There was a lot of hope Jeno SmithThe future of the NFL when he was in West Virginia. It was the heck of a college quarterback.
It didn’t work out for him with the New York Jets and he entered the backup phase of his career. The Seattle Seahawks were ridiculed for trading Russell Wilson and giving Smith a chance to start.
It took a long time, but Smith finally had his NFL game play one night that Wilson was back in Seattle.
Smith did most of his damage in the first half, but that was enough. The defense had some massive goal-line stands to hold the first-half lead in place, denying Wilson the chance to overpower his former team upon their return to Seattle. The Broncos attempted a field goal from 64 yards 20 seconds left, but Brandon McManus missed, and the Seahawks held onto a 17-16 win. Smith completed his first 13 passes and had two touchdowns in the first half to give Seattle the lead. Smith then calmed down but the defense made a few plays to get him to stand up. The Broncos’ strange decision to allow time in the last seconds and try a desperate field goal will be spoken of throughout the week. Perhaps Wilson would have liked the opportunity to make it happen.
The Seahawks are not expected to win many games this season, and it remains to be seen how well they will do. But winning the opening game against the former midfielder should have been pretty sweet. Especially for Smith.
The Seahawks take the lead in the first half
The Seahawks quickly exited. It may have had something to do with the Broncos not playing a major player during pre-season, but Denver was sloppy on both sides. The defense in particular had several problems, especially with midfielders trying to cover the tight ends. Gino Smith completed the first 13 passes. Several of his big plays, including touchdowns in the first half, went to tight ends. It was sharp.
The Broncos remained in the game due to a long pass from Wilson to Jerry Goody, when Jody got a contested deep pass and then bypassed the defense into the end zone by 67 yards. Seattle led 17-13 in the first half, and stayed that way through the third quarter because the Broncos made mistakes near the goal line. This is another sign of a team that hasn’t played in pre-season.
The Broncos netted a fourth and goal at the 1-yard line and awarded it to Melvin Gordon. Gordon fumbled a short distance from the goal line and Seattle recovered. After Seattle lost in confusion, the Broncos moved back inside Zone 5. This time they tried Jafonte Williams, who was injured on the backcourt and faltered. Seattle got that back, too.
Seattle played well in the first half and was perhaps lucky to reach the fourth quarter with the lead.
Broncos have trouble near the goal line
The Broncos could not score close to the goal line. The Broncos came back inside the 5-yard line in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t make it to the end zone again and settled on a field goal. They’re 17-16 after that.
At that point, the Seahawks needed Smith to do a few plays to keep Wilson on the sidelines. Seattle went three times, with two short passes stuffed and then Smith was sent off by Bradley Chubb in third.
Wilson had 4:02 to work with, starting at 22. The same fans who Wilson booed before the match It must be tense. Wilson is brilliant at game-winning driving and has done so many times on that court. It was a great drama, just as the NFL wanted it to when it scheduled Wilson’s comeback in week one.
Great third grip reach down with a tight finish Albert Okwijpunam got his first touchdown and kept the drive alive. Okwuegbunam was short-stayed but had a great effort playing hardly to get first. Wilson Williams hit to turn a third down. The Broncos was getting close to goal range. The Broncos bounced back in a quick pass from the start to Williams as the pass rush approached. Wilson threw incompletely, losing the ball as he tried to pull it back. He faced third and 14. Williams picked up some yards in third down to finish fourth and fifth in the last minute.
The Broncos, who had all three timeouts out, let the time inexplicably drop to 20 seconds before a timeout was called. Then the Broncos decided to try a 64-yard field goal instead of going for it. McManus hardly missed it on a grand scale. It was a failure of clock management that led to the decision to go to the field goal. McManus did his best but this is a field goal that not many balls will make. It made sense to let Wilson go for it.
The Seahawks no longer have a Wilson family. But they won it.