Russell Wilson Punches Back at Pete Carroll's 'Wristband' Shade
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll made some waves this week after praising quarterback Geno Smith for his willingness to use a wristband during games. The implication being that Russell Wilson was "resistant" to the wristband.
“If you notice, Geno’s going off the wristband, and that’s a big help,” Carroll said. “It’s smoothed things out, sped things up, cleaned things up. And that’s part of it, too. We never did that before. There was resistance to that, so we didn’t do that before.”
As the Denver Broncos climb out of their Week 9 bye, UCHealth Training Center is once again abuzz with activity. Wednesday is the traditional press conference day for Wilson, and it didn't take long for him to be asked about Carroll's purported passive-aggressive wristband critique.
“I don’t know exactly what he said, but I won a lot of games there without one on the wrist," Wilson said. "I didn’t know winning or losing mattered if you wore a wristband or not. We do whatever it takes to make sure that we’re rolling, moving and everything else. A few times, I definitely wore a wristband, depending on the game plan, what we had called, and all of that stuff.”
Wilson's negligible irritation may have been due to even being asked the question, or it could have been more aimed at Carroll. It's been no secret that the Seahawks have taken every opportunity to throw shade at Wilson since he was traded to the Broncos this past offseason.
On the doorstep of the regular-season opener at Seattle (which Denver lost), the Seahawks orchestrated a takedown piece on their decade-long former quarterback and were able to rub it in even more when the Broncos failed to win the opener.
As the Seahawks march along apace, sitting at 6-3 atop the NFC West, Wilson and the 3-5 Broncos have been a mark too easy for even Carroll to resist. Part of why this is even a topic of discussion is that there's been a perception in Denver that the impetus for the offense's struggles has been Wilson's dogged determination to prove he can be a pocket passer like the Tom Bradys and Peyton Mannings of the world, and impervious to the mortal crutch of wearing, say, a wristband on the field.
*shrug*
The irony of it all is, only Wilson can quiet all of the shade, all of the MEMEs, and the TMZ-like hyper-scrutiny on his every foible. Wilson spent part of his bye week in Mexico, where he stirred up another faux controversy from the hot tub, but he made it clear on Wednesday that it wasn't all R and R in Cabo.
"It was great to just be able to refresh," Wilson said. "I watched a lot of film, watched a lot of stuff, and watched a lot of cutups on what we’ve done really well, what we can get better at, and what we need to get rid of. I’m excited to go into this second half and hopefully for us to get on a hot streak, have the right mentality and get going.”
Broncos Country is dying to see what "stuff" Wilson and head coach Nathaniel Hackett ultimately opted to "get rid of." Perhaps a good chunk of the chaff is all the 11 personnel/shotgun passing plays where Wilson has been a sitting duck in the drop-back pocket game.
The Broncos have a chance to win two games in a row this week when they travel to take on the Tennessee Titans.
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