DENVER - The setup for Thursday night at Empower Field is simple enough: two teams with elite defenses, two quarterbacks trying to rediscover their best selves, and both the Seahawks and Broncos staring at a third loss that would match what each club took over an entire season a year ago.
Seattle and Denver open Week 6 under the cold in a game that looked much bigger eight months ago, when both teams were being sized up as possible Super Bowl participants. That path changed fast.
Bo Nix broke his right ankle in the playoffs, and Jarrett Stidham followed with a rough 10-7 loss to New England in the AFC championship. Seattle then rolled past the Patriots in the Super Bowl to claim the franchise’s second title, with Kenneth Walker III named MVP of that game before leaving for Kansas City in free agency.
What’s left now is a matchup built around pressure, and a whole lot of it is landing on the quarterbacks.
Sam Darnold has already thrown five interceptions in three games this season, including two on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers that turned into quick touchdowns in a Seattle loss. He said the fix starts with him.
“Just got to continue to trust myself, trust my feet, trust what I’m seeing, which I’m doing. But, yeah, just got to be better taking care of the football,” Darnold said.
Nix’s season has gone in the opposite direction from the one Broncos fans expected. His recent remarks have suggested a quarterback trying to play carefully, maybe too carefully, with the ball downfield. The protection in front of him has not always held up, but there have also been snaps where he’s left clean pockets too early and passed on chances to run, taking away one of the best parts of his game.
He has also pushed back on the idea that anything is off.
“Playing good and playing bad, it’s a narrative and I think it’s honestly kind of something we make up,” Nix said. “I don’t think necessarily I’m playing any different than what I’m normally playing.”
The numbers tell a different story. Nix is down in passer rating, completion percentage and yards per attempt compared with last season, and he managed only 123 passing yards in Denver’s 23-17 road win over the Los Angeles Chargers last weekend.
Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton backed his quarterback, saying the job brings its own burden.
“He gets a lot of flak for just being the starting quarterback,’’ Sutton said. “We all have certain things that come with our job description and for him, he has a lot of weight on his shoulder.
… Everyone has his back. We all know that for us to have success, we need him to be able to have that success.
And we’re going to always have his back, no matter what, good, bad or indifferent.”
The biggest chess match may be Nix against a Seattle defense that leads the NFL in yards per play, interceptions, takeaways, net yards and passing yards allowed per game. Denver coach Sean Payton is back on play-calling duty after demoting OC Davis Webb a week ago, but the broader issue has not changed much: Nix has spent too much time inside his own head. Payton joked about the idea that returning to the headset would feel easy.
“I wish it was like riding a bike because my memories of riding bikes were always carefree, relaxing,” he said with a laugh.
There’s still plenty of bite on both sides of the ball heading into the game. Broncos pass-rusher Nik Bonitto leads the league with seven multi-sack games since the start of last season, and Denver has piled up multiple sacks in 19 straight home games, the longest active streak in the NFL and the longest in team history.
The home and road splits are striking, too. Since the start of 2024, Seattle owns the NFL’s best road winning percentage at .842, going 16-3, while Denver is right there with the second-best home winning percentage, also at .842 with a 16-3 mark.
Seattle also brings the league’s most productive receiver into the matchup. Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL with 583 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches.
And if the game tightens late, Nix has shown he can handle that stage. He has 13 career game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, tying Justin Herbert and Matt Ryan for the second-most by a player in his first three seasons since 1970. Only Dak Prescott had more with 14.
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Jaxon Smith-Njigba Just Became Seattle's Biggest Thursday Night X-Factor
Jaxon Smith-Njigbas week of practice offered a small dose of concern when the Seahawks receiver was limited by an ankle issue, but he heads into the matchup with Denver without an injury designation. That matters for a Seattle offense that has leaned on him heavily this season, with Smith-Njigba emerging as one of the teams most important playmakers through the first five games.
The timing only adds to the intrigue on Thursday night. Denver will be missing key defensive pieces in Pat Surtain II and Talanoa Hufanga, which opens a path for Seattle to keep feeding its top target if he looks like himself. For the Seahawks, the question is less about whether Smith-Njigba is available and more about how much damage he can do against a Broncos secondary that is suddenly shorthanded. [Read more 🡒]
Seahawks Suddenly Need A Spark From An Unsettling Backfield Situation
The Seahawks kept churning the bottom of the roster this week, signing running back Velus Jones Jr. off the practice squad and letting wide receiver Irv Charles go before bringing him back. It was the latest in a string of recent activations and releases involving the same players, a reminder of how fluid Seattles roster has become as it tries to navigate the back end of the season.
Jones has mostly made his mark on special teams this year, but the move also hints at a bigger role on offense if the team continues to be thin at running back. For a Seattle group looking for a spark, the backfield is suddenly one of the more unsettled spots on the roster, and the next few days could determine how much opportunity Jones gets to prove he can do more than cover kicks. [Read more 🡒]
Jaxon Smith-Njigba Brings Seahawks One Big Question Into Broncos Game
Jaxon Smith-Njigba gave the Seahawks a timely lift Wednesday by turning in a full practice session after being limited earlier in the week with an ankle injury. On a short week, that kind of update matters, especially with Seattle heading into Thursday Night Football against the Broncos and trying to keep its passing game on track.
Still, the abbreviated schedule leaves one real question hanging over the matchup. Full participation is a positive sign, but it does not automatically mean Smith-Njigba is fully over the ankle issue, so the Seahawks will be watching closely right up until kickoff to see how he responds. [Read more 🡒]