The Seattle Seahawks officially start their season in the Emerald City to host the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. Seattle’s 28-12 record (.700) is the highest win percentage in NFL history on Monday night.
To the 12th Man, seeing the Broncos will surely bring about mixed emotions. On one hand, it will conjure memories of Seattle’s dominant 43-8 victory over Denver in Super Bowl XLVIII. On the other, it will be a somewhat bittersweet feeling as they will have to watch the Broncos be led by the quarterback who helped defeat them in the big game – Russell Wilson.
The general consensus around the league is that the Seahawks are destined for a rebuild year while the Broncos will be among the AFC favorites. Perhaps both outcomes will prove to be true. They are certainly the most likely, especially since the Broncos begin their campaign against the Seahawks.
However, I am going to zig where everyone is zagging.
Prediction: Seahawks upset Broncos 23-21
Call it a hunch, call it going with my gut, call it a bold take or a foolish prediction. Call it whatever you like, but if there’s any game this year where the Seahawks are going to play with a little extra juice it will be this one.
For all the talk of Wilson looking to validate his move to Denver to further his legacy, there’s plenty of motivation from the Seahawks’ perspective as well.
Based on ESPN’s Brady Henderson’s recent piece chronicling the fallout between the Seahawks and Wilson, it was becoming increasingly obvious the organization was atarting to lose faith in their quarterback. The Seahawks were not planning to give Wilson another mega-extension, and were developing concerns about his long term mobility.
Bottom line, the organization will be looking to instill faith that they made the right decision. An upset victory over Wilson’s Broncos to start the season wouls go a long way to proving the current regime is capable of restarting the franchise once again.
Not to mention the Seahawks will be wearing the Action Green alternate uniforms. Seattle is 7-1 all time when wearing the color rush uniforms.
