Coach class: Sean Payton resets Russell
By pinning the blame on Nathaniel Hackett, Denver's new coach is letting Russell Wilson off the hook for last season but putting him on the hot seat for this one.
Sean Payton announced his return to the NFL in an amusingly overstated fashion, ripping his predecessor, Nathaniel Hackett, and the New York Jets during an interview with USA Today. Payton also expressed disbelief that Russell Wilson’s support staff had been given open access to the Broncos facility last season.
This was enjoyable for a number of reasons, the foremost being that I like it when football coaches get catty. They don’t do it nearly enough for my tastes to be honest with you, and it’s fun to have a guy with Payton’s ego back at a podium.
Mitch Unfiltered, E 247.p
I also think it’s calculated, and the fact Payton did not do this during one of his press conferences tells me this was calculated. He wanted people to make waves, but he didn’t want to make a video clip that would replayed incessantly so he made these statements during a one-on-one interview with a print reporter.
What he accomplished is worth noting, too: He placed the attention on himself. He’s the story as Denver begins its training camp, not Russell Wilson and whether he can escape the shadow of last season.
In fact, Payton’s priority seemed to be diluting the blame that was being placed on Wilson for a season in which the quarterback had a career-low in touchdown passes (16) and passer rating (84.4) and was sacked a career-high 55 times.
As for the access the team provided to Wilson’s support staff? Payton didn’t begrudge Wilson for asking, but certainly blamed the team for granting permission.
Payton is doing absolutely everything he can to give Wilson a clean slate in Denver, which is the right move from a coaching perspective. Payton is creating a scenario that is most conducive to a bounce-back season for Wilson by portraying last season’s results as a product of circumstance as opposed to Wilson’s declining ability.
You know what? Payton might be right. It might be that Wilson played for a uniquely unqualified head coach in Nathaniel Hackett. However, it could also be that Wilson was placed at the helm of the exact kind of pass-first offense he wanted and wasn’t able to make the quick-trigger decisions that are necessary for that kind of offense to work. Or maybe age has pulled Wilson out of his prime and into the downside of a playing career. Or maybe Wilson was more injured than anyone realized.
Honestly, all four of those factors probably played some sort of role in what happened, and Payton may truly believe that the biggest factor was the previous coach. But even if Payton didn’t think that was the case, blaming Hackett is probably still the best tactic. He’s gone, after all, which should help restore Wilson’s confidence that he’s still capable of playing at a high level.
But I can tell you one thing, if Wilson’s play doesn’t improve in 2023, Payton is not going to blame the coaching this time around.