Russell Wilson got a game ball for doing nothing Sunday. Nice to know that some things never change.
“Obviously, it’s huge to get a second win and everything else,” Wilson told me as we shook hands at his stall inside the visiting locker room at Empower Field early Sunday night. “That was big. Great team win.”
Nice guy. That hasn’t changed either. While Wilson, the Broncos’ QB1 from 2022-23, was inactive for the second straight week with a calf issue, the team paying him $1.2 million (the Steelers) held off the team paying him $37.8 million (the Broncos), 13-6.
Showdown? More like letdown. What was supposed to be a clash of Sean Payton vs Big Russ, Old Coach vs. Alleged Old Coach’s Nemesis, turned into Brncs-vs.-Justin Fields — there’s no ‘o’ in the ‘Broncos’ anymore.
“And it was good to be able to see some of my closest friends, closest teammates,” Wilson continued. “Guys like Courtland Sutton, Jaleel (McLaughlin), Javonte (Williams). Guys like Garett Bolles and Ray Jackson, who’s an unsung hero, in my opinion.
“So (I’m) just grateful. But huge win. 2-0.”
With that, Big Russ gathered his things and left the building. But not without leaving an old, familiar taste in the mouths of Broncos Country first.
“I was really hoping (Wilson) was going to be playing today,” Jon Bey told me as we met on the main concourse during the first half Sunday. “Yeah, so it’s rough. Look, Russell’s OK. The contract was insane. He’s a little bit of a prima donna. I think that’s why he gets such a hard time when he comes back here.”
Bey turned up at Empower wearing an orange “WILSON 3” Broncos jersey that he brought all the way from Vancouver. He’d actually first snatched it up on a junket to our fair town two years ago, before the Front Range’s hopes were crushed like a power station in a Godzilla movie.
“Did folks give you a hard time?” I asked.
“People have been pretty good,” the Canadian said, “but there’s been a number of hecklers giving me a hard time.”
“WILSON (STINKS!),” they shouted at him. “WILSON (STINKS!)”
“Did you have second thoughts about wearing this today?” I wondered.
“I did,” Bey laughed. “I totally did. But I’m like, ‘I’m not buying another Broncos jersey. I’ve got one, so I’ll wear it.’”
Meanwhile, Jackie Godinez of Denver had warned her guy Leo not to wear his to the game. Before he left for Mile High in an orange Russ jersey, she was like, ‘Are you sure?’
“Why are you going to wear one (with his name), when we’re going against him?” she asked.
“I don’t have another (jersey),” Leo replied.
So Russ it was.
“But I regret it now,” Leo chuckled as he recalled his choice. “They were giving me (expletive) for five minutes straight, dude. It was hilarious.
“I want to burn this (jersey) to the ground. That’s what I’m doing next.”
He’d planned to put tape over Wilson’s name, just to get the stank out of his soul, but didn’t have time.
Another Denverite who brought an orange Russ jersey to the tilt, Grant Ambrosich, had the same idea and a different plan.
“I’m here with my brother-in-law who’s a Steelers fan, so I was going to spray-paint it black,” Ambrosich explained, “but like, keep the orange somewhat visible (around the number).
“I feel for (Wilson). He tried really hard. But he just wasn’t the guy.”
Full disclosure: After the last two weeks, he’s not quite sure Bo Nix is the guy, either.
“I’m looking for a new jersey, but I have no idea who to get because the turnover (of players) is so high,” Ambrosich laughed. “And I kind of think Nix is a glorified Kirk Cousins.”
“Which isn’t bad,” I countered, “but …”
“But when you’re playing against Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Justin Herbert, it’s like, ‘All right, we need better than Kirk Cousins.’”
Can’t argue with that.
A few hearty souls were even brave enough to wear Wilson jerseys in the South Stands, where the hardest of orange-and-blue diehards hold court.
Nicole Anderson’s been judge, jury and an occasional executioner of AFC West foes for decades now, a Broncos legacy, with South Stands tickets that have been passed down through the family for more than 60 years. Her take on Big Russ was hard to miss. She brought an 18-by-22-inch sign, one happily slid in between the iron bars at her feet, that read:
$37 MILLION TO RIDE THE PINE … IN 2 CITIES!
GO BRONCOS!
“So you’re sorry he didn’t play today?” I wondered.
“I’m only sorry,” she quipped with a grin, “that we couldn’t bench him in this game.”
Even big Russ’ game ball was petty. No, seriously. The Steelers’ current QB1, Fields, told reporters that coach Mike Tomlin gave Big Russ a “petty game ball,” a Pittsburgh tradition when facing a former team. Wideout Brandon Johnson and punter Corliss Waitman, two other Broncos alums, apparently got them, too.
Blake Anderson, Nicole’s husband, said he passed a bench on the way into the stadium where fans were symbolically leaving — or rather, dumping — their “WILSON 3” jerseys.
“Do you have a favorite Wilson moment?” I asked Nicole.
“Yeah, now,” she replied, then grinned again. “(Because) he’s not on our team anymore.”
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