Russell Wilson nominated for NFL’s Air Player of the Week

It took 11 games for Russell Wilson to have his first 300-yard passing game of the 2018 NFL season, and the Seattle Seahawks needed all 331 in order to pull off a remarkable 30-27 comeback victory at the Carolina Panthers.

Wilson finished 22/31 for 339 yards and 2 touchdowns, with his first TD coming on third-down, and his game-tying strike to David Moore occurring on what was effectively a game-deciding (season-saving?) fourth-down conversion. Russ eclipsed the 300-yard mark on his final completion of the game, a third-down long ball to Tyler Lockett for 43 yards to set up Sebastian Janikowski for the winning field goal as time expired.

This was the first time in the Wilson era that the Seahawks had won a road game when allowing more than 24 points (0-16 before last Sunday). It was their first road win when trailing at the end of the 3rd quarter since the 2015 wild card game against the Minnesota Vikings. Hell, this is consecutive weeks of the Seahawks winning when down entering the 4th quarter after going two years without one! I can’t stress how important this triumph was, and how the Seahawks largely won out of their “comfort zone,” so to speak.

Anyway, Wilson has been nominated for the FedEx Air Player of the Week for Week 12, alongside Minnesota Vikings QB Kirk Cousins and Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck. Cousins went 29/38 for 342 yards and 3 TDs (and no turnovers) in a critical 24-17 win over the Green Bay Packers, bouncing back from a pretty lackluster showing the week before against the Chicago Bears. Luck’s sensational comeback season saw him rally the Colts from 24-14 down against the Miami Dolphins, as Indy prevailed 27-24 through Luck’s statline of 30/37 for 343 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 2 interceptions. Luck has thrown for at least three touchdowns in eight straight games, and he’s on course to surpass his previous career-high of 40 TDs in a single season.

Within the context of their respective opponents, only Wilson won against a team with a winning record, and he’s the only QB listed who played on the road... and it happened to be against a team that was 10-0 in its previous 10 home games. Seattle’s defense performed worse than both Minnesota and Indianapolis both in terms of points allowed and yards allowed, while the offense scored more points than the Vikings and Colts...

... but Luck is running away with the voting as of this article’s publish. In fact, when I voted at 2 PM PT, Wilson was last. You can change that, though! Go vote for Russ!