Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos entered Monday night’s road game against the Seattle Seahawks as the favorite to win. However, Geno Smith and the Seahawks have made life harder than expected for the visitors, especially in the third quarter when Seattle held Denver scoreless despite multiple golden opportunities for the Broncos to score touchdowns.

According to Greg Bell of the Tacoma News Tribune, the Broncos had seven plays made from inside the nine-yard line in the third quarter, but Denver failed to convert on any of those because of turnovers, particularly fumbles. First, it was running back Melvin Gordon losing a fumble from one-yard out. The Broncos would actually force a fumble turnover in the succeeding Seahawks drive before reaching the red zone again. However, tight end Albert Okwuegbunam failed to bring in a catch over to the end zone before running back Javonte Williams got his turn to lose a fumble that Seahawks defender Michael Jackson picked up.

Those turnovers are going to haunt the Broncos for days and maybe weeks to come. With the AFC West division expected to be a tight race from the beginning to the end of the 2022 NFL regular season, the Broncos can’t let those types of errors determine how far they would go this year.

The Broncos would end up losing to the Seahawks in Russell Wilson’s return to Seattle, 17-16, and they will just have to look forward to trying to rebound from that defeat in Week 2 against the Houston Texans at home.