Russell Wilson Responds to Marshawn Lynch's Viral Comment
Russell Wilson is enduring something he's never had to throughout his decorated NFL career: severe national criticism. The Denver Broncos' new quarterback may be in his 11th season, and a nine-time Pro Bowler to boot, but never before has he been a national lampoon.
But when a team gives up multiple first and second-round draft picks, plus a trio of key players, to acquire a QB like Wilson and then extends him to the tune of $245 million over five years, the expectation is for that player to, well, play at a level commensurate with the team's investment. Wilson hasn't done that.
Part of the problem is that the Broncos have been on the national primetime stage in three of their first five games, and Wilson hasn't played well in any of them. Recency bias, combined with his performance in the first four games, has people in the national perspective talking mad trash about Wilson and dumping copious amounts of shade on his name.
Marshawn Lynch ain't having it.
"I wanna make sure [Wilson] is straight in his mind. I really thought he was gonna retire a Seahawk," Lynch said on the Richard Sherman Podcast. "... I wanna reach out to him. Right now they're looking at him like a black sheep.
"If there's anyone who knows something about that, it's me. I've done been to the bottom of this league before when [expletive] counted you out, talked bad on you.
“I didn’t wanna see it in Seattle… now that he ain’t in no Seahawk uniform, I’m pulling for him."
Wilson responded to Lynch's support at the podium on Friday.
“He’s always been amazing,” Wilson said of Lynch. “Just how he’s gone about things, how he’s been such an amazing competitor—one of the best people I’ve ever played with.”
For his part, Sherman surmises that Wilson's desire to get out of Seattle was to distance himself from head coach Pete Carroll and the notion that all of his NFL success, and his Super Bowl ring, should be attributed to the vaunted Legion of Boom defense. There's probably something to that, if even on a Freudian level.
“The game isn’t about an individual player here or there," Carroll once said. "It’s about team.”
But Wilson's motivations for wanting out of Seattle, whatever they were, aren't going to serve him now amid this slump and backlash of national criticism. Lynch is pulling for Wilson, so how does the Broncos' QB snap out of this slump and put some shine back on his name?
Wilson has to play better, to put it simply. And really, to restore his reputation as one of the NFL's elite QBs, he has to play at a level that justifies Denver's investment in him.
To this point, as much as it pains me to write, Wilson has offered nothing more to the Broncos than Joe Flacco did through five games back in 2019.
It's too early to hit the panic button and give up on Wilson and the Broncos. But if he's still got the talent and the heart of a champion, these 10 days between games should afford the beleaguered quarterback with the opportunity to take a breath and for his banged-up shoulder to heal.
Wilson will get the chance to avenge his name when the Broncos take on the Los Angeles Chargers at SoFi Stadium on Monday Night Football.
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