The comeback we all witnessed by the Denver Broncos may go down as one of the greatest single comebacks in NFL history. But after the game, Sean Payton took a little dig at Russell Wilson, and the comeback Wilson just fired on social media might rival what we all witnessed on the field.
Payton essentially stated that he was hopeful the Giants would wait to play rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart until after they came to Denver. Essentially, without saying it, he said that Russell Wilson would have been a more favorable opponent.
Wilson did not like that, and he not only broke character with his response, but he took a deep dig at Sean Payton directly.
Russell Wilson fires back at Broncos head coach Sean Payton in most shocking way possible
Classless… but not surprised….
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) October 21, 2025
Didn’t realize you’re still bounty hunting 15+ years later through the media. 😎😂 #LetsRide 🤣
Even though Wilson's time in Denver was brief, this was the type of authenticity many fans felt was missing from him. So many people -- players, coaches, media, fans -- said so many different things about Wilson after he was traded by the Seattle Seahawks. It was tough to stomach, even not being in Wilson's close circle.
He was taking shot after shot, week after week, and we never once saw him break character like this. Wilson was always extremely positive, overly so in most instances, borderline ignoring the reality of the situation he was in. Which, at the time, was quarterbacking the worst Denver Broncos team many of us can even remember watching.
Apparently, this was the straw that broke the camel's back. Payton's comments after the game about his preference to not face Jaxson Dart (implying he'd rather have faced Wilson) set Wilson off, and he dug deep for his clapback.
Wilson called Sean Payton "classless" and brought up Bountygate, something that got Sean Payton suspended by the NFL for an entire year.
He closed it out with "#LetsRide" which is absolutely diabolical, because that phrase will forever live in infamy for all of Broncos Country.
There's no right way to feel about Wilson firing back at Sean Payton, if you ask me. There are a lot of fans out there who responded to Wilson on Twitter/X with their commentary of how he "stole" money from the organization, or how he was trying to throw Sean Payton under the bus by leaking things to media members about Payton during the 2023 season that painted himself in a positive light, but Payton in a negative one.
The feud between Payton and Russ reached a boiling point when Wilson was benched in favor of Jarrett Stidham near the end of the 2023 season. That was an embarrassment for Wilson, who has a Hall of Fame résumé and is one of the great quarterbacks of the last 15 years in the NFL.
And the messiness was only beginning at that point. The Broncos' decision to release Wilson was an organization-wide move, and we know this because ownership had to sign off on releasing a player who would incur the largest single dead money hit of any player in NFL history.
Not only was Russ embarrassed by Payton for his play on the field, but the Broncos embarrassed him off of it. And from Broncos Country's perspective, Russell Wilson is a major reason why the Broncos were the laughing stock of the league in 2022. He's a major reason why Patrick Star was dissing the team on Christmas Day against the Rams.
The Russell Wilson era in Denver is filled with bad memories, but this chapter in the saga -- even with Russ being a member of the Giants -- will go down as one of the most memorable of them all.