Russell Wilson, Jermaine Kearse, And Redemption
Don’t stop basking in the glow of what the Seattle Seahawks just did. If you don’t want to think about Russell Wilson‘s ugly day overall, you don’t have to. Super Bowl XLIX. Super Bowl XLIX! Super Bowl XLIX!!! The fourth quarter. The overtime dime. No need to worry about what happened before the magic, since, you know, there was magic.
More from Seattle Seahawks
- Seattle Seahawks: To rest or not to rest, that is the question
- Seattle Seahawks: 12s still waiting to exhale
- Seattle Seahawks: 4 Takeaways from 26-23 Loss to the 49ers
- Seattle Seahawks: Four Takeaways from Week 14 21-7 victory
- Seattle Seahawks: Three Takeaways from the Week 13 43-16 victory
That was arguably the worst game of Russell Wilson’s career. The first half was almost certainly the worst half of his career. Maybe you want to defer much of the blame to Jermaine Kearse, which is entirely fair. Kearse was directly responsible for two of Wilson’s four turnovers and was the target for each and every one of them. The two that went off his hands were truly awful.
But Russell didn’t do himself any favors until he absolutely needed to. He ended the first half with a quarterback rating of zero, as in zero. It would have helped if Kearse hadn’t puked up the ball on the Seahawks’ first drive of the game, but that doesn’t mean the offense got anything done on any of their other chances.
Here were the Seahawks’ first half drives: interception, fumble, punt, punt, interception, interception, end of half. Yardage for each of those drives: three, zero, zero, three, zero, 51, negative eight. They only looked like a competent NFL offense for one drive, but even that ended in a gut-wrenching interception. Pick the worst offense you’ve ever seen in the National Football League. Chances are this was worse than anything that squad could have done in a nightmare.
The third quarter featured Jon Ryan throwing a touchdown pass to Garry Gilliam, which was at that point the undisputed offensive high water mark for the Seahawks. The punter was doing a better job at quarterbacking than the quarterback. The next time Seattle got the ball they went three-and-out with another negative yardage drive.
Wilson ended the day with a 44.3 quarterback rating, the second-lowest of his career and the worst since his rookie season. He entered the day as the all-time postseason leader in that category. Before this game was miraculous it was a different kind of miraculous. That Russ and the offense managed to play that poorly is really unbelievable.
But you know who else underperformed big time? Aaron Rodgers, who finished with a 55.8 rating. It wasn’t quite the disaster that was his week 15 performance in Buffalo, but overall you can see why Seattle had a chance at the end. Give the LOB all the credit in the world, of course, since Rodgers still managed to look good at times while hobbling around the field. This was as much about the Seahawks defense as anything.
As bad as the quarterbacks were at times, Kearse was probably having the worst day of anyone until his game-winning catch. Every time he was targetted the Packers ended up with the ball. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix went all Richard Sherman on him, and the perpetual groan that follows Seattle’s number two receiver quickly became deafening.
Ultimately this will be remembered as a game of redemption. Redemption for a lot of Seahawks players, but mostly for Wilson and Kearse. For most of the game two keys cogs of the Seattle offense seemed committed to disaster. Then, in overtime, they connected to create one of the most beautiful moments Seattle has ever seen.
It was a perfect pass, perfectly timed to take advantage of a perfect route. Many have said that the Seahawks didn’t “deserve” to win after playing such terrible football for most of the game. But they made that play. In overtime, in the NFC Championship game. Execute that play and you go to the Super Bowl. They executed that play. They’re going to the Super Bowl.
Russell Wilson and Jermaine Kearse made much of this game a nightmare for Seattle Seahawks fans. Russell Wilson and Jermaine Kearse teamed up for a touchdown you’ll never forget, capping one of the best comebacks ever and sending the Seahawks to their second straight Super Bowl. It’s amazing now and it’ll be amazing forever. What a game. What a team.