The Broncos lost their preseason opener on Friday night, 18-17, as the Arizona Cardinals scored a touchdown with just seconds left in the game to steal the victory. Now many will say that it's "just preseason" and that much of the takes that have followed this game concerning the Broncos are "overreactions", but I'm not having it.
The Broncos deserve the negative press until they can do something to change it, even if it is in an exhibition game. This has been a bad football team for some time now and this game did nothing to change the thought of that continuing.
The team will take the field this Saturday evening at Levi's Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers. Following that, the team will have one more preseason game before the season gets ready to start.
Before that, this team needs to show fans some things before the games start to matter, even if it is just a snippet of these things.
Russell Wilson still needs to show improvement
There is the idea that perhaps the criticism of Russell Wilson is starting to go a bit too far, but how unwarranted is it?
Wilson is being paid like one of the top quarterbacks in the league and he hasn't come close to playing like one for some time now. In the game against the Cardinals, it's certainly unfair to say he was terrible, but it's also a little bit ridiculous to say he was good.
Whether it's a Russ problem, a team problem, an offensive scheme problem, he just does not look good on the field anymore.
In these next two games, which he'll likely play quite sparingly, we can't see passes getting batted back into his face at the line of scrimmage. Or jittery feet as he drops back to pass or throws that go nowhere near the intended target.
Jarrett Stidham had a miserable preseason game and Wilson's starting job is not in jeopardy but if he is not markedly better this season than he was last year, he won't be the starter past 2023.