Broncos fall as Wilson fails
Blockbuster trade is looking like disaster as offense sputters
DENVER — The most lopsided trade in NFL history sent Herschel Walker to Minnesota for two fistfuls of players and draft picks that served as the pillars of the Dallas Cowboys’ dynasty of the 1990s.
The Russell Wilson trade isn’t quite so cockeyed, but eight months in it sure looks as one-sided as any deal since the Walker washout.
Wilson hasn’t been anything like the Broncos expected when GM George Paton sent first- and second-round picks this year and next along with three players for the nine-time Pro Bowl quarterback who was supposedly still in his prime at age 33.
The $245 million extension he gave Wilson before the season only adds to the angst of Broncos fans who have watched a string of quarterbacks fail ever since Peyton Manning walked away after winning Super Bowl 50.
The Seahawks selected tackle
Charles Cross in the first round and edge rusher Boye Mafe in the second with the premium picks they got from Denver. As it stands now, they’ll have the No. 6 overall selection in the 2023 draft thanks to Wilson’s debacle of a Denver debut.
Not only that, but Geno Smith, Wilson’s successor in Seattle, is having the kind of season everyone outside of Washington figured Wilson would have in the Rocky Mountains this year.
Smith has the surprising Seahawks tied with the 49ers atop the NFC West at 6-4. He’s completing a league-high 72.8 percent of his passes and has 17 touchdown throws and four interceptions.
Wilson is completing a career-worst 59.5 percent of his passes, is on pace for a career-high 57 sacks and has thrown just seven touchdown passes to go with five interceptions.
The Broncos are 3-7 and sitting in the basement of the AFC West after getting swept by the lowly Raiders on Sunday.
The Seahawks are averaging 25.7 points per game with Smith at quarterback, just a tick more than the 25.3 they averaged during Wilson’s tenure in Seattle.
Fans are starting to wonder if it’s Wilson who isn’t good enough anymore because the Broncos have lost six games by one score and are negating Denver’s dominant defense by averaging just 14.7 points.
They’d be an Nfl-best 9-1 right now if only they averaged in regulation the 19.7 points per game they did last year with Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock at quarterback.
Wilson hasn’t meshed with rookie coach Nathaniel Hackett, who has now hired somebody to help him manage the games and appointed another member of his staff to call the plays.
Wilson has made bad decisions and poor throws in crunch time that have cost the Broncos in losses to the Colts, Chargers, Jets, Titans and now, the Raiders.
“I think that we’re on the learning end of the experience of how to get back to winning,” Wilson said. “Sometimes it’s a journey; sometimes it’s an ugly one, sometimes it’s a tough one. What hurts probably more than anything else is that these games were close, one-score games. We have to be able to find ways to win them.”
Then, Wilson said something interesting.
“It’s never good to lose,” he said, “but it’s almost like, man, at least somebody kick our butt.”