Russell Wilson, the most sound and fury signifying the most nothing

One can’t help but wonder if Russell Wilson had just thrown that last pass in Super Bowl 49 into the third row how the rest of it might have played out. Seattle would likely have had consecutive Super Bowls, he’d be a god in the PNW, and perhaps everyone would have had more patience for the mountain of up-his-own-ass garbage that came with him. Instead, thanks to that INT, he only crystalized the divide that was already forming between him and the rest of the team, especially the defense that had been the bedrock of that era of Seahawks football.

Wilson played some great football in Seattle after that Super Bowl, of course, enough to get him two gargantuan deals that now the two teams that inked him to such decided weren’t worth it. That’s after the Denver Broncos yesterday chucked him overboard to keep the ship moving, even if it’s going to saddle them with $85 million in dead money on the cap over the next two years. A player must be some special kind of horse’s ass that a team would pay nearly nine figures to make sure he isn’t around.

Wilson arrived in Denver two years ago with all the normal fanfare that a supposed answer at QB gets from a town that’s been in the QB abyss for a stretch, as the Broncos surely have. Wander in the desert of Drew Lock and Trevor Siemian long enough and the mirage of Wilson will start to look a lot like a babbling brook. Emphasis on “babbling,” given the amount of motivational and promotional ooze that consistently spewed from Wilson’s always open maw.

Just like in Seattle, there were plenty of stories about how Wilson had the organization over a barrel, his disconnection from his teammates, the special rules that applied only to him (or didn’t, more accurately), and a gaggle of gurus and quotes and smarmy messages Wilson pestered his teammates with. That only works when you’re racking up multiple Super Bowls, as Tom Brady has proven.

And then there were the stories of Sean Payton trying to reverse all that from the previous season, their clashes, and whatever else.

Wilson will turn 36 next season, so he’s almost certainly not a QB a team could build something around no matter how much he claims his faith and whatever sludge-containing kangaroo piss he passes off as his magic elixir will extend his longevity forever. He also just proved he’s not a turn-key fix for a team that feels it’s right on the cusp of something. Not only is he an iffy bet on the field now, but he’s also an iffier fit in any locker room with an even functioning bullsh*t detector.

Wilson generated a lot of furor upon trading Seattle for Denver, and the Broncos had just about the two most meh seasons with him imaginable (except for when they gave up 70 to Miami). What’s left at Mile High is obviously hampered by the enormous chunk of change that has to go to nothing now, and the Broncos don’t have all that much to leap up into the Top 10 to get one of the QBs there. Though Payton seems like the exact kind of self-assured jackass who could talk himself and an entire city into the idea of JJ McCarthy as a hidden legend in the making only to watch him fail spectacularly when he’s asked to win a game for his team for the first time, instead of the other way around as it was at Michigan.

Perhaps the Broncos were convinced by Matt Stafford winning a Super Bowl as a recent import, without realizing they didn’t have any of the stability the Rams had. But usually it’s a good idea to be wary of the QB who comes with his own #brand, and had already torn one successful team apart. Whole lot of every type of investment to get pretty much nothing.

Sasha Barkov, is this even allowed?

Deking through two d-men isn’t supposed to be a three-dimensional act, and yet Barkov has introduced juggling into the arsenal that can be used to put opposing blue-liners on their ass.

Look at this dork:

Gotta focus hard while being on the bench. Wonder whom he thinks this performative nonsense appeals to.