The Josh Innes Show - The Demise Of Russell Wilson

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

I don't know that we've ever see a career arch similar to that of Russell Wilson. He's not been benched in favor of Jaxson Dart. I'm a big "what if " guy. Well, what if Russell Wilson doesn't throw the pick in the Super Bowl? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. Well, it looks like our boy Jackson Darts going to start now for the Giants, which is wonderful, because I've wanted to see Jackson DART, and I believe that Jackson DART is a future star.

Like, Jackson DART gives off Baker Mayfield vibes to me. And who, by the way, I'm just ecstatic watching Baker Mayfield thrive. I don't know why I love the guy so much because I hate Tampa, but I just love Baker. I love that team. I love the players on that team, even though Mike Evans is going to be. out for a while. It's not supposed to be about Baker Mayfield, but my man just finds ways to win. And they put good players around him. And I like when guys are left for dead and then they're resurrected and they do it big. Baker's done it big. You're seeing it with Daniel Jones.

But Daniel Jones is a very small sample size. His is, you know, three games. Baker Mayfield has done it for a couple of years. And I just enjoy watching him play. But either way, you've now got Jackson Dart. And I think Jackson Dart kind of gives off those vibes. And I can't wait to watch the guy play. Now they're going to throw him into the fire against the Chargers this weekend, so we'll see. But maybe you just don't know what you don't know. Maybe he's just too dumb to be nervous.

Or too dumb to be scared. What is the saying where it's like, hey, we were just too stupid to even be scared. Like maybe that's what it is for Jackson Dart. I don't know. But the important thing that comes out of this story, or the more interesting thing that comes out of the story is not that Jackson Dart is going to be the starter. And then I think he's going to be

a star. It's that Rusty Wilson is no longer the starter. And Rusty Wilson, is this the end? And if it is, what about Rusty Wilson? Like, I find his career to be one of the more fascinating careers ever. So let's get into that. We will do that after these words. All right. So Russell Wilson, a decade ago, there was a 0.0% chance that Russell Wilson wasn't going to be a Hall of Famer, right? He's the quarterback of Seattle. Seattle's going to the playoffs every year. They had won a Super Bowl. Then the next year after winning that Super Bowl, they go to another Super Bowl and they take on the Patriots. And they are one yard away from

winning the Super Bowl. Now look at what the record, like if you look at the first, what, nine seasons that Russ Wilson was in Seattle. I mean, just look at his record as the quarterback of the Seahawks. He was 104, 53, and won. Pretty good. good. His average was, his average for his career is 10 and 7, but that's because he's had bad records in Denver and bad records in Pittsburgh and now a bad record in New York. He was a 10-plus game winner in a 16-game era in all but two of his years in Seattle, one of those being the last year in Seattle. And one of the years he didn't get to 10, he got to 9 and 7. 11 wins, 13 wins, 12 wins, 10 wins, 10 wins, 9 wins, 10 wins, 10 wins, 10 wins, wins. This guy was a sure

fire, no doubt, lock it in, Hall of Fame dude, who would won a Super Bowl, by the way. And oh, by the way, should have won two. And I love moments like that. You know that I'm a big what if guy, like a Mr. Destiny type of thing, like, oh, what if you had hit a home run in that moment, how would your life have been different? What would have happened if instead of striking out in Little League, you hit a homerunner in high school instead of striking out, you hit a home run? Would you have married your high school sweetheart?

Like, there's a song that nobody will know. I don't even know the guy who sang it. It was this really kind of sappy country song that I used to have on a burn CD. No one will remember this song. If you do, you're a psychopath. I don't even know why I knew it. But it was called If I Hadn't Drop the Ball. And the whole concept of this song is like a Mr. Destiny type of thing where if he hadn't dropped the ball in a high school, a high school, they would have won the championship in high school and maybe his life would have been different.

maybe he would have hooked up with the hot chicken school and they would have been together forever that's the concept of this song let me see if I can find out there's no way there's even lyrics for this song online because no one knows

what the hell this song is I don't think any other humans ever heard this song James Otto now James Otto I think had an actual country hit is it James Otto who sang a song called I just got started loving you is that James Otto

now I got to know hold on this is supposed to be about Russ Wilson and I'm breaking down James Otto What was your song? What was your hit song? Let's see. James Otto, I just got started loving you. The fact that I even know that is frightening that I know a song called I just got started loving you.

But anyway, now we dig into this. He had a song called If I Hadn't Drop the Ball. What are the lyrics of the song if I hadn't dropped the ball? Here we go. I found them. Again, no one else has ever heard this song. Just me on a burned CD. If I hadn't dropped the ball, I would have took it all the way.

Homecoming 89 with 10 seconds left to play. We were driving towards the goal line. They were screaming in the stands. I had a chance to be a hero, but it slipped right through my hands. There would have been a big pep rally. They would have hung my jersey on the wall if I hadn't dropped the ball. Me and Cindy Miller were supposed to meet after the game. I waited by the bleachers, but she never came.

First of all, what a bitch. What a real bitch. So she's supposed to blow you. assuming under the bleachers, because what else you're going to do under the bleachers? You're going to meet under the bleachers. She's going to blow you under the bleachers. That's what happens. Under bleachers, I think.

I've never been blown under the bleachers, but I think that's what happens. But she never came. I found a note on my windshield underneath the wiper blade with goodbye bleeding through it in the cold October rain. We probably would have gotten married, and those recruiters from Bama would have called if I hadn't dropped the ball. Here's what sucks. is you had a lot of fickle people around you, brother,

because this chick never loved you to begin with, if she's going to bail on your ass because you dropped a ball in high school. And like, if Bama's going to not sign you because you dropped one pass, then maybe they weren't worth your time. But now he's probably, you know, the manager of a quick stop or something, if he's lucky or he works in, like, oil and gas. I don't know. But point being in all of this is I'm fascinated by things like that.

I am fascinated by the number of times we can have moments in our lives where we go, what would have happened to me if this would have gone differently? Think about Eli Manning. Eli Manning had an okay NFL career that just had two Super Bowls, and thus he's a Hall of Famer, right? And those two Super Bowls were one because of two really miraculous plays. You know, the helmet catch obviously being one of those. Like you think of the plays that were made for Eli Manning in those games.

Eli Manning was not a Hall of Fame player without winning two Super Bowls, and he doesn't win two Super Bowls without two miraculous catches against the Patriots. And if those catches aren't made, Tom Brady's got what eight Super Bowls? Like, again, what ifs are the most fascinating thing to me? You know, what happens if you don't drop the ball? What happens if the ball doesn't go through Buckner's legs? How is the world different? What changes for Bill Buckner?

what changes for all these and that moment for Russ Wilson is the moment they decided to throw it in the Super Bowl from the one yard line if they don't throw the ball from the one yard line and they just give it to Beast Mode and Beast Mode scores they are a two-time Super Bowl champion that is one fewer championship for Tom Brady one fewer championship for Bill Belichick one more for Russ Wilson and at that point you'd say that Russ Wilson is a no doubt surefire locked in Hall of Famer because a guy with two Super Bowl championships and like 10 Pro Bowls and and 10, 12 winning seasons, whatever he had. Like, he's a Super Bowl champion twice, and he's in the Hall of Fame, locked and stocked. The guy's gone to how many Pro Bowls? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and nine, he's gone to ten Pro Bowls. He's finished top five, an offensive player of the year, like five times.

Never won an MVP. Never been an offensive player of the year. Drew Breeze never won an MVP. Drew Breeze won one, one Super Bowl. You know, like, and to me, Drew Breeze is a no. doubt Hall of Famer. And then really, if Drew Brees is a no doubt Hall of Famer, which I think we all would agree that he is, then why isn't Russ Wilson? Why isn't Russ Wilson a guy that in his career won so far 120 games? Like, let's take a look at the numbers here. Let's

see, quarterback. Let's look at the number of games won by different quarterbacks. Quarterbacks, games won. Okay. Let's see. List of NFL quarterback wins leaders. So Tom Brady has won 251 games. Drew Breed's won 172. He's fourth all time in games one. Russ Wilson is 12th all time in games one. And from the looks of it, virtually everybody who's above him in games one is a

Hall of Famer or is going to be a Hall of Famer. Maybe Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers may be a Hall of Famer. I don't think that Matt Ryan's a Hall of Famer, but he might end up being a Hall of Famer. Ben Rothlisberger is going to be a Hall of Famer. Drew Breeze is going to be a Hall of Famer. Tom Brady's going to be a Hall of Famer.

So Russ Wilson, 12th all-time in quarterback games won. Russ Wilson won 104 games as the quarterback in Seattle. The problem you're going to run into with Russ is since leaving Seattle as a starting quarterback, he's 17 and 27. Like that's the knock on Russ Wilson. He hasn't done it outside of Seattle. and I've never seen someone do this where like you're a no doubt sure fire hall of famer to like what the fuck happened and there's still moments dude 10 days ago Russ Wilson throws for 450 yards and should have beaten the cowboys there's another what if what if when he drops that pass into malique neighbors with like 20 seconds to go against the cowboys what happens well first of all I would have won like $300 so fuck off giant But second of all, what happens with him if that play is made and the defense gets them off the field at the end of the game and they win?

And at that point, they're one and one. What happens? If they're one and two this week, does Russ Wilson get benched? Like, Russ sucked in the game last week against Kansas City, no doubt. And, like, the pressure's on. You've got to play dart fine. But he threw for 450 yards and was arguably the best player on the field 10 days ago. Like, think about that.

Like, just think about the absurdity of sports and how quickly you're the guy versus not the guy. Again, the Cowboys defense sucks, but we're talking 450 yards, one of the most prolific passing games he's ever had. One of the, I'd argue, 450-something yards and like, what, three, four tuds. That's one of the best passing days ever. Ten days later, he's benched for a dude's never played a game. Like, that's how this sport is. That's how sports are in general. This guy is 11th all time, right?

Was it 11th or 12th? He's 12th all time in games 1. If he wins three more, he's in the top 10. Maybe you'll never get there. But you're talking 12th all time in games 1. Now, a lot of people knock him because of the defense in Seattle. There aren't a lot of teams that won Super Bowls were that defenses that could play.

When Drew Brees won his Super Bowl, the Saints' defense was really fucking nasty. Let's not act like Tom Brady didn't have some great fucking defenses behind him. you know most of these guys that win you know ben rothusberger but no one ever accused ben ralthusberger being amazing but he had the pittsburgh defense and they won a lot of games so screw off with that like rusk gets no credit from a lot of people and he's a cornball and people like to bang on him because he's nerdy and like he's just like i get it he's he's cringe and that's hurt him as well

like the fact that he's just this cringe character has kind of hurt him as well but man i'm just fascinated by the idea of like what is your life life like if something else happens. Like, I'd love to talk with Russ Wilson and just be like, how often do you think of that? He'll say, I never really think of that. Bullshit. Like, if I threw an interception from the goal line in a situation where the ball should have just been handed off, I would think about it every day. Because that's the difference between no doubt Hall of Fame to, I wonder. Like Russell Wilson's won 121 games, right? How many games has Eli Manning won? Eli Manning, on the other hand, has won. I'm still scrolling down to

find Eli Manning. Eli, Eli's. I still haven't found Eli. I've got to be looking at something wrong here. There's no way I'm all the way down in like the 70s for Eli Manning. But then again, there's guys like Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner has 71st all time in games won, and he's a Hall of Famer. So, you know, what do I know?

Where is Eli Manning's total number of wins? There's Peyton. Okay, so Peyton has the second most wins. of all time tied with Brett Favra. And then I'm still, oh, Eli. Eli has 117. So Russell Wilson has more wins, not like by a huge number, but he has more wins than Eli Manning, who people seem to think is a lock for the Hall of Fame.

And he's only a lock for the Hall of Fame because of the fact that he won two Super Bowls, which again, were miraculous Super Bowl wins. Had he not won both of those, he would not be a Hall of Famer. Had he not played in New York, he would not be a Hall of Famer. Eli Manning is 117 and 117, and people view him as a lock Hall of Famer. Russell Wilson is 121, 80, and one. And people are like, I don't know. That's bullshit.

The guy's a Hall of Famer. But if he wins that second Super Bowl and if they run the ball in from the goal line and Beast Mode gets all the praise and they win that game, guess what? It's like no one could question it. But now they're questioning this, even though Eli Manning, no one questions. It's pretty preposterous, actually. But anyway, I love what ifs. You know that. What if?

I love it. Anyway, more to come.