Make no mistake.
The Denver Broncos want to beat the Seattle Seahawks on Monday Night Football and give Russell Wilson the win in his return trip.
That goes without saying.
Teams always look for added motivation in any way they can get it.
No doubt the Broncos wanted to get Peyton Manning a win in his first game against the Indianapolis Colts in 2013. The Colts beat Denver 39-33.
More recently, Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New England Patriots in last year’s return to Foxborough.
Now comes Wilson’s debut for the Broncos against his old team.
Is there really added motivation for the team to help Wilson get the win?
“The most important thing is getting a win,” Broncos safety Justin Simmons told the Denver media on Thursday. “Any extra motivation that you can add is great. It’s going to mean a lot to ‘Russ’ going back to where he’s won so many games. (We’re) looking forward to adding one more, but on our end.”
Not that Denver needs it, but even more motivation comes from the fact the game is on Monday Night Football.
Like the rest of the football world, Broncos Country will tune in to see how Wilson fares in his return to Seattle.
As Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett said:
“I think the guys are just excited to get out there and play. In the end, it’s the 2022 season. It’s a lot of excitement just to get out there and have the season finally be here. Anybody that’s involved in this game. I bet you all are excited. I’m excited. The fans are excited.
“So, yes, I think there is excitement, but for us, we still have a job to do. So, I think it’s kind of controlling that excitement and understanding. ‘Hey, we’re proud to be fired up and excited. But it’s a marathon and we have to be sure we’re going out there and executing every play’.”
As for Wilson, this is just “another game.”
At least that’s what he’s saying publicly.
“Well, there is obviously tremendous love and history there,” Wilson said. “Like I said, I’ve been there so many times, I’ve played 100-plus home games there or something like that. So it will definitely be an experience that I have never experienced before. But it will also be an experience that I’m going to enjoy the journey of it all.
“My focus is going to be on joy. My focus is going to be on my teammates. It’s playing our best football that we can possibly play, against a really good football team. That is what we’re going to have to do. To play a great game, you can have passion, you can have some emotion and all that, but you can’t be emotional. I think that’s just part of it.”
While you get the sense Denver isn’t making much of this game in the media, make no mistake, the players and coaches are motivated to help Wilson leave Seattle with a win; especially now with all the crap coming out of Seattle.
“I hope we come out and we light it up because we need that as a team — and we want to do that for him, too,” Broncos running back Melvin Gordon said.
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