Dang! It’s Russell Wilson and the Legion of Zoom

The Seattle Seahawks continue to rely heavily on quarterback Russell Wilson, who is off to an amazing start in 2020.

Apparently Pete Carroll’s team has picked up from where it left off a season ago. In 2019, the Seattle Seahawks finished 11-5 and earned a wild card berth. The club went into Philadelphia and handed the Eagles a 17-9 loss. But a week later, Russell Wilson and company fell at Lambeau Field to the Green Bay Packers, 28-23, in the divisional round.

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Despite their impressive win-loss record during the regular season, the ‘Hawks scored only seven points (405) more than they allowed (398). It was the worst showing for Carroll’s team since his debut year with the franchise in 2010, when the club surrendered 407 points and finished 7-9 and actually won the NFC West. But from 2012-15, the Seahawks gave up the fewest points in the league in each of those four seasons, winning Super Bowl XLVIII and reaching Super Bowl XLIX. You would have to go back to the Cleveland Browns from 1953-57 to see a team surrender the fewest points in the NFL at least four consecutive years.

These days and actually for a few seasons now, it’s the Seattle offense that runs the show and it’s Wilson at the helm of an attack that has relied much more on him than the early stages of his career. Because the defense is no longer the force it used to be, Carroll’s squad has become much more reliant on a game plan that has them finding ways to survive shootouts and prevailing in nail-biters. This season has begun with wins at Atlanta (38-25) and a wild 35-30 victory over the visiting New England Patriots on Sunday night.

Dating back to the start of 2019 and including playoffs, Seattle has played a total of 20 games and own a 14-6 record in those contests. Only two of those victories have been by double-digits. In Wilson’s first 80 regular-season contests, he threw 127 touchdown passes and was picked off just 45 times. Even more impressive has been his last 50 regular-season outings in which he’s burned opposing defenses for 109 scores while serving up only 24 interceptions.

In two games this year, the nine-year veteran has connected on 52-of-63 attempts (82.5 percent) for 610 yards, nine scores, and only one pick. And that interception came Sunday night and was returned for a touchdown by Patriots’ safety Devin McCourty. Seattle has already allowed a combined 55 points in two games.

So can the Seattle Seahawks go through another season in which the offense has to carry the defense? For many years, it was the other way around but slowly but surely the tide has turned. It’s been fun to watch. But will it add up to an NFL championship?