Russell Wilson, 27, the quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks, has been voted into the NFL All-Pro team for the third straight year, despite being engulfed in a celebrity gossip barrage and a bad knee injury.
While he had the second most passing yards of any quarterback this season, Wilson’s statistics have been down this year, after he broke his left knee cap in the first quarter of last year’s Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. On Saturday night, however, Wilson became the first QB to pass for 400 yards and two touchdowns in a game since New England’s Tom Brady did it in 2009. In a thrilling 23-22 victory over the Oakland Raiders, Wilson completed 27 of 37 passes for 417 yards and three touchdowns, with an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
Wearing his number 3 jersey, Wilson led the Seahawks to a 6-2 record in his first nine games before they fell to 4-5 on Sunday with a 38-16 loss to the New York Giants. Wilson didn’t participate in a single practice prior to the game against the Giants, per the Seattle Times, and was forced to use an adrenaline shot the night before. The Times article reports that after having suffered the torn ACL during the Super Bowl, Wilson suffered an infection in his knee, which was deemed irreparable after another procedure.
The newspaper also reports that Wilson has complained about his treatment by the NFL because of the publicity the injury has received. “I don’t understand it,” Wilson said in October, according to the Times. “Every time you need some level of privacy, you’re blamed. The public has to understand this is a career-threatening injury.”
Wilson has remained one of the league’s best quarterbacks through his unfortunate circumstance, as he led the Seahawks to three consecutive NFC Championship Games, losing the past two to the New Orleans Saints. In 2015, he also became the third starting quarterback in NFL history to have more than 4,000 yards passing and 20 passing touchdowns.
Wilson has also found time to actively support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, and his hip-hop alter ego “Octopus” — the name of his shoe collection and Wu-Tang Clan link to the rapper GZA — has spoken out against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
For all his talents, Wilson has also been forced to deal with allegations of infidelity. In October, The Ashley Madison Affair website — which is aimed at people looking to get people married — published information about some of the website’s 26 million users. Wilson was not named among the infidelity accusers in the release, but he was referenced in a list of customers with the letters “D.A.” and “F.C.” attached to them. D.A. is Dr. Richard, Wilson’s medical assistant, while F.C. is the identity of Wilson’s six-week old daughter, who was born in a Seattle hospital after Wilson’s wife gave birth to the pair’s first child, daughter Amara, in May 2018.
Read the full story at The Seattle Times.
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