Elaine Thompson / AP |
Before the season started, it was a forgone conclusion that Andrew Luck was the best quarterback drafted in 2012, but Robert Griffin III would have the better season as he walked away with the Rookie of the Year award. It was also generally understood that Ryan Tannehill had the most potential outside of Luck and RG3, but that he was raw and would need to sit for a year. Then there was Brandon Weeden. He was old by football standards at the age of 29, but his maturity and poise was clearly head and shoulders above the rest. That was 17 weeks ago, and now we know that we knew nothing back then.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that young quarterbacks continue to experience accelerated development at unprecedented rates. This is a trend that we have seen over the last five or six years, and it is safe to say that it is here to stay. With the shift to more pass oriented offenses in high school and college, we can tell that this is not just a fad.
There are a few elements that have been surprises this year though. The first was that five teams chose to start rookie quarterbacks this season. As expected there have been ups and downs for all of them, but the ups have greatly out weighed the downs. The numbers have been off the charts.
With each team still having one game remaining, these five quarterbacks have helped their teams combine for 41 victories this season. They have combined for over 16,000 yards passing and 92 touchdown passes. Let's not forget about the all the damage that these guys have done on the ground too.
No one would have anticipated these kind of numbers by these rookie signal callers. But that still leaves the biggest surprise of all. Having watched their journeys and progression throughout the season, no one jumps out at your more than the Seahawks' Russell Wilson. After paying Matt Flynn a sizeable chunk of change, Peter Carroll and company pulled the trigger on the Wisconsin Badger in the 3rd round of the NFL draft. Most people thought Wilson was a bright and talented competitor, that would help push Flynn. Nobody actually thought Wilson would beat out the pricey free agent acquisition in just his first year.
Not only did Wilson take the job, but he has taken the reigns of the whole team. The Seahawks were limited in their offensive game-planning early in the season, but Wilson has worked with what he was given, and showed that he was ready for more, and more, and more. As Wilson has blossomed into a rising star, the entire Seahawks organization has taken their game to the next level. In fact, their isn't a more dominant team in the game right now. Seattle has destroyed their last three opponents by a total score of 150-30. Let that sink in for a moment.
Now we all know that Russell Wilson is not solely responsible for what the Seahawks are doing, but he is a huge piece of the puzzle. In his last three games, he has had passer ratings of 88.0, 104.4 and 115.3. More impressive is that fact that two of those three teams, Arizona and San Francisco, have two of the best pass defenses in the NFL. In fact Arizona ranks 1st in the NFL in opponents passer rating (68.5) while San Francisco is ranked 2nd in total defense, 3rd in scoring defense, 4th in passing defense, and 7th in opponents passer rating (78.3).
Wilson may not be putting up gaudy numbers in the passing game like Luck and RG3, but what he is doing when he gets his opportunities is equally if not more impressive. According to ESPN, his QBR rating is ranked 8th in the entire NFL at 70.0, only a hair behind RG3's 71.1. Wilson's NFL passer rating is 7th in the league at 98.0, not far behind Griffin's 104.1 rating.
To top that off, it is Russell Willson, not Luck or RG3 that is leading all rookies in touchdown passes. Not only are his 25 scoring strikes good enough to put him in the NFL's top ten, but he is just a single touchdown pass away from tying Peyton Manning's rookie record for most touchdown passes in a season.
When it comes time for people to vote on the NFL's Rookie of the Year, many people will look at the impressive way that Luck has helped steer the Colts turnaround from laughingstock to the postseason in his first season. Others will look at the style and substance that RG3's flashy play has produced as he leads Washington to the postseason. But hopefully more and more will start taking a look at what Russell Wilson is doing up in the Great North West as he leads the hottest team in the game.
Pretty impressive for guy that was declared a "reach" in the 3rd round of the NFL draft by most analysts because he was too small to play quarterback in the NFL. Russell Wilson has been a pleasant surprise indeed.
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