Russell Wilson buys his linemen fancy scooter bikes for Christmas. Then racin’ commenced
(Almost) always composed and on cue, Russell Wilson couldn’t focus his attention or his words this time.
“I wish you were here to see this,” Wilson said Thursday.
He was giggling at the scene in front of him on the indoor practice field at Seahawks headquarters in Renton on Christmas Eve.
Behind the Zoom camera during the quarterback’s weekly Zoom call with the media, 35-year-old Duane Brown and his fellow offensive linemen looked like 9-year-olds on Christmas morning.
They were playing with their new bikes.
Some of the most massive, athletic men in sports were doing their own zooming—around the field on the Phat Scooters Wilson bought them for Christmas.
“These guys are all riding their bikes right now. It’s hilarious,” Wilson said. “I wish you guys were here to see this.
“It’s hilarious.”
Hot Rod Duane Brown pulled up—and right through Wilson’s press conference. With his Seahawks skull cap and his surgical mask on, the 35-year-old Pro Bowl veteran left tackle looked like a kid—a 320-pound kid—who just got his new bike for Christmas.
It even had each offensive linemen’s jersey number in white, block numbers on the kick board.
“Merry Christmas, everyone. Happy New Year,” Brown said through his mask and into the camera, barreling toward Wilson as the laughing QB got out of the way.
“Y’all be safe out here.”
No, Wilson, Brown and the Seahawks aren’t exactly daunted by having to face and beat their recent conquerors, the Los Angeles Rams, on Sunday at Lumen Field to win the NFC West for the first time since 2016.
Wilson committed three turnovers and got sacked six times in the team’s first meeting, last month in Inglewood, Calif. The Seahawks lost 23-16 because of those mistakes. Rams cornerback Darious Williams intercepted Wilson twice. It was the first time since 2012, his rookie season, that Wilson had thrown multiple interceptions in consecutive games.
The Rams have won five of the last six games between these division rivals.
Wilson has two words for all that: so what.
As the impromptu Christmas Eve Phat Scooter Derby on the Seahawks’ practice field with the franchise quarterback’s gifts of appreciation shows, Wilson doesn’t feel pressure to beat L.A. on Sunday.
“I do hold a high, high, high standard for myself,” Wilson said, “but I don’t call it pressure.
“I consider pressure when my dad’s on his deathbed, you know,” he said of his father Harrison dying in June 2010, at age 55, when Wilson was in college.
“I consider pressure, people, you know, having to deal with what’s going on with COVID. Pressure’s everything that’s going on in the world today.
“What I get to do is not real pressure, you know. It’s a gift. It’s a gift that I love and I thank God every day for.”
Brown was so thankful and his gifts, he went on his Instagram page after he got his new bike and celebrated the man he protects every weekend.
“Shout out to the good brother Russ, man,” Brown posted in his video.
“Likes the O-line this year for Christmas. Appreciate ya, man.”
Wilson said he got his linemen the souped-up Phat Scooter model because he has an inside connection to the company that makes them. The electric scooter bikes look like mini motorcycles.
“They do come in turbo speed, and they’ve got lights on them,” Wilson said. “They’ve got the big handlebars for these guys who are so tall. ...
“I got pretty close to the, the guys who own it and stuff like that and I had them. I had them custom-make them for them and all that, and put the numbers on it. And it’s pretty cool.
“They’re pretty fun.”
The bikes are the latest in the annual gifts Wilson gives the men who give him the time to set, and this season re-set, the Seahawks record with 37 touchdown passes this season.
Did the man who calls Wilson’s plays and pass-protection schemes for him to throw all those touchdown passes get a fancy new scooter bike with wide handle bars, too?
“You know, I didn’t,” offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said.
“And I’m a little upset about that.”
He said Wilson was talking to him all about the bikes, how cool they were.
“So I was expecting it. I was looking around (for mine),” Schottenheimer said.
“I told him, ‘I guess you take care of those guys who protect you on game day, not for the guy who tries to protect you during the week.”
In past years Wilson has given his linemen:
- 55-inch, flat-screen, UHD-6 televisions
- two round-trip tickets per player to wherever Alaska Airlines flies.
- and last spring, after he signed his NFL-record $140 million contract, $12,000 each in Amazon stock
What do the gifts represent for them, and for him?
“Yeah, you know, it’s it’s been a crazy year. COVID, everything that’s happened,” Wilson said. “And just to bring joy to these guys, man, they work their tails off, every day. I’m grateful for them. They’ve been great for me all year. They’ve been battling guys who had to step up to as guys have been injured times.
“Just, I really love these guys each, individually. ...They all have their own personalities, but they really mesh really well together as one unit. One-body, one-mind. That’s why I’m so grateful for them. Whatever I can do to shout those guys out and just grateful for him.
“They don’t get all the praise all the time, you know. But when we score a touchdown, it’s because of those guys.”
This story was originally published December 24, 2020 at 3:53 PM.
