Russell Wilson is throwing a football ‘weeks’ ahead of schedule. A return next week?
Russell Wilson is beating all estimates for his recovery from surgery.
Of course he is.
The quarterback who five years ago was told he should miss four weeks with a knee injury — then moved his physical therapist into his house with him to wake him up every night on the hour so he never missed a game — was throwing a football on Tuesday.
“Wasn’t supposed to throw for awhile..a few weeks,” Wilson posted on his Twitter social-media account online Tuesday night, “but by Prayer & Dedication & tremendous help from my Performance Team! Today was my first day back. One step at a time. Grateful!
He paraphrased Philippians 4:13 from the Bible.
“ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE” w/ Jesus! Phil 4:13 HE is my healer! My comforter! My Provider!” he posted online.
It was one day after Wilson had the pin removed from the middle finger of his throwing hand. A surgeon had placed the pin Oct. 8 to repair a torn tendon and dislocation Wilson got during Seattle’s home loss to the Rams Oct. 7.
“No more pin. Time to win,” Wilson posted online Monday.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Monday it would be “a couple days” after Wilson had the pin removed before he could throw a ball. That was supposed to be to allow for the “hole” left in his finger by the removed pin, as the coach called it, to heal.
“There’s a pretty clear-cut time frame. They think that it’s going to take a couple days after that (pin) is removed, and then it’s just how he can progress,” Carroll said Monday, before Wilson announced the pin was out. “It will be the first time he can bend his finger, you know. So we’ve got to see how that works out.”
Wilson’s video portrayed it’s working out just fine. It showed him throwing Tuesday in his personal workout gym while wearing a glove over his repaired right hand.
The Seahawks are on their bye week. They don’t play Sunday. Their next game is Nov. 14 at Green Bay.
Wilson throwing a ball 12 days before that game strongly suggests he intends to play against the Packers.
That is the first game Wilson is eligible to come off injured reserve to play. NFL rules state players on injured reserve must sit out at least three games before returning to play.
Geno Smith has started the last three games for Wilson. The Seahawks (3-5) have lost two of those three games, plus the Rams game with Wilson missing the fourth quarter the night he got hurt.
Seattle is one game out of a playoff spot with nine games remaining in the regular season. Only six teams in the NFC have winning records. Seven will make the postseason.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 10:51 PM.
