Russell Wilson’s calm in the storm a product of Seattle Seahawks’ environment

As the football whizzed past his left ear from an errant snap during last weekend’s wild-card playoff game, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson thought one thing:

“Uh-oh.”

Trailing the Minnesota Vikings 9-0 in the fourth quarter, Wilson knew the Seahawks’ season hung in the balance. As the ball skidded and bounced some 16 yards behind the line of scrimmage, Wilson didn’t panic.

Still, knowing he was in trouble, Wilson had the wherewithal to slip in his mouthpiece before running down the ball. Electing not to fall on it, Wilson instead picked it up. Evading several defenders, he coolly hurled a 35-yard completion to Tyler Lockett, who took the ball to the Minnesota 4.

“I saw the ball come by me, and those are the kinds of things that are ‘uh-oh’ moments,” Wilson said. “I sprinted back there … and whipped my head around to see where the defense was. I got up and tried to make a positive play out of it.”

Two plays later, Wilson threw a short touchdown pass to Doug Baldwin. The Seahawks would go on to win 10-9, thanks also in no small part to a missed 27-yard field-goal attempt by the Vikings’ Blair Walsh with less than 30 seconds remaining.

But it was Wilson’s characteristic cool under pressure, by which he was able to make a game-changing – and potentially season-saving – play that allowed the Seahawks to win and move on to the NFC’s divisional round Sunday against the Carolina Panthers.

“Those are the moments that you try to remain poised and make a smart decision,” said Wilson, a former star at N.C. State. “And I had to trust my instincts, too.”

His ability to make that kind of play comes not only from his innate athletic ability, but a capacity to stay focused and not panic in stressful situations.

“He’s a special guy and my opinion the best quarterback in the NFL by far,” said Seahawks guard J.R. Sweezy, who played with Wilson at N.C. State. “However he does it – he’s a threat using his hands, his feet or throwing it. Anyway you look at it, he’s a prime example of a player who can make a bad situation something good.”

None of that is by accident, either. It comes from Wilson, as well as an environment around the Seahawks – fostered by coach Pete Carroll – that allows players to think for and be themselves.

“There is definitely a direct correlation to our poise and our mentality and the way we prepare,” Wilson said. “We have a relaxed but concentrated mindset. There is great focus and attention to detail, so that when you’re playing at a high level and there is a storm going around you, you have to be calm in the storm.”

The man behind the mindset is Carroll, the Seahawks’ sixth-year coach whose team has played in the Super Bowl two consecutive seasons and won the title after the 2013 regular season.

“I think the more you can engage the people that you’re dealing with and involve them in the process, you have a better chance of drawing in the best sides that they can offer as well,” Carroll said. “You’re not suppressing things that they have to offer.”

This all might be a fancy way of saying Carroll is a player’s coach, and that’s nothing new. The Panthers rally around Ron Rivera, another player’s coach who has his own way of bringing out the best in his team.

But the Seahawks’ way is different in how Carroll makes no secret of seeking out his players’ input and giving them a sense of empowerment.

“It doesn’t mean that everybody’s running around crazy,” Carroll said. “That’s not it at all. I don’t think that we’re perceived as strict as we are, to our style of play and the way we handle this game. I don’t know how we could ever be as consistent as we have been over a long period of time without really rigid standards and guidelines that people have to live within.

“This is about helping people be the best they can be. It doesn’t have anything to do with sports, to me. It has to do with parenting, it has to do with mentoring, it has to do with coaching and leading. It’s having the willingness to deeply look into the people you’re dealing with, so you can help them find their way to their best. That’s what it’s about. The process to understand, to help people find their way is really what this is about. It just happens to be football.”

Carroll said this is especially important with Wilson, who is in the midst of one of the best stretches of his pro career. His career-best 110.1 passer rating led the league during the regular season, during which he threw for 4,024 yards and 34 touchdowns, with only eight interceptions. Over the past eight games, Wilson has 25 touchdown passes and two interceptions.

“With the quarterback, who has so many things that he has to figure out and command, I don’t know how you could do it without a really in-depth relationship between the coaches and that position,” Carroll said. “There’s just so much more so than other positions require. You have to dig in and figure the guy out, and help them as best as you can.”

This story was originally published January 16, 2016 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Russell Wilson’s calm in the storm a product of Seattle Seahawks’ environment."