Nathaniel Hackett trusted Russell Wilson this time, and it didn’t work
Oct 6, 2022, 10:22 PM
Broncos QB Russell Wilson threw two awful interceptions against the Colts on Thursday night.
But Denver still had chance to win in overtime and faced a fourth-and-one deep in Indy territory. Head coach Nathaniel Hackett put the ball back in Wilson’s hands and the QB failed. Wilson missed a wide-open KJ Hamler for a possible touchdown and instead looked for Courtland Sutton. That ball was batted down incomplete.
After a miserable, pathetic and heartbreaking 12-9 OT loss, Hackett explained what went into the decision on the game’s final play.
“We wanted to win the game. We hadn’t moved the ball very well the whole night and I thought we had a spectacular drive to get all the way down there. It ended up being fourth-and-one and got the go to go for it, thought that was a good decision. (I) wanted to put the ball in Russell’s hands and called a play that he really liked and it didn’t work out.”
Three straight Melvin Gordon runs set up the Broncos with the chance near the goal-line, but they still chose to pass it. A field goal would have tied things up, but at that point they would have been playing for a tie. It wouldn’t have been a great look.
So, unlike the Seattle game where Hackett had Brandon McManus kick a 64-yarder to try to win it, he put the ball in his QB’s hands. Both and Indy and Denver called timeouts before the play was finally run.
“It’s one of those things, the timeout before was to kind of get a feel for what they were doing and so the run didn’t look as good as we hoped it would have. And (that) gave us a chance with Russell, that’s all you can ask for in that situation to win the game,” Hackett said.
The result was yet another misfire from Wilson. He left the Seahawks to be the guy in Denver, but so far the experiment is completely failing. The Broncos are now 2-3 and could easily be 0-5.
***