Seahawks stun Denver Broncos in Russell Wilson’s return to Seattle

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Denver’s Nathaniel Hackett in his head coaching debut opted to send Brandon McManus out for a 64-yard field goal attempt on fourth-and-5 with 20 seconds left rather than give Wilson and the offense a do-or-die chance at converting and making McManus’ job easier.

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While Hackett’s assertion that Denver had moved the ball in only fits and spurts during the final drive, it showed the sort of explosiveness in the middle of the field that an offensive-minded head coach could easily have rationalized as reason enough to put the offense on the field for a potential game-deciding play.

Denver rolled up 433 offensive yards at a 6.8-per-snap clip in its first outing with this leadership and Wilson 29-of-42 for 340 and a touchdown.

boos from raining down on Wilson over the course of the evening.

“It didn’t bother me. This is a hostile environment. It always has been,” Wilson said. “I didn’t expect them to give a round of applause.”

Let Geno cook

The quarterback on the other sideline, Seattle veteran Geno Smith, torched Denver in the first half.

He completed 17-of-18 for 164 yards and a pair of touchdowns – a 38-yarder to tight end Will Dissly on a busted coverage and a 25-yarder up the seam to tight end Colby Parkinson – in helping the Seahawks build a 17-13 lead.

The Seahawks’ production slowed in the second half – Denver pitched a shutout and Seattle managed just 47 yards and five first downs – but  the Lumen Field crowd chanted, “GE-NO, GE-NO” after every positive play from the quarterback as he and the Seahawks played mostly from in front.

Smith, starting his 35th career game at the outset of his ninth professional season, got the nod for Seattle in the three games last fall when Wilson was out with a finger injury.

On Monday night, he came away with a win over his former teammate.

“They wrote me off,” he told ESPN’s Lisa Salters moments after he bled the final seconds of the clock with a trio of kneeldowns. “I ain’t write back, though.”

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