National

Richard Sherman blows a gasket after watching Russell Wilson lose on a pass at the goal line (again)

The "Thursday Night Football" game between the Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos was awful. Irredeemably, comically, surreally awful. Four quarters and an overtime of self-inflicted gut punches.

And yet, the worst moment might have come at the end, when the Broncos had 4th-and-1 at the Colts' five-yard line while down 12-9 in overtime. It was the Broncos' fourth trip into the red zone of the game, with no touchdowns for it.

Faced with another 4th-down choice — take the game-tying chip-shot field goal or go for the win — Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett opted to go for it. That decision blew up in his face when a Russell Wilson pass fell incomplete thanks to the efforts of Colts cornerback Stephon Gilmore.

Watching that play out clearly felt familiar to Richard Sherman, Wilson's former Seattle Seahawks teammate who is now working as an analyst for Prime Video.

After all, Sherman arguably lost a Super Bowl ring when the Seahawks infamously made a similar decision in Super Bowl XLIX, when they had Wilson attempt a pass at the New England Patriots' 1-yard line rather than run it with Marshawn Lynch.

As Sherman talked out the Broncos' decision after the game, it soon became very clear he was saying some stuff he had been holding onto since 2015.

Sherman's full rant:

"On the final play, you gotta run the ball. Again. I wish I had Marshawn up here. Like, one yard. You need one yard. Run the ball. Run the ball! [Charissa Thompson], all he has to do is run the football. Necessary criticism. I've said enough criticism for him, but got dang it, run the dang ball! Like, learn from your mistakes."

There have been some past indications of resentment toward Wilson from Sherman, but Thursday made it very clear that Sherman still isn't over the decision that cost him a second Super Bowl ring.

That end-game ugliness matched the rest of the game, which was brutal even by Thursday night standards. The Colts and Broncos combined for 15 penalties, 12 punts, 10 sacks, six fumbles (none lost), four interceptions and zero touchdowns despite six (six!) red zone trips, not to mention a number of injuries.

Even the officials seemed out of it, as the words "timeout, San Diego" were said at one point and the Broncos' longest play of the night came after a Colts defender tripped over a ref, leaving two Broncos wide receivers to fight for the ball.

At one point, Prime Video broadcaster Al Michaels said "Sometimes a game could be so bad, it's almost good. You know what I mean?" His partner Kirk Herbstreit's response: "No."

Just about the only source of joy from this game was the fact that Amazon paid a monstrous amount of money to stream it. Here's a sampling of how it was received, starting with Matt Flynn, the quarterback Wilson beat out in Seattle, taking his shot:

What a game. Let us never speak of it again.