In a strong contender for NFL Game of the Year, Russell Wilson threw for 452 yards and four TDs as the Seattle Seahawks defeated the Houston Texans 41-38 on Sunday.
Wilsons opposing rookie QB DeShaun Watson wasnt shabby himself, throwing for 402 yards and four TDs, but his inexperience showed with three picks and that proved to be the difference in the game.
The savvy veteran wins again.
Wilson makes a habit of leading his team down the field late in games and finessing the two-minute drill as efficiently as anyone. Its time to give him his respect as an elite quarterback and one of the most durable warriors in the game.
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4 TD, 452 pass yards, and the game-winner. CLUTCH performance for @Seahawks’ Russell Wilson.
Wilson has spoiled everybody. With his athleticism, clutch execution, uncanny escapability, leadership and making the remarkable look simple. When NFL MVPs are tossed around, you often hear the names Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and even Matt Ryan and Cam Newton, who were both the toast of the town for a moment there.
Newton won the MVP in 2015 when he led the Panthers to the Super Bowl and lost to Peyton Mannings Denver Broncos. Matt Ryan won it in 2016 before blowing a sure Super Bowl win against the Patriots. Neither of these guys have been the same player since.
Wilson has never won a league MVP despite being the heart and soul of a Seahawks team that had been to two Super Bowls in the last four seasons before starting this campaign with a further weakened defense, key players who were just as emotionally invested in protesting as playing football and inner turmoil lingering from that 2015 Super Bowl catastrophe, when Pete Carroll sabotaged what should have been back-to-back Super Bowl wins.
Despite those early successes and setbacks, Wilson has continued to improve as a leader, passer and a player. His dominance was on display this Sunday as he out-dueled Watson, a player whose immediate impact on his team as a rookie kind of reminds you of Wilson, who hit the ground running in 2012 and has never won less than 10 games in a season.
#ClemsonNFL on Twitter
Deshaun Watson was 19 for 30 with 402 yards passing & 4 TDs and 8 rushes for 67 yards on the road against the #1 rank defense. #ClemsonNFL
Watson made a believer out of Seattle’s All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman who is not one to shower the greatest of players with compliments.
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Richard Sherman knows a legendary QB when he sees one.
When Wilson was learning the ropes as a third-round draft pick who made Pete Carroll look like a genius, most skeptics credited Seattles superior defense for the teams success. Some even suggested Wilson was more of a game manager.
Every season, Wilsons accepted more responsibility for the offense and his numbers have grown exponentially as has his poise, grasp of the position and his heroics on the field.
With no rushing game to speak of since Marshawn Lynch departed, Wilson has had to pass his ass off, and Sunday was another example of how he’s willed a compromised Seahawks team to a 5-2 record.
Theres no mistake that he now carries the defense. No longer can we accuse the vaunted Seattle D of carrying Wilson.
