Cookin’: Seahawks’ Russell Wilson has never been better. Here’s what’s different right now
Maybe Russell Wilson will finally get a NFL MVP vote this season, eh?
Bill Belichick, the preeminent defensive mind of his time and maybe NFL history, says trying to slow Wilson is an Olympic-like task.
“I’m glad that we only have to play him once every four years,” the six-time Super Bowl-champion coach of the AFC New England Patriots said of the quarterback for the NFC Seahawks.
That was late Sunday night, after Wilson went Herculean again, this time on Belichick, reigning NFL defensive player of the year Stephon Gilmore and the Patriots.
Wilson tied his career high with five touchdown passes — to five different receivers. He completed 21 of 27 throws for 288 yards in Seattle’s zany, 35-30 victory in its season opener at empty CenturyLink Field.
Wilson has nine touchdown passes through two games. That’s his most in any two-game period of his nine-year career.
He went 3-5-3-5 on TD throws late in the 2015 season. He was winging it mostly to Doug Baldwin then.
Now, it’s everybody.
“They want to let him cook,” said David Moore, one of the five receivers to catch one of Wilson’s TD throws Sunday, “and he’s doing what he’s doing. ...
“It’s just a lovely thing to see.”
This is how lovely:
Wilson has completed 52 of 62 throws (83.9%) for 610 yards. His one interception wasn’t his fault — it went through tight end Greg Olsen’s hands into New England defensive back Devin McCourty’s for the game’s first score Sunday.
Yes, Wilson has nine touchdown passes and 11 incomplete throws this season.
Wilson’s passer rating for the year: 140.5. A perfect rating is 158.3.
Seattle has its most points through two games (73) since 1985. That team coached by Chuck Knox scored 28 at Cincinnati and 49 at San Diego to begin that season.
“It’s just a start,” Wilson said. “I haven’t done anything yet.”
What’s different this season?
Wilson’s been exquisite for most of the last eight years. He was the winningest quarterback in NFL history over the first seven seasons of a career. He’s the highest-rated road passer in league history. He has the most comeback wins in the fourth quarter and overtime since he entered the NFL as Seattle’s third-round draft pick.
What’s different this season that’s transformed the excellent into the sublime?
It’s undeniable offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer and coach Pete Carroll have given Wilson more chances to take over games earlier so far in 2020. They are, to cite a phrase you may have heard, indeed letting Russ cook.
Schottenheimer said last week he, Carroll and Wilson talked this offseason about being more aggressive in their play calling earlier in games. For years they had run first, run most — and had been waiting until Wilson absolutely had to save the offense and games to call on him to do so.
“I would say, 100%, we’ve talked more about it,” Schottenheimer said Thursday. “We started talking about it in the offseason, in terms of: ‘OK, hey, we’ve got a great player in Russ. We’ve got great weapons around him. ...’
“We’ve certainly had way more discussions this year about it.”
The result: Schottenheimer called passes on 28 of the first 38 snaps of the season. Wilson was 31 for 35 with four touchdowns in the opening race past Atlanta.
It wasn’t the same pass-a-rama Sunday night against the Patriots, whose defensive secondary is the league’s best. The Seahawks ran for 154 yards, 72 by lead back Chris Carson on 17 carries after he got just seven rushes in the first game.
But Wilson threw to eight different receivers. Beyond Moore, Metcalf, Carson, Tyler Lockett, even rookie sixth-round pick Freddie Swain caught touchdowns throws. Wilson threw rainbows—the perfect pass to Carson on a wheel route for a score — and darts, to Lockett away from tight coverage for Seattle’s first score. He threw more screen passes and scramble throws.
Carson, the lead running back, already through two games has his career high in touchdown receptions for an entire season, with three.
“The fact that everybody touched the ball, we keep talking about that,” said Moore, a former seventh-round pick the team kept for this season by getting him to agree to get paid less money. “We talked about that in the third quarter. Everybody was super-happy. I just sat there in shock that everybody got touchdowns, all the receivers.”
The epitome of this new aggressiveness with Wilson throwing came on two plays late in the first half. Wilson saw Metcalf running with Gilmore deep across the field from left to right. He audaciously sent a soaring ball that dared Metcalf to run under it, and Gilmore to cover it. The best cornerback in the NFL absorbed a beastly lean from Metcalf as the ball arrived. Gilmore fell off him like water off a fall. Metcalf just about walked in from there for a startling, 54-yard touchdown. That tied the game at 14.
“It was a good opportunity for me,” Metcalf said, very gentleman-like after sparring and almost brawling with Gilmore throughout the game, once into the Seahawks’ metal benches well beyond the sideline. “He made the match-up physical for me .. .he made us go into some play calls.”
To Moore, that play shows what makes Wilson a cut way above.
“His pass. His deep ball,” Moore said. “His deep ball is great because he gives everybody a chance. He puts it to where usually you get it — and you can get it, only.
“All you have to really do is put your hands out.”
Later in the half, Seattle had third and 1 at midfield. Schottenheimer emptied the backfield in a spread formation that would have made Ground Chuck Knox boil. He had Wilson throw quickly outside right to Moore for 4 yards and a first down.
Then, with the Seahawks leading 35-30, 1:55 left and Seattle with another third and 1 at its own 31-yard line, Schottenheimer didn’t run to have New England burn its second time out on defense even with a stop. He had Wilson throwing again. The QB launched an arching, home-run pass. But it missed Lockett incomplete for one of the relatively few times this season.
Yes, going for another touchdown when a yard would have likely sealed the win.
“We kind of got jammed up,” Carroll said of that entire play.
The Seahawks punted. Cam Newton and the Patriots moved from their own 19 to the Seattle 1 in the last 1:23. Only Lano Hill blowing up the fullback’s lead block and end L.J. Collier following Hill to tackle Newton short of the goal line on the game’s final play assured Seattle of the victory.
The mind
The other big difference to the 2020 Wilson and Seahawks offense so far this season: Wilson has always been single-minded to be the best ever. But now, he’s saying it publicly — and with much more frequency and sharpness.
He said it Thursday, leading up to the Patriots challenge.
“I come to play this game to be the best in the world. That’s just the bottom line,” Wilson said. “I don’t wake up to try to be anything different.
“So, for me, I’ve always had those talks, ever since I got here, really, to be honest with you. And I think it’s just been a steady process.
“But I think right now going into year nine (of his career), I’m trying to break away, you know what I mean? I want to be the best in the world to ever do this. I’ve got a lot of great players ahead of me. I think about guys like Peyton Manning. I think about guys like Tom Brady and Drew Brees and all guys that I’ve gotten to be pretty close to, to be honest with you. And then you’ve got guys like Joe Montana.
“I want to be remembered. I want to be remembered. And I want to be able to leave a legacy that people can’t ever forget.”
Then Sunday night, after his latest magic that left even the mighty Belichick in awe, Wilson said it again. He essentially told the rest of the sport his mind goes deeper and farther than anyone else’s.
He talked again how long he’s worked with Trevor Moawad, his mental conditioning coach from Lakewood, pretty much daily for the last 10 years or so.
“I’m definitely in a zone. Locked in. Dialed in,” Wilson said. “My teammates are, too.
“I’ve been ready to play, since we had our last game (of last season, the playoff loss) in Green Bay.
”I have an obsession with this thought process to always find more. ... People talk about 10,000 hours to be great. I feel like I’ve spent 30.
”Ultimately, God’s given me a gift. I want to continue to use it.”
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 7:30 AM.
