3 Keys to a Broncos Victory Over Seahawks
The Denver Broncos are tired of all the talk. All the optimism, all the hype.
All that's left is action.
The Broncos can exorcise the demons of the past six seasons, and quarterback Russell Wilson will be afforded the same opportunity. Opening the season against the Seattle Seahawks — Wilson's former team of 10 years — could be a blessing in disguise.
What'll it take for the Broncos to come out of Seattle with a season-opening win? Here are my three keys to victory.
Don't Fall Prey to the Hype
Wilson can get this particular monkey off his back out of the gates. But as if this game wasn't already rife with hyped-up storylines, the Seahawks upped the ante by smearing Wilson this past week in an ESPN article.
Sources within Seattle's front office claimed that Wilson had been more intent on trying to win an MVP award than actual ball games, and gave ESPN several quotes slamming him as washed up. The Seahawks gave Wilson the mother lode of bulletin board material.
The question is, will the nine-time Pro Bowler use it to his advantage? Time will tell. The emotions, and the insults, could have the opposite effect, and cause Wilson to press and not play his usual brand of focused, 'neutral' football.
The same can be said for Wilson's new teammates, who have heard all the talk and slander since he arrived this offseason. Head coach Nathaniel Hackett has to walk that razor's edge of finding ways to use the shade as motivation, without letting it become a distraction or albatross around his team's neck.
Let Russ Cook
Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll stubbornly resisted the pull to unleash Wilson, and give him the keys to the offense like his quarterback contemporaries. Look at Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, Tom Brady in Tampa, Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City — the list goes on.
The head coaches of those respective teams aren't looking their gift-horse in the mouth, as Carroll did with Wilson. No, it's, 'Hey, Aaron. What play do you want to run here?'
Will Hackett make the same mistakes Carroll did? I doubt it. Based on all of Hackett's offseason remarks, he understands the magnitude of talent he has under center.
The Broncos have built this entire team, and the offense, around Wilson and what he does best. Much like Seahawks fans wanted their team to do for years and years, the Broncos are going to #LetRussCook.
What does that look like? Don't go expecting the Broncos to suddenly morph into a passing offense that throws the ball at a 3-to-1 clip. At the same time, this isn't going to be Carroll's preferred brand of offensive football: pound the rock, control the clock, and don't give the ball away.
Wilson will be unshackled and free to operate the offense in all the ways he couldn't in Seattle. Against a Seahawks' secondary that is suspect and lackluster, Wilson needs to go for the jugular early and often.
Seattle will respect Denver's rushing attack, led by Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon III, and that'll afford Wilson a lot of opportunities to stretch the field with Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, and Albert Okwuegbunam. However it shakes out, the memo to Coach Hackett is #LetRussCook.
He won't let you down.
Get After Geno Smith & Bring Hell with You
Smith has never been the type of quarterback who can put a team on his shoulders and will it to victory. In order for him to play at even a replacement level, he's traditionally needed some big-time help from his supporting cast.
Go back to Smith's days at West Virginia with Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey — he's always needed help. And to an extent, every quarterback does.
But when an opponent takes away that help — by stopping the run and smothering receivers in coverage — Smith withers. He'll go into a shell.
Stopping Seattle's rushing game, led by Rashaad Penny, isn't exactly a matter of course, though. The Broncos were the 15th-ranked rushing defense in the NFL last year, and sacks were hard to come by (15th-fewest in 2021). Denver is likely to be without inside linebacker Josey Jewell on Monday night.
Plus, in case you missed it, that's not Vic Fangio back there calling the defense anymore. It's Ejiro Evero, a first-time defensive coordinator. We don't yet know if Coach Evero will be equal to his opportunity.
Shelby Harris now calls Seattle home — a big contributor on Denver's D-line over the past few years. The Broncos are relying on Dre'Mont Jones, D.J. Jones, and DeShawn Williams as their starting D-line trio.
Bradley Chubb is back, and that spells good things for Denver's rushing defense. He's always been able to hold his own as an edge-setter. Randy Gregory is questionable, and while I expect him to play, he'll likely be on a pitch count.
What I'm getting at here is that stopping Penny and the Seahawks' rushing attack, thus putting the onus on Smith, is not exactly fait accompli. I expect the Broncos to eventually manage it, but this defense hasn't been tested quite yet, and its conditioning, after resting for the duration of the preseason, is in question.
From there, every drop-back that Smith takes, the Broncos need to be there to harass and hit him. Do so with even a modicum of consistency, and he will give the ball away. Playing into the hands of Chubb and Gregory is the fact that Seattle is starting two rookie offensive tackles in first-rounder Charles Cross and third-rounder Abraham Lucas.
If the Broncos' defense comes to play and manages to keep its wind after sitting on the sideline all of August, I love this team's chances of shellacking the Seahawks and helping Wilson to rub his former team's nose in it.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.
Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.
Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!
