2023 Broncos Draft Picks Watch: Cardinals stick it to Seahawks by losing to Broncos

For the first time since October, the Denver Broncos have won a football game.

Taking on an undermanned and dysfunctional Arizona Cardinals squad, the Broncos forced three interceptions off quarterbacks Colt McCoy and Trace McSorley and rushed for a season-high 168 yards on their way to a 24-15 win. It snaps a five-game losing streak and slightly hurts Seattle’s draft position for the first-round pick received from Denver in the Russell Wilson trade.

Wilson didn’t play due to a concussion suffered against the Kansas City Chiefs. In his place was Brett Rypien, who was sacked seven times, lost a fumble, and threw an interception. On the plus side he completed 21 of 26 passes for 197 yards and had what was essentially the game-sealing touchdown to tight end Eric Tomlinson.

McSorley had to fill in for McCoy after Kliff Kingsbury dialed up a read-option keeper for Colt, who got inadvertently kneed in the head and you can figure out the rest from there. Arizona’s slight hope of a comeback was pretty much dashed when this two-point conversion to DeAndre Hopkins was evidently not pass interference.

Half of Denver’s wins on the season have come against the NFC West.

Essentially this weekend has gone about as poorly as possible for the Seattle Seahawks both in the playoff race and for Denver’s draft pick situation.

Draft pick status: With the Chicago Bears losing to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Broncos pick now falls from 2nd overall to 3rd overall per Tankathon.

Next week: Christmas Day! Wilson will likely return next week as the Broncos take on the Los Angeles Rams. That game very well could determine whether or not Denver ends up giving Seattle a top-5 pick.