Russell Wilson NFC offensive player of the week for 10th time, first time for an opener
You weren’t the only one wowed by Russell Wilson in the opener.
The NFL was, too.
The league announced Wednesday that Wilson is the NFC offensive player of the week for week one. The honor is for what he did Sunday at Atlanta: 31 completions in 35 pass attempts, 322 yards, four touchdown throws and a passer rating of 143.1. He also took off on a bootleg run for 28 yards to set up another touchdown in Seattle’s 38-25 victory over the Falcons.
“Russ was in total command of the game,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said after it.
Wilson completed 88.6% of his throws, the best one-game mark of his career.
It was the most point for the Seahawks in a first road game of any season in 17 years.
This is the 10th time in Wilson’s nine seasons in the NFL and leading Seattle’s offense that he’s been player of the week. It’s the first time he’s been so honored for an opening game.
Carroll and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer finally “let Russ cook,” for one game, anyway.
Wilson connected eight times with Tyler Lockett. He completed four balls to DK Metcalf, for 95 yards. That included a 38-yard score on fourth down in the third quarter, a go-for-it move that put Seattle up 21-12.
“We spread the ball around all over the field,” Wilson said.. “Obviously, deep balls to DK, Tyler running down the field. We mixed the quick game in we mixed the mid-range game all these different things we did. We got a couple screens in, naked (bootlegs). All the different plethora of plays.
“Versatility, conceptually, is really key, because it messes up the defense. They don’t who the ball is going to where it is going to go.”
Schottenheimer and Carroll have been maligned for wasting some of the 31-year-old Wilson’s prime by running the ball too much particularly early in games. Schottenheimer barely ran it at all to begin 2020. He called passes on eight of the offense’s first 11 plays. That encompassed Seattle’s opening possession, which ended with Carson’s 3-yard touchdown catch.
Schottenheimer called passes on 28 of Seattle’s first 38 snaps of the season. That counts as pass calls two sacks of Wilson on the first drive, plus a lateral that statisticians count as a run outside to wide receiver David Moore. That was most likely designed to be a quick, hitch-route pass. The 28th pass call in those first 38 plays was Wilson’s 7-yard touchdown throw to new tight end Greg Olsen.
By then, all that throwing had the Seahawks ahead 28-12. The game was a cruise from there.
Next up: a showdown on Sunday night with former NFL most valuable player Cam Newton and the New England Patriots in the home opener at empty CenturyLink Field.
Not only has Wilson never won the NFL MVP despite seven Pro Bowls, a Super Bowl title and being the winningest quarterback for the first seven seasons in league history, he’s never received an MVP vote.
