It's all gone wrong, very quickly, for Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos. He's been awful, missing critical throws or taking key sacks in narrow overtime loss after narrow overtime loss. And now a report that he picked up a hamstring injury late in last night's disastrous loss to the Chargers, and might need to miss time.
It would be a mercy, frankly, for those of us who have watched every minute of the Wilson Era in Denver. It's been unavoidable, with the NFL inexplicably putting them on in primetime in four of the first six weeks. Wilson has struggled, the offense has struggled, the coaching has been horrific. It's been simply painful, with no signs of things getting better.
Wilson did look good for a quarter last night, completing his first 10 passes and helping stake Denver to a 10-0 lead. But that disappeared, and nothing good happened after that.
Wilson thus far has thrown only 5 touchdowns in 6 games. He's on pace to throw only 14, which would be a career low by a wide margin. He also has the worst passer rating of his career, also by a wide margin.
In the table, 2022 numbers so far are projected over a full season (which it doesn't appear Wilson will have). Career-low numbers are in bold.
| RUSSELL WILSON, YEAR BY YEAR | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Pass | TD | Run | TD | Rate |
| 2012 | 3118 | 26 | 489 | 4 | 100.0 |
| 2013 | 3357 | 26 | 539 | 1 | 101.2 |
| 2014 | 3475 | 20 | 849 | 6 | 95.0 |
| 2015 | 4024 | 34 | 553 | 1 | 110.1 |
| 2016 | 4219 | 21 | 259 | 1 | 92.6 |
| 2017 | 3983 | 34 | 586 | 3 | 95.4 |
| 2018 | 3448 | 35 | 376 | 0 | 110.9 |
| 2019 | 4110 | 31 | 342 | 3 | 106.3 |
| 2020 | 4212 | 40 | 513 | 2 | 105.1 |
| 2021 | 3113 | 25 | 183 | 2 | 103.1 |
| 2022 | 3845 | 14 | 256 | 3 | 83.4 |
Question now is if Nathaniel Hackett will get a full season. Denver has a Week 9 bye, and you wonder, depending how the next two games go, if the defensive coordinator will be the interim head coach in Week 10.
--Andy Richardson
17 Reader Comments:
Rich Nadler
Ian Allan
Andy Richardson
Robert Johnson
Rich Nadler
Ian Allan
Ian Allan
Robert Kurek
Drew Paterson
Paul Desimone
What's the difference between last year's Seahawks offense and this year's Broncos offense? Pete Carroll made the running game the focus of the offense, and play action came off that run game. This Broncos team could run the ball last year, but from the outset this year they have been absolutely incapable of sustaining the running game. Why?
Partially offensive line injuries. But there's more. They've gone to the outside zone blocking scheme, which is a very precise system. It's used by teams like the 49ers and the Rams, and when run precisely, it creates holes for the running backs. But the Broncos are trying to bypass the time tested precision needed to make it go.
Their offensive coordinator, Justin Outten (who has somehow escaped scrutiny to this point) explained (what they're attempting to do) back in June:
https://milehighsports.com/broncos-oc-justin-outten-explains-some-of-denvers-new-offense/
They can't run that scheme because they didn't teach it correctly. And they're not going to be able to switch up things and install another scheme on the fly. And because I can't run and create a clean pocket, Russ can't cook. Russ gets cooked.
Andy Richardson
But Washington muffed a punt in the overtime loss to the Colts, and he muffed one again earlier last night. I think 2 muffed punts in the space of two games would certainly have compelled lots of coaches to take him off the field before he had the chance to muff one in overtime. (And who knows, we have evidence to support the idea he might well have muffed that one even if his blocker hadn't been shoved into him.) So I can blame the coaches for that.
The number of personal foul penalties the Broncos were hit with last night doesn't speak well of the coaching either.
Unrelated: there was a play in overtime where TWO Broncos defenders had wrapped up Herbert for a sack. Rather then blow the whistle (they're trying to protect these quarterbacks, right?) they let the play continue and Herbert shoveled the ball out to Ekeler, avoiding a sack. Basically the defensive players can't hit the quarterback too hard or they get a 15-yard penalty, and if they sack the guy gently an official lets the play continue and the quarterback is able to avoid the sack. Total BS. Why yes, I was starting the Denver defense and facing Ekeler in a close game, why do you ask.
Paul Desimone
Paul Desimone
Jim Kontopoulos
This offense currently blows!! If I was the defense I would be sending some serious messages to the offense during practice and yes I bought into the hype having drafted both Javonte and Sutton!!
Adam Bjork
Paul Desimone
Patrick LaMendola