MR. UNLIIIIIIMITED
Russell Wilson was the butt of jokes after calling himself that on twitter, but he’s certainly proving the haters wrong. Through two weeks he is already the MVP frontrunner and may not ever stop.
After the unfortunate collapse of the Legion of Boom, this Hawks team has been hanging by a thread, with Wilson’s incredible QB play holding Seattle together. Since being drafted in the 3rd round in 2012, the Super Bowl champion has only missed the Pro Bowl once, won rookie of the year, and led the league in passing touchdowns. His career passer rating of 102.0 is less than a point off from being the best of all time.
An impressive resume for a player who is often forgotten about with Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson running the league.
Deshaun Watson, Dak Prescot, Kyler Murray, and Joe Burrow are some more youngsters who are proving to be amongst the best in the league. To some in the general public, Wilson is no longer in that top tier. At least, that’s what they thought.
Russ leads the league in completion percentage, passing touchdowns, touchdown percent, and passer rating. Despite throwing fewer passes than players like Sam Darnold and Dwayne Haskins, he’s 5th in passing yards, and he’s also averaging 34 rushing yards per game which is 4th amongst QBs (only behind Kyler Murray, Cam Newton, and Lamar Jackson).
He has been nothing short of phenomenal.
It’s only two games, though, and anything can change. He hasn’t been facing the Ravens or Steelers. He did this all against the Patriots, who had two of their best defensive players opt-out, and the Falcons, who just let Dak Prescott score 30 points in the second half during a 29-10 comeback.
His schedule doesn’t look intimidating. The 49ers are dealing with long-term and season-ending injuries to some of their best players, and while the Rams and Cardinals look to be improved on that side of the ball, that division as a whole doesn’t pose a huge threat. Road games against the Bills and Eagles look like their biggest challenges, but with teams like the Vikings, Dolphins, Giants, and Jets lined up, he has plenty of matchups to be happy about.
It’s hard not to be excited for what comes next. We haven’t even seen him throw much yet. His 63 passing attempts ranks 25th in the league, and if we ever see him throw for 40 or more in a game, he could start throwing 4 or 5 touchdowns on top of some huge passing numbers. There’s no doubt in my mind Russ wants to prove everyone wrong. The guy has been elite in this league for the better half of a decade and still has not received a single MVP vote. Now is his time to shine and truly shut down the haters.
Just for fun, I wanted to see what sort of pace he was on if he kept this up for all 16 games. This won’t happen, but it’s a testament of how ridiculous his play has been so far.
In a 16-game season, Russell Wilson is on pace for:
- 72 passing touchdowns
- 4,880 passing yards
- 544 rushing yards
- 415/504 passes completed (only Aaron Rodgers has thrown for 4,600+ yards with under 534 attempts)
Perhaps Wilson can approach those passing and rushing yards totals, but his pace for 72 passing touchdowns is likely to regress. Still, it’s an excellent start that could push him towards some of the greatest passing seasons of all time. If he averages just 2.5 touchdowns per game for the next 14 games, he would be tied with Dan Marino for the 8th most passing TDs in a single season.
If anybody deserves this, it’s Russ. If we see him keep up even some of this pace and win MVP, Mr. UNLIIIIIIMITED might as well be a lock for the hall of fame if he isn’t already.
