Before we get to analyzing a game that didn’t count, we’ll get to the most important and best news of the night: Broncos DE Derek Wolfe appears to be doing well after a very scary injury early in the game. Wolfe was blocked low by Luke Willson, then as he went to the ground, he took a hard shot to the head from Michael Robinson. Wolfe stayed down for several minutes and eventually left in an ambulance to be evaluated for a cervical spine injury. So far, reports are good.
Re: Derek Wolfe: All tests were negative and he will fly home with the team.
— Denver Broncos (@DenverBroncos) August 18, 2013
Now, onto the game. Obviously as the score indicates, a lot went well for the Seahawks. Most important, however, was the fact that the Seahawks got the job done with their first-string offense and defense, which both had some struggles in last week’s game before the backups dominated the second half.
“It was good on the first drive to go down and score, and the next time we got a field goal,” Pete Carroll said. “It felt like we were doing things like we’d like to do it.”
Russell Wilson, who was just 2 for 6 in his preseason opener, played the entire first half and completed 8 of 12 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns, good for a quarterback rating of 141.3.
“Our biggest thing as an offensive was having great tempo today, getting back in the rhythm of everything,” he said. “Obviously when you play your first preseason game, you don’t get too many plays, so it’s hard to get in a rhythm. It’s hard to figure out, OK, are we doing things right, are we not doing things right? But today we were really clicking.”
There were two obvious standouts in the game, Jermaine Kearse, who caught a touchdown pass, then returned his first kickoff since high school 107 yards for a score.
And apparently Kearse called his shot, so to speak.
“He told me a couple weeks ago, he was like, ‘Man, Russell, if I get a chance at a kickoff return, I’m going to take it back,’” Wilson said. “He got one today, and I was like ‘Kearse, you going to take this one back?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to bring it back.’ Sure enough, he did.”
On defense, Brandon Browner had a big game, breaking up a couple of passes, forcing a fumble and most impressively, returning a fumble 106 yards for a score.
“When I looked up I saw nothing but green in front of me,” he said. “I only saw offensive linemen, and I’ll always take my chances against offensive linemen.”
Carroll was also happy that his team not only forced four turnovers, but for the second straight week did not give the ball away.
“The most important factor that’s happening right now is that we’re not giving the football up, and there’s nothing more important than that,” he said. “That’s two games with no turnovers, and that’s how we intend to play forever. When you do that, you win.”
Among the bad news for the Seahawks were their 12 penalties for 107 yards.
“There were some garbage things with the penalty situation, and we’ll continue to work on that,” Carroll said before praising the good things his team did. “… We just have to get better there. It’s lousy to play football like that. I don’t like it at all.”
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