Sean Payton likes where quarterback Russell Wilson is at after a week of training camp

We are a week into Denver Broncos training camp and the reports coming out of there about quarterback Russell Wilson have not been great. We have heard about him missing open receivers, his deep accuracy not being there, and all about the interceptions he has been throwing. Despite that, head coach Sean Payton does not seem concerned about his quarterback’s apparent struggles throughout camp thus far.

Today after practice, Payton was asked about his evaluation of Wilson after a week of practices. The Broncos head coach said that he thinks he is doing well and that he likes where he is at currently.

“I think he’s doing well. I like what I’ve seen. I said it yesterday. There are times when you’re not seeing a clean picture and he’s scrambling. In a game-type mode, though, where we’re running the ball more and with the installations that we’re doing—I think he’s doing well. I like where he’s at.”

Again, Payton mentioned that the offense is currently installing plays and that we are not getting a clean picture of what is going on in the practice field. So, the results, while they may not look good to outsiders, are currently not a big deal to Payton. Yesterday, when asked about Wilson’s interceptions, Payton said: “Yeah, no big whoop. He’s doing fine.”..

Payton mentioned that they are calling plays that really do not match up well against the defense and ones that they probably would not run against the Broncos' defense if they were playing them. He once again hammered home the fact that they are in the installation phase of camp and from there, he and the team are learning what things they are doing well and what things they are not doing well.

“We are in an installation pattern, so as we install, we continue to see—sometimes, we are putting a play in, and it doesn’t really match. We may not run it if we were playing Denver’s defense, but it is in the installation schedule. Throughout this training camp and preseason, you begin to see some things that we are doing well. There are a few things that maybe you don’t feel as comfortable about.”

I understand both sides of the argument. We saw Russell Wilson come off a lackluster training camp last season but his struggles were mostly ignored because of a first-time head coach and the fact he was learning a new offense. Unfortunately, those struggles continued throughout the season and the offense was awful. Now, we are seeing him struggle once again and some are starting to get concerned.

On the flip side, it is just August 3rd. The Broncos do not play a meaningful game until they host the Las Vegas Raiders on September 10th. Between then and now, the Broncos still have plenty of training camp practices to go, a scrimmage with the Rams, and three preseason games to figure things out. It’s still early and this time, we have an offensive genius running the team in Sean Payton. He is most likely going to figure out what works and make the Broncos very good at those things and call plays that fit their strengths.

So while some, myself included, are concerned about Wilson’s training camp performance thus far, Sean Payton is not among them(at least publicly). So, at the end of the day, we need to have trust and faith in the offensive guru the Broncos are paying millions of dollars each year to coach this team and fix their offense.

In Sean Payton we trust.