Vikings, Broncos square off in matchup of teams on heaters after slow starts
DENVER – Denver Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton already has a career-high seven touchdown catches just halfway through the season, highlighted by his toe-tapping masterpiece at Buffalo, but he’d rather Russell Wilson get his flowers for the bounce-back year he’s having.
Sutton posted a “Russell Wilson Apology Form “on social media, inviting everyone who bashed the Broncos QB for his atrocious 2022 season to say they’re sorry.
Not so fast, retorted Mark Schlereth, the television and radio commentator who spent 12 years in the NFL. He said on his morning show on Denver’s KKFN-FM that “Russell Wilson was garbage last year, and anyone who tells you otherwise is baloney.”
Wilson threw for 16 touchdowns with 11 interceptions while going 4-11 last year following the blockbuster trade with Seattle that cost Denver a bevy of players and premium draft picks.
He has 18 TD throws and just four interceptions this season, and the Broncos (4-5) under coach Sean Payton have won an AFC-high three straight games heading into their Sunday night showdown against Joshua Dobbs and the Minnesota Vikings (6-4), who are on a heater of their own.
The Vikings have won five in a row despite Kirk Cousins tearing his right Achilles tendon against the Packers last month and Dobbs getting pressed into duty almost as soon as he arrived from Arizona via a deadline deal.
Wilson, who has six TD throws and no interceptions during Denver’s winning streak, demurred when asked about Sutton’s apology appeal, saying he’s only concerned about winning more games and “playing great football.”
“I know who I am, and I don’t need anybody’s approval,” Wilson said. “It’s my 12th year and … if I can have 20 years and make 19 of them great then I wouldn’t complain.”
Maybe standing up for Wilson will earn Sutton a few more targets, and if that’s the case, perhaps rookie Marvin Mims Jr. should try buttering him up, too.
Mims has been dynamite on special teams, earning the NFL Player of the