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ESPN host Scott Van Pelt admits he regrets being a 'd***' to Russell Wilson on social media last weekend, describing his viral post about the struggling New York Giants quarterback as 'mean.'
After Jaxson Dart was taken out with a concussion, Wilson, 36, replaced the 22-year-old rookie in the fourth quarter of Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears for his first substantial minutes since getting benched for him earlier in the season.
Yet once again the former Super Bowl winner failed to impress when called upon, completing three of his seven passes for just 45 yards as the Giants threw away a 10-point lead in the final four minutes to lose 24-20.
During his latest below-par display, Van Pelt took to X to brutally dub Wilson 'Mr. Limited' - a savage reference to the famous 'Mr. Unlimited' alter ego he unveiled back in 2018.
The sportscaster's dig quickly backfired, with a number of Wilson fans leaping to his defense by subjecting him to abuse on the platform.
And on the latest episode of his SVPod podcast with Steve Coughlin, Van Pelt conceded: 'During the Giant game, at the end of it, I sent out a tweet about Russell Wilson, I said, "Mr. Limited." That was mean.
ESPN host Scott Van Pelt admits he regrets being a 'd***' to Russell Wilson on social media
Van Pelt trolled Wilson over his old 'Mr. Unlimited' alter ego amid his New York Giants struggles
'Don’t do sh*t like that. I don’t send out snarky tweets. That was small. We shouldn’t do that. That’s not the way to act. Don’t be a d*** on Twitter and that’s what that was.'
'But it was fascinating to find out there is a Russell hive out there that came for my head and told me I was a bald b****,' he continued. 'But it was just wild that this group activated out of nowhere… it was just wild to see. It seems like bot-activated activity.
'I don’t know how that works, but it was fascinating to find out that there were folks that were ready to come for my head as if the last four years of Russell Wilson is all a made-up thing.
'Sending out that tweet, that’s just small and dumb, and I don’t aspire to do small dumb things.'
Despite his current difficulties, Wilson expressed no desire to part ways with the Giants this week after again losing out on the starting quarterback role.
After he replaced Dart in the fourth quarter at Chicago while up 17-10, and the Bears went on to win 24-20 to drop New York to 2-8, coach Brian Daboll was fired the following day and offensive coordinator Mike Kafka took over as the interim replacement.
Kafka's first move was to pick Jameis Winston, a 31-year-old journeyman, as the team's starting quarterback while Dart is in concussion protocol over Wilson.
Wilson is now third choice in New York after his poor outing against Chicago Bears on Sunday
'I love it here; I love my teammates,' the ex-Seahawks and Broncos star said Wednesday after Winston took over as the starter. 'I want to see it through. I haven´t asked for a release or anything like that. I want to be here.'
More than a decade removed since helping Seattle win the Super Bowl, Wilson seems to be at another crossroads of contemplating his football future. He turns 37 on November 29 and does not have an NFL contract beyond this season after signing a one-year deal in March.
That does not mean Wilson sounds ready to hang up his cleats, saying he feels like he's 'still got it.'
'I still want to keep playing football,' Wilson said. 'I know what I´m capable of. I know how great I am. I know what I've done.'
