By Tyler Glessner
The Seattle Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos 17-16 at home at Lumen Field Monday night. Two costly goal line fumbles and questionable coaching from Denver proved to be the turning point.
The game’s climax was in Denver’s first two possessions in the third quarter. Denver, down by four points, looked to punch it in with their talented running backs Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams.
Denver opened the second half with a dominant 10 play 79-yard drive that saw the team get to the one-yard line on fourth down. Denver elected to go with Gordon on a handoff. That play was blown up as Seahawks pro-bowl safety Quandre Diggs ripped the ball from Gordon, keeping the Seahawks up by four.
Denver’s defense made a stand in response, ripping the ball from DK Metcalf, thus giving it back to their offense.
Denver again showed potential with a five play 31-yard drive which saw them in the same position down at the one. With third and goal, Wilson handed the ball off to Javonte Williams. Williams had the ball punched out by Seahawks linebacker Uchenna Nwosu and recovered in the endzone by Seattle.
Despite all that, Denver’s defense held Seattle to a punt to get the ball back at the start of the fourth quarter. The 15 play 72-yard drive saw Denver on the Seattle 8-yard line down by four. With 6:13 left on the clock, first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett elected to settle with a field goal, trusting his defense to make one last stop.
Seattle, unable to muster up anything on offense, punted it back to Wilson and Denver with just over four minutes left. Wilson was able to complete five out of his seven passes for 25 yards on this drive alone to set up Seattle with a fourth and five on the Seattle 46-yard line.
With 16 seconds left and two timeouts, Hackett made one last play to convert a fourth and medium. This set up an easy field goal for Broncos kicker Brandon McManus. Hackett attempted the go-ahead field goal and McManus unsurprisingly did not drill the 64 yarder. Hackett stood by his decision in his post-game presser, “I have confidence in [McManus]. If we have to put him in that situation again, I think he’ll be able to make it.” The 17-16 loss spoils Wilson’s storybook ending in his return to Seattle, and what was the most hyped-up week one game of them all.
