Broncos’ Russell Wilson – Wish I played better for Nathaniel Hackett
“I wish I could have played better for him,” Wilson said after Wednesday’s practice. ”
Hackett was sacked for 15 games in his first season as coach of the Broncos, recording a league-lowest offense with 4 wins and 11 losses for the team and 15.5 points per game. He had the shortest tenure as a non-interim head coach in franchise history.
Wilson has 12 touchdown passes in 13 starts in his first season with the team since acquiring him in a blockbuster trade in March.
Wilson also has a league-leading 49 sacks in those 13 games (3.8 sacks per game). His 51 sacks in 2018 are a career-high in that category.
Interim coach Jerry Rosberg said Wednesday that Wilson will start the Broncos’ final two games of the season, including against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Rosberg said, “We are going to play with every player that is available and in good enough health to play to win a football game…. Russell Wilson is our first Quarterback and will be our first quarterback.”
In a 51–14 loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Christmas Day, Wilson had his worst performance in a season full of uneven efforts, posting 15 of 27 passes for 214 yards and three interceptions. He threw two of those interceptions on the game’s first three pass attempts, both leading to touchdowns for the Rams.
Wilson’s play has been under scrutiny since Hackett’s dismissal. Both general manager George Patton and owner and CEO Greg Penner said on Tuesday that Wilson can fix anything in his game that needs fixing. He said Wilson’s struggle wasn’t the only reason.
“Russ even said he wasn’t playing to his standards…he wasn’t playing to his standards, he wasn’t playing to our standards. “And he’ll be the first to say he needs to get better,” Peyton said. That’s not why we’re getting a new coach to turn Russ around, it’s an organization-wide issue… not whether Russ is fixable, we believe he is fixable. ”
“The decision to bring Russell here is a long-term one,” Penner said of Wilson’s position on the team.
Wilson echoed those sentiments on Wednesday.
“I know I can play very well. I know what I have in me and what I can do,” Wilson said. Good luck, I haven’t been able to do it yet this year.
“…a tough year in many ways, just physically… [I’m] I was used to scoring a lot of touchdowns and winning a lot of games, but that just didn’t happen. [it’s the] It’s the first time anything like this has happened,” Wilson added. “…my expectations are higher than anyone else’s…my mission is the same – bring the Super Bowl to Denver.”
Asked how attractive the Broncos job would be to future coaches given his struggles and offensive struggles, Wilson called it a “special job.”
The Broncos have five draft picks, including a first-round pick expected to be among the top three picks in next April’s draft, and the Seattle Seahawks trade three players to Wilson in March. Did. The Broncos then signed Wilson to a five-year, $245 million deal in early September.