Russell Wilson placed blame for the Denver Broncos' 12-9 overtime loss Thursday night the only place he could: on his own shoulders.
"It's very simple. At the end of the day, I have to be better. I have to play better," he said, via the official transcript. "This team, this defense played their butts off tonight. We had some key, good drives [where] we moved the ball. In the red zone, we just didn't get to capitalize on some of them. There were some plays here and there that we can capitalize on…At the end of the day, throwing two interceptions can't happen. Can't happen. I let the team down tonight."
Wilson's two ghastly interceptions both came in scoring range. On the first, he overshot an open KJ Hamler by a mile early in the fourth quarter. Then just ahead of the two-minute warning on a third-and-4 from the 13-yard-line, leading by three points, the Broncos inexplicably called a pass play that Wilson forced to Tyrie Cleveland that was picked off by Stephon Gilmore, giving the Colts a chance to force overtime.
Wilson missed a host of throws Thursday, bringing out the boo-birds from the home fans. The QB went 21-of-39 for 274 yards and two interceptions for a 54.9 passer rating. He had zero first-half completions of 10-plus yards and finished 2-of-14 for 88 yards and two INTs on passes of 10-plus air yards on the night.
The Broncos' passing offense is a malaise of short dumps and missed throws from Wilson. Through five weeks, the QB is on pace for career lows in completion percentage (59.4), passing TD percentage (2.4) and passer rating (82.8). His four passing TDs are also his fewest through five games in his career.
"The good thing is that one thing I know about myself is [that] I'm going to respond," Wilson said. "I don't know any other way. I always believe in myself. I always believe in this team. I believe in what we can do. I believe in what I can do. When you play this game, the one thing you're going to know is that you're going to go through adversity. Adversity is a choice, and I'm always going to choose to understand that adversity is just temporary and you're going to overcome obstacles and battles. We're all working together. We're all still together, focused on trying to do whatever it takes. It starts with me, and I'll make sure that I do that."
Coach Nathaniel Hackett has taken heat, particularly in Week 1, with his decision to take the ball out of his highly paid QB's hand. On Thursday, he trusted Wilson to make plays, and the QB came up short.
"I think for us, it's having these negative plays, backward plays or the interceptions or anything negative. That's on us. That's all on us as players. It starts with me," Wilson said. "It's not on coach Hackett. It's not on anybody else. He's called some really good plays -- we have to make the plays. I have to be able to hit it [throws]. We have to be able to get that first down -- whatever it is. It's disappointing tonight, obviously. We felt like we should have won that game. I felt like I let us down tonight. In this locker room, we believe in what we can do. There's a lot of season left, there's a lot of opportunity left, [and] there's a lot of belief. [With] how great the defense is doing, if we can to turn it around on offense -- how quickly we can turn it around on offense. That's the key. We just have to keep battling and keep believing."
Sitting at 2-3 after Thursday's woeful home loss, the Broncos' offense needs to forge an identity quickly after averaging just 15.0 points per game and scoring more than 20 points just once in five games.
"I'm looking forward to turning it around," Wilson said. "Looking forward to turning it around because when we do, it's going to be a special story when we do it. There's no other way to think because that's all I know. I'm looking forward to the challenge of it all. I'm looking forward to the adversity of it all, the negativity of it all, and everything else because [I] just use that for fuel and opportunity. When we do. It's going to be an exciting time because there's a lot of great guys in that locker room that work their butts off every day."
