Russell Wilson’s Horrible Preseason Debut Under Sean Payton Prompts Colin Cowherd to Pour Cold Water on the Broncos

The regular season is about to begin in a few weeks but the Denver Broncos are already drawing concerning comments from everyone. Russell Wilson, in his appearance at the first preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals, did not prove to be worth the hype created by the new head coach Sean Payton and analyst Colin Cowherd wasn’t going to stay silent on that.

After Broncos’ failure against the Cardinals, it was certain that Wilson and Payton will pick up flak. Even though the team only fell short of a couple of points to register a win, overall, things just didn’t look good for Denver. Russell Wilson was still seen struggling with the given O-line and it was apparent to Cowherd that this won’t suffice in the regular season.

Colin Cowherd Pulled Back No Punches on Russell Wilson and Sean Payton’s First Matchup

Colin Cowherd was certainly not impressed with the display of the lackluster Denver Broncos. Cowherd feels that the Broncos still have a lot to improve and it will be a long ride for coach Payton to make it happen. “They got a lot of work to do it’s not necessarily coming together on a lot of those drives,” Cowherd said mentioning that the Broncos played a second-third-team Cardinals defense which is very average, yet the Broncos’ QB1 struggled against them.

“He’s got three things to rebuild,” Cowherd added, addressing HC Sean Payton. “Russell Wilson’s game and confidence… the second thing, is he has to rebuild is the culture which he’s talked about that publicly, it was a mess in the building, and number three he’s got to build the offensive line and it was shockingly bad.”

Cowherd specifically mentioned that Russell Wilson played well until he was put in pressurized situations due to the leaky O-line. Most of all, it was the division competitors of the Broncos that made Cowherd doubtful. With AFC West being one of the most competitive divisions in the league, Colin believes the Broncos will find it even tougher to go against the Chiefs or the Chargers.

Emmanuel Acho Believes Wilson Will Strike Back

Despite all the criticism and mockery of Russell Wilson’s revenge tour starting with a loss, FS1’s Emmanuel Acho feels confident in Russell Wilson. He even took to Twitter to show why. Acho showed two plays from the Broncos preseason game. Both of them had the same defensive formation from the Cardinals. However, the emphasis was on Russell Wilson’s reaction to it.

Two plays.

These two plays will give you reason to believe in Sean Payton and Russell Wilson this year. #AchoAnswers #BroncosCountry @MileHighReport @PostBroncos pic.twitter.com/vXSkPZFABc

— Emmanuel Acho (@EmmanuelAcho) August 12, 2023

In the first play, Wilson got thrown in the ground with an incomplete pass, however, the second time he saw the same formation, he improvised and threw a touchdown. This shows that the veteran QB has the urge to constantly work on improving himself. Moreover, Russell’s experience has surely paid dividends in the past. However, as Cowherd said, currently, it’s up to the O-line to dictate the QB’s game.