Miller, Broncos harass QB Wilson
DENVER — Von Miller sacked Russell Wilson three times, forced two fumbles and recovered one in helping Case Keenum win his Denver debut Sunday as the Broncos held off the Seahawks 27-24.
“I still don’t like playing against Russell, running around out there 20 yards, getting everybody tired,” Miller said after Denver’s 18th win its last 19 home openers. “Luckily, we were able to get him before he could get started.
“That was in our scheme this week. We wanted to keep him in the pocket and [make] him beat us with his arm, which he’s capable of doing. But we’d rather pick that poison, and that strategy worked.”
Wilson threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns but was picked off twice and sacked six times. He ran only two times for five yards.
“He got out of the pocket a couple of times, but that’s Russ,” Miller said. “He’s a great player. He’s going to get out of the pocket, but we kept some of the great plays to a minimum.”
Keenum threw for 329 yards and three touchdowns but was intercepted three times.
“Obviously, not exactly how you draw it up, but, man, it doesn’t matter how, it matters how many,” Keenum said. “That was our first one, and I’m really excited about how good this football team can be. Because if we take care of the ball — if I take care of the ball because those are all on me — we’re going to be really, really hard to beat.”
Demaryius Thomas atoned for early hiccups with several key catches and a touchdown, and Royce Freeman, the first rookie to start an opener for Denver since Terrell Davis in 1995, helped the Broncos all but salt it away. He had 71 yards on 15 carries.
The Seahawks got the ball back at their 12 with no timeouts and 1:01 left and couldn’t go anywhere, Wilson finally throwing the ball up at midfield where cornerback Adam Jones picked it off with no time remaining.
“It’s frustrating,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “On third downs, we were lousy [2for-12], and we didn’t run the ball as well as we wanted [64 yards], and we got sacked a bunch of times. It was not a very clean game for us.”
Wilson put the Seahawks ahead 24-20 when he found Tyler Lockett all alone for a 51-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. But Keenum responded with a four-yard strike to a tiptoeing Thomas, putting the Broncos back on top for good with 11:11 left.
Miller’s best play came when he simply snatched the ball out of running back Chris Carson’s arms. But on the next play, Keenum threw his third interception, the second one picked off by safety Bradley McDougald, who returned this one 39 yards to the Denver 41.
That led to Brandon Marshall’s 20-yard touchdown catch that tied it at 17.