Russell Wilson's surprising reaction to Sean Payton's comment is borderline classless

Russell Wilson finally stopped taking the high road. Once well-known for his religious references and refusal to engage in any back and forth with any naysayers, Wilson decided to take the gloves off to clap back at a prominent detractor after a game he didn't even start in.

If you couldn't figure out who Wilson was flaming in that tweet from the context clues, he was going after Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton — his former boss.

Payton seemingly took a shot at Wilson in his postgame press conference on Sunday, all while attempting to compliment Giants rookie starting QB Jaxson Dart who nearly engineered a wicked game-winning drive in Sunday's heartbreaking 33-32 loss at Mile High.

"They found a little spark with that quarterback [in Dart]. I was talking to [Giants owner] John Mara not too long ago and I said, 'We were hoping that that [QB] change would've happened long after our game,'" he told reporters.

Wilson and many others took that comment as a jab at Wilson's poor play to start the year, which led to Giants head coach Brian Daboll benching him for Dart after just three weeks. So, Wilson took a shot at Payton's "Bounty-gate" controversy which saw him miss the entire 2012 season under suspension for his role.

Russell Wilson's response to Sean Payton may have hurt his character more than it should've his former boss

While Wilson was well within his right to speak his mind, especially after all the reported crap he went through as Broncos QB under Payton, he may have actually hurt his own image needlessly.

Everyone already had their own thoughts on Payton's words and whatever the undertone may have been, but Wilson decided to hide behind his keyboard to respond. Now we're all talking about this rather than Wilson being a mature mentor figure for Dart in the twilight of his career.

On top of that, Wilson didn't necessarily back up his former Super Bowl champion aura with his play to start this season — let alone his time in Denver. In the last three seasons, his QBR topped 50.0 just once (2023), and he also hasn't accrued a rating over 100.0 since 2021, something he had only failed to do three times in the previous 10 seasons. Wilson hasn't exactly walked the walk to make his talk stick as much as he'd probably like.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad someone finally put Payton in his place rather than letting him say whatever he wants. But to see Wilson be the one to stoop to his level is slightly disappointing. It's not a great example to set with how disastrous and ugly the internet has already gotten.

But I won't lie, the "Bounty-gate" reference was pretty fire.