Rich Previews the “Massive Stakes” in Seahawks vs Broncos to Kick Off NFL Week 6

Thursday night in Denver is the Super Bowl LX matchup that almost was, and Rich knows exactly what every Broncos fan in that stadium will be thinking.

"If only he was healthy in the AFC Championship game, we would have gone to Santa Clara to take on the Seattle Seahawks, not the New England Patriots," Rich said, channeling the Denver faithful about the quarterback who will be under center tonight.

The pushback came instantly, and Rich saw it coming. Cooper, for one, does not feel that way. Neither, Rich conceded, do Patriots fans, whose team was surging with its own young quarterback taken in the same draft as Bo Nix.

But the real stakes tonight are about this season, and they are bigger for Seattle than anyone expected.

The Seahawks arrive off their second loss of the year, their first at home, to the 49ers. That leaves Seattle two full games back of San Francisco, two and a half if you count the head-to-head loss. The Niners will be home watching on Prime Video before playing Monday night against a Washington team Rich is "1,000%" sure is having a rough week after its disastrous finish against the Giants left it at 1-3-1.

"So, the Seahawks need to go into Denver tonight and win this game," Rich said. "Otherwise, the defending Super Bowl champs are .500 after six weeks."

What makes that startling is that there is no excuse. Sam Darnold has been back, and he has been the quarterback for both losses.

The bigger question for Rich is the running game. He pointed to the back who has run well against Denver all year, on opening night on ESPN, the next week on NBC, and every week after that. The only reason Kenneth Walker III didn't do it last week is that he was on a bye, and now he is running, catching and throwing for a Chiefs team that is a bigger problem than usual when Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are healthy. If the Seahawks' run game struggles tonight, Rich said, it is fair to ask whether Seattle made the right roster decisions through six weeks.

Or the champs can flip the script on the road and make Bo Nix's early-season problems "look like a theme park ride." If Nix is hesitating, wondering whether he needs to make a throw or whether he is getting a chunk play, "here comes the dark side." Seattle's "turnover takeaway happy defense" is coming, and Denver will be without Pat Surtain on the short week.

Rich also wants to see Jaxon Smith-Njigba wipe the taste of a wildly unexpected drop against the 49ers out of his palate.

The scoreboard math cuts both ways. A Seattle win means 4-2, staying ahead of the Rams and right behind the Niners no matter what happens Monday. Denver, fresh off beating the Chargers, is trying to stay right behind the Chiefs rather than drop to .500, while Kansas City hosts the Chargers off a bye. Rich noted Andy Reid is 9-4 off a bye with the Chiefs, and was even better with the Eagles.

Asked what would surprise him more, a 3-3 Seattle or the Rams sitting at 2-3, Rich went with the Rams. The show had been talking about that team being undefeated going into its first Seahawks game in Week 16, and nobody was joking.

There is one more layer tonight, too: Sean Payton is back calling plays against Mike Macdonald, who has well earned his reputation as one of the best, if not the best, defensive play callers among head coaches in the NFL.

"This is what's at stake tonight," Rich said. "Can't wait. It's going to be awesome."