Despite leading the Seattle Seahawks to their first Super Bowl win in franchise history, Russell Wilson's name is almost never thrown around when the best quarterbacks in the league are discussed. He's always been considered a good player, but one who needs a strong running game and stout defense -- like Marshawn Lynch and the Legion of Boom -- to do the heavy lifting.
It’s time to recognize Russell Wilson as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL
No longer a game manager, Wilson deserves praise for making a leap in his fourth year in the league.
Perhaps that was true in the past. But this year Wilson has morphed into an entirely different player, a quarterback who seemingly has no weaknesses for defenses to exploit.
"This is the best football of his life," Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman said Sunday following Seattle's 38-7 road win over the Vikings, via ESPN. "He's playing phenomenally. He's doing it with his legs. He's doing it with his arm. He's making smart decisions. He's getting out of the pocket. He's eliminating negative plays. That's what elite quarterbacks do. He's playing at an All-Pro, Pro Bowl level."
The numbers back up Sherman’s praise, too. Wilson is second in the NFL in completion percentage (68.5) and third in the league in quarterback rating (106.2). He’s not beating teams with dinks and dunks, either, ranking third in yards per attempts (8.5). And with 450 yards on the ground this season, he is just 26 yards behind Cam Newton in rushing among quarterbacks.
There’s a reason the playbook on Wilson has always been to keep him in the pocket. It has to be against any quarterback who has the agility that Wilson possesses and the ability to keep his eye level downfield.
The difference this season has been Wilson’s play from between the tackles, a place where he has become an unstoppable force.
Pocket prowess
The Vikings came into their Week 13 matchup against the Seahawks with a pass defense that could best be described as solid. Not great, but not bad, either -- Football Outsiders had the team’s pass defense ranked No. 13 in the league heading into their home game against Seattle.
That was before Wilson torched them to the tune of 274 yards through the air, 51 on the ground, four total touchdowns (3 passing, 1 rushing) and no turnovers. He played all of his greatest hits: there were dashes to the outside, a draw up the middle for a touchdown and a dazzling scramble for a key first down:
Yes, Wilson can still break ankles with his legs, but the throws he made from the pocket were even more impressive.
There was a 53-yard bomb to Doug Baldwin that Wilson was able to perfectly drop in despite taking a major blow to the body as he fired away.
Wilson also threw a 20-yard quick-striking laser over the middle to Baldwin that he had to fit between between two Vikings defenders.
Can't stop, won't stop. Russell Wilson is on fire, so sit back, relax and just watch him do his thing. #SEAvsMIN https://t.co/Ti0NzMgkef
— NFL (@NFL) December 6, 2015 Throws like these have become the norm for Wilson this season and especially over the past month. In his last three games he has nearly as many touchdowns (11) as incompletions (15), and the majority of his damage has come on basic three-, five- and seven-step drops. On the season, Wilson is completing a league-high 73 percent of his passes from the pocket and registering 8.76 yards per attempts, the second-best mark in the league (via ESPN).
“Russell Wilson has been playing like the best quarterback in the league the last 12 quarters,” Baldwin said Sunday. “He’s been unbelievable, phenomenal.
“When he’s doing what he’s doing it’s very hard for any team to stop him because of how good he can be.”
Wilson’s output is even more striking when you consider his supporting cast.
Where’s the help?
The protection has been better of late, but the Seahawks’ offensive line is still full of holes. No quarterback has been sacked more times (38) than Wilson this season. His propensity to scramble certainly pads those numbers a bit, but if Wilson were lead-footed, the total would be even higher.
It's not like he's throwing to a bunch of studs, either. Baldwin is fine, but nothing special. Tyler Lockett and Jermaine Kearse aren't causing defensive coordinators to lose any sleep. The now-injured Jimmy Graham is a matchup nightmare but one the Seahawks never figured out how to properly use. And then there's Lynch, another big name who's contributed very little (3.8 yards per carry) and is now nursing an injury on the bench while undrafted rookie Thomas Rawls handles the workload at running back.
Seattle’s defense, once the most frightening in the league, no longer dominates games. In each of their five losses this season, the Seahawks have had a chance to win in the fourth quarter, but their defense hasn’t been able to hold.
And yet, the Seahawks have won three games in a row and now, at 7-5, find themselves in sixth place in the NFC. It’s no accident that the winning streak happened after head coach Pete Carroll elected to alter his team’s style of play.
The new playbook
The Seahawks no longer grind out wins with handoffs and play action. Instead, they now keep their receivers spread out and often go with an empty backfield. The goal is to put the ball in Wilson’s hands and take advantage of his ability to read a defense and strike quickly. The majority of these changes were implemented during the team’s Week 9 bye.
“I think the pocket being so consistently solid for him makes a huge difference,” Carroll said last week, via Pro Football Talk. “The rhythm, since the [bye week], we’ve really tried to feature a fast rhythm and making sure he’s really got a chance to get the ball out fast to keep the pressure off of the guys up front.”
Wilson has done that, but he’s not just taking three-step drops and hitting 5-yard slants. When he sees an opening downfield he’s willing to take it -- and more often than not he cashes in. His 47 passes of 20 yards or more is the fifth-most in the NFL, which is higher than Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.
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Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that Seattle has joined the revolution. There’s a reason most of the league’s best offenses are built around the play of the quarterback, and the NFL’s pass-friendly rules create more opportunities to win games that way.
But the Seahawks’ transformation isn’t just a result of the rules, or due to Lynch’s injuries.
“He’s doing whatever we’re asking him to do,” Carroll said after Sunday’s win. “He’s preparing beautifully. He is really dialed in. His connection with his guys, receivers, is really on it. ”
With two Super Bowl appearances and a couple of Pro Bowls to his name, it’s easy to forget that Wilson is just 27 years old. He’s in his fourth season and is still a player learning the NFL game. In his first three seasons in the league he showed that he was a winner. This year Wilson is showing that he’s much more.
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