Broncos LB sends message to Russell Wilson for Steelers tilt in Week 2

Denver Broncos fans will get a chance to air their feelings about Russell Wilson in Week 2. It’s a safe bet the TV cameras will be riveted by the inevitable non-handshake between Broncos head coach Sean Payton and Wilson when the Pittsburgh Steelers arrive at Mile High in Week 2.

It’s a given that the standard pleasantries are out of the question. For now, the Broncos locker room has turned the page on Wilson, but veteran linebacker Jonas Griffith recently said he wants to rub his former quarterback in the face.

“I’m really looking forward to it, obviously, for every match I get to play,” Griffith said The ride host Phillip Lindsay and Zach Bye on 104.3 The ventilator. “But you see you’re excited to go out there and—beat the Steelers. First of all, they’re a good organization. I definitely want to pick Russ. I think that would be really cool, just to pick him and get the win, first of all.”

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Payton will likely walk a fine line in how he approaches the lead-up to the Steelers throwdown. If the Broncos head coach puts too much emphasis on meting out atonement to Wilson, he risks overshadowing the importance of a crucial conference game early in the season.

It may be best to let things sit for a while when it comes to how former teammates feel about each other, especially if they get a chance to face each other again. Nothing is ever completely one-sided in emotionally charged situations, even if Griffith was pretty good-natured about intercepting Wilson.

Wilson also had his friends and backers in the Broncos locker room — including veteran wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who was perhaps his best ally. Yet Sutton is well aware of the reality of the game, a profession in which friends can be pitted against each other as opponents.

“That’s above my pay grade,” Sutton said earlier this month. “I know the guys upstairs — the people upstairs who are making these decisions — have a rhyme and a reason why they’re doing it. It’s not for us to understand, we probably never will. What I’ve come to understand with this business that we’re in, they’ll always say it’s all business, never personal, so we have to proceed accordingly.

In the modern age of social media interactions and post-game jersey-signing frivolities, NFL superstars tend to keep things cordial within their exclusive fraternity. Payton has a notable history of stoking fires to gain motivational benefits, dating back to 2009 and his alleged “Bountygate” imprint.

Perhaps the way Payton wielded the ax towards the dethroned Wilson and the way the front office tried to pull off an in-season contract restructure with their starting quarterback was more than enough bloodshed for the Broncos. So maybe Wilson should be the one feeling wronged and on a mission to prove a point.

However, if Wilson were to lose to Justin Fields in Pittsburgh’s training camp, that would put an end to any revenge talk. Still, the game would be fraught with criticism throughout the NFL, even if Wilson were relegated to holding a clipboard on the sidelines.

While Payton returns to play the Saints from New Orleans week 7 is more likely to be an unabashed lovefest, Wilson’s homecoming at the start of the season will be a little more titillating.

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