Russell Wilson Defends Broncos HC's Controversial End-Game Decision

The Denver Broncos' starting quarterback would not throw his coach under the bus in Seattle.

The Denver Broncos' disjointed and error-strewn 17-16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night might end up costing them dearly come December.

Red-zone turnovers, a raft of costly penalties, and some very Vic Fangio-like end-of-game clock management culminated in head coach Nathaniel Hackett's ill-fated decision to let Brandon McManus attempt the second-longest field goal in NFL history.

The Broncos' 17-16 loss in Seattle will burn them badly, and in an instant, puts the first-year head coach's feet to the fire.

Post-game, Hackett had little choice but to fall on the proverbial sword. When it came to his fateful decision to take the ball out of the hands of his $245 million quarterback and put it instead on the foot of his kicker, Hackett had his own rationale for how the game concluded.

“Yeah, we were right on the line and he had plenty of distance. He just missed it. Again, that's—hey, Brandon gave it his best shot. That's a long field goal to hit,” Hackett said in Seattle. “I think he's capable of that, but obviously, I wish we would've got a lot closer. It put us in that weird spot there because we were in the field goal range but we were on that fourth down situation. Didn't think we were going to get that many yards, so I thought it was a great job by [RB] Javonte [Williams]. We just made the decision we wanted to take our shot there on that one.”

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Should the Broncos find themselves in the same position again, it’s likely that Hackett will have learned his lesson and will ultimately entrust things to Russell Wilson. Post-game, Wilson opted not to question or second guess Hackett's game-defining decision, but that should come as too much of a surprise this early in proceedings.

“I believe in Coach Hackett," Wilson said. "I believe in what we're doing. Believe in everything, and any time you can try to find a way to make a play on fourth and five, that's great too. Also, I don't think it was the wrong decision. I think he can make it. Obviously, [in] hindsight, he didn't make it, but [if] we were in that situation again, I wouldn't doubt whatever he decided.”

McManus has always lobbied Denver's previous head coaches to let him attempt the long kicks in critical moments. Even though the veteran kicker just couldn't deliver when it really counted in Seattle. That being said, the sheer length of the kick didn't knock his overall levels of confidence before it sailed wide left.

“I wasn’t really worried about the distance necessarily,” McManus said. “Once you get back that far, especially with a slight breeze right to left, once the ball starts losing velocity, I knew it was going to fall left. So I wanted to aim it towards the right upright and, you know, it kind of started it down the middle, and it kind of fell off there. I wanted to aim it further right, and it didn’t happen."

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