Seahawks make critical decision on quarterback Russell Wilson
The Geno Smith Show is coming to an end for the Seattle Seahawks. Quarterback Russell Wilson was activated from injured reserve on Friday, the Seahawks announced.
Wilson suffered two injures in his middle finger on Oct. 7 and hasn’t played since. He had a tendon rupture and a dislocation, and the initial recovery timeline was six weeks.
Five weeks after the injury, Wilson is back on the active roster. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Friday that Wilson would play if healthy, which could mean he starts against the Green Bay Packers.
The Seahawks are 1-2 since Wilson went down against the Rams and coming off the bye week. Smith came off the bench after Wilson’s injury and remained at QB1 in the three games that followed. So far, there’s no update on whether or not Wilson will start this weekend.
Seattle was 2-2 before Wilson’s injury in Week 5. Now 3-5, the Seahawks are third in the NFC West coming out of their bye week.
Getting Wilson back will be a huge boost for Seattle. Prior to his injury, the Seahawks were averaging 25.8 points and 243.3 passing yards through their first four games. Wilson threw for 152 yards and a touchdown against the Rams before injuring his finger.
In the three games Smith started over under center, the Seahawks averaged 20.3 points — including 31 against the Jacksonville Jaguars before the bye — and just 151.3 passing yards per game. That’s why getting Wilson back is so important for the Seahawks, offensively.
How serious was Russell Wilson’s injury?
After Wilson suffered the injury, the Seahawks put out a press release detailing what exactly was wrong. Dr. Steve Shin operated on Wilson’s finger and detailed what happened.
“Russell Wilson sustained severe injuries to the middle finger of his right (throwing) hand during a game,” Shin said in a statement. “He had immediate surgery the following day in the form of a repair of a fracture-dislocation of his proximal interphalangeal joint an an exterior tendon rupture (mallet finger).
Although this was unchartered territory (I have never in my career seen such a severe injury to the throwing hand of an NFL quarterback), I have also never encountered a player so committed to his postoperative therapy and with so much conviction to return to the same, if not better, level of performance as he had pre-injury. I am absolutely amazed at his progress, so much so that I can now confidently clear him for full return to play without reservation.”
It appears Wilson is back, one week sooner than the initial reported recovery period. Based on Carroll’s comments, it sounds like he’ll be back on the field for Sunday’s showdown with Green Bay.