Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson is having a bounce-back season under new head coach Sean Payton. The 34-year-old quarterback ranks fifth in touchdown passes (16) and he has the fifth-best passer rating (101.7) halfway through the 2023 campaign.
“Those numbers are all good,” Payton said Monday. “The most important thing is how we’re playing as a team and how we’re playing as an offense. The No. 1 job is to get us in the endzone. The things we’ve seen that I’ve been encouraged with are the off-schedule plays. He does a great job of working the pocket, climbing the pocket. He made a really good throw to [Jerry] Jeudy last week doing that — Courtland [Sutton] the same way.”
Overall, Wilson has looked much better than last year, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.
“[C]ontinuing to look at reducing the turnovers, managing the game the right way and understanding who we’re playing and how we’re playing it — all of those things,” Payton said. “That transition for him so far — he’s in his third offense now in three years. Every day he’s working at it and working his tail off at it. I would say, to answer your question, there are a lot of things that we’ve been impressed with and that he’s doing very well. There are some things that, obviously, he wants to improve on, and collectively, that we want to [improve on] offensively.”
One of the biggest areas with room for improvement is turnovers, as Payton mentioned. Wilson has thrown four interceptions this season and he has fumbled four times. Wilson has also held the ball too long. He has been sacked 26 times this year, putting Wilson on pace to be sacked 55 times this season, which would tie his career high set in 2022.
So, there’s more work to be done. Wilson has made improvement from last year, though, and if that trend continues, the veteran quarterback could help the Broncos get back into the playoff hunt this season.
