NFL Seattle Seahawks

Seattle Seahawks’ Russell Wilson Cementing Legacy at Unprecedented Age

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By @JordanWevers

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Getty Images

Russell Wilson led the Seattle Seahawks past the Carolina Panthers 31-17 in the NFL divisional round of the postseason Saturday night. Albeit, the win came against a rather trivial opponent, but a playoff win is still a playoff win. It was the sixth playoff start of Wilson’s career and his fifth win.

With home field advantage against whichever NFC team awaits a chartered flight to the Pacific Northwest, the Seahawks look to have a scary good chance of repeating as the first Super Bowl champions in consecutive seasons since the New England Patriots last accomplished the feat in 2004 and 2005.

Only two quarterbacks in the history of the NFL have four Super Bowl rings — Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana. Bradshaw was 27 before he recorded six playoff victories and was 28 by the time he had two rings. Montana was 28 when he achieved the same as Bradshaw in both statistics.

Wilson turned only 26 a few months ago. And to think, the Seahawks once upon a time offered Matt Flynn $20.5 million in the same year they drafted Wilson to potentially be their quarterback of the future.

Wilson is undersized, but his game is larger than life at times. He protects the football well, runs and throws with equal skill outside of the pocket and has the athleticism reminiscent of some NCAA quarterbacks who orchestrated the option offense with ease to historic success in the 1990′s.

Perhaps Wilson’s biggest asset is his humility. He plays with pride and is a leader, but he is humble enough to slide beyond the line of scrimmage when contact is a threat. He understands that the difference between a few extra yards once the first down has already been picked up and limping off the field makes all the difference in the world to his team. Three years in the league and 48 career regular season starts, Wilson has yet to miss a single game. His durability is a testament to his efficiency, and boy, is he efficient.

His passer rating after three regular seasons in the league is 98.6. Peyton Manning had a rating of 85.4 in seasons one through three with future Hall of Famer Marvin Harrison to throw to. Tom Brady you say? 86. Drew Brees‘ was 83 and Andrew Luck‘s 86.6. The list goes on and on. True, Wilson has had a great run game to rely on. But outside of briefly taking the field with Percy Harvin, you’d be hard pressed to name a true weapon at tight end or wide receiver that Wilson has had at his disposal so far in his career.

Expanding more on Wilson’s dual threat abilities, Michael Vick is the NFL’s career leader for rushing yards at the QB position. He has 6,010, or an average 501 per season. Wilson is already basically one third of the way to that mark, averaging 626 yards on the ground through his first three seasons. No quarterback has yet to rush for 5,000 yards and pass for 30,000 in a career. Randall Cunningham is probably the closest, with 29,979 and 4928 yards, respectively. Wilson has a real chance to stand alone in that category. He has a chance to be better than the great Steve Young, a player his game closely parodies.

The Panthers never led in this game, and the Seahawks never looked back. Wilson was 8-for-8 in the game on third down attempts that went for 199 yards and three touchdowns. All Cam Newton could do was grin and bear it from the sideline.

If things continue for Wilson on the current trajectory he has established thus far in his career, enshrinement in Canton appears to be indeed an inevitable but oddly casual fate that awaits the Richmond, VA, native.

Jordan Wevers is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JordanWevers, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

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