Last season, Russell Wilson racked up the second-highest rookie quarterback rating in history, tied an NFL record for most touchdown passes by a rookie, became the first rookie to lead his team to an undefeated record at home, set a rookie record by completing 16 consecutive passes, shattered a handful of Seahawks quarterback records and led his team to the divisional playoff round.
What do you suppose he’ll do for an encore?
“Obviously you want to do better than last year,” Wilson told reporters during this summer’s minicamps in Renton. “I don’t have any specific numbers or anything like that. I think the biggest thing is just win.”
It’s a tough act to follow, but the 25-year-old, second-year starter is ready for the challenge.
It’s tough to imagine, knowing what we know now, that Wilson was a surprise choice to lead the team coming out of camp last year. Drafted with the 12th pick in the third round (75th overall) of the 2012 draft, Wilson beat out incumbent Tavaris Jackson and highly touted free agent Matt Flynn to win the starting job, and then never looked back.
On the way, Wilson out-dueled Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Tony Romo and his fellow rookie sensations Colin Kaepernick and Robert Griffin III.
He tied Peyton Manning’s 1998 record for most touchdown passes by a rookie with 26 (he added three more in the postseason) and his quarterback rating of 100.0 last season ranks second all time among rookie quarterbacks behind Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger’s 105.2 rating in 2004.
At home, he was even better, earning a 123.6 rating in his eight undefeated games at CenturyLink Field and his four touchdown passes against San Francisco last year was the second-most in single game for a rookie since 2008.
Against the Buffalo Bills in Toronto, Wilson set another NFL record when he passed for three touchdowns and rushed for another in the first half of the game, the first time that had ever been done.
Wilson won the Pepsi Rookie of the Year Award (voted by fans) and finished third in the Offensive Rookie of the Year category, voted by the press.
Not bad for an offense built on the run.
But even more than his arm, Wilson made a name for himself last year with his poise, converting four of seven drives in the final two minutes into victories, including two as time expired or in overtime. His three game-winning touchdowns in the final two minutes of overtime were the most ever by a rookie since the merger in 1970.
In fact, Wilson has led the Seahawks on 31 scoring drives of 70 or more yards – with 28 touchdowns – including the postseason.
But the kid from Richmond, Va., is not letting it all go to his head.
“I just ignore the noise,” he told reporters this summer. “I can’t pay any attention to it.
“I think the biggest thing is how much more I can grow and how much more can our football team grow?” he continued. “I think that’ll really help us.”
Also this season, Wilson is not listening to the hype.
“I make my own expectations so I don’t really worry about what the media says or what other people say, to be honest with you,” he said. “My only expectation is to work as hard as I can, to be consistent, for our football team to be consistent and for our football team to play as hard as we can every Sunday, every practice and we’ll see what happens.”
And this summer, unlike last year, Wilson will take all the reps with the first squad, getting used to his teammates, including new target Percy Harvin, whom he called “explosive.”
“The more experience I got in last year the more we were able to separate in games and to leave people behind,” he said. “That’s what we have to do this year coming up.”
But what might endear him to Seahawks fans even more than his arm is his dedication to the team and city, visible at the end of every interview he gives:
“Go Hawks.”
Go Hawks, indeed.
