During the waning moments of the third quarter Saturday night in Detroit, broadcast cameras captured Broncos head coach Sean Payton yelling at quarterback Russell Wilson on the sideline.
The Broncos had settled for a field goal after falling inches shy of a touchdown on back-to-back plays and having the play nullified by an offensive offsides penalty when they finally did get into the endzone.
Payton was asked about the fiery exchange after the game. He didn’t give much of an answer.
“I was mad about the [offsides] call. That’s it,” Payton said
He was pressed further as to why being upset about the call caused him to yell at Wilson.
“What I talk with Russell about is none of your business,” Payton said.
Sean Payton was livid and chewed out Russell Wilson on the sidelinepic.twitter.com/3NY1C8ptTP
— MileHighReport (@MileHighReport) December 17, 2023
Wilson, for his part, gave no insight about the heated moment.
“Everybody wants to score right there,” he said. “You want a coach whose passionate, and players who are too. [...] We didn’t get the touchdown there. That’s the only frustrating part about [that moment].”
Both plays that preceded the offsides penalty – a pass to Jaleel McLaughlin and a rush by Javonte Williams – were excruciatingly close to touchdowns for Denver. Payton was asked why he didn’t challenge either (and a leading theory about the outburst aimed at Wilson was that Payton may have been upset that Wilson didn’t give the coaching staff enough time to do exactly that).
“When you start to challenge spots, it becomes difficult,” he said, adding that “the frustrating part of the sequence was the next run [on which the offsides penalty nullified a score].”
A reporter asked Wilson if he thinks Payton still has faith in him.
"Of course," Wilson said.
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