The grass isn’t always greener in the mountains.
Russell Wilson was looked at as the missing piece in Denver after the much-celebrated trade that sent him from Seattle to Denver. Through two games, it has seemed far from a perfect fit.
Wilson was booed both in his return to Seattle and in what was supposed to be a triumphant home debut with Denver. The offense has sputtered under his control, his coach is under fire and his former Seahawks teammates are pouncing on each one of his failures.
The Broncos first game of the season was at Seattle, the NFL schedule makers clearly having a little bit of fun, having Wilson return to Seattle immediately and on “Monday Night Football” with the whole country watching.
Wilson ran out of the tunnel in Seattle for the first time ever with a different jersey on and was booed by the same fans that once cheered him to a Super Bowl victory over the team he is now on.
Wilson wasn’t able to shut the fans up, however. Wilson finished 29-for-42 with 340 yards and one touchdown, but it was the missed opportunities that cost him and the Broncos a win. The Broncos made it into the red zone four times against Seattle but only came away with two short field goals from kicker Brandon McManus, thanks to a pair of goalline fumbles by Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon.
But the Broncos saved their biggest mistake for last.
Down a point with less than a minute left in the game, Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett, with all three timeouts left, elected to let time wind down to send out McManus to attempt a 64-yard field goal rather than trust his $245 million quarterback to pick up five yards on fourth down.
McManus missed and the Broncos lost the game 17-16, with Hackett under fire.
In Week 2 against the Houston Texans, Wilson struggled, going 14-for-31 with 219 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. It was the first time his completion percentage was under 50% since a 2019 loss to the Ravens.
Denver pulled out a 16-9 win over the woeful Texans, but that was not enough to appease a hopeful crowd that saw the team fail to get in the end zone again in their two trips to the red zone.
“I would be booing myself; I was getting very frustrated,” Hackett said. “We get down to the red zone two times. Don’t get another touchdown, which is unbelievably frustrating. I don’t think we have scored in there yet. That’s something that all of our guys have to step it up. Whether we run the ball more, whatever we’re doing, we just have to execute at a higher level.”
Denver committed two delay of game penalties, which prompted fans to count down the play clock before the Broncos got the snaps off in time.
“Yeah, I guess that was helpful if needed,” Wilson said. “I guess they do that in basketball sometimes.”
On The Richard Sherman Podcast on Wednesday, former Seahawks teammates Sherman and KJ Wright discussed the treatment Wilson received from head coach Pete Carroll.
“He was not held to the same accountability as the rest of us,” Wright said.
“When you got 52 guys being held to a certain standard and you got one guy not being held to the standard then it’s going to cause some friction,” Sherman said.
The Broncos have the ability to right the ship and start steering themselves towards a successful season with a win Sunday night at home against the 49ers. Another national audience, another chance the Broncos to show they will be true contenders this season.
Wilson will be hearing about it if they don’t look the part.
