The NFL landscape is severely overthinking Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos in 2023

Russell Wilson is on a torrid pace to start the 2023 NFL season, but I've listened to and read some people claim that there is still something off with Wilson and the Denver Broncos. People like Colin Cowherd and some folks over at ESPN to name a few still haven't really been able to accurately pinpoint the struggles of the Denver Broncos this year.

The easiest and most "cop out" answer is to continue to blame Russell Wilson. He's an easy target for many people. Many are rubbed the wrong way by his personality, calling him things like corny and cheesy. He was also terrible last year, and teams tend to win or lose because of their quarterback. Well, the Broncos are 0-2 to begin the 2023 NFL season, so naturally, some people are blaming Russell Wilson.

However, for those of us who have watched the Denver Broncos over the first two weeks, it's clear that Wilson is far from the issue. In fact, take a look at these two tweets that I out recently to indicate how good Wilson has been this year:

Russell Wilson is playing some very efficient football this year. In fact, the Denver Broncos lead the league in points per drive, which is a huge indicator of offensive efficiency. However, some people are still hung up on Russell Wilson, and it's weird. Don't overthink this.

Danny Kelly from The Ringer put out a pretty confusing article about Russell Wilson. In the article, he talked about how Wilson has flashes of being his old self but that something still seems to be missing. Here's an excerpt from his piece:

"So why does it feel so different in Denver than it did in Seattle? For starters, winning cures all—and Wilson won a hell of a lot of games with the Seahawks. That hasn’t translated to his new team, and it will take a lot for Wilson to get the stink from last year off of him. It also doesn’t help that the team has lost two close games to start this season, in part due to Wilson’s inconsistent play (he played markedly better in the first halves of the team’s two games before trailing off in the second halves) and untimely turnovers. That’s a departure from what we saw in Seattle, where Wilson was typically at his best in high-leverage situations late in the game. Then again, that could just be variance."

Danny Kelly

The primary issue with the Denver Broncos is the defense, and Kelly mentioned the word defense as it relates to the Broncos just once in this massive article. Guys, this is not hard. Russell Wilson is looking like his old self, as much as he possibly can at 34 years old. He's using his legs to create plays and has been marvelously efficient this year.

It's the defense that can't get off the field and cannot generate consistent pressure at the quarterback. Vance Joseph is holding this team back, not Russell Wilson.