Russell Wilson is about ready to lead a Seahawks resurgence

Russell Wilson had the pin removed from his surgically repaired finger this week and is already back to throwing the football. Wilson tweeted out his preparation for hopefully getting back by week 10 and the video appears to prove Wilson is weeks ahead of the worst-case scenario on how long he would be out due to injury.

Russell Wilson’s timeframe for returning was initially 4-8 weeks. To be honest, I assumed Wilson (because we have seen him play through torn knee ligaments) wouldn’t miss more than a game or two. But I am no doctor. Instead, Wilson was placed on IR and has missed the last three games.

But the Seahawks have a bye week in week 9 and that gives Russell Wilson another week to try to work out any lingering issues he might have with his middle finger. It is hard to know exactly how Wilson will respond to live-game action with an injured finger. Will he throw it short more and take fewer shots downfield? A limited Wilson isn’t necessarily a great upgrade over Geno Smith.

One of the odd things over the last couple of weeks is in press conferences, coach Pete Carroll doesn’t seem to know when Wilson will return and then soon after Wilson posts something about how he is almost ready to return. Let’s hope this isn’t a sign of a great disconnect between coach and player. You’d think Carroll would be on top of Wilson’s return status.

Another question is about the defense. Have the Seahawks been better over the last three weeks simply because they have played relatively limited offenses? Or have they simply improved and had better communication, especially in the secondary? Sidney Jones has played better and rookie Tre Brown is starting to earn his spot as a potential starter in the NFL. Or maybe the defense knew they needed to be better because they knew Russell Wilson wasn’t leading the offense.

And would a healthy Wilson been good enough to lead Seattle to victories over the Steelers and Saints? Both have very good defenses. The problem mostly didn’t seem to be Geno Smith. But Seattle lost each game by 3 points. Would Wilson have made a 4-point difference in each game? Likely.

Seattle could be 5-3 right now instead of 3-5. And this is my hope for the rest of the season: Russell Wilson comes back in week 10 and energizes the team, the defense continues its improved play and the Seahawks turn those close losses into wins. If Seattle can get to 10-7, they can make the postseason probably and be a dangerous team when they get there.