Late in the fourth quarter of Thursday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, the Denver Broncos faced a 3rd-and-4 at Indy’s 13-yard line with 2:19 remaining.
Instead of simply attempting to pick up a first down, quarterback Russell Wilson threw to the end zone. Wilson’s throw — late and behind his intended target — was picked off, helping the Colts stay in the game.
After the game, coach Nathaniel Hackett explained that he called a play hoping to pick up a first down.
“We wanted to be sure that we were able to get a first down,” the coach said. “So we were trying to give ourselves a play that could help us with that. We’ve been running the ball well there, so we went with a play-action pass and in that situation, obviously, we don’t want a turnover, we want to come away with the points, that would have helped us.
“We were really working Jerry [Jeudy] across the middle, and I don’t think he was open. We just slowly progressed and Russell thought he had a chance at it, and it ended up being a pick.”
That interception gave Indianapolis an opportunity to send the game into overtime, and the Colts did just that. When the Broncos were later trailing by three points in overtime, they faced a 4h-and-1 at Indy’s five-yard line. Instead of kicking a game-tying field goal or running the ball, Denver called a pass play again.
Wilson did not see a wide-open KJ Hamler and instead forced the ball into coverage trying to connect with Courtland Sutton. The pass was broken up and the Broncos lost in overtime thanks in large part to a pair of Wilson miscues.
Hackett was asked about the fourth-down play after the loss.
“We wanted to win the game,” the coach said. “We hadn’t moved the ball very well the whole night, and I thought we had a spectacular drive to get all the way down there. It ended up being 4th-and-1, and we got the go to go for it. Thought it was a good decision, wanted to put the ball in Russell’s hand and call a play that we know, and he really likes, and it didn’t work out.
“It was one of those things, the timeout before was to kind of get a feel for what they were doing and so the run didn’t look as good as we had hoped it would have, and gave it a chance with Russell and that’s all you can ask for in that situation to win the game.”
Hackett faced heavy criticism after Week 1 when he took the ball out of Wilson’s hands on a 4th-and-5 to instead attempt a 64-yard field goal against the Seattle Seahawks. After the kick hooked left and Denver lost, Hackett said the next day that he should have gone for it on fourth down, keeping the ball in Wilson’s hands at the end of the game.
Hackett left the ball in Wilson’s hands against Indy and the result was a 12-9 loss at home that dropped the Broncos to 2-3 on the season.
