Sometimes, the best decisions are the ones that are the most obvious.
For the NFL, when it comes to the season-opener for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos, it appears quite obvious what the decision should be from the league: Steelers at Broncos, Week 1, either Sunday Night Football or Monday Night Football.
Russell Wilson returning to the Mile High City with his new team, a massive chip on his shoulder, and a point to prove to Broncos’ head coach Sean Payton. All while forcing the Broncos to have an $85+ million dead cap hit to make him play elsewhere.
The script, so to speak, writes itself. There shouldn’t even be a debate as to when and how that Steelers-Broncos matchup should happen.
It wouldn’t be anything new for the league, either. The NFL did the same thing to Wilson in 2022 after he was traded to the Broncos from the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson and the Broncos went into Seattle to open the season on Monday Night Football against Geno Smith and the Seahawks and promptly lost, showing just how disastrous of a first season it would be for Wilson in Denver under then-head coach Nathaniel Hackett.
Two years later, with the Steelers and Broncos set to be opponents in 2024 in Denver, the opportunity is right there in front of the league once again.
Don’t overthink it.
Sure, a Steelers-Broncos matchup isn’t the flashiest matchup to open the 2024 season on primetime, especially following the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs opening the season on Thursday night to raise yet another banner, and then the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers opening the season on Friday night in Brazil.
But the storylines surrounding that Steelers-Broncos matchup are just too hard to pass up.
Payton and Wilson very clearly clashed last season, with Payton being much more demonstrative in his disdain for Wilson. The sideline antics in Detroit last season come to mind.
Of course, since the Broncos moved on from Wilson, there have been quite a few “leaks” about Wilson’s struggles with play calls of more than two words, and more. But it certainly appears as though those leaks are coming from one clear spot in an effort to benefit one person, as one Denver radio station pointed out.
Denver teammates loved Wilson and spoke highly of him despite the Broncos moving on, so the drama there surrounds Payton and Wilson, though Wilson has been rather quiet.
It might be a hostile situation for Wilson to ride into, too (pun intended), as his extension the Broncos gave him ahead of the 2022 season has put Denver in a financial bind as they paid him to play elsewhere. The fans might let him have it since they are in dire straights after trading away wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, finding themselves in a contract dispute with wide receiver Courtland Sutton, and attempting to go all-in on rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
Not great for Denver, and there’s really only one person to direct that vitriol towards, right or wrong: Wilson. He didn’t come close to achieving the success individually or as a team that the Broncos and their fanbase expected when they swung that major trade for him, which ultimately set the franchise back.
It won’t be a welcoming environment, to state the obvious.
That should be exactly what the league wants in the end. Think of the storylines leading up to the game, especially if it’s on Monday Night Football. Potentially the last game of the opening week, all the talking points Monday afternoon and evening leading up to kickoff…it’s all there for the taking for the league.
They’ve shown once that they like that approach to scheduling. It’s time to do it again.
