he hoped the team wouldn’t switch from Wilson to Dart until after Denver and New York played their Week 7 game. In other words, Payton would’ve rather faced Wilson than Dart.
Well, Wilson wasn’t having anything of it. So, he fired his own salvo back toward his former coach’s way. And in that response on his social media account, Wilson went a little further, mentioning the “Bountygate” scandal that Payton was wrapped up in during his years in New Orleans. Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season for his role in the scandal, becoming the first head coach in modern NFL history to be suspended for anything.
The scandal involved rewarding Saints players for deliberately attempting to knock opposing players out of games, and Wilson had his own vicious post ready for Payton on Tuesday afternoon in which he called Payton “classless”.
Here is the full, shocking post from the normally mild-mannered Wilson:
It will be interesting to see if this back-and-forth between a coach and player with no love for each other has any staying power. Clearly, neither party has forgotten that 2023 season in Denver, and Wilson hasn’t forgotten about Payton’s ugly past in New Orleans.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
