Broncos’ Lutz came up big last week after ‘speed bump,’ not a ‘slump’

DENVER — In the hours after Broncos kicker Wil Lutz bailed out the struggling offense by drilling a walk-off 53-yard field goal in overtime last Thursday to defeat the Seattle Seahawks, he issued a social-media explanation for celebrating as he did, by putting his finger to his mouth as if to say, “Quiet” to anyone who looked.

He subsequently deleted the tweet — and his account on the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter appears to now be off-line. In that since-deleted post, Lutz attributed the gesture to the “emotion” and how “the critics and all the noise we as a team — and (myself) personally” can cause such an emotional reaction sometimes.

“We all play with a chip on our shoulder, and I hope that makes everyone proud,” Lutz wrote in that since-deleted post.

But one could hardly blame him for the reaction after his sixth walk-off field goal as since joining the Broncos in 2023 — especially since the kick came after arguably the roughest three-game stretch of his career, and certainly of his three-plus campaigns as the Broncos’ placekicker.

Lutz had missed three field goals in the three games prior to last week. Such stretches are unusual for Lutz — and until Weeks 3-5, hadn’t happened at all for him in Broncos uniform.

Prior to those games, the last time he missed three field-goal attempts in a three-game span of the same season was from Sept. 25 through Oct. 9 in the 2022 season, while he was still with the New Orleans Saints.

JUST DON’T CALL THAT SORT OF RUN A “SLUMP”

And that was something Lutz wanted to make clear.

“It’s never a slump. It’s just the speed bump,” he said.

“”I’ve done this long enough. You’re going to go through it. I’ve been through it before. You just got to trust yourself. You got to trust your unit. Credit to those guys for sticking with me the last few weeks. It’s never permanent and so we worked really hard

A key, Lutz said, is a short memory — which he had reinforced by the words of Hall of Famer Morten Andersen, one of his predecessors in New Orleans.

“Has to be. It’s one kick at a time,” Lutz said.

“I was grateful to play in New Orleans where Morten Andersen (kicked). I spoke with him a lot and he kind of lived on the one-kick-at-a time mentality and I’ve kind of carried that with me since.”

Which means that a few days after he sent the Broncos home with their fourth win of the season, he’d turned the page. On to the next kick, however it arrives this coming Sunday at Arizona.

Related

It’s time for the Broncos to trade for an All-Pro RBThe Broncos comeback wins aren’t as much fun this year as they were last yearRyan Fitzpatrick fires back at Aqib Talib in humorous video after Bo Nix criticismBroncos coach Payton isn’t considering benching NixThe Broncos would be 0-6 without their defense according to Mark SchlerethReport: Webb changed some Broncos offensive terminology; Payton changing it back