What, did you expect Russell Wilson to slink away after that Seahawks loss to the Giants?
What, did you expect Russell Wilson to slink the other way and cower?
The other, losing way?
That’s not where, or how, the only NFL quarterback with a winning record as a full-time starter in each of his first nine seasons rolls. That’s not how Wilson is 34-9 after an in-season loss, the league’s best such record in the last 50 years, since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger.
Sunday has become the expected in Seattle: Wilson responding from a rare, five-sack, 12-point performance in a home loss to the New York Giants with this: a 21-for-27 passing day with four touchdowns to set the franchise record in a season with 36, leading the Seahawks to a 40-3 demolition of the winless, woeful Jets.
After a week of criticism across the Pacific Northwest as if Wilson was rain, the biggest blowout victory for Seattle in more than eight years was a reaffirmation of the 9-4 Seahawks’ faith in their $140 million QB.
And Wilson’s unrelenting faith in himself.
“I don’t really worry about the scrutiny,” he said. “I think more than anything else it’s part of the job, right? When you want to be the best in the world, if you don’t have your best day, people are going to say you’re not the best in the world that day.
“It’s part of the process. You just keep believing. You keep just striving for greatness, making the next shot, next moment, next game, next win. Stay simple-minded, in that sense. I don’t get too high, get too low.
“I told you guys all the time I remain neutral. There will be a lot more great days than tough days. When we do have a tough day, there is a better day ahead.”
His ‘neutral mind’
The “neutral mind.” The teaching from his mental-conditioning guru, Lakewood’s Trevor Moawad. That’s been what Wilson has reiterated throughout his up-and-down 2020 season. It started with him on pace with Peyton Manning for the most touchdown passes in an NFL season. He was nearly perfect during Seattle’s 5-0 start, the best to a season in franchise history. Folks were annointing him the front-runner for the league’s most valuable player award.
He threw 19 touchdown passes against just three interceptions in those first five games.
He’s thrown nine interceptions and lost four fumbles in the eight games since, and the MVP chatter has gone silent. When Wilson tried to hit DK Metcalf down the left sideline on another extended, scramble play in the first half Sunday, Jets Marcus Maye leaped and made a brilliant play, tapping the ball to himself by warding off the bigger Metcalf at the goal line. It was Wilson’s career-high 12th interception of the season.
Through all that, Wilson has preached keeping a mind without a gear.
“I think that’s my whole thing around the neutral mindset part of it for me,” he said. “I don’t waver. I know who I am, what kind of player I am, and the consistency that I bring, how much work and how many hours of film I spend on it.
“I know how many times I get up early in the morning every day and all I do is think about the game and how we process. And so this is what I love to do. If anybody is a critic of anything, it’s me more than anything else.
“I always want to be the best.”
His passer rating against the Jets was 122.6. It was his sixth game this season with a rating of 119.0 or better; 158.3 is perfect. Sunday was his fifth game this season with four or more touchdown throws.
His 36 touchdown passes this season re-set the Seahawks’ record he set in 2018.
Quicker decisions
One week after he was holding onto the ball too long and getting sacked five times on deep-pass calls the Giants blanketed, Seattle’s plan was for Wilson to throw more quickly against New York’s other team. New Jets defensive coordinator Frank Bush was calling his first game since New York fired Gregg Williams. The Seahawks were not sure how the Jets would play.
They played the way the Giants did: mostly trying to take away Metcalf and Seattle’s deep-passing game.
“Not knowing what Frank Bush was going to do, we wanted to make sure that we got the ball out of Russ’s hands,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “As they unveiled the plan, (we decided to) just stay with the quick-rhythm stuff, which is always good ball. And Russ is great at quick-rhythm stuff.
“We just took advantage of it today.”
Wilson had just one completion for more than 19 yards: to tight end Jacob Hollister during a 2-minute drill late in the first half, for 20 yards. That was on the quick drive to Chris Carson’s galloping, 5-yard touchdown run. It put Seattle up 23-3 at halftime.
“They did everything,” Wilson said. “They blitzed. They rolled coverages. They played (cover) two, they played three. They played 33 Tampa Cloud, all these different coverages. Man to man, pressured, and brought safety (blitzes).
“We were on top of it.”
The Seahawks converted five of seven third downs with Wilson in the game. Three of those conversions came on completions to Tyler Lockett for 15 yards, 9 yards to DK Metcalf and 3 yards to David Moore. The one to Moore was for a touchdown. That put the Seahawks ahead 37-3 in the third quarter.
The other two successful conversions were defensive penalties on the Jets. The flags for defensive holding and illegal contact extended Seattle’s drive that ended with Wilson’s 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Will Dissly. That made it 30-3.
It got so good for Seattle that Wilson exited the game late in the third quarter. It was the first time any other Seahawk QB had taken a snap in a Seahawks regular-season game in three years, since December 2017.
Wilson looked antsy, still standing with his helmet along the sideline’s edge, watching Geno Smith take his first real game snaps in his years as Wilson’s backup.
Such were the spoils of the Seahawks’ largest margin of victory since their 58-0 win over the Cardinals on Dec. 9, 2012, Wilson’s rookie season.
“Yeah, it was kind of crazy, because Austin, quarterback Coach Austin (Davis), came up to me and said, ‘We’re going to let Geno go in,’ and then Coach Carroll came up as soon as that was happening, too,” Wilson said.
“Definitely rare. Geno deserves it. He’s worked extremely hard. He’s been a great friend, a great quarterback, and just great to have in the room. ...I love him to death.”
Unwavering
Sunday, Wilson played as if the jarring, 17-12 loss to the Giants the week before never happened.
“I’m not going to waver. I’m always going to move on to the next moment, next situation, next game, win or lose,” Wilson said. “And we’ve won a lot, so definitely know how to do that.”
The rout of the sunken Jets gave Wilson another NFL record: most wins at home in a quarterback’s first nine seasons. Brett Favre and Joe Flacco had 53.
He’s joined Manning this season as the only players in NFL history with at least 3,000 passing yards and 20 touchdowns in each of their first nine years. His 11th throw Sunday when Seattle plays at Washington (6-7) will send him past Matt Hasselbeck for first-place on Seattle’s all-time pass attempts list with 4,251.
The record he cherishes the most is being a winning quarterback in every one of the nine years he’s played. He won Seattle’s only Super Bowl title, at the end of the 2013 season.
“I think it means everything. I think the whole purpose of why we play, why I wake up and play this game, is to win, get up and help our team win,” Wilson said.
“I think that’s the number-one important record. That, and Super Bowls. We want to win Super Bowls, too.”
He then sent a reminder to the doubters. It was subtle. But it was pointed.
I work harder than you even know.
“You know, I love this game. I spend so many hours. If people only knew how many hours I spend on it, it’s fascinating,” he said. “How many hours I spend on just taking care of my body so I’m available every game, and prepare with my performance team. Or how much film I got to watch and how many things you got to do.
“It doesn’t just happen. Nothing happens by accident. So the mentality you got to bring every day, in the offseason, on the field, when it is going your way, when it’s not going your way, it’s critical. It’s critical to success. I think for me, remaining neutral, remaining believing in who am and what I can do, and being available, that’s a key part of it. To be able to play every game is a really important thing. You don’t take that for granted.
“I feel like it’s just the beginning. So, got to keep going. ...stay focused on the mission.
“The mission is to win it all.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2020 at 5:30 AM.
