After the Denver Broncos lost another nail biter on primetime TV last night, more bad news came out after the game.
During Nathaniel Hackett’s postgame press conference on Monday night, the Denver head coach mentioned that quarterback Russell Wilson suffered a hamstring injury.
“It got me pretty good in the fourth quarter, just tried to play through it,” Wilson said after the game. “I felt good moving around, running around, throwing it and everything else especially early on when that happened, so that was a little unfortunate.”
Wilson’s injury happened with 2:31 left in the fourth-quarter when Wilson scrambled left away from pressure and threw the ball away, per Mike Klis of 9News in Denver.
According to Tom Pelissero of The NFL Network, Wilson received an MRI on his hamstring and that the injury could be “fairly significant.”
Since the MRI has been taken, Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network also reported that Wilson is “considered day-to-day.” Rapoport also mentioned that it is a “real injury and he’s in real pain.”
As much as Wilson is going to try and push himself to play this week against the New York Jets, Hackett was asked if he’s comfortable telling Wilson that it’s best if he doesn’t play on Sunday.
“Russell is the ultimate competitor. He’s going to do everything in his power to get out on that field. We have to make sure that he’s healthy enough to be able to go out and play at a high level.”
Hackett also added, “We’ll get a feel for him throughout today and into tomorrow.”
Wilson Has Struggled This Season
After the Broncos pulled off one of the biggest trades in NFL history for Wilson, the deal is starting to look like the worst trade in NFL history.
Nobody thought that Wilson and the Broncos would be the laughing stock of the NFL with a 2-4 record.
Through the first six weeks of the season, Wilson has quarterbacked the Broncos to the worst scoring offense in the NFL at 15.2 points per game. Denver is also the worst redzone scoring team in the league scoring touchdowns on just 20% of the time.
Wilson is also off to the worst start of his career with just five touchdown passes and three interceptions through six games. The former Super Bowl winning quarterback has only completed 58.6% of his passes, while his worst completion percentage in Seattle was just over 61%.
Every week, Broncos Country is hopeful that the next game is the game in which Wilson and the Denver offense will finally click and become the elite offense everyone expected them to be. Even on Monday night against the Chargers, Wilson started the game off with 10 straight completions for 116 yards and a touchdown, but then things fell apart.
After Wilson’s amazing start, he completed just five more passes on 18 attempts for just 72 yards.
Wilson currently ranks 25th in the NFL in QBR with a 35.8 rating.
Brett Rypien Might Start Against the Jets
With the Broncos hosting the Jets on Sunday, there’s a chance that Hackett and his staff tell Wilson that he needs to take the week off to heal his hamstring and shoulder injuries. If Wilson doesn’t get the green light, backup quarterback Brett Rypien will get the start against New York.
Rypien won the backup job during training camp and preseason after he beat out veteran quarterback Josh Johnson.
The former Boise St. Bronco showed flashes in training camp and was the most consistent quarterback of the two in the preseason completing 67.6% of his passes for 441 yards and a touchdown.
Rypien has one start in his young career and coincidently it was against the Jets. During that game, Rypien completed 61.2% of his passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns. Even though Rypien threw three interceptions, the Denver offense still put up 37 points to beat the Jets by nine points.
It’s fair to say that if the Broncos need to rest Wilson for a game, they’ll have a solid backup plan against a Jets team with a 4-2 overall record.
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Russell Wilson’s Status Updated After Fear of ‘Fairly Significant’ Injury