Russell Wilson was and is under a ton of pressure this season. Let's dive into his numbers thus far after three games of the 2023 NFL season. I would not listen to the edgy national NFL folks who are somehow continuing to bash Russell Wilson for no reason.
Usually, if a team is not doing well, the QB is to blame. However, for the Denver Broncos, that is not the case. In fact, the Broncos might have one of the worst defenses in team history, and maybe even the worst defense the NFL has had in years. It's a truly bad unit that was horribly exposed against the Miami Dolphins.
How does Russell Wilson stack up with other QBs through 3 games in 2023?
Russell Wilson ranks 8th in the NFL with 791 passing yards, ahead of QBs like Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy, Geno Smith, and Josh Allen. He's averaging 264 passing yards per game, which puts him well over 4,000 yards over a 17-game season.
Wilson is tied for fourth in the NFL with six passing touchdowns. He and Justin Herbert are the only two QBs in the NFL with six TDs thus far. This number ranks higher than Josh Allen, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jared Goff, Brock Purdy, Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, Jalen Hurts, Dak Prescott, and Joe Burrow, among others.
Six TDs through three games puts Wilson on pace for 34 scores through the air in 2023, which is a great number. He's thrown two interceptions thus far in 2023, which is less than Jimmy Garoppolo, Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, and Jalen Hurts, among a few others. His season long thus far is 60 yards, which ranks as the 10th longest passing play of the year through three games.
He's got the 13th-most completions in the NFL and the 11th-most passing attempts. His 7.6 yards per passing attempt ranks 6th in the NFL, and his passer rating of 99.5 ranks 7th in the NFL among qualified starters. You see, Russell Wilson is really playing on par with how he did during his tenure with the Seattle Seahawks. He's top 10 in many metrics and is making good decisions with the football, but is not doing the "dink and dunk" stuff that older QBs tend to regress to.
It's a shame that Wilson's bounce-back season in 2023 could be wasted because of a poor defense.