🕒 It’s Time To Get Russell Wilson Some Help

The Seahawks are letting Russ cook this season, but he needs some assistance. [View in browser]( [FOX SPORTS INSIDER WITH MARTIN ROGERS] In today’s FOX Sports Insider: Russell Wilson is enjoying an MVP-caliber season, but he’s going to need some help if the Seahawks are going to compete for a Super Bowl ... we take a look at why Trevor Lawrence should embrace the challenge of the Jets over the comforts of Clemson ... and Conor McGregor Jr. already has the look at a future boxing/MMA star. Kyle Shanahan knows the unwritten rules, but he is a football man and a quarterback connoisseur and he just couldn’t help himself. Shanahan has been the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers for three years, more than long enough to fully appreciate how his team’s rivalry with the Seattle Seahawks is one of the NFL’s spikiest modern feuds. Convention dictates that you’re not supposed to say anything too nice about the other party in the weeks leading up to the latest bout of divisional pugilism – or indeed, at any time – but when Shanahan was quizzed about Russell Wilson this week, that was all momentarily put aside. “It gives you a huge advantage when the quarterback’s a threat to run,” Shanahan told reporters. “If you have to pick one way or the other, I always feel no matter who you are, eventually a team's going to make you sit in that pocket and make you make some big throws to win a game. Anyone who has both always has the chance to exceed everybody. “Russell has always been the man.” [STORY IMAGE 1] Kind of. Wilson has been under center for the Seahawks since 2012 and made an impact immediately upon entering the NFL, winning a Super Bowl in his second season. Yet he has never been categorically “the man” more than he is now - because now he absolutely has to be. At 31, the Seahawks' QB finds himself in an odd spot. He is the anchor, figurehead, veteran leader and backbone of a group that has the best record in the NFC West but which, many would argue, is not a well-positioned team to make a Super Bowl run. The unkindest, yet truest thing you can say about the Seahawks is that they are “Russell Wilson and friends,” finding ways to win despite being remarkably lopsided. Heading into Sunday’s clash with San Francisco (4:25 p.m. ET on FOX), Wilson is getting well-deserved kudos for his play this year, but there have been plenty of times when he’s failed to receive the credit he was due. Consider this: even during the team’s triumphant Super Bowl run and their narrow miss thanks to Malcolm Butler’s goal-line interception a year later, Wilson did not receive a single MVP vote. In fact, he never has. Not one. Go look it up. In the past eight years, 19 men have received votes, including names you would typically expect to see, but also Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliott, Derek Carr, Carson Palmer and Bobby Wagner (2014), who remains part of the Seattle defense. [STORY IMAGE 2] Ah yes, the Seahawks defense. If you’ve been in football hibernation for the past couple of years, you could be forgiven for wondering what the heck is going on right now with that unit. For Seattle, once purveyors of Legion of Boom brutality and lockdown mastery, now have the worst defense in the entire NFL. They have been, truthfully, really, really bad. Ahead of last Sunday’s defeat to the Arizona Cardinals, during which they blew Wilson-forged leads of 13 and 10 points while giving up 519 yards, they were already at the bottom of the charts in both total yards and passing yards allowed. “We saw one little flawed game in Russell Wilson and they lose,” [FS1’s Kevin Wildes said on First Things First]( highlighting Wilson’s first significant blip of the campaign, the three picks he threw as the Cardinals prevailed 37-34 in overtime. “This team is Fool’s Gold. They are half a team.” Yet the quirky part about it is that the ineptitude of Seattle on the defensive side of the ball has allowed Wilson to be far more greatly appreciated. Week after week, he has bailed them out. He has racked up incredible numbers and he has had to. Head coach Pete Carroll has always turned it over to him late in games but “fourth quarter Russ” has become “all four quarters Russ” as of late. “Let’s be clear here,” [FOX Sports' Brandon Marshall, said](. “This is all Russell Wilson. The cool thing is what we are seeing is who he is, this is how he plays. He’s not playing lights out, he’s just getting better year after year. You are not going to see a drop off. This last game is just a one-time thing, those three interceptions. This is his game.” [STORY IMAGE 3] The public’s mind is essentially made up on Wilson. He is a great player in the middle of perhaps the greatest part of his career, that sweet spot where he has a wealth of experience and an abundance of mental sharpness to call upon, yet is still near his physical peak. Don’t worry about Wilson not getting MVP votes this year. He is an overwhelming favorite, listed at +100 odds, per FOX Bet. But the jury is still out on the Seahawks, and thus Sunday’s game against the 49ers becomes a referendum on the team’s seasonal prospects. It is an important rivalry, one of the most enjoyable in the league. You can look back all the way to Terrell Owens busting out the sharpie after the teams were realigned into the same division in 2002. Then there was Richard Sherman getting in Michael Crabtree’s face after the NFC Championship game in early 2014. Or, you can simply look at the box scores from last year’s games between these two NFC powerhouse clubs, where their two matchups were decided by a combined eight points. In fact, the second meeting in 2019, which just so happened to be the final game of the regular season, ended with the 49ers stopping the Seahawks on the 1-yard line as time expired. Look up footage of the simmering face-to-face postgame chats between Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh and you have some idea about how these two organizations feel about each other. Either way, you know the chances of a game with ferocity, drama, tension and a tight scoreline are strong. [STORY IMAGE 4] It might also be a crossroads moment. San Francisco suffered a miserable, injury-riddled start but have turned things around and were dominant in crushing the New England Patriots last week. A 49ers win here and the NFC West race will be the most wide open of any in the league. For Wilson, experiencing the best personal year of his career must be fun but the knowledge that his dreams could be crushed by glaring holes on the other side of the ball - that he can do nothing to influence - surely nags at his mind. And for Seahawks fans, the ongoing concern is that if he is constantly asked to do too much, then the lapses may creep in, like last week. Wilson took the blame for those. “The (interceptions) were my fault,” he said. “There is so much we can do and we have so much confidence – that confidence is not going to waver. I have to be better … ” It is hard to see how he can be much better, not after a record-setting 22 touchdowns in six games, which include 1,890 yards through the air and a QB rating of 119.5. Yet the reality is that unless Seattle can stop leaking so drastically on defense, he is probably right. [STORY IMAGE 5] Here’s what others have said ... Nick Wright, First Things First: “The Seahawks are trying to thread a needle that has never been thread — a defense this bad winning a championship. ... Seattle has to find a way to get better on defense. No matter how great Russ is that can't carry you to three or four consecutive playoff victories.” John Morgan,. SB Nation: “The football gods do not smile on players in pursuit of individual achievement. That’s hokey, but it’s quite often true too. Wilson is a great player but he has specific talents and skills which make him a great player. He’s not something generically great which may be shaped to any purpose. Mozart was brilliant but he was not an architect or painter or diplomat. To make a more modern comparison, Kanye West has produced some good music, but overexposure seems to show he’s terrifically awful at about 50 other things. It’s so exceptionally rare for anyone to be as good at anything as Wilson is at playing quarterback, but he has never proven for any length of time that he can be a great quarterback in this kind of offense.” Tyler Lockett, Seattle Seahawks: “We can always help him (Wilson) out more. We can always get open more. We can always make those blocks more to move the chains more. It's not on him. It's on all of us. These are learning experiences, and it might turn out to be one of the best things to happen to us if you really think about it. We could have been 6-0, or we could have been 5-1, and sometimes you've got to have a wake-up call.” [IN OTHER WORDS] - The phrase “Tank for Trevor” has been a legitimate battle cry. Nowhere more than with the New York Jets, who are the NFL’s only winless team. [Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports]( explains why Trevor Lawrence should embrace the challenge of the Jets over the comforts of Clemson. - Dave Roberts won the World Series, but will he finally get the credit he deserves for his success? [The Undefeated’s William C. Rhoden]( answers that question here. - With COVID-19 limiting travel outside the United States, Kansas City is going all out to host the Toronto Raptors for the upcoming NBA season. [Ben Pickman of SI.com]( takes us inside Kansas City’s push to host the Raptors. [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED] [THE INTERNET IS UNDEFEATED]( Future Boxer … future mixed martial artist … whatever the future holds for Conor McGregor Jr., it’s safe to safe that fighting is certainly in the McGregor family genes. Check out these photos, which show McGregor’s son already sporting some boxing gloves and training with his father. McGregor responded to the original tweet from @ESPNRingside with the simple caption, “Since Day 1.” Conor Jr. is only three years old and already has the look of a future star. We can’t wait to see him in the ring! [VIEWER'S GUIDE] South Alabama at Georgia Southern (ESPN, 7:30 p.m. ET) Desmond Trotter and the South Alabama Jaguars battle Shai Werts and the Georgia Southern Eagles at Allen R. Paulson Stadium. Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers (FOX, 8 p.m. ET) Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons take on Teddy Bridgewater and the Carolina Panthers on Thursday Night Football. Women’s College Volleyball: Kentucky at Missouri (ESPNU, 9 p.m. ET) Madison Lilley and the Kentucky Wildcats go up against Kylie Kuyava-Deberg and the Missouri Tigers. [BET OF THE DAY] [BET OF THE DAY] Odds provided by [FOX Bet]( Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers: PANTHERS -2 For the second time in four weeks, the Atlanta Falcons go up against the Carolina Panthers, this time at Bank of America Stadium. When these two teams clashed back in Week 5, the Panthers left Atlanta with a 23-16 win as Teddy Bridgewater threw for 313 yards and two touchdowns. With the Panthers currently sitting at 3-4 and looking to make a playoff push, this is as close to a “must win” game as you can have midway through the season. It’s also a division game, and the Panthers have to travel to Kansas City and then host Tampa Bay following this matchup. FOX Bet currently has the line set at Carolina -2, which looks like a pretty solid play. [WHAT THEY SAID] “I’m not telling you it’s going to be easy. I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” — Russell Wilson [FOLLOW FOX SPORTS] [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [YouTube]( [Instagram]( Download FOX Sports App: [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [Google Play]( [App Store]( [Fire TV]( [Roku]( [App Store]( [Google Play]( Also available on these devices: [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] [fireTV | AppleTV | ROKU | Google Chromecast | XBOX ONE | SAMSUNG Smart TV] Trademark & Copyright Notice: ™ and © 2020 Fox Media LLC and FOX Sports Interactive Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Please do not reply to this message. If you do not wish to receive emails like this in the future, please [unsubscribe](. FOX Sports respects your privacy. Click [here]( to view our Privacy Policy. Fox.com Business & Legal Affairs - Manager Digital Media P.O. Box 900 Beverly Hills, California 90213-0900