Russell Wilson has never lost 3 straight game with Seahawks: ‘I love adversity’
Russell Wilson is the most accomplished quarterback the Seahawks have ever had.
He’s won their only Super Bowl title. He holds 26 major franchise records. He’s the winningest quarterback in NFL history through the first nine season of a career. He’s made the Pro Bowl eight times. He’s earned a $140 million contract, at the time the richest in league history. He married an elegant, singer wife.
Yet there is one thing Wilson has never done in his 10 seasons in the NFL as Seattle’s franchise cornerstone.
Lose three weeks in a row.
To what does Wilson attribute that?
“Not thinking about losing three in a row,” he said, chuckling.
That would include not considering it this week.
He and his Seahawks (1-2) are taking a two-game losing streak to Santa Clara, California, to play their first NFC West game of the season Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers (2-1).
Four days after that, the high-flying Los Angeles Rams (3-0) return to Seattle Thursday night to play here for the first time since L.A. ended the Seahawks’ 2020 season in the first round of the NFC playoffs in January.
The way Seattle’s defense has face-planted allowing 985 yards and 63 points and the offense has scored
Wilson says, bring it on.
“I love adversity,” he said this week.
Why?
“It’s all I’ve ever known.”
It’s not true that Wilson has never lost three in a row.
The one time was in 2009. Wilson was in his next-to-last year quarterbacking North Carolina State then. Wake Forest, Duke, Boston College and Florida State beat Wilson and the Wolfpack in consecutive October games.
Wilson got replaced by Mike Glennon in two of those four straight losses for North Carolina State in 2009.
Two years later, Wilson graduated from N.C. State, in three years. That left him with a fourth year of eligibility, his senior baseball season. In the spring of 2011 Wilson was coming off leading the Atlantic Coast Conference with 3,563 yards passing and 28 touchdowns as a junior. N.C. State went 9-4 and won a bowl game. But Wolfpack football coach Tom O’Brien had Glennon, a prized quarterback recruit, about to enter his junior year.
Wilson had been a fourth-round choice in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft by the Colorado Rockies. He played the summer of 2010 for Class-A Tri-City, a Rockies Class-A affiliate in eastern Washington. He wanted to go to spring training with the Rockies, which would conflict with N.C. State spring football practices.
“Basically, the coach at the time (at N.C. State) told me to transfer, told me to go play baseball (that I had to NFL future),” Wilson said in 2018 of O’Brien.
“I didn’t want to do that yet.”
So Wilson transferred to Wisconsin. He learned the Badgers’ offense in 21 days over the summer then led them to the Rose Bowl.
O’Brien’s choice is infamous in Carolina—and more fuel for Wilson when he talks about how he’s been doubted.
N.C. State went 8-5 and 7-6 in its two seasons with Glennon as its QB, including 4-4 in the ACC each year. He was a third-round pick in 2013, a year after Seattle drafted the supposedly too-short Wilson in the third round. Glennon is an NFL journeyman. He’s a backup with the New York Giants and has 27 starts in an eight-year pro career that began with Tampa Bay. He’s been with five teams since 2017.
Wilson is a $140 million superstar, in football and beyond. Last season he broke Peyton Manning’s NFL record for the most wins by a quarterback in the first nine regular seasons of a career.
So, no, he’s not focused on losing a third consecutive game Sunday at San Francisco.
“I just focus on the winning part of it, the process,” Wilson said. “Focus on getting better. Focus on what I do and how I can lead, communicate, and keep my energy and focus high. Continue to work hard, get here early, and leave late. Stay focused on the simple things.
“The simple things win, and I try to continue to do those things really well. You have to keep your mind right. You have to keep your language right. And I always tell you guys that I have to remain neutral.”
Yet he and first-time play caller Shane Waldron must get the Seahawks’ offense out of neutral — though their recently ransacked defense getting off the field on third downs sure would help.
“Starting this week, things will change,” safety Jamal Adams said of his defense that’s allowed 985 yards and 63 points the last two weeks.
It’s not just the defense. Seattle has scored just six points after halftime in the last two games. That’s in five quarters of play: the third quarter, fourth quarter and overtime of the loss to Tennessee two weeks ago and the third and fourth periods at Minnesota.
Waldron has yet to fully unleash his entire game plans and playbook. Coach Pete Carroll hired Waldron from the Rams to re-orient the Seahawks on the run. Lead back Chris Carson hasn’t rushed more than his 16 times and 91 yards since the opener at winless Indianapolis, the only victory Seattle had.
Rookie wide receiver Dee Eskridge has his own section of Waldron’s playbook with fly sweeps to use his speed. The team’s top draft choice this spring will likely miss his third consecutive game. He is doubtful for Sunday because of a concussion he got in the Colts game Sept. 12.
Wilson had four touchdown passes that day in Indiana. One was to versatile, inside-outside tight end Gerald Everett. Everett tested positive twice on Wednesday for COVID-19, the first Seahawks player with a confirmed positive case of the pandemic. As a vaccinated player, he needs two negative tests in a 24-hour span to return to play, per the league’s COVID protocols for 2021.
The opportunities to move the ball and score should be there for the Seahawks in Santa Clara. The 49ers are missing their top three cornerbacks because of injury. The Lions in Detroit and Green Bay Packers last weekend in California shredded San Francisco’s pass defense last month.
The 49ers still have one of the league’s best defensive fronts. But star rush end Nick Bosa, the 2019 NFL defensive player of the year, was ripping himself this week for how he let the Packers get into his legs with cut blocks and stop his pass rushing of Aaron Rodgers.
“I just need to be better off of the chips and not just stand there that I’m shocked that it’s happening,” Bosa told reporters in the Bay Area. “Expect it more and get back to my rush quicker. I kind of just sat there and took it against Green Bay and felt sorry for myself. I need to just be ready for it. I just didn’t expect it quite as much but it’s coming.”
Bosa is usually the right end, which means a face-off with left tackle Duane Brown, Seattle’s best offensive lineman. Arik Armstead on the left defensive end has just one sack through three games. But that edge is an issue for the Seahawks. Starting right tackle Brandon Shell will miss his second consecutive game with a sprained ankle. Jamarco Jones started there last week. He had 27 plays and undrafted rookie Jake Curhan had 26 at right tackle.
Cedric Ogbuehi, the former first-round pick by Cincinnati, is back off injured reserve. Carroll said Friday Ogbuehi is an option to start at right tackle against the 49ers.
“Having Cedric back is really a boost,” Carroll said.
The Seahawks need one, or three, of those.
“At the end of the day it comes back to us,” Waldron said. “We need to work to keep executing better and with that consistency that we’ve been able to show in the first half of games but has faltered a little bit in the second half.
“The focus is really more on us, knowing that they’re things that we’ll go against and like we’ve talked about, everyone is good in this league. Just being able to sustain our mental focus and sharp execution through all four quarters will be a pivotal thing for our offense.”
Mental focus is Wilson’s forte.
His most recent two-game losing streak was last November. He responded with season-reviving wins over the Arizona Cardinals and Philadelphia Eagles in consecutive weeks. Seattle won six of its last seven games and the 2020 NFC West title.
“It’s supposed to be a challenge,” Wilson said.
“I know every year will have some challenges that we have to face, and it is what it is.”
This story was originally published October 2, 2021 at 10:48 AM.
