WILSON AND CO. FIRED UP AFTER UNDERDOG SLIGHT
With Sunday’s win, Seattle QB is proving his case as one of the favourites for NFL MVP
To help kick off the holiday season, here are the always merry musings and meditations on the world of sports:
The MVP race in the NFL
■ still comes down to Tom Brady against the field, but Russell Wilson made that conversation a lot more interesting in the Seahawks’ win over the Eagles on Sunday night.
Wilson’s numbers were impressive enough — 20 of 31 for 227 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, 31 rushing yards, plus the now-famous fast-break lateral to Mike Davis. But, as Pete Carroll said after the game, the stats line doesn’t begin to tell the story.
Wilson set the tempo early, going eight for his first 10 in building a 10-0 lead that was absolutely imperative for the Seahawks. The Eagles were within a touchdown twice in the second half and both times Wilson engineered back-breaking touchdown drives.
The scores were one thing, but with the Eagles playing catch-up in the second half, they weren’t able to use their punishing ground game.
“From start to finish, from the first play of the game, he was on it,” said Carroll. “He created. His execution was excellent. We didn’t turn the football over. The big plays were coming out everywhere, just phenomenal big plays. Some (with his legs), some just by pure execution in the pocket. He did everything today. I really think that he had one of the best games that I’ve seen him play.”
Even the normally vanilla Wilson was excited about the events of Sunday night.
“Tonight was so special,” Wilson said. “You can’t play better than we played tonight.”
On the season, Wilson has accounted for 86 per cent of the Seahawks’ total offensive yards, the highest total in the NFL since 1967. Brady, for his part, is averaging more than 300 passing yards a game, leads the NFL in passing yards by more than 300 yards, is second in passing efficiency and has 26 TDs against four interceptions for the 10-2 Patriots.
It might be this simple. If Wilson can rally the Seahawks to the West Division title in the NFC over the Rams, it might be enough to win the hardware. But right now, I’d still give the nod to Brady.
Doug Baldwin said the
■
Seahawks aren’t as quick to play the respect card as they were when they were younger and more excitable. Still, you didn’t have to search too far in their locker-room to find a familiar theme after the Seahawks’ big win Sunday.
“To have us underdogs by that much (six points against the previously 10-1 Eagles) was pretty idiotic,” said tight end Luke Willson. “In my mind we’re still the team to beat and we showed that tonight.”
“I felt like everybody was sleeping on us and nobody expected us to win the game,” said linebacker Bobby Wagner. “But we expected to win this game. This is not a surprise to us.”
Maybe, but wasn’t it surprising holding the NFL’s best offence to 10 points?
“We knew that coming in here they weren’t going to do that to us,” said linebacker K.J. Wright. “We knew what we were capable of and they shouldn’t have even scored the one (TD) they got.”
Yes, nobody likes us. Everyone hates us. Things are as they should be in Seattle.
Baldwin, for his part, called out the Eagles for having the temerity to leave him in single coverage on the 47-yarder that set up the Seahawks’ crucial second touchdown late in the third quarter.
“We’d heard a rumour during the week that one of their defensive coaches said they were going to play cover zero (man to man, essentially no safety) more than they usually do. I thought it was just rhetoric because we’ve been so successful against cover zero over the years. I didn’t believe they were going to do it. “One day they’ll learn.”
As for the respect thing, Baldwin, the thinking man’s receiver, offered this gem.
“I’d be lying to you if I said we didn’t (use it as motivation). Since I’ve been here we’ve always built momentum from being slighted, being doubted. There’s definitely an element to it there. But for the most part I think we’ve matured to the point where we’re not trying to prove everybody wrong, we’re trying to prove ourselves right.”
And finally, there was an air of ■ nostalgia in the ceremony honouring Daniel Sedin’s 1,000th point Saturday, but as nice as that moment was, the Sedins are suddenly as vital to the Canucks’ cause as they’ve ever been.
True, their role has changed, but since Loui Eriksson moved onto their line, they’ve produced at a clip that changes a lot of things for this team. There are currently eight Canucks forwards who are averaging more minutes than the Sedins, but the twins are now tied for fifth on the team in scoring, three points behind Bo Horvat in second.
This is a huge development. After 13 games, Henrik had three puny assists, Daniel had two goals and five points and it didn’t look like things would get appreciably better.
That left the Canucks as essentially a one-line team with Horvat, Brock Boeser and whomever else and that made them easy to defend against.
But over their last 14 games, Henrik is 2-11-13 and Daniel is 4-7-11. Eriksson, for his part, is 5-5-10 in 11 games since returning to the lineup on Remembrance Day.
If that line can produce at that 65- to 70-point clip for the rest of the season, the Canucks will make the playoffs. It might be asking too much for the twins to sustain that pace, but with the opposition focused on Horvat and Boeser, they do draw the more favourable matches, their ice time is up and damned if it doesn’t look like the Canucks have the makings of a power play.
The other part to this concerns their future with the team. Given that most of the Canucks’ top prospects are still at least a year away and given the twins’ production, they don’t appear to be going anywhere any time soon.
To date, they’ve earned that. Just hope we’re saying the same thing in March.