Massarotti: Russell Wilson Is The Closest Thing To Tom Brady In The NFL
BOSTON (CBS) - OK, I've come to this conclusion: if Tom Brady fell off the face of the earth tomorrow and I had my choice, I'd take Russell Wilson to be the quarterback of the Patriots.
And I'm starting to wonder if Bill Belichick agrees with me.
"He just makes great decisions," Belichick told reporters when asked about the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, who come into Foxboro this week. "He's a tremendous competitor. I have all of the respect in the world for Russell Wilson both on and off the field – a tremendous player, a tremendous person and I've had the opportunity to spend some time with him. He's a very competitive guy, a great football player, and again, when you watch him play he just makes good decision after good decision after good decision after good decision. That's really what you want a quarterback to do.
"He'll do whatever he needs to do to win," Belichick went on. "I mean, whatever you need for him to do he'll do it – throw long, throw short, scramble, not scramble, take a hit. Whatever he needs to do, he'll do whatever he needs to do to win. He's done that throughout his whole career and he does it every week. It's very impressive. He does it every week."
Here's a stat for you, folks: since Wilson has come into the league, he has as many wins as Brady does: 58. That includes regular season and postseason. Each has won a Super Bowl. (In the interest of full disclosure, Wilson has played five more games, four as the result of Brady's recent suspension, the other as the result of a deeper playoff run.) Carve that up however you like, but the bottom line is that Wilson has won every bit as much as Brady has.
Does that mean he's a better quarterback? No. But you get the point. Belichick and Brady believe in winning. And if you subscribe to the same – and given your generally blind loyalty to both, you undoubtedly do – then you should look at Wilson and regard him as the closest thing there is to Brady in the league.
Here's another one for you: over the same five-year span – again, since Wilson entered the league – no quarterback has started of played as many games (82). Brady has Wilson beat in most of the other volume stats – attempts, yards, touchdown passes, etc. – but Wilson has been every bit (if not more) efficient. Wilson has a better completion percentage (64.4 to 63.2). Wilson has a better rating (100.1 to 97.0). The two are obviously very different players – Wilson runs way, way more – but the bottom line is that Russell Wilson represents everything you love about the Patriots.
As Belichick said, he does whatever is necessary to win. That's why the Seahawks, like the Patriots, built their offense around him. Whether Wilson runs more or Brady throws more is immaterial. They're both wildly efficient passers who consistently produce the only statistic that really matters: wins.
Again, don't go twisting this around. Nobody is saying that Wilson is better than Brady, indisputably the most accomplished quarterback of all-time. But if you had your choice of QBs to replace Brady today, going forward, who would you take?
All things considered now, it should probably be Russell Wilson.
