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Cleveland Browns: Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson ‘playing some of best football he ever has’

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is off to an impressive start to the 2019 regular season and the Cleveland Browns have taken notice.

CLEVELAND — How well is Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson playing in 2019?

How about five pages of notes in Seattle’s weekly game release good?

Wilson has made six Pro Bowl appearances in his first seven NFL seasons, including in each of the last two years, led the team to the Super Bowl twice with one win and become one of the NFL’s most consistent players of the last decade.

But after breaking down film of the Seahawks’ first five games, the Cleveland Browns believe Wilson has taken his game to the next level in leading Seattle to a 4-1 record and second-place standing in the NFC West Division.

“Russell is obviously a great quarterback, a great leader for his team,” Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield said in his weekly press conference. “His playmaking speaks for itself. He has done it consistently for a lot of years.

“Right now, he is playing some of the best football he ever has. That just shows you each year, he is getting better and better. They plug and play a lot of guys. They have a different set of skill players right now, but they are doing a great job and he is the key focal point of that.”

Credit: Elaine Thompson/AP
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson drops back to pass against the Los Angeles Rams during the first half in Seattle on Thursday, October 3, 2019.

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Now in his eighth season with the Seahawks, Wilson has completed 114 of his 156 attempts (73.1 percent) for 1,409 yards and 12 touchdowns against no interceptions. Wilson has made 20 20-yard plays and five 40-yard throws through the first five games of the season.

All of that adds up to Wilson holding a 126.3 quarterback rating.

“He has an exceptional skill set,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens said. “He can throw the ball from any angle, throw it on the run and throw it from the from the pocket. Avoiding the rush is probably what separates him more than anything. His ability to escape and get out of pressure situations and still be able to look down the field and throw the ball because that is where all of their plays come.”

Credit: Ross D. Franklin/AP
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson (3) throws against the Arizona Cardinals during the first half in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday, September 29, 2019.

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Wilson has guided the Seahawks to 79 wins in his seven-plus seasons with the team, which is the fourth-most ever by a quarterback in his first eight years in the NFL.

Wilson holds multiple Seahawks records, including most career touchdown passes, a mark he set in just 112 games, as well as career, single-season and single-game passer rating, single-season and single-game passing yards and the most consecutive passes without an interception.

Wilson has been honored with the NFC Player of the Week Award on eight occasions, the most in franchise history, and engineered 29 game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime, the most in the NFL since the start of the 2012 season.

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Additionally, Wilson has 47 games with at least two touchdown passes and no interceptions, which is an NFL record.

“Electric. Fun to watch. Hell of a quarterback,” Browns safety Damarious Randall said. “He is talented. Very, very talented.

“Scramble around. Extending plays. He can make all the throws. He can move around and make them from any type of way he wants to. He is a very, very smart and just talented quarterback.”

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