Biggest similarity for Wilson and Brady? Early success

The differences outweigh their similarities.

Tom Brady grew up in California, migrated to Michigan for college before landing in the northeastern corner of the country known to be salty and cynical.

Russell Wilson’s trail went the opposite direction, from genteel Virginia to North Carolina State to Wisconsin before he was drafted to a Seahawks team that plays music during practice.

Brady is tall and lean and slow enough that you can time his sprints by counting Mississippis, while Wilson is short and stocky and elusive enough that he appears to dodge raindrops along with tacklers.

Brady became New England’s starter because of an injury; Wilson got a huge vote of confidence from his coach when he was told he earned the job.

Success is the trait they share. Early, unprecedented success.

Brady became the second-youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl. Wilson will become the youngest ever to start two Super Bowls in Sunday’s game.

“Both great winners,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. “Tom has had a long time to prove that. Russell is at the early stages of proving that to the world. But he’s got a chance to be similar.”

Quarterbacks are like trees in one regard: counting rings is the ultimate measurement.

Yards are great. Yards are impressive. Yards will even get you into the Hall of Fame. But championships are a trump card in any debate over the merits of a quarterback.

Dan Marino threw for more yards than Joe Montana, had a better arm and certainly didn’t have as much talent on his teams, but it was Montana who won four Super Bowls, tying him with Terry Bradshaw for the most of any quarterback.

Same thing for Brady and Peyton Manning. Manning was the more productive passer. He was also responsible for a larger portion of his team’s offense over the course of his career, yet part of Manning’s legacy is a tendency to lose in the playoffs, while Brady won three Super Bowls in his first four seasons as New England’s starting quarterback.

And as Seattle tries to become the first team since Brady’s Patriots to repeat as champions, it’s also fair to wonder if the Seahawks were one defensive stop away from playing for a third consecutive title.

It was the divisional playoff loss in Atlanta during Wilson’s rookie season that provided the most complete glimpse of just what he could do. Here was a rookie throwing his team out of a 20-point deficit and putting it within a minute of advancing to the NFC Championship Game at San Francisco.

The thing I will always remember from that game was Wilson’s eyes. They looked heavy lidded during the comeback. Almost sleepy. He was as calm as he was when the team trailed by 20 as he was after the Seahawks took the lead on Marshawn Lynch’s touchdown run with 31 seconds left.

Before that game no one doubted Wilson’s potential, but everyone wondered what would happen should the team find itself trailing by double digits and forced to throw. If the Seahawks needed 350 yards passing from Wilson, could they get it?

Wilson has answered that question. Repeatedly. And most recently against the Packers in the NFC Championship Game, when he played pretty poorly for the first 55 minutes only to complete six of his final seven passes and rush for a touchdown while the team scored three touchdowns in a span of 6 minutes between the fourth quarter and overtime.

Those are the kind of comebacks that win championships and make reputations. The kind of wins that make Wilson not just a candidate to succeed Brady as the NFL’s most clutch quarterback, but dethrone him.

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