Russell Wilson is NFL’s MVP — no doubt about it

Call it off. Don’t even bother mailing out the ballots. This race was over before the ink dried on the voters’ pamphlets.

Russell Wilson is the NFL’s MVP. Full stop.

Yes, it’s only been two weeks. But even if Wilson doesn’t play another snap this season, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback has proven he’s the best player in the league.

“As long as we’ve got (No.) 3 we’ve got a chance,” Seahawks safety Jamal Adams said about Wilson following Seattle’s 35-30 victory over the New England Patriots on Sunday night at CenturyLink Field. “I’m going to always say that, he’s a bad boy.”

It is borderline criminal that Wilson, in his eight previous NFL seasons, not only has never won an MVP award, he’s never even received a vote. But following yet another unbelievable performance — 21-for-28 for 288 yards and five touchdowns in Sunday’s victory over the Patriots, a week after going 31-for-35 for 322 yards and four TDs in a 38-25 victory at Atlanta — it’s clear that not only should that be rectified, it will be.

”It’s like Thanksgiving,” Seattle receiver David Moore said about watching Russ cook. “When you go get that good meal, watching your grandma, auntie, anybody cook, it’s kind of like that. You know it’s going to be something good.”

Through two games Wilson has been like a gamer playing Madden with a cheat code. He’s completed 82.5% of his passes and thrown nine touchdowns versus just one interception — and that interception was a perfect pass to Greg Olsen on Sunday that went through Olsen’s hands for a pick six. He has almost as many TD passes (9) as he has incompletions (11). That’s unfathomable.

And the numbers, as incredible as they are, don’t even do Wilson justice. Take a look at his two long touchdown passes against the Patriots. On both his 54-yard touchdown pass to DK Metcalf in the second quarter and 38-yard TD pass to Moore in the third, he threw a deep ball where only his receiver — in both instances draped by a defender — could catch it, despite being hit while letting the ball fly. NFL Next Gen Stats rated the Metcalf reception at 22.3% completion probability and the Moore reception at a mere 6.3% completion probability.

Russell Wilson-D.K. Metcalf (54-yard TD)
Air Distance: 55.2 yards
Target Separation: 0.7 yards
Wilson Under Pressure
➤ Completion Probability: 22.3%#NEvsSEA | Powered by @awscloud pic.twitter.com/EGretyNyDc
— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 21, 2020

All these exploits came against perhaps the best secondary in the NFL, one which includes the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year in cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Wilson completed four touchdown passes to receivers Sunday, the Patriots allowed just four TD passes to receivers in all of 2019. Wilson became just the second quarterback to throw five touchdowns against the Patriots since Bill Belichick became coach in 2000.

Wilson is the best deep-ball thrower in the league. He’s completing all of his short passes. If nothing is there, he’s a threat to run and pick up the first down with his legs (eight carries for 68 yards through two games). His team is 2-0, despite having a defense that ranks dead last in the league in yards allowed.

What more can one player do?

“Russell Wilson is a great player,” Belichick said in the aftermath of Sunday’s performance. “He does everything well, he’s extremely hard to defend and he hurt us tonight in pretty much every way possible. … He made three great throws on the three long touchdowns, two of which were very well defended and the other one wasn’t bad, there’s a guy in his face and he makes a great throw. You have to give him credit, he definitely stressed us a lot with his scrambles, his long balls, his accuracy on the zones. He just did everything well.”

Wilson has always been modest about his accomplishments. Usually when asked about a great performance he proceeds to extol the virtues of every other offensive player on the team instead. But this season it seems he’s beginning to acknowledge his own greatness. When interviewed by Dan Patrick in advance of Sunday’s game he said he thinks he’s the best quarterback in the NFL. Following Sunday’s game he was still rattling off the names of his teammates, but he was also owning his statements about himself.

“I think I’m definitely in the zone, locked in, focused, dialed in,” Wilson said.

“I don’t come to play this game to be second place,” Wilson added. “If I’m not thinking that way I’m crazy because if you want to be great you have to believe in who you are and what you have and all the things that you do. I put a ton of work into this game and I want to be the best in the world.”

There’s no “want” about it. Wilson is the best in the world, and it’s time for MVP voting to reflect it.

Follow Nick Patterson on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.