The Seahawks, Seattle and Russell Wilson will forever be inextricably linked.
Which means that interest in Wilson’s performance in Denver will persist.
But that interest may be at a fever pitch right now, in part because Seattle owns Denver’s 2023 first- and second-round picks, and the worse the Broncos’ record is, the better those picks are for the Seahawks.
But, of course, there will also forever be the debate about whether the Seahawks did the right thing by dealing Wilson to Denver for a package that included three players and five draft picks (one of which became the first round of 2022 Charles Cross, who already appears to be a decade-old founding player at left tackle).
And among the reasons probably too numerous to count Seattle finally made the trade was a calculation that maybe, when Wilson turns 34 in November, he’s on the decline as a player.
Admittedly, it appeared that way Thursday night as Wilson and the Broncos lost 12-9 at home to a struggling Indianapolis Colts team.
It capped off what has been a tough start to the season for Wilson, as Denver is just 2-3 and he mustered an 82.8 passer rating – he never had a rating lower than 92.6. in his 10 years in Seattle and was 103.1 or higher his last four seasons.
Wilson’s numbers in five games — 101 of 170 passes, 59.4 percent, which would be a career low (he was 65.0 percent in his Seattle career), for 1,254 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions.
As for his replacement in Seattle, Geno Smith? While Wilson is 28 years olde in completion percentage, Smith is first, with a whopping 77.3, having completed 102 of 132 passes – one more completion than Wilson in one game less and 38 fewer attempts – for 1,037 yards, six touchdowns and two interceptions.
While many polled the Seahawks nationally when the trade was made, wondering how Seattle would replace Wilson and whether the package the team received was enough, that tide may have started to turn after Thursday night, especially since the Broncos have since signed Wilson to a five-year contract worth up to $245 million, keeping him in Denver until 2028.
Not only did Wilson not lead Denver to a touchdown — the only time in his career he hasn’t done so in a home game — but he also threw a critical interception in the red zone in the fourth quarter that allowed the game to go into overtime. He also threw an incomplete play on a fourth and a play on the Indy 5-yard line to end the game, appearing to miss a wide-open receiver to KJ Hamler to throw in the middle instead, where the pass was broken up. by one of the NFL’s best cornerbacks, Stephon Gilmore.
Here is part of the reaction:
–Former Seahawk and Wilson teammate Richard Sherman was on the Amazon Prime broadcast team, and in bringing up perhaps the worst memory in Seahawks history, vehemently stated that Wilson and the Broncos should have headed the ball in the final game. “Run dang ball!” Like, learn from your mistakes! (To be fair, no one has ever claimed that Wilson called this game on his own.)
— Lindsay Jones of The Ringer, longtime Denver Broncos writer, dive deep into numbers and said the Broncos’ “Russell Wilson adventure isn’t going anywhere.” Jones wrote: “I can’t wait to knock him down,” Wilson said. “When we do, it will be a special story.” But with each passing week and uninspired attacking performances, it’s getting harder and harder to believe in a happy ending.”
—Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated took a closer look at Wilson’s time in Seattle, something that should happen more with each passing game, writing: “For years now, the star QB has been considered a victim of the system in Seattle. But a horrific start in Denver has us rethinking the blame game.
– Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, in a story titled “What’s wrong with Russell Wilson?” also assume that maybe the Seahawks were right concluding its best days may be in the past.
“It’s more than a few mistakes. Wilson becomes a fallen franchise quarterback before our eyes. This rarely happens in football. Once a quarterback becomes big, he stays that way until he retires. Wilson’s greatness has diminished to the point that some will now wonder if he really had that much.
– Nick Kosmider of The Athletic says fixes won’t be easywriting, “It’s hard to explain a performance like this for the 33-year-old quarterback who has been touted by the franchise as a solution for all the bad plays Broncos fans have suffered in that position since ( Peyton) Manning has retired.”
– Kyle Brandt of the NFL Network, the league’s own media arm, also questioned where Wilson’s greatness had gone on the field, saying, “I don’t know when Russell Wilson became Mitch Trubisky but I would like to that he turns into Geno Smith so they could win a match.
– Former NFL player Emmanuel Acho interrupted the final play and said Wilson simply missed an open receiver:
— Pete Prisco, longtime battered NFL writer, wondered:
— Eric Edholm from NFL.com said Broncos fans were within their rights quit the game early. “Denver fans leaving en masse in a draw late in regulation? They are not stupid. They know what they see is really bad.
— Shannon Sharpe, a Hall of Fame tight end who played in Denver from 1990-99 and is now a talk show host, was particularly harsh, already wondering if the Broncos got a bad deal:
— But perhaps the harshest words were reserved for former Seahawks QB Matt Flynn, whom Wilson beat to the job in 2012: