kearly wrote:But still, 3rd place for Wilson? That's going to look pretty dumb a couple years from now.
Especially when he winds up being the most marketable player among the three legendary rookie QBs of '12. RG3 is fun to watch when healthy, but I question his long-term viability in the NFL, and Luck represents what remains of old school pocket passing QBs. Granted, Luck has mobility, it's just not a big feature in his game. The modern NFL seems to be gravitating towards an option attack with a mobile QB, which is a lot more fun to watch (to my eyes), than traditional drop back 'n pass. Wilson was a one man highlight reel for the latter 10 games of the season. To my eyes, he was just a better QB than both RG3 and Luck in that he had the same throwing ability as both while possessing mobility,
elusiveness unlike anything the NFL has had to deal with in a long time, and the rare ability to progress through 3 and 4 reads on seemingly every play. RG3 is fast, but did not look as comfortable sitting in the pocket, going through his reads, as Wilson did in the latter half of the season.
I feel Russell's 385 yard, 2 passing, 1 rushing TD performance in Atlanta was the face of the Russell Wilson we will see through the best parts of his career here. Accurate passing and reading the defense is still of the utmost importance in the NFL and Russell is now the prototypical mobile quarterback, though in 5 years he will probably still be the shortest. Just as deadly throwing on the run as he is in the pocket, and a threat to break a big rush, sliding before a linebacker or safety can take his head off. RG3, brilliant as he was, struck me as a flash-in-the-pan type of player, not unlike the feeling I get from Colin Kaepernick, or got from Michael Vick. Russell plays smart. He plays with the "big picture" clearly in focus. I see that quality in Luck, but not in RG3.
If Russell's postseason is a fair indication of what we can expect from him in the future, this will be Russell Wilson's NFL and everyone else will merely be playing in it. He has the potential for that kind of gravitas.