ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The “Let Russ Cook” menu had a little flare to it during Monday’s OTA practice.
The majority of the menu was filled with bland staples — the meat and potato parts of the playbook — but with Russell Wilson and Nathaniel Hackett leading the offense, there was bound to be added dashes of spice tossed in here and there.
Denver’s offense lulled the defense asleep with screens left and right, right and left, swing passes and crossing routes.
Then they struck deep.
With Bradley Chubb flying around the edge, Wilson stepped up in the pocket and delivered a moon ball down the left sideline. While the pass appeared to be headed into the hands of defenders, it sailed right over Justin Simmons’ head and into Albert Okwuegbunam’s hands for a monster 50-yard gain.
Then it was time to lull the defense asleep once again.
More screens. More short crossing routes. More running plays.
And then another bomb.
With the ball in their own territory, Wilson dropped back to pass and was again greeted by Chubb coming off the edge. Shortly before Chubb would have stopped the play, No. 3 launched another 50-yard pass, this time between the hashes down the middle of the field.
As the ball fell from space, Tim Patrick greeted it in stride over his left shoulder with Michael Ojemudia closing in. Once Patrick secured the catch, Hackett left the ground, jumping for joy as he displayed the emotions of every fan in Denver after a Russ bomb. After practice, Hackett admitted, with a big smile, that play in particular got him excited.
“You know it was funny, we changed the script a little bit, decided to call something different, wanted to throw the ball a little different because Ejiro [Evero] was starting to pressure us some, so we mixed it up a little bit,” Hackett said, explaining the play.
And, it was another 50-yard completion for Wilson.
But this time, only Wilson knew the deep shot was coming. His head coach was left in the dark.
“It was great, because it was a little check on that play. So it wasn’t just the play that it was, it was the check that Russell got to,” Hacked explained. “He was very sneaky too so I didn’t know it was coming. I was a little nervous, thought he was going to progress then I look up and the ball’s going and Tim ran a beautiful route. So that was awesome.”
Known as one of the best deep-ball throwers in the NFL, if not the best, Wilson not only brings the talent to stretch the field with his arm, but he instantly brings the ability to make audibles and checks at the line of scrimmage to take advantage of what the defense presents.
Wilson’s cannon hit multiple times on Monday for big-time plays. But it was a check at the line, which led to a 50-yard completion, that thrilled Hackett the most.
