After finally breaking out of a mid-game malaise and orchestrating a third-quarter touchdown drive, Russell Wilson stalked the visiting sideline at Soldier Field last weekend and delivered a message to his offense.
“They already know we’re coming back,” the Broncos quarterback told his teammates as Chicago, then leading 28-14, mustered just five yards before punting.
The Bears already knew, and so did the Broncos.
Wilson went back to work, converting a trio of third downs capped by a 13-yard strike to Courtland Sutton for another touchdown.
The 12th-year quarterback had one more big play in him: a 47-yard field-flipper to Marvin Mims Jr. that set up a game-winning field goal from Wil Lutz.
Staring at an 0-4 start from the bottom of a 28-7 hole Sunday, Wilson had other ideas.
Where would Denver be without him this fall, besides likely winless? And who would have even considered that question around this time last year, when Wilson’s first season with the franchise went off the rails under the watch of former head coach Nathaniel Hackett?
Here we are, though, a quarter of the way through Sean Payton’s first season in charge, and Russ is revived. Or is at least trending that way.
Arrows up across the board.
Career norms restored or even exceeded.
Small sample size? Sure, there’s a lot of season left and the New York Jets bring the best defense the Broncos have faced yet to Empower Field on Sunday.
Even if the production levels off or a bumpy game is on the horizon, Payton’s already shown he could do at least one thing Hackett couldn’t: get Russell Wilson comfortable and playing at a high level.
The fact that it’s happened over a 1-3 start and the daunting parts of the schedule are still ahead introduces a more complicated question to consider: What if rebooting Russ was the easy part?
A fast(er) start
Wilson played to a 133.5 passer rating in the Broncos’ 31-28 win against the Bears, his best single-game mark since Week 1 of 2021 with Seattle.
Through four games, Wilson is tied with Buffalo’s Josh Allen for third in the NFL in passer rating (106.7). He’s fourth in expected points added per play, right between Allen and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes.
Heading into Week 5, Wilson’s thrown nine touchdowns (tied for third in the NFL) against two interceptions. In 2022, his ninth touchdown pass came in Week 14.
He’s thrown for 300-plus yards twice. He did it once last year, in Denver’s opener at Seattle.
He’s thrown three touchdowns twice so far this year. He did it twice last year and only once before Hackett was fired Dec. 26.
He’s been sacked one time each of the past two weeks and has a 7.6% sack rate overall. Last year, he was sacked multiple times every game he played and finished at 10.2%.
He’s turned eight of his 11 rushing attempts into first downs and is engineering an offense that’s averaging 25 points per game (10th in the NFL) so far after 15.5 under Hackett and 16.9 overall last year.
Whereas last year Wilson spent much of his time at the podium during weekly news conferences insisting there was good to be found among the wreckage, this year he’s consistently pointing out there’s meat still on the bone despite solid production.
“We’ve had some good starts in the past and this is a good one, too,” Wilson said. “Itap everybody. Itap everybody collectively doing their jobs. … There’s some really good things.”
He might not be lighting social media on fire or producing jaw-dropping throws, but he’s playing efficient football and appears to be getting more comfortable by the week in Payton’s system.
“I’d like to think so,” Payton said this week of the continued improvement. “I feel like on game day, man, he’s on point. He knows exactly, decision-wise, what we’re thinking. I can’t think of situations where I’m sitting there looking at the iPad — I look at the (still) pictures — and wondering why (he did what he did).
“He’s locked in. He’s playing well.”
“Coached extremely well”
Payton’s hiring sparked a second straight offseason of change for Broncos players. All the same, Wilson and a core group of Denver receivers plus center Lloyd Cushenberry are now in their second year working together.
They all say Wilson hasn’t changed in his work habits or relentlessly upbeat style. And yet, something is still different.
“He’s feeling comfortable and I feel like we’ve been doing a better job than we did in the past to keep him comfortable,” Cushenberry said. “Everyone knew the type of player that he was. He’s Russell Wilson. Itap been good to see him step back into what we know him as.”
He just never got to that point in 2022, in the pocket or in general, and it showed in his play. He finished with career lows in touchdown passes (16) and completion percentage (60.5), a career-high 55 sacks and just four wins in 15 starts. That’s to say nothing of the off-the-field gauntlet of criticism surrounding his personal staff’s access to the facility and barrage of cringe-inducing moments that turned his first year with the Broncos into a rough ride all around.
The early returns on streamlining across the board this year look promising.
Other factors mattered, too, from a cavalcade of injuries around him to his own calf, hamstring, concussion and shoulder issues. But coaching, clearly, has had an impact. Itap no secret Wilson has relished the chance to play for Payton for some time. His agent had New Orleans on the “don’t trade him but if you trade him here’s where he’d go” list for the Seahawks in 2021. He raved about Payton last year before the coaching search even started.
He’s not the type to disparage the work Hackett, Klint Kubiak and Justin Outten did last year, but the way Wilson describes the factors leading to success early this year says plenty.
“First of all, we’ve got great players making great plays,” he said this week. “Second, the line’s doing a tremendous job giving me enough time to make those plays and make those throws and get outside the pocket if itap not there. The third thing is we’re all working at it together. I think we’re coached extremely well here and we’re being taught exactly the detail. You guys are out here on Fridays. Coach Payton’s walking through every little detail and every single route and every single concept. We spend, I don’t know, 45 minutes just on walk-through, speed-through, reps in the red zone and then practice starts.
“We spend a lot of time on it, we’ve done some good things there, and we can be even better.”
Bigger questions at hand
Hackett dipped and dodged questions about Denver this week and flatly refused to answer ones about Payton’s inflammatory July comments. At one point, he was asked if he took any solace in the idea that, for as much as he drew criticism last year, many of the same problems appear to still exist with the Broncos.
“I haven’t really watched their offense,” he said. “I work primarily with the (Jets) offense.”
If he did watch, what he’d see is a unit that is far outperforming the one he orchestrated here but a roster and organization that features many of the same question marks.
Wilson’s playing better and the offense is scoring more. But they’ve still had procedural issues. Payton burned three timeouts against Washington and two more against Chicago after chiding Hackett during his introductory news conference and expressing bewilderment that the crowd had to count down the play clock during home games.
The Broncos went on a free agency spending spree this spring, but they still have a thin roster.
Their big swings in 2021 and 2022 free agency have mostly gone bust, with outside linebacker Randy Gregory’s ouster the latest.
They still haven’t developed or even drafted an offensive tackle since Garett Bolles in 2017.
They’re still among the NFL’s most penalized teams.
They have the league’s most expensive wide receiver room, and the group’s most productive player is a rookie.
They have an overhauled strength and conditioning program and yet another run of soft tissue injuries.
They have an All-Pro corner anchoring a defense thatap compromised by a front seven that hasn’t consistently produced pressure since Bradley Chubb was traded to Miami last year.
They have widely respected veterans like Kareem Jackson, Justin Simmons and Josey Jewell but a locker room thatap known essentially nothing beyond losing.
All of this might look familiar to the Jets offensive coordinator from the visiting sideline this weekend.
“We’re going to work our tail off and get this ship straightened away. Thatap going to happen,” Payton said recently, after his team lost by 50 to Miami. “There’s going to be a process involved in that. Certainly, there’s a lot of work ahead of us. The key is finding these guys, putting them in the right positions to be successful, and then that confidence that comes with winning. Thatap the main thing.”
If Payton has done what Hackett couldn’t and put Wilson back on a path of sustainable success, then, he still faces a series of questions that Hackett never even got to during his short time on the Front Range.
The kind that have shown up over the course of a 1-3 start.
The kind that just holding a first-round draft pick next spring for the first time since 2021 can’t alleviate.
The kind that Wilson’s play might help smooth, but are all the more difficult to solve given the draft capital and cap dollars spent to acquire and extend him.
The kind that together look far more daunting than a quarterback having a bad year.
Better at the quarter pole
The Broncos’ record may be worse than it was a year ago after four games under Nathaniel Hackett (2-2), but new Broncos head coach Sean Payton has Russell Wilson performing at a much higher level. In fact, three of Wilson’s top five games by passer rating with Denver have occurred with Payton calling the shots. Here’s how Wilson’s first four games compare between last season and this one:
| Category | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Completions | 80 | 89 |
| Attempts | 121 | 132 |
| Comp. % | 61.1 | 67.4 |
| Yards | 980 | 1,014 |
| Touchdowns | 4 | 9 |
| Interceptions | 1 | 2 |
| QB Rating | 91.1 | 106.7 |
Top five passer ratings by game in Denver
| Opponent | Date | Rating | Yards | TD-INT | Playcaller |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| at Chicago | Oct. 1, 2023 | 133.5 | 224 | 3-0 | Sean Payton |
| at Las Vegas | Oct. 4, 2022 | 124.9 | 237 | 2-0 | Nathaniel Hackett |
| L.A. Chargers | Jan. 7, 2023 | 118.6 | 283 | 3-1 | Justin Outten |
| Las Vegas | Sept. 10, 2023 | 108 | 177 | 2-0 | Payton |
| Washington | Sept. 17, 2023 | 107.3 | 308 | 3-1 | Payton |
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