Russell Wilson and his first season with Seattle Seahawks – NFL Special
The 2011 National Football League (NFL) season was not good for Seattle Seahawks; they were 7-9 and stood 3rd in National Football Conference (NFC) West.
Seahawks selected quarterback Russell Wilson as their 12th pick in third round of the 2012 NFL draft. Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson was then traded to Buffalo Bills, who had finished the 2011 season by completing 271 of 450 for 3091 yards with
14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions.
Another quarterback Matt Flynn, who had been playing with the Green Bay Packers, signed a three-year contract with Seahawks this year and competed with Wilson for the starting quarterback role.
Head coach Pete Carroll chose Wilson over Flynn and received a lot of criticism for taking this decision.
Seahawks did not start the season well as they were defeated, 16-20, by Arizona Cardinals in the season opener. As a rookie, Wilson’s performance was acceptable as he scored 18 of 34 for 153 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Week 2 game against Dallas Cowboys was great as Seahawks won by 27-2. Carroll was satisfied with Wilson’s performance in the game – 15 of 20 for 151 yards and one touchdown – and said:
"He's a rookie quarterback, but he plays with great poise, and he is a very good athlete,"
Wilson was happy on his first victory, he said:
"I think the one thing that I've always tried to do is just relax and just breathe and just trust in what I've learned throughout the entire week."
They won Week 3 game against Green Bay Packers by 14-12. It was a controversial ending because Seahawks’ wide receiver Golden Tate while having possession pushed Packers’ cornerback Sam Shields to the ground.
It was reviewed by referee and then they were given an extra minute, at that time Packers were leading with 7-12.
Tate received a 24-yard pass from Wilson and scored a touchdown. Wilson was 10 of 21 for 130 yards and two touchdowns in this game.
Wilson was 17 of 25 for 160 yards while giving away three interceptions during Week 4 loss against St. Louis Rams.
Seahawks defeated Carolina Panthers in Week 5 (16-12). In this game, Wilson scored one touchdown with 76% pass completion rate. He was 19 of 25 for 221 yards.
In the post-game press conference, Carroll seemed happy with Wilson’s performance, he said:
"I thought he played a fantastic game. He fixed something that we challenged him to fix. I thought he was big time."
Week 6 game against New England Patriots was really tough. Playing under immense pressure, Wilson gave his best shot and defeated the Pats by one-point margin.
Wilson scored three touchdowns and completed 16 of 27 passes for 293 yards.
In Week 7, National Football Conference (NFC) West rivals San Francisco 49ers handed them their worst defeat of the season.
Wilson scored the lowest completion percentage (39.1) and quarterback ranking (26). The rookie finished with 9 of 23 for 122 yards and one interception.
He managed to play better in Week 8 game against Detroit Lions, but Lions won by 24-28. In this game he scored 25 of 35 for 236 yards with two touchdowns and one interception.
Later on, the team performed well and defeated Minnesota Vikings by 20-30 in Week 9. Wilson improved his performance and scored 16 of 24 for 173 yards and three touchdowns.
Before entering their bye week, Seahawks defeated New York Jets by 28-7 in Week 10. Wilson scored 12 of 19 for 188 yards and two touchdowns.
Carroll was satisfied with the overall performance of the team, he said:
“We finally put together a real good finish. We hung tough. We weren't playing very well early and some things happened and we hung tough and kept punching away at it.”
Wilson’s arrival has certainly benefited the Seahawks, who are 6-4 and looking well on the course of beating their last season’s record.
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