It seems that with the Seahawks’ Week 11 bye, the NFL MVP conversation shifted from Russell Wilson to Lamar Jackson in a big hurry. And while Jackson deserves every bit of the praise coming his way, we may be experiencing some recency bias. Early on in Seattle’s Week 12 game against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field, Wilson seemed determined to remind everyone just who’s in charge here.
The Seahawks went three-and-out with a Wilson sack on their first drive, but perhaps they were just warming up. On Seattle’s second drive, Wilson hit tight end Jacob Hollister for 21 yards, zinged one to DK Metcalf for 17 more yards, and then, there was this.
Pure magic. ✨@leekleek217 hauls one in for 6️⃣! #GoHawks x #SEAvsPHI pic.twitter.com/uVql8WkgWp
— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) November 24, 2019
With right tackle/Godzilla tight end George Fant in motion from left to right, Wilson handed the ball to halfback Chris Carson out of heavy personnel, and the Eagles certainly assumed a running play here. Not so fast, Sherlock, as Carson dumped the ball back to Wilson, who dutifully waited for receiver Malik Turner to get open downfield.
Turner actually wasn’t all that open downfield, with safety Rodney McLeod (No. 23) and cornerback Jalen Mills (No. 31) converging. But Wilson put the biscuit in the basket, and made an absolutely phenomenal throw to Turner for the 33-yard touchdown.
Making this throw more impressive? Check out the conditions at the Linc today:
This is what Russell Wilson threw that perfect touchdown pass into. Incredible pass. #Seahawks lead at Eagles pic.twitter.com/cj51mXVWcr
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 24, 2019
Coming into this game, Wilson led all quarterbacks with a 135.4 passer rating on passes of 20 or more air yards, and this will just up that particular statistic. Counting that touchdown, Wilson has now completed 27 of 53 deep balls for 360 yards, seven touchdowns, and no interceptions.
It’s just one part of Wilson’s MVP portfolio, but his status as the league’s most efficient deep passer is a crucial tool for a run-balanced offense that gets its shot plays off play action, and relies on a ruthlessly accurate deep thrower to keep things going.