There was no love, or sleep, lost over the departure of Russell Wilson as evidenced by the response the former Seahawks quarterback received in Seattle on Monday Night Football.
Wilson, making his first return to the city he called home for his first 10 seasons, took center stage entering MNF as the world eagerly awaited to see how the 12s would greet their former franchise QB. Rather than serenading Wilson with a hero’s welcome as some fans may have expected, a raucous crowd unleashed a wave of boos from the moment the Broncos star stepped onto the turf.
Needless to say, the 12s wanted to make sure the nine-time Pro Bowler was well aware they are still not quite over the blockbuster trade that sent Wilson to Denver earlier this offseason.
The vicious response mirrored the one Wilson heard prior to kickoff as he ran out of the visitor’s tunnel at Lumen Field for the first time in his career.
After a brief huddle with his teammates, the 11-year veteran hung back to share a few words with backups Brett Rypien and Josh Johnson before charging onto the turf to a what could be described as a less-than-mixed response, to say the least.
Wilson’s 10-year Seahawks tenure ended in March after Seattle traded him to Denver for a package of assets. Wilson concluded his run with the club as the holder of numerous franchise records, but his most significant accomplishment came at the end of the 2013 season when he guided the Seahawks to its first championship with a win over the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII.
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Across his 158 regular-season starts for Seattle, Wilson, a 2012 third-round pick, amassed 37,059 yards, 292 touchdowns and 87 interceptions with a 104–53–1 record. Wilson, whose three missed games in the ’21 campaign were the first DNPs of his career, also earned second-team All-Pro honors in ’19.
On Monday night, however, the Seahawks sufficiently contained their former quarterback in a 17–16 victory for Seattle as Denver mismanaged the final minutes of the game before failing to convert a 64-yard field goal with less than 20 seconds left. That ensured that while the night started with Seahawks fans booing their lungs out, it ended with an even louder round of cheers.
