RENTON — Russell Wilson did it again.
The Super Bowl-winning quarterback who loves to state “the separation is in the preparation” was the last one off the Seahawks’ practice field this week while preparing for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers. Wilson and starting tight end Ed Dickson continued to make up for time lost when Dickson missed the first six games of this season because of leg injuries and the non-football-injury list.
The extra work paid off immediately last weekend. In Dickson’s Seahawks debut, the former Carolina Panthers tight end caught a touchdown pass in tight coverage as Seattle won at Detroit 28-14. It was the kind of throw the risk-adverse Wilson would not have made if not for all the extra work he’d put in with Dickson.
The man who called that touchdown play, Wilson to Dickson, is Brian Schottenheimer. Seattle’s first-year offensive coordinator has been an NFL assistant coach for 19 years. He’s the son of former Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns coach Marty Schottenheimer.
So Brian’s been around the league and in its locker rooms since about the time he could write “NFL.” He coached, among others, Wilson’s opponent this weekend, Los Angeles Chargers’ ace quarterback Philip Rivers. Rivers will be making his 200th consecutive start on Sunday at CenturyLink Field.
Schottenheimer has ultimate praise for his 29-year-old Seahawks QB.
Schottenheimer was asked about Wilson having more autonomy before snaps to change plays after reading the defense than the play caller is used to giving his quarterbacks.
“He deserves it. He’s earned it,” Schottenheimer said. “He does a terrific job of getting us in and out of good plays, bad plays, saving some situations that maybe don’t work. It just shows the trust that we as a staff, myself independently, have felt with him over the last couple of weeks.
“He works unbelievably hard. People probably don’t realize how many hours he puts into it.”
Schottenheimer said Wilson sends his coaches written reviews of plays and other written input. Judging by the impressed tone in Schottenheimer’s voice and the fact he wanted to say as little as possible about Wilson’s written assessments to coaches, apparently those are rare if not unheard of in the league.
“The write-ups and stuff that he sends us as a staff is really pretty cool,” Schottenheimer said. “I won’t go into it.
“I’ve been around some pretty good quarterbacks. I’ve never been around a guy that’s put that much work and preparation into it. It’s pretty cool.”
Wilson briefly outlined his typical Seahawks in-season workday at team headquarters, while talking about the value of offseason work he did in Los Angeles this spring with emerging second-year wide receiver David Moore.
“You get here early in the morning at 5:30 and then you’re here until 7 or so and you go home,” Wilson said. “So you kind of get in a rhythm of the same, consistent things.”
The extra work with Moore is paying off handsomely for that receiver, too. The seventh-round pick from Division-II East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma, has 11 receptions and four touchdowns in the last four games, as Wilson is obviously trusting him more each week. Those are the first catches and scores of Moore’s career.
Wilson completed 14 of 17 passes for 248 yards and three touchdowns for his first career game with a perfect passer rating of 158.3 last weekend at Detroit. His team has won four of its last five games, the loss by two points to the league’s only unbeaten team, the Rams.
How did Wilson spend his third night home from the win over the Lions, Halloween night?
Trick-or-treating with his wife Ciara and their young son and daughter.
“Yeah, we did. We had a good time. We had a good time walking the streets and going to get some candy,” said Wilson, who owns a home in west Bellevue on Lake Washington. “Went to a bunch of houses (Wednesday) night. We kind of did some trick-or-treating for about an hour and a half so that was a lot of fun just to see Future and Sienna grabbing candy and going up there to every door together was so funny. It was a good time.”
Wilson said he got recognized while going door to door. But only after he made a costume adjustment.
“Yeah, I tried to wear my mask for a little bit, but then it gets hot,” Wilson said. “So I’m like ‘OK, I’m going to take this thing off.’ But then it got kind of crazy so we just tried to have some fun.
“We were out with a lot of families that we know and people that we’ve been around for a while now so it’s pretty cool…”
