What’s less likely: that Tom Brady didn’t have something to do with deflate-gate, or that he would go a decade without winning a fourth Super Bowl after grabbing three Lombardi trophies in four years back at the start of the 2000s? On Sunday, Brady goes for that elusive fourth title, and the conventional wisdom is that the Pats will get the W largely because of Brady’s will. At age 37, in his 15th NFL season and having somehow, someway, lost two Super Bowls to the Giants, it’s widely believed that Brady simply won’t let another one slip through his fingers.
It’s a compelling argument. Brady has most of his career behind him, while his counterpart from Seattle, Russell Wilson, is basically where Brady was a dozen years ago. Wilson can’t possibly share his much older opponent’s sense of urgency, can he? Well, at this point, having made the astonishingly improbable journey to where he is today, do you really think the 26-year-old Wilson takes anything for granted?
Less than four years ago, Wilson was a college QB without a team. Lightly recruited out of high school, the 5’11” Wilson started under center for three seasons at N.C. State, where he threw 76 touchdown passes before his senior year. However, Wolfpack coach Tom O’Brien had eyes for Mike Glennon, the highly touted 6’7” prospect who’d turned down Florida State, among many others, to play at N.C. State. Wilson made the decision easier for O’Brien when he decided to play baseball during spring practice before what was to be his final season at QB for the Wolfpack, which wasn’t that surprising a move considering he was an absolute nonentity in the eyes of NFL scouts.
Wilson transferred to Wisconsin from N.C. State in 2011, where he had a remarkable year while leading the Badgers to an 11-3 2011 season before getting ready for the 2012 NFL Draft.
Yes, we all know he was chosen 75th overall by Seattle, but he easily could’ve slipped as far as Brady did years before. After all, the general consensus was that Seahawks GM John Schneider drafted Wilson too high. Then, Pete Carroll made as bold -- and prescient -- a personnel decision as any NFL head coach ever has: giving Wilson the starting job as a rookie, over high-priced free agent acquisition Matt Flynn.
How’d that turn out? Over the past three years, a 36-12 regular season record, an even more impressive 6-1 postseason mark, and two Pro Bowls for Wilson on the strength of a career passer rating of 99 and nearly 2,000 rushing yards. Has anyone, in any major pro sport, ever gotten off to a better start?
Many have bet against Russell Wilson in the Super Bowl, just as most did last year, when the favored Broncos were destroyed by Wilson’s Seahawks, who took the Big Game by a five-TD margin. They’ve been betting against Wilson for years, and have almost always been wrong.
U.S. & World
Would you bet against him?
