.

I grok Russell Wilson's shtick.  Tell you why.

In sixth grade, Dr. D ran into the kid who was going to turn out to be a brotha from anotha motha.  We spent the next seven school years taking the same classes, playing on the same basketball, football, etc etc teams, writing for the school paper, doing the Dungeons and Dragons thing ... on graduation we carpooled to the UW, and took jobs at the same Denny's on Pacific Highway.  Dr. D married a Normandy Park girl from the same high school ... and brotha married this girl's sister, two grades younger.

We've spent 30, 40, who knows how many years taking 2-on-2 and 3-on-3 basketball and flag football th'o downs... thing is, brotha when he graduated high school was 5 foot 5 inches tall, 108 pounds.  (He's a championship-class wrestler, if that gives you the physical picture).  Never any shortage of chumps willing to let us set up the teams... they'll always go here, you guys can have your pick of those two over there, to set the 3-on-3 ...

Reason we mention, is the idea of intuitive connection.  Brotha and I don't give anything to Xavi and Ianesta, not as far as the telepathy is concerned... there are athletes far more talented, including some reading this.  There probably aren't any who have spent thirty, forty years on no-look basketball passes 'cause they know where their bro's are going to be.  We're strictly weekend warriors, but it's been a fun ride.

.

=== Football ===

Most often in flag football these days, Brotha plays wideout and cover corner.   But 20% of the time, he plays quarterback, and we here to tell you he plays EXACTLY like Russell Wilson plays, adjusting for a Major League Equivalency factor of a gazillion.  When I first saw Wilson play, I laughed.  An NFL guy who does Brotha's thing.  That was funny, man.  Point is, Russell Wilson's game, on a Jurassically smaller scale, is what we been watchin' on sandlots.

If Brotha played a flag football game tomorrow, he'd go 15-for-21, all high-percentage throws ...

There is an odd quality to Brotha's style in sports combat.  These days he is 5'6", 150 lbs. or so and he still is THE most fearless player on the field - any field, soccer, racquetball, pickup hoops with strangers in Tacoma, whatever.  In 30-odd years, Dr. D has never seen this Mighty Mite flustered in any situation, including in scuffles and fights.

Do you know why?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

He never takes a flush hit.  Never happen.

.

.

.

.

.

=== Evolution of the Game ===

Brotha - and Wilson - are the only players on the field who have, in essence, never been electroshocked out there.  It's natural and comfortable for them to stay out of peoples' way while executing their game plans.  When Wilson takes that little 1-step to get an angle, and then lets the ball fly with his weight moving forward, it doesn't take any more effort than breathing.

Ron Jaworski saw it right away.  Wilson "looks down the gun barrel," sez Jaws.  There's physical harm out there in the maelstrom.  Threat of grave bodily injury can be somewhat of a distraction.

............. 

For Russell Wilson to zig-zag a step or two, eyes downfield, and maintain concentration, that's like you reaching over to your mouse while completing a comment in the thread.  A bigger man might spend 0.3 seconds deciding whether to challenge or evade.  For Wilson the 0.3 seconds of threat assessment doesn't exist.  He avoids all threats, inside the pocket or out.  

Other QB's wish to avoid contact, too, but RGIII will sometimes take on a defender.  A decision point exists for him, and that decision process can shrill out his downfield vision. 

It's an odd thing:  Brotha doesn't think of himself as a little guy.  He doesn't have 'short man's disease,' a bluster that is designed to compensate.  He doesn't see himself as vertically challenged, as Wilson doesn't.  He's kicked too many keisters.  ... Russell Wilson too - he never thought of 5'10" as relevant, any more than he thought of black hair as relevant.  It is not a factor for these guys.  Wilson was ready to lead the team in training camp.  Why wouldn't he be?, he'd wonder if you asked.  True, calm self-assurance is a beautiful thing in a short man.

.................

It's a different game in the NFL these days.  Tackles are like car wrecks.  QB mobility?  Its value is RISING - exponentially.  And another 20 years, there will be no such thing as a Peyton Manning,* not unless they change the rules so that QB's get the same protection that punters do.

My teammate, Brotha, is very courageous when needed, but talking about his personal courage, that misses the point. The real point is that the DANGER of the game is DISCOUNTED for him.  He's not IN the same danger that other players are in.

There's one other QB you can think of who looked like this:  Fran Tarkenton.  We note that SSI's early comp is gaining traction around the NFL ...

..............

When Russell Wilson eyes downfield and Mario Williams tries to surround him, and Wilson waits until the last step and then casually hops off the line of attack, Wilson's heart rate is perfectly normal.

Maybe Wilson's background was a little different than Brotha's.  That's negotiable.  But I recognize the poise, man.  The wholeheartedness, the joy in the game, the effortlessness of the downfield concentration -- it's unique because Wilson's self-defense on the field is unique.

...........

You might ask, why haven't other little QB's succeeded.  Other little QB's haven't had big hands and sturdy frames.  Really the problem with little QB's is not their line of sight; it's their durability and the fact that usually their physical talent is second-rate.  Wilson is a QB who, freakishly, avoids all "little QB" handicaps other than line-of-sight ... and lots of QB's, such as Brees, can't see over the line.

Vick, RGIII, those guys are nimble, but they take flush hits.  When they were 14 years old, they probably walked down the middle of the school hall.  Russell Wilson's turn to walk down the middle of the hall and get three feet on either side.