On an afternoon when just about everything went right for the Seahawks — you know, like, touchdowns — WR Doug Baldwin had an internal disorder shared with everyone wearing bird gear.
“My heart dropped,” he said. “It was weird, because I hadn’t felt like that in a long time.”
As in, never. Because in Baldwin’s time in Seattle, QB Russell Wilson has been Superman. Yet twice in the season’s first three games, foes packed kryptonite.
On the way to a 37-18 pummeling of the breathtakingly hapless 49ers at the Clink (box), Seahawks fans had an unwanted glimpse into a future without Wilson. Early in the third quarter, he laid in a heap near the Seahawks sideline, horse-collared to the ground in a sack by LB Eli Harold, who rolled over and contorted Wilson’s left knee.
Wilson rose slowly, then grudgingly left the field for one play that introduced Trevone Boykin to his first NFL action. Surprisingly, Wilson walked back into the game. Of his own accord.
“He kind of did that on his own,” said coach Pete Carroll, “and we had to kind of yank him after that.”
It was as close to insubordination as Wilson has come in his time as Ultimate Team Guy. After three plays that led to a field goal for a 27-3 lead, Wilson came to the sideline as the coaches plotted to snatch his helmet, the football action that signals a player is done for the day.
“I told Pete to pull him out,” Baldwin said. “I was really adamant about getting him out of the game.”
Said Carroll: “I told Russ he better put that helmet down — he’s not getting back. So we buckled it up.”
Wilson, who walked without a limp to his media briefing, talked confidently about moving well, being fortunate it wasn’t worse, and artfully dodging the question of his independence.
“I don’t know if I did it on my own,” he said, smiling. “I told them. Maybe they didn’t hear me. I said, ‘Guys I’m going back out, see you there.'”
However it happened, Wilson is so hard-wired to compete that he can’t he can’t be trusted with self-diagnosis.
“I’m going to do everything I can,” he said. “That’s every play at all costs — and being smart too.”
Actually, being smart means NOT every play at all costs.
Carroll said the diagnosis was a sprained knee, but an MRI awaits Monday. He recognized there was a complication.
“Probably the biggest issue is that he’s still rehabbing his ankle too,” he said. “His ankle looked terrific today.”
The same adjective could be applied to much of the Seahawks’ pre-injury, first-half attack. Behind a more cohesive line, the Seahawks converted on five of six third downs, and saw RB Christine Michael’s first two career touchdowns as part of 311 yards of offense. That included 233 in the air as a more fluid Wilson hit on 14 of 19 passes.
More encouraging for the Seahawks was the dramatic uptick from TE Jimmy Graham, who had six first-half catches for 100 yards and a touchdown.
“He wanted to have this kind of impact on the game,” Carroll said. “He’s looked great. It’s thrilling to see him. I think you can see the benefits of Jimmy and Russell throwing (together).”
The Graham TD, an 18-yarder from Wilson to put Seattle up 21-3 halfway through the second period, was part of consecutive receptions that demonstrated the return of another temporarily lost art — explosive plays.
On a third-and-14 at the Seattle 23, Wilson dropped back behind a stout pocket, checked down twice, then heaved to Baldwin on a deep post route. The 59-yard bomb to the SF 18 was the season’s longest scrimmage play. Before the Niners could gather their modest wits, Wilson struck with Graham.
Wilson also hit a 40-yard jump ball to Graham, who wrestled the prize away from a shorter defender in the best demonstration yet of why the Seahawks wanted him.
“He’s like 6-9,” Wilson said, grinning. “Just throw it up to him. Just tried to find somebody and there was this big guy running down the field. That was huge.”
Boykin entered for the rest of game with six minutes left in the third period at the SF 20. That produced a field goal. On the next possession, he moved the Seahawks 58 yards in seven plays, the final 16 to Baldwin for Boykin’s first NFL TD pass.
“It was great,” he said. “You won’t get that again. It was definitely one of the moments I will remember more than anything.”
The break-in moments for Boykin were well-timed because the defense smothered QB Blaine Gabbert and coach Chip Kelly’s allegedly up-tempo offense so thoroughly that the element of contest had been eliminated. A pair of garbage-time TD drives made the stat sheet a little more respectable, but there was little respect for any threat.
“There is no challenge — he threw for (119) yards,” DE Michael Bennett said of Gabbert. “It’s like, aw, man, this is going to be one of those games where we just keep stopping them, stopping them and stopping them. It’s just fun.”
Near the end, an ominous sign appeared when Boykin misread the defense and threw a poor ball intercepted by LB Nick Bellore that nearly became a pick-six.
Rookie mistake — the kind that inevitably will be part of his game should he need to start Sunday in New York against the Jets.
As always, Wilson was quick to put on on his his Superman cape.
“Yeah, I’ll take an MRI,” he said. “But I’ll be good to go.”
As he established, he may not be the best judge. His helmet is under 24-hour watch.
10 Comments
I love you, Art. You’re my favorite sports writer. The only comment I have on the whole piece is because God wanted me to become a proofreader, but proofreading doesn’t pay enough to provide me with good whiskey – “It was great,” he said. “You won’t get that again. It was definitely on of the moments I will remember more than anything.”
You can delete this comment at your leisure.
Thanks for the donation of your time. Fixed. Whiskey’s on me.
Don’t know about the Superman cape Art. Never seen RW fly yet. HOW-EV-AH, did you forget about the water? It’s that water. He drinks it and sort of seems to even walk on it. And, just in case he takes a dip like Peter did, (MRI bad news) well, we now know RW Jr can throw a touchdown too. And, rest be assured RW Sr will let Jr know how not to repeat mistakes.
Recovery Water with nanobubbles hasn’t come up lately. Guessing more research being done in the lab.
Please explain football to this baseball fan:
How can Russell Wilson disregard the coaches and go back into the game with an injury today (Week Three,) but he didn’t disregard that wrong-headed pass play call on the one-yard line with the Super Bowl in the balance?
(At first I was being snarky, but the more I think about it, I think it’s a legitimate question.)
Wilson is free to audible, but if he doesn’t see a better play, he goes with what was called. One foot closer, and they are two-time SB champs.
But with health, he’s not allowed to audible.
Because it WAS NOT a wrong-headed play–what it was, was the combo of a great defensive play and Russ’s not leading his receiver enough.
The Hawks and Wilson may be fine but the NFL’s best rivalry is now dead. I read that the best is now the Steelers and Bengals and I just yawned. I miss Harbaugh.
YOU miss Harbaugh? I miss Harbaugh. The man is a 1,000-word column just standing there.
I want to welcome back the Seattle Offensive Line, the huge TE Jimmy Graham and most importantly welcome to the big leagues Trevone Boykin well done sir. Russell that hit would have sideline any mortal human being as for the horse collar I hope it cost Eli Harold plenty of bucks. Lastly I couldn’t watch the whole game as my cable blew up (Thanks WAVE TV) so it was Steve Raible and my imagination and boy oh boy he does get wound up like a three dollar watch when things are going well. GO HAWKS!!