About three years ago Russell Wilson was an unquestionable hall of fame player or at least just had to sustain a gradual decline into his twilight to get to the hallowed hall. Then things got sticky in Seattle and Russ once the toast of the town found himself steering his way to Denver. At first the voices were quiet, some Russ is a weird guy accusations and such but nothing extreme. Then things imploded in Denver and all the sudden it seemed to be time for everyone to get their lick in in on Russ. Prior teammates, current teammates, and the media all lined up to pour some more dirt on the career of the once MVP candidate Russell Wilson. When the team benched Russ, cut him, and payed him a ton of money to basically fuck off it was hard not to think the Russ of old was essentially dead along with his career.
Russ semi-quietly found himself in Pittsburgh this last offseason. Him and youngster Justin Fields formed a qb room that could only be described as akin to the island of misfit toys. Russ started off the season hurt despite being named the starter in his absence Fields looked like he had improved, it honestly seemed a longshot Russ would ever comeback at least in the Burgh. Yet some shaky performances in the weeks leading up to Wilson returning from injury opened the door and Russ was named the starter once again. Yet it still seemed unlikely that Russ would ever truly return to form but something kinda shocking happened or maybe it was something we should have all seen coming.
Just like those glory days in Seattle Russ was not the leader. This Steeler team was led by defense and a damn good one too. Not to mention in Arthur Smith's run heavy offense Wilson could thrive off pocket movement and play action. Russ was basically back in Seattle in almost the same situation where it all began. Low expectations high ceiling. In this, despite some rocky moments Russ began to thrive and slowly it looked like Russ was loving football again and his teammates were loving Russ. If Russ’s football resurrection wasn’t clear, a shootout win against the Bengals proved that Russ wasn’t just riding the Köteles of a good team, he could actually be the X-factor for that team. Maybe the old qb still had some magic left in him. Russ was and has shown that the steel city needed him as much as he needed them. For the guy left for dead in Denver this is absolutely huge. Yet what are we as fans to make of this resurrection?
It’s hard to not be excited as a football fan because Russ never really did anything wrong, if anything it seems as though Russ got dealt a bad hand and the world couldn’t wait to see the mid round underdog finally fail. Wilson’s failure to succeed in Denver was not expected but our reaction along with the media could have been seen from a mile away. We love to watch the underdog we once rooted for fall flat on his face. It reminds us that these gods of the gridiron are no better than us mere mortals. Russ was always gonna have his low point but the failure felt so sharp maybe the comeback should have been easier to see. It’s debatable whether Russ will ever truly return to his peak form but for someone who I might have pronounced dead, he looks pretty well alive to me.
Kaleb Unger
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