Sean Payton chooses to downplay Russell Wilson’s rough practice

Denver Broncos QB Russell Wilson had a rough practice at training camp on Wednesday.

Wilson threw two interceptions, one to Justin Simmons and another to K’Waun Williams. It’s the third straight practice Simmons has picked off Wilson.

He had yet another pass batted down at the line of scrimmage, as Wilson is good for at least one of those a practice. He was late getting the ball to Courtland Sutton on a drill that could’ve resulted in a touchdown and the red zone period was tough.

Wilson tried to put one in tight to Sutton and Simmons broke it up. He then missed a wide open Jerry Jeudy who would’ve easily scored in the corner. The ball tipped the top of Jeudy’s hands, but a good pass would’ve meant a TD. Wilson then proceeded to throw the interception to Williams on the next play.

Wilson didn’t throw a touchdown pass all day in team drills. For a practice that went for more than two hours, that’s tough to do.

But after practice, head coach Sean Payton had his QB’s back after Wilson’s worst day of camp.

“Yeah, no big whoop. He’s doing fine,” Payton said.

Payton went on to explain the Broncos are still “installing” their offense and might not normally run some of these plays against the Denver defense. It’s a nice excuse, but there’s no sugarcoating Wilson had a brutal day.

And even though Payton did heap praise on Wilson on Tuesday, his answer was noticeably shorter today. Still, he didn’t throw the quarterback under the bus and that’s a good sign.

It’d be an odd strategy, but we’ve seen Payton say some things already that he immediately regretted.

Today won’t grab as many headlines, but there’s no way to slice it that Wilson’s performance was concerning — regardless of what Payton says.

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