Sports
Seahawks visit Broncos on Thursday night as both 3-2 teams try to keep pace
The 3-2 Seahawks visit the 3-2 Broncos on Thursday Night Football in Denver with Bo Nix facing the NFL's stingiest defense and Sam Darnold chasing a clean game.
Two of last season's top seeds meet in Denver on Thursday night.
The Seattle Seahawks visit the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High at 7:15 p.m. Central on Prime Video. Both teams are 3-2 and both lost to the unbeaten San Francisco 49ers over the last two weeks.
Seattle is the reigning Super Bowl champion. Denver was the AFC's No. 1 seed last season and came within one win of meeting the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
Nix against a wall
Seattle allows the fewest yards per game in the league at 251.2 and the fewest passing yards at 150.8. Its defense also has the second-highest pressure rate at 44.3%.
Bo Nix has struggled to push the ball downfield. He has thrown 10 or more air yards on just 23.5% of his attempts, the lowest rate among qualified quarterbacks. Denver ranks 26th in scoring at 19.4 points per game and has trailed in the fourth quarter of every game this season.
Darnold and ball security
Sam Darnold was sacked five times and threw two interceptions in last week's loss to San Francisco. Seattle has eight giveaways over its last three games.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the NFL with 583 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches. He is dealing with an ankle injury.
Denver's banged-up secondary
The Broncos played without cornerbacks Pat Surtain II and Riley Moss last week. Safety Talanoa Hufanga left that game with an ankle injury. Moss was limited in practice this week while Surtain and Hufanga stayed out, leaving their status for Thursday unclear.
A win would help either team keep pace in its division. Seattle trails unbeaten San Francisco in the NFC West while Denver is chasing unbeaten Kansas City in the AFC West.
