Sean Payton's response to Russell Wilson is exactly what you would expect

Denver Broncos HC Sean Payton
Denver Broncos HC Sean Payton | Justin Edmonds/GettyImages

Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton made a statement after the team's win against the New York Giants that he would have preferred the Giants debuted quarterback Jaxson Dart long after they played the Broncos.

The implication everybody drew from that was that Payton would have rather played Russell Wilson. And among "everybody" was Russell Wilson himself, who broke character and clapped back at Sean Payton, calling him "classless" and bringing up the Bountygate scandal from his time with the Saints.

It was a shocking turn of events for Wilson to say anything at all, but what wasn't shocking was the way Payton answered a question about it when the media brought it up.

Broncos HC Sean Payton claims he wasn't talking about Russell Wilson with Jaxson Dart comments

Frankly, that is somewhat hard to believe, but I suppose you have to take the head coach at his word there.

He added: "And I might be able to see how he might perceive that..."

Yes, you can certainly see how Wilson might perceive that those comments were about him. There are even many Broncos fans applauding Wilson for snapping back at Payton, which might be exactly the dose of his own medicine that Payton needs.

Payton seems to have very strict guidelines about what his players can and cannot say on social media, as we have seen recently with a variety of deleted posts on Twitter/X by Nik Bonitto. Yet those same guidelines do not seem to match up with the guidelines he's set for himself when he's telling members of the media that Bo Nix is going to be a top-5 quarterback, or that this is one of the six or seven teams he's felt has the best chance to win a Super Bowl.

Or the fact that he was hopeful to not have to face Dart this season.

Payton has to be better about the things he is saying as opposed to worrying about every single Twitter post that goes out from one of his players. You love to see the head coach have confidence in his team. The messages he was sending in the offseason are only frustrating if the product on the field doesn't match up.

It's one thing to have confidence in your guys. It's another thing to say your QB is going to be a top-5 player, and you don't let him cut loose until the 4th quarter of games. Or that this is a Super Bowl-caliber team, and you are one of the worst teams in the NFL in terms of penalties.

I think we can come a little short of calling this "hypocrisy" on Payton's part, but definitely a small, necessary slice of humble pie.

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