Russell Wilson’s Day As Aaron Rodgers

By Raymond Schwabacher | Jan 13, 2015

By now you know that the Seattle Seahawks will be playing the Green Bay Packers this Sunday, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. It’s a matchup between the top two teams in the NFC, just the way the conference championship ought to be. And it’ll be played at CenturyLink Field, meaning there’s a clear favorite.

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In Russell Wilson and Aaron Rodgers, the Seahawks and Packers boast two tremendous quarterbacks. Each is a traditional QB in the sense that they’re revered leaders who are probably expecting some MVP love. But as far as style of play, they’re thought to be wildly different.

With Wilson, it’s the legs. He’s got unreal awareness, but that’s just what sets up his amazing running plays. He’s the newest in new, as far as the quarterback position is considered. And it’s true – nobody plays QB quite like Russ.

Rodgers, on the other hand, is just a flat-out dominant arm. He’s probably the best passer on the planet, boasting aim and execution that can, will, and does take over games. Those who watched him in the divisional round saw him hitting targets and leading his team to victory despite almost zero lower body mobility. He’s simply ridiculous.

Let’s talk about our guy for a minute. Wilson’s ground game is elite, that much is obvious. He’s a scrambler like there’s never been before, but there’s a lot more to his skillset than just finding the hole and running through it. He can pass, too. And last time we saw him, his passing was reminiscent of his more-heralded NFC Championship opponent.

Against the Carolina Panthers, Wilson put up a 149.2 passer rating. As far as QBR goes, that was Russ’s best game of the year. It was the best passing performance of his playoff career and his second-best ever, falling just short of the 151.4 he posted against the Minnesota Vikings in 2013.

Rodgers, as you probably guessed, has beaten that 149.2 rating. This season, even! But barely, and it’s been months. He last did it week seven, against… the Panthers! That game saw Rodgers go 19 for 22, good for 255 yards. Before that, he had a 22 for 28, 302 yard game at Chicago in week four that netted him a 151.2 rating. Those are the only times this year that Rodgers, the vaunted pass king, has done better than what Scramblin’ Russ Wilson did in the playoffs last week.

Right, the playoffs. Rodgers has ten playoff starts under his belt, dating back to 2009. His best QBR over that stretch? 136.8 in Atlanta en route to the 2011 Super Bowl. Wilson may not have the “elite passer” reputation, but what he just did against the Panthers is the stuff of Aaron Rodgers’ dreams.

Now, this isn’t to say that Wilson is a better passer than Rodgers. He isn’t probably. But what he just did should serve as some kind of proof of concept here. All the evidence we have makes it pretty clear that Aaron Rodgers is an elite passer. Russell Wilson just had himself a better passing game in the playoffs than Rodgers has ever had in the playoffs. He was barely shy of Rodgers at his regular season best.

Russell Wilson is probably the best ground quarterback in the game. He’s not the most consistent passer in the world, but as far as ceiling goes, he just showed that he’s right up there with the elite’s elite. Russ can’t be Aaron Rodgers on a weekly basis, but at his best, he’s just about Aaron Rodgers. As far as we can tell, in the playoffs he’s a better passer than Aaron Rodgers. Which must be a chilling thing to realize, if you’re Aaron Rodgers.

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