Bronco football returns in 3 days! Every year I believe we can win it all but this year it 's different. We have a stud at QB locked and loaded going back to Seattle in his first game as a Denver Bronco. The NFL wasted no time with the Russell Wilson 2022 homecoming game. The Seahawks will be starting a season without Wilson for the first time since 2011. Though Denver overwhelmingly displays the better roster on paper, revenge games are a little tricky. I expect this game to be a little closer than most people expect. Here's what I am most excited for:
Russ Debut
The obvious one is seeing Russell Wilson in action for the first time in a Broncos uniform. Wilson did not play in any of the 3 preseason games so his much anticipated debut as a Bronco is even more thrilling. It will be interesting to his chemistry with each receiver in this first game. In Seattle, he always had 1 or 2 good wideouts at a time but was never really given a plethora of options like he has in Denver so it will be interesting to see if that will force Russ to play a different way. Metcalf and Lockett are both vertical threats on the outside so a lot of Russ's throws are outside the numbers. However, Russ will have a speedy tight end in Albert O running down the seam and a route specialist in Jerry Jeudy who, if utilized correctly, can be deadly in the slot wreaking havoc between the hashes. My guess is that Russ will feel most comfortable initially with Court Sutton as his play style is very similar to DK. Both are vertical threats and are jump ball specialists. So look for Sutton to have a big game week 1 especially against a Seattle Defense that ranked 28th in passing defense last year. Wilson's deep ball ability should force defenses to play more honest leading to a lighter box near the line of scrimmage which will enable that 2 headed monster in Williams and Gordon to go to work. Both backs eclipsed 900 yards last season. With the passing game being a real threat now, expect a 1,000+ yard season from either of the backs this season.
2. Hackett Offense
What will this broncos offense look like post Pat Shurmer? The answer is better. How much better is the real question. Tim Jenkins, host of the All Things QB channel does a great job analyzing Nathaniel Hackett's offense in the 3rd preseason gave vs the Vikings. I'm not going to pretend that I knew everything that was talked about in the breakdown video but I noticed 2 things. When the receiver ran their curl routes, they ran the right depth before turning around and coming back for the ball. This was a huge problem for the Broncos last season as too many times during the season especially on third down, the Broncos receivers kept catching balls short of the sticks and I believe they were not properly coached how to run those routes. I can say with confidence that it was a coaching issue when the 3rd and 4th stringers in preseason week 3 are running those routes properly while Sutton, Jeudy, and Patrick were not able to last year during key moments. The second thing I noticed was the utilization of KJ Hamler. He did not play a lot but when he was in it felt like he was used properly. One play was him running a shallow cross on 3rd and short. It felt like when he was healthy, Denver only used him vertically in the passing game and did not exploit his speed enough in the middle of the field on drags or on slants. I know it was only one play but the offense seems to know when to run certain routes and with whom which I feel like was not always the case last year.
No surprise that the new QB and Coach excite me but here is what makes me a little nervous for this game:
Russ did not play at all in the preseason so we do not know how rusty he will be to start the game. I'm not too worried he can acclimate to the offense quickly but dropping one of the first 2 games to either Houston or Seattle because of Russ having trouble with finding his groove in the offense is not ideal especially since the final 7 games of the season are going to be tough so it is important we win the easy ones early. As I mentioned earlier, revenge games are tricky. Peyton lost his first game back in indy 33-39. Tom Brady was in a nail biter in his first game back in Foxborough winning 19-17. The Broncos and Bucs were clearly the better teams in both situations but so many external factors play role in these type of games. This is a key reason why I believe it will be a closer game than people think. With that said I got the Broncos opening the 2022 season with a W.
Final Prediction: Broncos 27-17
Russ: 270+ yards 2 TDs 0 INTs
Williams & Gordon: 120 yards and 1 TD
Defense: 3 Sacks and 1 turnover
Excellent analysis Arjun! My prediction 31 - 17