For the third time since 2018, the Denver Broncos open up the season against the Seattle Seahawks. How have they done in the previous two games? The last time Denver played Seattle in Week 1 was in 2022, which was the first game of the Russell Wilson era in Denver. It was an extremely hostile environment, and it also marked the first game of the Nathaniel Hackett era.
Denver lost this game by a point, and Hackett's game management, or lack thereof, seemed to be on display here. That ended up being one of the worst seasons in franchise history, as Hackett was fired before the end of his first season, which only a few other head coaches can say happened to them. If nothing else, Hackett allowed the Denver Broncos to pivot to Sean Payton, which has been a much better solution.
That was quite the painful loss if we're being honest, but Russell Wilson did play quite well that game, so perhaps there was some confidence with the QB being able to work out. Well, that was not the case. The previous time the Broncos opened up the season against the Seattle Seahawks was in the 2018 NFL Season, and this was when Russell Wilson was still on the Seahawks for this game.
Case Keenum was the Denver Broncos starting QB and this was actually the first game of the Keenum era. Denver went 6-10 this year even after starting 2-0. Denver won a 27-24 game and took the lead late in the contest. Believe it or not, the Broncos picked off Russell Wilson two times this game, and those were two of only seven interceptions he threw in the 2018 NFL Season.
Seattle went 10-6 that year and were still thought of as being one of the best teams in football, so the Broncos being able to win that game was quite impressive. The 2018 NFL Season was also the last year of the Vance Joseph era, as he was fired after the year was over. Joseph is back with the Denver Broncos as their head coach, and Wilson is now on the Steelers.
There really are a ton of ways we've connected the dots between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks in recent history.