The 2023-24 NFL schedule is being officially released tonight, but as is tradition, some games have been leaked to whet fans' appetites.
One game that is rumored to be on the schedule, according to Seattle radio host Dave Mahler, is a Week 1 matchup between the Seahawks and Broncos at Lumen Field in Seattle. While the game isn't confirmed yet, these rumors tend to be pretty solid within a day of the official schedule release, and Mahler isn't just some random yahoo on the internet.
For Seahawks fans, this game just doesn't pack the same punch as it would have last year, because Russell Wilson is no longer the Broncos' quarterback. Instead, the former Super Bowl champ is now in Pittsburgh, where he is expected to compete with former Bear Justin Fields to be the Steelers' starter.
Wilson's departure takes all of the juice out of the matchup for Seahawks fans, but it must come as a relief to fans of the Broncos, who aren't eager to revisit the disastrous trade that brought Wilson to Mile High in 2022 in exchange for two first-round picks, two seconds, a fifth, and three players.
Russell Wilson's absence from this game might allow both teams to finally get some closure
Wilson and the Broncos actually did visit the Seahawks for his first regular season game after leaving Seattle, a Week 1 thriller that Seattle survived 17-16. Wilson put up better numbers than his replacement Geno Smith in that one, throwing for over 300 yards and engineering a second-half comeback that came up just short.
Ultimately, it wasn't Wilson's fault that the Broncos lost that one, as Denver's running backs fumbled twice at the 1-yard line, and now-former Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett made the bizarre decision to settle for a 64-yard field goal to try and win the game, instead of using his timeouts to give Wilson the chance to bring the team closer.
Without Wilson there to act as a lightning rod, this Broncos-Seahawks matchup can fall back on being a rematch of Super Bowl XLVIII, though that won't make the Bronco faithful feel much better, as Seattle's Legion of Boom defense dismantled Peyton Manning and the Broncos offense in a 43-8 thrashing.
In reality, this will be just another game for both the Broncos and Seahawks, and the fact that it's the first game of the season will provide excitement enough for two fanbases that are ready to move on from the past with either a new head coach (Mike Macdonald for Seattle) or a new quarterback (Bo Nix for Denver). We'll find out tonight how the rest of the schedule will shake out, then the countdown to the season can really begin.
