How Seattle’s bonkers crowd noise helped Uchenna Nwosu win Seahawks’ opener over Broncos
Don’t tell Uchenna Nwosu the best years for the Seahawks and their fans are over.
In his first game for Seattle, the veteran outside linebacker benefited from the crowd at Lumen Field to become the most valuable player of the season opener.
How much did Nwosu benefit from the loudest, most intense and incessant noise for a Seahawks home game since their last Super Bowl season of 2014?
It goes beyond Nwosu’s seven tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss, one forced fumble and one pass defensed. It goes beyond him winning the NFC defensive player of the week award Wednesday.
The offseason free agent from the Los Angeles Chargers basically won Monday night’s game for Seattle over Russell Wilson’s Denver Broncos.
“He was a problem,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “He played great, he really did. Thrilled that he was able to be that impacting.”
This was no sideshow crowd, no background to the game itself. The fans were the game.
Their constant booing of Wilson — after Carroll basically dared them to boo him last week — was a tangible factor in the outcome.
“It was sensational man,” Nwosu said. “You hear about it all the time, but to experience it for yourself is something different.
“That crowd was amazing today. They were great for us. They really helped us out there. We appreciate them so much.”
Former Broncos defensive lineman Shelby Harris played four seasons in Denver, in a stadium at Mile High known for being loud. He played for the Raiders before that.
He said he’s never played in an environment equal to what Lumen Field was Monday night.
“Hey, man, I ain’t ever heard a crowd that loud before in my life!” Harris bellowed over the bass that was banging across the Seahawks’ locker room immediately following the win.
“I was thinking, [in] Denver it gets loud. But I’ve never heard anything like that before in my life,” the 31-year-old veteran said. “I literally could not hear the man next me. I’ve never seen something like that before.
“That was phenomenal. Shout out to the 12s. I ain’t NEVER heard anything like ... I’ve played nine years in the NFL, never heard anything like that.”
Uchenna Nwosu and Denver’s silent snap count
Behind where Harris was mucking it up in the trenches, Nwosu exploited the noise. He zoomed into the Broncos’ backfield like he’d been in their huddle before plays.
He took advantage of Wilson having to use a silent snap count as the game progressed. Denver’s quarterback had to abandon his normal, voice cadences. Yelling words, numbers and “hut!” to his offensive linemen to snap the ball was useless.
The Broncos eventually went to a silent snap count. That required Denver’s linemen to react to the snap by looking at it, or by waiting until it happened or timing it.
Nwosu took advantage of that by getting reads on Broncos center Lloyd Cushenberry’s movements before each silent snap. That allowed Nwosu to get a head start running past Denver’s linemen, most often right tackle Cam Fleming.
Seattle’s free-agent signing from the Chargers this spring (for two years and $20 million with $10.5 million guaranteed) sped past the outside edge blocker assigned to him most notably on the two plays that won the game for Seattle in the second half.
The two key plays
Wilson led the Broncos on a 7-1/2-minute drive to begin the second half. On fourth down from a half-yard outside the goal line down 17-13, Denver went for the lead. Wilson took a shotgun snap and handed the ball to running back Melvin Gordon. Gordon, running laterally to the line of scrimmage, allowed Harris, the fast-charging Nwosu and Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs to pierce Denver’s blockers and ruin the play.
Diggs forced Gordon to fumble while the Bronco reached vainly for the goal line. Cornerback Michael Jackson recovered the ball at the Seattle 10-yard line. The Seahawks stayed in front 17-13.
And the people kept roaring.
After DK Metcalf committed Seattle’s first turnover, a fumble in his own end, Wilson got the Broncos back to the goal line again.
Nwosu came up hugely. Again.
Nwosu got another jump off the snap past Fleming on a third down with the ball a half yard from the goal line. Running back Javonte Williams dropped Wilson’s hand-off as he received it at the 4-yard line because Nwosu was there before Williams was. Jackson recovered the fumble Nwosu caused, too, in the end zone for a touchback.
“When the crowd is that noisy, the offense has to go to a silent count,” Nwosu said. “You’re kind of watching the center. Certain centers they have certain motions that they do, and this center was always leaning and doing different things. And I was able to get a jump on that.”
Asked if that’s why he blew up the two Broncos run plays they fumbled at the goal line, Nwosu said simply, “Yeah.”
Wilson and Denver ran seven plays from inside the Seahawks’ 9-yard line in the third quarter. The Broncos scored zero points in the period.
The Seahawks still led 17-13 into the fourth quarter. They never trailed and won the game 17-16.
The Broncos became the first team since the 1987 Kansas City Chiefs to lose two fumbles at the opponent’s 1-yard line in the same game.
The Seahawks became the only NFC West team to win in Week 1. They head to San Francisco to play the 49ers Sunday with a chance to take a two-game lead over their division rivals two weeks into the season — a season when most see Wilson-less Seattle as having no chance.
That’s a statement way louder than a silent snap count.
“Absolutely,” Nwosu said. “We don’t listen to the outside noise. We go in there and play Seahawks football. You guys know what that is. There’s a standard that comes with this.
“Anytime we step on that field and strap up that helmet, in front of the 12s, we try to do our part and play Seahawks defense.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 4:00 PM.
