Russell Wilson Proving His Worth Against Top Quarterbacks
By Ben Rosener
Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports
It’s safe to say that Russell Wilson is one of the more talented quarterbacks in the NFL. If he hasn’t reached “elite” status yet, he will surely reach that point by the end of the season should he continue to play at his current level.
Elite is a strange word when used to describe quarterbacks in the NFL. Obviously you have future Hall of Famers, your Brady’s, Manning’s and Breese’s of the world. But you also have the next tier of “elite” quarterbacks. This included guys like Matt Schaub, Mike Vick and Phillip Rivers when they were in their respective primes. That’s the level of play we’re talking about. Russell Wilson could soon join that small fraternity of second tier, elite quarterbacks on his way to NFL greatness.
Wilson is everything that a GM and/or coach would want in a quarterback. He pretty much ticks all the boxes in terms of mental, physical and leadership abilities.
The one thing that Wilson has done, comparatively to other talented QB’s, is win. And win against the best.
Football is a team sport: the quarterbacks aren’t facing each other at the same time, the defense and running games are vital to team success as well. However, no position is as important as that of the quarterback in the world of American sports. And no quarterback can fill Russell Wilson’s shoes in the Seahawks’ offense. He’s extremely important in terms of everything the Seahawks want to do offensively.
In 21 career games, the Seahawks’ QB has faced his fair share of talented counterparts, generally putting them and their teams to the sword.
Wilson beat Tony Romo, Robert Griffin III, Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton (twice), Tom Brady, Jay Cutler, Colin Kaepernick (also twice) and Schaub in terms of upper echelon quarterbacks. He lost a game or two in matchups against some of the same upper echelon of QB’s. And I mean two. He lost a combined eight points to Matt Ryan and Andrew Luck’s teams.
Russell Wilson might have carved out a reputation as a giant killer, but at some point very soon he will be one of those giants. He just won’t lose as often.