TERRY MOSHER
TOP OF THETOWN ‑ I feel I deserve a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness for piling on, but I can’t help it. Russell Wilson deserves to be piled on for his brutal Subway commercial, his corny remarks and for his leg lifts during a plane flight. Was he always this corny, was he always so obvious a bad joke? Maybe he was, we just permitted him to get away with it because he was nearly always great on the football field for the Seahawks. But since being traded to the Denver Broncos his “act” has not gone over well with the general public, and his performance on the field for the Broncos is the worse of his 11-year NFL career. Has Wilson at 33 (almost 34 since his birthday is Nov. 29) hit the fabled brick wall? I’ve been trying to figure out for weeks why in Denver he’s playing like the backup Geno Smith once was. I haven’t quite figured it out. It may be that with the Seahawks he was allowed pretty much to call his own plays and because he was younger and quicker could escape the pocket and bad situations and make steak out of bleep. And he was loved for his Houdini-like escapes to lead the Seahawks to last second miraculous wins. In football terms it looks like the Broncos have an offensive line that Wilson always complained out with the Seahawks. In video clips I see him getting chased and knocked down so often he looks like a boxing victim of Mike Tyson. The Broncos had a four-game losing streak, have lost five of their last six and are currently 3-6, averaging just under 15 points a game, worse in the NFL. It is all Wilson’s fault? Yes, it is. He is being paid to be among the top five quarterbacks in the league (5 years, $242.5 million) and darn it he should be earning it. The man who replaced Wilson with the Seahawks – Geno Smith – is making $3.5 million this year. That’s it. And Geno has played way, way better than the loony Subway Sandwich commercial guy. Funny, its that in less than a year the local hero has gone from that to being the loco hero. In hindsight, the Seahawks were robbers in dealing Wilson to Denver. Denver got a fourth round pick in the 2022 draft in addition to Wilson and the Seahawks got quarterback Drew Lock, defensive tackle Shelby Harris, tight end Noah Fant and first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 and second round picks in 2022 and 2023 and a fifth-round pick in 2023. Harris and Fant are starters for the Seahawks and Lock backs up Smith. If that isn’t highway robbery I don’t know what is. I don’t need to tell you this because you already know that money talks the loudest. I am amused when every so often some athlete will say he doesn’t play for the money. Yeah, right. Somebody made a comment on social media months ago that pro golfers don’t play for the money, they play for the win. I wrote back, Okay, let pro golfers play for free. They get a trophy for winning, and that is it. How many pro golfers do you think would play golf? Why do you think big-name golfers jumped to Saudi Arabia-sponsored Liv Golf? More money is the answer. If the Saudis offered no money to play Liv Golf how many golfers would jump at the chance? None is the correct answer. So when somebody says they would do something for free they are just blowing smoke out of you know where. Wilson forced himself out of Seattle (A city he loved, he said) because he knew he could get a big contract elsewhere. Denver obliged. And big money changes people big-time. I covered the Seattle Mariners for nearly 30 year for the local daily newspaper and only a couple players were not changed when they finally got their big contracts. I was close with one player and I never thought he would change. He did. I don’t blame Wilson for wanting more money. That’s the American Way. Just don’t be phony about it. Okay, that is it for today. Stay safe.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.