ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos’ offense was hard to find on Sunday night against the 49ers as they only scored nine points.
But when they needed it the most, Russell Wilson turned into vintage Russ.
Not only did No. 3 lead a go-ahead touchdown drive, which ended up being the game-winner, he did it by playing the way that makes him so special. On multiple third down conversions on the touchdown drive, Wilson used his escapability to pick up first downs. Facing a 3rd-and-10 from Denver’s own 33, Wilson rolled left to buy time for Kendall Hinton to get open and found him for a 27-yard first down. Later in the drive, on 3rd-and-6 from the 49ers’ 36, Russ took off, picking up 12 yards on the ground.
“When we needed a big drive there at the end, Russell came through when he started running around, making plays, and it was a thing of beauty,” Nathaniel Hackett said Sunday night, following Denver’s 11-10 win over the 49ers.
But where was that beauty the rest of the game? Or for the majority of the first three games of the Broncos’ season? Will Hackett and the offense start catering to Wilson’s ability to work off-script moving forward?
“I think we have to define what off-script is,” Hackett responded, when asked about that on Monday. “I think what off-script is, is when you have a progression, and you don’t do that progression. I think that when a play is called and you go through your progression and it’s all covered, then you start making it happen, that’s part of the script.”
Throughout the offseason and training camp, Hackett emphasized how he wanted Wilson to win from the pocket first and go through his progressions. So far, the head coach is pleased with how Wilson’s done that.
“I would say I think that [Sunday] night we saw him be part of the script, it just happened that he used his legs. So I thought he was spectacular,” Hackett said. “I would never hold him back from doing anything that he might see. He’s out there, he’s playing. He had a couple of brilliant checks for big plays down the field that we talked about we have done. Again, that’s part of it. As we learn each other, as we learn the system, we know when the system when the plays called because we call it for something very specific. If we don’t get that, we want to do something that’s even better. I think that he saw a couple of those things, then made some great plays, and used his feet when things weren’t there.”
Through the first three games, Wilson has nine rushing attempts, including six against the 49ers, for a total of 22 yards. In the first 10 years of his career, Russ averaged over five rushing attempts for 29 yards per game. Three games into his Broncos’ career, he’s not only only averaging three rushing attempts for seven yards, but he’s not scrambling behind the line of scrimmage as much as he used to.
“When you’re playing the game, I mean I’ve never played quarterback, I know when there’s a lot of really good football players rushing me. I know I would probably get a little bit freaked out myself, but I think that for him, he stayed under composure, and when he saw somebody flash, he took it,” Hackett said, when asked if Wilson is apprehensive to run. “When he didn’t see somebody, he ran around and we had an opportunity for a scramble drill, he made that. Again, it’s a hard position to play. Last night there were a couple of times that he did some really great things and then we just have to continually take the easy things and get some of those easy ones. We have to convert on those, and I think that’ll help us out a lot more.”
To Hackett, Russ doesn’t need to be unleashed. Wilson needs to continue to go through his reads, and if one of those reads is a run, then he can take off. If the play breaks down, Russ can go off script. But from Hackett’s perspective, Wilson isn’t being held back.
