Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson narrowly avoided throwing an interception on his first dropback of the game against the Jaguars in London this morning. He made up for it with an ugly turnover on the first pass of his next drive.
Watch Wilson underthrow a lollipop ball that gets picked by Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell.
Tyson Campbell was watching Wilson the whole time. Lovely coverage pic.twitter.com/0DPC3zPIgK
— Laurie Fitzpatrick (@LaurieFitzptrck) October 30, 2022
The bigger headline here is that it’s really starting to look like Wilson’s instincts are all wrong and his game may be irreparably broken.
Nathaniel Hackett and his staff have done a bad job of adjusting to Wilson’s struggles, but the quarterback himself has to bear the majority of the shame for his poor play this season.
Coming into today’s game Wilson had just five touchdown passes in six games. That was his fourth interception of the year, which will further drop what was already a career-low 35.1 QBR for Wilson in 2022.
We didn’t like the Russell Wilson trade when it happened, but it’s starting to look like a masterstroke move from Pete Carroll and John Schneider. It’s unlikely they thought Wilson would implode to the extent he has in Denver. However, there’s a distinct possibility they got out just in time before his inevitable regression kicked in.
There were signs, of course. Wilson looked like an MVP candidate during the first half of the 2020 season but ever since then he’s been a shell of himself. It’s no accident that defenses started consistently daring him to throw over the middle of the field around that time. If Wilson doesn’t change his instincts and adjust two-high coverage the way Patrick Mahomes has Denver is going to have a low ceiling for the remainder of his contract. It’s a shame, because the Broncos defense is magnificent and Wilson has quality skill players. They’re just a quarterback away from contending.
