Russell Wilson Shattered NFL Record On Sunday
By Josh Hill
Russell Wilson had to beat the Washington Redskins a Sunday ago to advance to the NFC Divisional round, and thanks to that win over the Redskins Wilson shattered a record held by a former Redskin.
Sammy Baugh was a rookie in 1937 when he threw for 335 yards in a playoff game against the Chicago Bears. While the NFL has evolved itself into a pass-happy league, Baugh’s record stood for 75 years before another rookie smashed it. Russell Wilson threw for a grand total of 385 against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, breaking the record and securing his name in an exclusive group with Baugh.
In the entire history of the NFL, only Baugh and Wilson have thrown for over 300 yards and been rookies when they did it. There have been other 300-plus yard performances in playoff history but no one else has been a rookie when they did it.
Wilson breaking Baugh’s epic record serves as just another example of how amazing he’s been in his rookie season. Of all the rookie of the year candidates, Wilson was the last one standing and it was Wilson that gave the best performance. Andrew Luck bowed out in unimpressive fashion and Robert Griffin III literally limped out of the playoffs. Wilson came from behind in the Wild Card and almost came from behind again against the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
While the playoffs aren’t officially included in the Rookie of the Year voting process, but even if Wilson doesn’t win the award he’s clearly made his mark as the best rookie quarterback of his draft class.