Bobby Wagner: Broncos were intimidated

[Bronco Rob]

Seahawks middle linebacker Bobby Wagner believes the Denver Broncos were intimidated by his team's defense from the start of their 43-8 Super Bowl XLVIII loss to Seattle.

Wagner was a guest Tuesday on ESPN's "First Take" in Los Angeles when co-host Stephen A. Smith asked him if he thought the Broncos' offense was intimidated by the Seahawks' defense.

"You're not wrong," Wagner said. "They looked scared out there. Nobody wanted to catch the ball. Nobody wanted to come up the middle."

Wagner thought the intimidation factor started early in the game with Seattle strong safety Kam Chancellor's bruising hit on Denver receiver Demaryius Thomas on a short crossing route in the first quarter.

Right as Thomas made the catch, Chancellor launched into Thomas' shoulder high and knocked him backward five yards.

"If you look at the previous games, [the Broncos] got a lot of balls across the middle," Wagner said. "That first hit [by Chancellor] came across the middle and smacked him.

"You didn't really see too many balls caught across the middle [after that play]. They were very timid. That says a lot about our defense."



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http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11...red-super-bowl

[Rohirrim]

Gee, ya think?

[Gutless Drunk]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I welcome all the Seahawks players and fans to dwell on last year. We reloading and we ready for war. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/snodaaaaaat?src=hash">#snodaaaaaat</a></p>&mdash; Terrance Knighton (@MrKnighton2u) <a href="https://twitter.com/MrKnighton2u/statuses/489141820660531200">July 15, 2014</a></blockquote>
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[Requiem]

Is water still wet too, Bobby?

[Hercules Rockefeller]

They've looked intimidated in the preseason games against Seattle, this isn't exactly news.

[oubronco]

**** Wagner the NFL let Seattle do a lot of things in the secondary they didn't let anyone else do and all of them are on PED's

[Jason in LA]

I don't think anybody in the NFL is intimidated. The Seahawks didn't show up with bats. The Broncos just flat out got beat.

[IA-Broncosfan53]

Considering the Broncos partied hard enough all week to prompt a last minute hotel change, Fox decided to not practice with sound, and Orlando Franklin doing his best George Foster impression, I think the team knew they were defeated from the first snap. So yea, you become demoralized, your effort drops... See the body language when the game was still well within reach.

Those sea chickens keep yapping. It does in fact help when the league allows their corners to do things very few other franchise are allowed to do on a regular basis. If you look at Wilson's body of work, these guys are beatable week 3, they just can not beat themselves... And it might help if not to shabby decides noise could be a factor.

[LikeABoss5820]

I mean, he's not wrong but i dont think intimidated is the word i'd use, i'd say they were shocked at the team-speed Seattle had.

Fortunately, no one else has the personel Seattle does on all 3-levels.

[baja]

Rather he is correct or not as Broncos fans we should thank him. Fox should play this for the team at times throughout the season.

[DomCasual]

My two favorite teams are the Broncos, and whomever the Seahawks are playing. I'm truly sick of the "Seahawks moment."

Actually, I take that back. I still hate the Chiefs and Chargers more. I hate the Raiders more, as well - in theory (it's hard to hate a team that is as pathetically impotent as the Raiders). The Seahawks exist in the next tranche of teams - with the Patriots, and their fans.

[gunns]

Bobby Wagner dates my son in laws sister in law's sister (yeah, ready for the jokes). He was at a party with her we were all at and my son in laws brother was excited to get him over to talk to me. He's a friggin Chiefs fan. He thought I was going to get tore up.

After talking for a bit with Bobby (yes I'm a fan of his, he's defense and good) he said something along the same line to me about the Broncos being intimidated. Seeing the **** ass grin on the brother I said the following....I agree with you Bobby, they were intimidated because the Seahawks were smart enough not to be intimidated by our offense. The Broncos had a very easy schedule and John Fox felt they could rest on their laurels from the season and unfortunately our crap defense was exposed and the offense wasn't prepared for such a good defense. BUT, know this. The team is run by Elway and he has hopefully filled the holes. He's also a guy who learned from the Jacksonville game and now the SB. The Broncos will not rest on their laurels this season regardless of how good the season is. Elway will make sure they all play like they need to win their first game until the last second of the last game. How thankful I am that we play the Seahawks till the 3rd game so hopefully we have meshed by then. Whether we win that game or not I don't know but I will bet we end the season better. The Seahawks deserve all the praise they have gotten for that game but it did not make them a dynasty. It will end this year. The Broncos will make sure of that...and on our way we will demolish the Chiefs as some side fun.

And I looked at the brother. Bobby just smiled at me and said we'll see (and said he agreed about the Chiefs). I said yes you will. Now I have opened the door to getting smacked with smack at the end of the season if it doesn't happen. I don't give a ****.

[winstoncup bronco]

After the beating they laid on us, they can talk all they want and not have to apologize for it. It is classless, but it's all true nonetheless. Broncos need to keep their mouths shut and walk the walk. Like I tell my kids, action speaks louder than words.

[KipCorrington25]

This is good, they should be embarrassed about this despite what Fox might think this should be motivation...

[ZONA]

I don't think anybody in the NFL is intimidated. The Seahawks didn't show up with bats. The Broncos just flat out got beat.

Thank you. Those "afraid" and "scared" terms are way over used in the NFL. I would say replace those with, "frustrated", "confused", etc.