Russell Wilson had jaw reset after victory in Arizona

Speculation over the extent of Russell Wilson’s injury this last week has mostly focused on how the Seattle Seahawks might have violated the league’s concussion protocol. So while Thursday night’s refereeing crew did tell Wilson to leave the game to be evaluated, later inspection showed Wilson’s jaw needed to be reset.

The hit in question:

Translation? Wilson maybe finished Thursday Night Football with a dislocated jaw. So in addition to being a MVP contender and contributing over 80 percent of the Seahawks’ offensive production, Wilson is one tough son of a gun.

While the hit on Wilson was awful, it could have been so much worse:

Wilson, who played hurt for a large portion of the 2016 campaign, will now be facing a similar — but quite a bit milder — situation down the stretch in 2017. In September of 2016, Wilson sustained his first injury of the year when Ndamukong Suh stepped on his ankle. Two weeks later, Wilson sprained his left knee against the 49ers. All told, Wilson only missed one snap while sustaining two different injuries.

If Seattle wants to maintain a strong push for the playoffs, be it by winning the division or capturing a wild-card berth, keeping their star quarterback from taking bad hits like last week will be key. While Wilson has been an iron man up until this point, tempting fate with a franchise quarterback’s health is a dangerous game.