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game was tied at 13 with 5 minutes to go in regulation. The Seahawks had just
forced the St. Louis Rams to punt and had the ball on their own 10 yard line,
90 yards from the go ahead score. Enter Russell Wilson. To this point in the game the Rams had been
very tough, sacking Wilson 6 times and harassing him constantly. Going into
this last drive Wilson was special on this day more for what he hadn’t done
than what he had done. Despite the
constant pressure and the hits he took he did not make the big mistake; the
costly fumble or interception, and in a defensive struggle like this one that
is often all that it takes to keep your team in the game. Russell Wilson had
done that.
But now, with 5 minutes to go, it
was game time…the time that the great ones step up and take over; the time that
legends are made. Russell Wilson did not disappoint.
The drive started with a Marshawn
Lynch 8 yard run followed by a near disastrous play in which Lynch fumbled the
ball forward. A scrum ensued as players from both teams dove after and fought
for the ball. Tense seconds passed while the refs unstacked the bodies but when
they were done it was Seahawk wide receiver Golden Tate at the bottom of the
pile and the Hawks had the ball and a first and ten on their own 22. Not one to
look a gift horse in the mouth, it was time for Russell Wilson to go to work.
On the next play, once again under
heavy pressure, Wilson threw the ball away. Following a Wilson 5 yard read
option gain to the right side the Seahawks had the ball with a third and five
on their own 27. It is plays like the next play that are coming to define
Russell Wilson. He took the snap from the shotgun and retreated a few steps to
pass. A Ram defensive lineman somehow got around his blocker and spread his
arms to engulf Wilson for another sack…only to come up with an armful of air.
Wilson had somehow evaded the lineman, broke out of the pocket to his right and
while on the run delivered a perfect pass to Golden Tate for a 44 yard gain.
The Hawks had the ball, first and ten on the Ram 29 yard line.
The rest of the drive had the air of
the inevitable to it. A short Wilson pass to fullback Michael Robinson was
followed by another Lynch run. The two plays gained ten yards and as the teams
went into the two minute warning the Hawks had the ball with a first and ten on
the Ram 20 yard line. Whatever spirit the Ram defense had left was broken on
the next play when Wilson faked a handoff to Lynch and then sprinted around the
left end for 15 yards to the Ram 4. Two plays later the Hawks scored the go
ahead TD on a short Wilson run when he once again broke from the pocket and
running to his left scampered across the goal line. With the game on the line
at the end of the 4th quarter Wilson had driven the Seahawks 90
yards to a TD in 4 minutes.
Game over!
But the legend of Russell Wilson is
just beginning…
By
Mark
Arnold
30
December, 2012
Copyright © 2012
By Mark Arnold
All Rights Reserved
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