Russell Wilson

Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson placed blame for Denver's 12-9 overtime loss Thursday night the only place he could: on his own shoulders.

I'm looking forward to the adversity of it all, the negativity of it all, and everything else because [I] just use that for fuel and opportunity. I'm looking forward to the challenge of it all. "I'm looking forward to turning it around," Wilson said. [With] how great the defense is doing, if we can to turn it around on offense -- how quickly we can turn it around on offense. We have to be able to get that first down -- whatever it is. We just have to keep battling and keep believing." I believe in what I can do. I have to be able to hit it [throws]. At the end of the day, I have to be better. On Thursday, he trusted Wilson to make plays, and the QB came up short. I believe in what we can do. Then just ahead of the two-minute warning on a third-and-4 from the 13-yard-line, leading by three points, the Broncos inexplicably called a pass play that Wilson forced to [Tyrie Cleveland](https://www.nfl.com/players/tyrie-cleveland/) that was picked off by [Stephon Gilmore](https://www.nfl.com/players/stephon-gilmore/), giving the Colts a chance to force overtime.

For years now, Wilson has been viewed as a victim of the system on the Seahawks. But a horrid start with the Broncos has us rethinking the blame game.

But we are going to start broadening the narrative beyond “his coach is bad” and wondering whether the push to get him in Denver was spearheaded by some of the same smoke and mirrors that led us to this place of utter disappointment Thursday. It was easier to believe an old-school septuagenarian was holding Wilson back than to believe Wilson may have had some limitations as a player that were actually covered up well schematically and buoyed by all of the “lifeline” maneuvers the Seahawks made, seemingly to pacify him, like the acquisition of Duane Brown and the hiring of Shane Waldron from the Sean McVay tree. That is unforgivable for a veteran quarterback with a decade of experience and perhaps telling as to why his coach may have been favoring long field goals during critical situations in the first place. On his attempt at a game-winning touchdown throw on Thursday, he had ample time to sit in the pocket and ignore an open receiver to his right, while locking on the receiver who was being guarded by one of the craftiest veteran cornerbacks in football ( [Stefon Gilmore, who had picked off Wilson in the red zone just minutes beforehand](https://www.nfl.com/videos/stephon-gilmore-s-end-zone-int-of-russell-wilson-draws-continued-boos-from-bronc)). [was so bad](https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2022/10/07/nfl-world-collectively-groans-broncos-colts-goes-overtime) that Kirk Herbstreit called the totality of their offensive performance “horrible” during the broadcast. Whether or not Russell Wilson saw it this way, a trade from Seattle to anywhere else was always going to be the biggest risk of his career.

If the Broncos continue to struggle, who knows what other barbs Richard Sherman could fire towards Russell Wilson's way?

It was Wilson who memorably spearheaded the Seahawks’ offense en route to their Super Bowl win in 2014, while Sherman was a crucial part of the famous Legion of Boom that suffocated opposing offenses. Surely enough, Richard Sherman made what he felt about the Broncos’ perplexing yet familiar decision known in a That’s what happened to Richard Sherman, Russell Wilson, and the Seattle Seahawks back in 2015, when a supposed game-winning touchdown was intercepted by New England Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler, effectively denying them the Super Bowl.

Despite another solid effort by his defense, the Broncos fell to 2-3 after scoring just nine points Thursday night. It was an especially rough night for Wilson, ...

[Russell Wilson](/nfl/players/1272242/russell-wilson/) [View Profile](/nfl/players/1272242/russell-wilson/) Hamler](/nfl/players/2804432/k-j-hamler/), who was wide open while making his way to the end zone. "Lot of season left, lot of opportunity," Wilson said. The Broncos have 10 days before their next game, a road game against AFC West foe Los Angeles. The Broncos receiver slammed his helmet to the ground in frustration shortly after the play. The Colts then marched down the field before kicking a field goal and forcing overtime. The fourth-down play overshadowed another head-scratching play from Wilson that occurred moments earlier. "I knew he was gonna come back and I had to make him pay. There were plenty of lowlights from the Broncos offense on Thursday. The bad news: Wilson continues to have to answer for he and the offense's stagnant performances through the season's first five games. Despite another solid effort by his defense, the Broncos fell to 2-3 after scoring just nine points Thursday night. [via ESPN](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/34743982/broncos-russell-wilson-says-let-team-ot-loss).

What's wrong with Russell Wilson? Posted by Mike Florio on October 7, 2022, 10:45 AM EDT. DENVER BRONCOS VS INDIANAPOLIS COLTS, ...

And that requires the coaching to change. And if he doubles down on his “let’s ride” antics, Wilson runs the risk of becoming a caricature of himself. But that requires Wilson to change. Coaching him aggressively to do what he used to do in Seattle. Wilson instead threw to the end zone, allowing Colts cornerback [Stephon Gilmore](https://www.nbcsportsedge.com/football/nfl/player/9883/stephon-gilmore) to make an easy interception. Now that he’s struggling, it will be open season for folks to say out loud the things many had long believed. It’s become obvious over the past couple of years that Wilson lacks the mobility that he once deployed on a regular basis. The challenge for the Broncos, who are stuck with Wilson through at least 2025 due to his massive new contract, is to find a way to bring it back. He never saw a wide-open receiver We’ve seen flashes of it, primarily during the game-winning drive against the 49ers to cap Week Three. The hard part is understanding what’s wrong, and figuring out whether it can be fixed. Spotting that is the easy part.

Denver was promised an exciting ride with a new franchise quarterback. Instead, the Broncos have one of the worst offenses in the NFL and a seemingly grim ...

It was a play Wilson liked, Hackett said, and with the game on the line, he wanted to put the ball in the hands of Wilson. Eventually, Wilson did climb out of that chair in front of his locker Thursday night, and made the short walk to the interview podium. Colts quarterback Matt Ryan was sacked six times, fumbled twice (though the Colts recovered both), and threw two interceptions, to bring his season total to seven in five games (it is worth noting that Carson Wentz threw seven interceptions in all of 2021.) At one point, a Broncos tight end, Andrew Beck, dropped a would-be touchdown pass and in doing so, somehow managed to kick the ball out of the end zone. They’re all in on this ride with Wilson—and we’ll all watch them do it again in prime time in Week 6, on Monday Night Football against the Chargers. The game featured 12 punts (seven by the Colts, five by the Broncos) and seven field goals (and the Broncos also had a field goal attempt blocked). Thursday Night Football has a long history of producing stinkers of the mid-aughts Titans-Jaguars variety, and yet this one felt like it was the worst Thursday Night Football game of all time. Those final moments Thursday night, from Hamler’s reaction to it—not only did he vent to a reporter, but also he was seen slamming his helmet to the grass—and Wilson’s stunned look on the field after the game and his long, pensive pose in the locker room after, are what will linger from this loss as a potentially landmark moment in Wilson’s Denver tenure. Wilson lined up in shotgun, with a spread formation, and laser focused on receiver Courtland Sutton, who was crossing from left to right near the back of the end zone. Hackett explained after the game that the call was a sign of trust in his quarterback. There were boos at Empower Field at Mile High by the third quarter—and not for the first time this season, though it’s only Week 5—and fans streamed to the exits at the end of the regulation, despite the fact that the Broncos had never actually trailed in the game. They’ve been at their worst when the field is the tightest, when he’s been asked to operate on script in the red zone. Wilson threw two brutal interceptions in Thursday’s 12-9 overtime loss to the Colts, and didn’t see an open receiver in the end zone on his final fourth-down pass attempt that ended the game.

Week 5 of the NFL season is here, and the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos get things started with a Thursday Night Football showdown.

[pic.twitter.com/wqUiMu5wix] [October 6, 2022] Plenty of styles were on display, such as casual, relaxed and business professional. On American soil, divisional battles are aplenty, with six such matchups this weekend.

That hype ignored that Denver wasn't that bad at QB in 2021, it failed to account for first year head coach Nathaniel Hackett, and it subverted the time-honored ...

The entire mythos surrounding Wilson was predicated on the belief that he was one of the best QBs in the NFL on a Seattle team that offered him no support, and a coach that didn’t believe in making him the offensive focal point. The worst part might be that this is a double whammy. The assumption was that he’d get a change of scenery, inherit one of the best young receiving tandems in the NFL in Cortland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy, and being able to “cook” with the support of the Broncos’ defense would naturally be unstoppable. It’s becoming safe to say that this won’t be Peyton Manning 2.0, and instead Denver bought in based on a terrible sales pitch they sold themselves. Hell, Russ is playing vastly inferior football than Teddy Bridgewater did with the Broncos in 2021, who was jettisoned for Wilson because the team believed Bridgewater wasn’t nearly good enough to win. It’s not just the raw stats either, but a complete lack of decision making on the field. “It’s very simple — at the end of the day I’ve got to be better, I’ve got to play better,” Wilson said. The most generous reading of the Russ trade was that it was going to allow Denver to be competitive in football’s most brutal division. [Seahawks](https://www.fieldgulls.com/), the Raiders, the Colts — struggled against the [Texans](https://www.battleredblog.com/) and barely beat the [49ers](https://www.ninersnation.com/). Nobody thought to temper the Super Bowl talk, instead choosing to feed the frenzy with “Let Russ cook” and Let’s Ride!” memes. Beyond that it was difficult to see the end goal. The organization was so desperate to create buzz amidst a team sale that the front office pushed to trade for Wilson even when it felt like a really odd decision.