Russell Wilson explains how long it took him to stop thinking about Malcolm Butler’s Super Bowl XLIX interception
"It can really mess people up"
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Seattle Seahawks star Russell Wilson has thrown 79 interceptions in his career, and presumably, he has forgotten most of them.
One interception, however, might never purge itself from his memory: Malcolm Butler’s goal-line pick in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIX. With just 20 seconds remaining and Seattle on the verge of scoring a go-ahead touchdown, the Seahawks made the mystifying decision to throw instead of handing the ball to star running back Marshawn Lynch. Russell targeted Ricardo Lockette, but Butler pushed through Lockette into the passing lane and snagged the pass, clinching the victory for New England.
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll later told HBO that the play “looked like it was supposed to look at the start, and then it didn’t happen that way.”
“There was nothing that told he shouldn’t release that ball by the read,” Carroll added.
For Wilson, who was on the verge of winning his second Super Bowl, the loss forced a change in mindset.
“The mindset of being neutral, the mindset of overcoming, the mindset of coming through, the mindset of ‘I’m not going to let one play define my career’ was, to be honest, it changed my career,” Wilson said in a recent appearance on Barstool’s Pardon My Take podcast. “I think it changed my career for the better in terms of how I overcome obstacles, how I come through situations, how I get ready and be fully prepared. And I think, you know, that was a critical moment.”
When one of the hosts of Pardon My Take noted that he would have simply given up in that scenario, Wilson agreed, calling it “a real option.”
“It can really mess people up,” Wilson said. “I think it can affect players when you get to the championship and it doesn’t go your way. It’s real. It can really mess you up. But I wasn’t going to let it affect my mindset. I wasn’t going to let it affect my career. I was actually going to use it to catapult my career.”
Since that interception, Wilson has made three Pro Bowls, and he led the NFL in touchdowns with 34 in 2017. The Seahawks have never had a losing season since he was drafted by the team in 2012, and they only missed the playoffs in 2017.
But according to Wilson, the biggest mistake of his career remained on his mind for years.
“I think the first year it pops in your head almost every day,” he said. “But I think, you know, now, you know, for me, I’ve trained my brain every day to know that stuff’s going to happen. It’s a long, it’s a tough journey. And the role that I play, the position that I play, there’s going to be stuff that happens along the way. So, honestly, I don’t think about it. The only time I think about it is when someone either asked me, or when you watch the Super Bowl, they’ll show a clip, and, ‘All right, thanks, I get it.'”
Wilson and the Seahawks are 8-4 this season, tied for first in the NFC West.
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