Seattle Seahawks ruin Russell Wilson’s return, nasty Denver Broncos

SEATTLE – Events Seattle Seahawks football team make sad Dancer broncos 17-16 on monday night like Russell Wilsonwho played the first 10 seasons in Seattle, was Geno Smith.

Seattle Seahawks football team

For all the speculation leading up to Monday night’s season opener about how Wilson will be received in his first game against his former side, it was his former substitute who was who received the greatest acclaim.

And steal the program.

As boos rang out incessantly at Wilson, the Lumen Field crowd celebrated every major Smith play with chants of “GENO, GENO!” And there were just enough of them – including a pair of touchdown passes in the first half – to lift Seattle to a 17-16 win.

It will take years to determine if the Seahawks did the right thing by trading with Wilson in March for a big draft instead of trying to make things work with the best quarterback in history. Franchising. A game, as thrilling as it is, doesn’t validate that move. But it provided instant gratification for the Seahawks – and some hope for their fans that maybe this season won’t be the tagline everyone had assumed it would be.

QB analysis: Starting his first Week 1 since 2014, Smith doesn’t look like a longtime substitute who is expected to be little more than a game manager. He looks like an NFL beginner. Smith completed his first 13 passes and was 17 of 18 with a couple of near-perfect first-half touches. He was precise and avoided the big mistake that befell him in key moments when he filled in for Wilson last season. He also plays with his feet, stepping up in his pockets to escape the pressure and avoiding the killer’s sack in the process. Smith finished 23-28 for 195 yards and two touchdown passes.

Buy breakthrough performance by Seattle’s tight finish: A common belief inside the team’s headquarters this season is that a tight finish will be a bigger part of the Seahawks’ offense this season – because any quarterback replacing Wilson will have tend to throw their way over his. That looks like a tentative thought Monday night, with Would not agree, Noah Fant and Colby Parkinson catch a total of eight passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns. Their nine combined goals are less than the six Seattle recipients received. Seattle acquired Fant in the Wilson deal and re-signed Dissly for three years and $24 million after he tested his freedom. The cost to sign him has increased as another team has diligently pursued him. That team? The Broncos.

Synthetic play: In their third straight quarter, the Broncos drove to Seattle’s 1-yard line and looked ready to score the winning goal. Both times, the Seahawks’ defense kept them out of the late game by fumbling in front of goal. Outsiders Uchenna Nwosu Stripped Broncos run back Javonte Williams in the second game, part of his leaderboard debut in Seattle, also included a bag, a defensive pass and seven tackles. The Seahawks have signed Nwosu to assist them in increasing their focus this season with 3-4 people looking ahead. The two-year, $19,055 million contract he signed in March made him the highest-paid freelance agent on APY under GM John Schneider and coach Pete Carroll. The Seahawks held Denver by six points in four trips to the red zone. – Brady Henderson

Underrated statistics to know: Geno Smith is the third quarterback since 1990 to complete each of his first 13 passes in a Week 1 game – alongside Gardner Minshew (2019 Jaguars) and Jim Kelly (1990 Bills).

Next game: at 49ers (4:05 p.m. ET, September 18)

Dancer broncos

After a season filled with hopes and dreams when full-back Russell Wilson arrived in Denver, the Broncos defense had some worries on opening night.

Under the new defense coordinator Ejiro EveroThe Broncos tried to be aggressive in the pass, trying to keep the ball away from the Seahawks’ wide collection lines DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockettbut not until outside the linebacker Randy Gregory got the ball out of Metcalf’s hand deep in the third half that the Broncos defense could handle.

As a result, Wilson’s 340-meter pass and one touch of the ball was an almost unmissable footnote in the 17-16 Seattle win that ended in a miss. Brandon McManus attempt to score from 64 yards.

It won’t be a carefree stroll through Denver’s defensive assessments. The Seahawks finished tight catching six 98-yard passes and two touchdowns before halftime, and the Seahawks kicked in midfield. Geno Smith completed his first 13 passes in the game as part of a 17 of 18, two-touch performance in the opening half.

Synthetic play: The Broncos were in a slugfest from the beginning and never took the lead. Their night ended when McManus missed a goal-scoring effort at 64 yards with 14 seconds remaining. In the 3rd and 14th quarters with 1:11 remaining, Wilson beat Javonte Williams with a 9-yard pass, setting up the 4th and 5th goals from Seattle 46. Instead of going down to the first goal with three times. the remaining timeout right after the third down pass, the Broncos ran the clock down to 20 seconds, known as the timeout, then missed the goal on the field.

Trouble Trends: Week 1’s overtrades are as old as the NFL, but since the Broncos are in a division where three other teams have named quarterbacks for the Pro Bowl, Smith’s spins and handles to make 17/18 pass in the opening half can not be ignored.

And while the Broncos harassed Smith some and hit him several times, he moves the ball out quickly, creates time in the pocket with quality footwork and is poised to take the safest finish available. A game that isn’t trending, but the Broncos’ fast runners will have to get to midfield more often, and they can’t allow any defenders to catch a 13-13 beat to open the game.

Biggest flaw in the game plan: Some of that was certainly the Seahawks’ defensive plan to keep things in place by aid, but the Broncos’ wide receiver was targeted just twice in the opening half as the Seahawks took control. Control the tempo of the game.

Wilson didn’t let the ball hit and that’s a good thing, but coach Nathaniel Hackett had hoped to attack aggressively, the Broncos were not the aggressors, especially in the early game. And when the Seahawks got the game tempo they wanted, it became a struggle for the Broncos.

Denver’s wide receivers didn’t really get on until the end of Q3 and into Q4.

Trouble Trend II: Double-digit penalty for over 100 yards? Critics will point to Hackett’s easy-to-understand approach to pre-season games, in which almost all beginners don’t play.

Penalties are taken on either side of the ball and at the wrong time – especially a false start with less than seven minutes of play and the Broncos within five yards of the Seahawks – and are often the breakers. . – Jeff Legwold

Underrated statistics to know: The Broncos are the first team since the 1987 Chiefs to lose two overs from the 1-yard line in the same game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The last case occurs in a game using substitute players.

Next game: versus Texans (4:25 p.m. ET, September 18)