Who won the Russell Wilson trade? …well, we actually don’t know the answer to that one yet (psyche, just updated 3-5-24).

Update 3-4-24: Okay, well, Russ just got cut by the Broncos today and they had to eat $85 mil in Dead Money, and lost almost $50 mil outright. To me this was dumb as hell, and must have been personal, because it’s been my experience that Bronco fans are adamant that the problem with this team wasn’t Russell Wilson, but others. Everyone thinks that Seattle won the trade and it’s pretty clear that that’s true NOW, but personally I think it’s just more that Denver lost the trade, because if they couldn’t figure out a way to let Russ cook, then, shoot, man, what the hell?

If you read further, I really did think that Peyton would be the perfect Head Coach for Wilson and for lots of reasons, but maybe Russ was just too damn hardheaded to be coachable at this point, who knows. Still, I brought up some really cool historical points below that backed up what I thought, but, man, we all know what’s going to happen now, right? Russ is going to play for some other team next season and guess what….he’ll be great again.

(Below was the previous article)

In response to the post about Russell Wilson and which team won…well, lots of giggles from that post from people who can’t think laterally….no offense, but this could be Russell Wilson’s best year ever and here’s why.

I would also like to remind everyone here who the only person on the planet (aside from PC, obviously) who KNEW and EASILY PREDICTED that Geno Smith was going to have the season of his life and exceed even Russ’s greatest seasons with us….

…well…..that was me.

I didn’t guess nor was it magic….for those of you who didn’t see it coming (which was pretty much everyone) you could think of me as having a kinda superpower on these things because you’ll never understand how I could easily see this happening.

I am in no way going to say that RW3 is ABSOLUTELY going to have a great year, not like I did with Geno last year, because there are far too many variables still playing out, but there are very real facts NOW that could render such an outcome for Russ in 2023.

First, Nathanial Hacket and RW3 clearly didn’t get along. Hacket had had success as OCs for other teams, so the hiring wasn’t weird or anything like that, but the fact that not only was he new at HC, but the GM was also brand new, AND, of course the ownership had changed hands as well (to Walmart from one of the greatest sports family ownerships ever with the Bolens) …it was GOING TO BE a rough year for this team in just those transitions ALONE, regardless of RW3….in fact, to blame Russ alone as the problem with that team is really just effing stupid. Russ went from one of the strongest structured long-tenured teams in the NFL to a virtual basket full of a coked up squirrels in his leadership.

Next, obviously they’ve lost a lot of long-termed talent in both FA and with the Seattle trade, but that also means that new HC Sean Payton has a virtual blank canvas to work his mastery-level art as a HC.

Some history on the Saints, Payton, and HOFer Drew Brees. When Brees was with the Changers in the early 2000s (I remember this time period very well) he was being considered kind of a bust. He was drafted 1st in the 2nd round in 2001 out of Purdue where he lit it up in college. Ironically, as I just checked, there was only 1 QB picked in the 1st round that year and that was Mike Vick. Anyway, in Brees’s time at San Diego he just mostly stunk and played terrible. I bought a new truck in November of ’03 and decided to take a road trip down to the Mexican border (I was living in Bellingham at the time so this was one heck of an adventure) during the Xmas college break just to find some warm weather…I remember reading the papers in bars in San Diego about how horrible Brees was at the time lol

Then in ’06 something magical happened…Sean Payton was hired as the Saints HC and immediately bought Brees in FA…this, on a side note, was also the year after Hurricane Katrina happened, which as you would know, completely destroyed the city of New Orleans, so the people were truly hurting for anything that would give them some hope.

ex malo bonum….Google it

In that same year, not only did the Saints make the playoffs but Brees and Payton took them to the NFC Championship game and lost to the Bears, but if making lemonade out of lemons was applied to a single event in the NFL, THAT season was it! Payton won NFL COTY that season and if LT didn’t run for over 1800 yards that season, Brees would have won the MVP.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Let’s talk about Russell Wilson….I have always compared Wilson to Drew Brees, mostly because it’s incredibly difficult to play NFL QB at that height, let alone be great at it. In nearly every respect these two QBs are VERY SIMILAR with one exception and that is that Russ has (or had) wheels….so, honestly, this gives RW the edge over Brees in my humble estimation.

The problem for Russ has always been that he was given lots of lemons, which he did make into lemonade often, but the real problem wasn’t the lemons, it was who was in his leadership. The OCs, early on, didn’t understand how to use Russ and it was obvious to me right away. The problem was at TE, and those problems weren’t really anyone’s fault because our starters kept getting hurt. We were EXTREMELY LUCKY to have the RARE BREED of a player in Marshawn Lynch because he alone made up for a lot missing in that offense, but the passing game really can’t click without solid TE play.

The whole game of American football is designed, in its greatness, to have a kink in it…that kink is the TE…well MOST OF THE TIME, it’s the TE…the TE defines which side of the field is the Strong Side and the Weak Side…it also has a lot to do with how the Defense is structured given the Strong Safety and the Weak Safety.

This unbalance on both sides of the ball is what makes this game great BECAUSE there is so much diversity and it is in a natural sort of forcer that necessitates its own natural evolution over time.

The game of American football is really quite elegant in design (this is the reason why I can’t stand the meathead sport of soccer, but don’t get me started on that).

It’s what Brees and Payton was able to do with the TEs, yes mostly with Jimmy Graham, who was a complete disaster when he played for us (again, the OCs clearly didn’t get it)…that is what made Drew Brees a great QB…a great QB who is the same damn height as Russell Wilson. The TEs were used strategically to make up for that diminutive height…Seattle coaches just never got that, for whatever reason….Payton obviously gets it.

I’m sure I lost 99% of everyone after the 1st paragraph, but this is just how I roll.

Sean Payton is the absolute PERFECT Head Coach for Russell Wilson….this has really always been true.

As far as RW3 being washed up? …lol no. Brees played for 20 years and Russ could easily play for more than that.

Next season will tell a lot, that’s for sure, and there are no guarantees in life (except that Geno was going to be great last year, that was definitely a guarantee, thank you very much) …but I honestly think Russ’s best days in this game are ahead of him still.

Also it needs to be said that while the Denver’s offense was pretty awful last year (last in scoring, if you didn’t know) but the Defense was still a pretty good D, being in the top 10 in both scoring and yards. Have you any idea how insanely difficult it is to have a top 10 Defense when your offense can’t control the ball on the field or score?

It’s hard, trust me.

If Payton can bring the best out of a near bust in Drew Brees and make him into a HOFer, then what do you think he could do for a guy who was ALREADY on his way into the HOF?

I don’t think Denver’s fans are in any way worse off than the Saints fans were after Katrina, but if Payton can bring THOSE horribly desperate fans in NOLA some hope and then come through with it, eventually winning it all in 2009, then this Denver thing is going to be as easy peasy as easy peasy can come.

Thanks for reading

CK 😉