Thursday night’s Week 6 opener in Denver brings together two teams with 58 games of history, a Super Bowl and a quarterback trade between them. The Seattle Seahawks (3-2), the defending Super Bowl champions, visit the Denver Broncos (3-2) at Empower Field at Mile High at 8:15 p.m. ET, which is 3:15 a.m. Friday in Cairo, with both teams in throwback uniforms.
The Broncos lead the all-time series 35-23. They are 35-21 against Seattle in the regular season, while the Seahawks have won both playoff meetings, including the most lopsided one of all.
Twenty-five years as division rivals
Seattle entered the league in 1976 and moved to the AFC West the next season, where it stayed through 2001 before realignment sent it back to the NFC West. The first meeting came on October 2, 1977, a 24-13 Broncos win at the Kingdome.
Seattle’s first playoff win came against Denver. On December 24, 1983, the Seahawks beat the Broncos 31-7 in an AFC Wild Card game at the Kingdome.
The rivalry also had its feuds. Before his first NFL game in 1987, a season opener in Denver, Seahawks rookie linebacker Brian Bosworth spent weeks taunting John Elway, and Broncos fans answered with anti-Boz T-shirts. In the 1988 opener, Denver safety Mike Harden knocked out Steve Largent with a forearm hit that cost the Hall of Fame receiver two teeth and drew a $5,000 fine. Largent got his payback later that season, flattening Harden on an interception return and recovering the fumble himself.
| Split | Record |
|---|---|
| All-time | Broncos lead 35-23 |
| Regular season | Broncos lead 35-21 |
| Playoffs | Seahawks lead 2-0 |
| Regular-season games in Denver | Broncos lead 22-5 |
| Regular-season games in Seattle | Seahawks lead 16-13 |
| Current streak | Seahawks have won 2 straight |
Why Denver has been so hard for Seattle
The road record is the number that stands out. Seattle is 5-22 in regular-season games in Denver and has won there only once since 1995: a 23-20 victory on December 3, 2006. The Broncos won the last two meetings at their stadium, 31-14 in 2010 and 27-24 in 2018. Thursday is Seattle’s first trip to Denver since that 2018 game, and the Seahawks will make it on a short week.
Super Bowl XLVIII: 43-8
The most famous meeting was not close. On February 2, 2014, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the Broncos arrived with the highest-scoring offense in NFL history: 606 points, with Peyton Manning setting a single-season record of 55 touchdown passes. On the first snap, the ball sailed past Manning into the end zone for a safety 12 seconds into the game, the fastest score in Super Bowl history.
Seattle led 22-0 at halftime. Linebacker Malcolm Smith, the game’s MVP, returned an interception 69 yards for a touchdown, and Percy Harvin took the opening kickoff of the second half 87 yards for another. The Seahawks led 36-0 before Denver scored at the end of the third quarter, and the 43-8 final gave Seattle its first championship.
The teams met again seven months later, on September 21, 2014, in the first immediate Super Bowl rematch since Green Bay and New England in 1997. This one was close. Manning led a touchdown drive and a two-point conversion in the final seconds of regulation to tie it, and Marshawn Lynch won it 26-20 with a touchdown run in overtime.
The Russell Wilson chapter
The rivalry turned again in 2022, when Seattle traded quarterback Russell Wilson, the starter in Super Bowl XLVIII, to Denver for a package that included two first-round picks, two second-round picks, a fifth-round pick, quarterback Drew Lock, defensive lineman Shelby Harris and tight end Noah Fant. Wilson’s Broncos debut came on a Monday night in Seattle on September 12, 2022, and the Seahawks won 17-16 after Brandon McManus missed a 64-yard field goal attempt late in the fourth quarter.
Wilson lasted two seasons in Denver before he was released in March 2024, leaving a then-record $85 million in dead money. Seattle used one of the first-round picks from the deal on cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Lock, part of that trade, is now back in Seattle as the backup quarterback and is listed as limited with a right forearm injury this week.
The new era
The latest meeting, on September 8, 2024, opened the current chapter. It was Mike Macdonald’s first game as Seattle’s head coach and Bo Nix’s first NFL start for Denver, and the Seahawks won 26-20 at home. Macdonald and Nix meet again Thursday, with Sean Payton still running the Broncos.
The matchup to watch is Jaxon Smith-Njigba against a thin Denver secondary. The reigning Offensive Player of the Year leads the league with 583 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches, and he has been limited this week with an ankle injury. Denver cornerback Pat Surtain II and safety Talanoa Hufanga, both with ankle injuries, have not practiced, and Jeremy Fowler reported that Hufanga is expected to miss multiple weeks.
A Seattle win would be its third straight in the series and only its sixth regular-season win in Denver. A Broncos win would extend their all-time lead to 36-23.
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