ENGLEWOOD, Colo — At first when Russell Wilson was asked about getting yelled at by his head coach Sean Payton in front of everyone and the football gods Saturday night, he was coy as usual.
“Yeah, we’ve definitely talked about the game plan for this week,’’ Wilson said when asked if he had talked to the coach about the scolding. “We’re excited. We’re excited to play football. I think the biggest thing is we’re focused on beating New England and playing a good game against them. Obviously this game matters. That’s really where our head is.”
Wilson then turned humorous when asked about how the coach’s directed anger at him went viral.
“I don’t really try to pay attention to it, to be honest with you. I was there,’’ he said before smiling with a comedic timing.
He then turned serious.
“I think we both wanted to score a touchdown there. … We believed we were going to make it 28-14. So that’s really where all the frustration was that we didn’t get to make it 28-14 there in that situation.”
It seems pretty simple for the Broncos. After losing to the Lions 42-17 in Detroit on Saturday, the Broncos returned to practice Wednesday with a 7-7 record. If they win their final three games against 3-11 New England and the 5-9 Chargers at Empower Field at Mile High, then beat the 6-8 Raiders in the season finale at Las Vegas, the Broncos should have better than a 50-50 chance to make the AFC playoffs as a wild card with a 10-7 record. If they lose one of these next three games, a crowded field of wildcard hopefuls means the Broncos probably won’t make the playoffs.
So it's win out or bust.
“I think it felt like that for the past however many weeks, 10 weeks it feels like, when we were 1-5,’’ Wilson said. “When we were 1-5 everybody said we were out of it. We’re sitting here at 7-7 and people think we’re out of it. I don’t believe so. We’ve got some good football to play. We haven’t played our best game yet as a collective team.’’
If it snows on Sunday night -- and our dependable 9NEWS weather team says most of the snow is pregame with light snow during it -- so be it, says Russ.
“Snow’s not really a factor, really,’’ Wilson said. “It’s always wind more than anything else. That’s the hardest thing, when it’s super windy. Hopefully Christmas Eve it snows a little bit and we have some fun.’’
This is a man who can take a scolding from the coach and still look forward. To the Patriots. To a playoff game. To a white Christmas Eve night.
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