Russell Wilson just beat one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history for the second straight time this past Sunday and while this regular season win ultimately went to overtime, unlike the Super Bowl blowout win, the smallest QB in pro football is showing that there is far more than height to playing the most demanding position in sports.

Wilson’s 5’10 frame probably is not going to become the norm or new prototype, but what he and his offensive coordinator (Darrell Bevell) are doing is going back to football basics of quality play-action and regularly moving the pocket, which makes the times he stays in the pocket even more effective and easier for the offensive line to protect.

I was pretty confident going into the Super Bowl that the Seattle Seahawks were going to win that game.  The reason?  The Denver Broncos needed Peyton Manning to have a flawless day and the New York weather in February was a good bet to prevent that. Also, the Broncos had gone almost exclusively to the shotgun formation, maybe to keep Manning from moving his feet much as he ages and continues to lose mobility.    The shotgun has taken away much of the play-action success of his Indianapolis Colts’ days and put even more of the weight of the offense is on his aging shoulders.  They have relied on his offensive genius to diagnose the best place to throw the ball and he usually is correct, but a mistake or two is enough to lose in the NFL.

Wilson is not Manning or Tom Brady or Aaron Rogers and that is just fine with the Seahawks.  With Marshawn Lynch doing the heavy lifting, Bevell calling an unpredictable game, Wilson’s mobility in and around the pocket and his speed to move downfield is proving to be the next generation of greatness—back to the future, if you will.

More and more offenses are taking advantage of the rule changes and putting up more and more passes.  We see both the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers struggling to generate offense, even with their elite superstar passers.  Seattle may be the most balanced offense in the entire league and they are diversifying better than anyone between run, pass, play-action and rollout.

Because of his size, Wilson will probably always be put in another class than the great passers, but he throws the ball mechanically as well or better than any of them and his mobility makes him even more dangerous than most.

On paper, his tangibles may never become mainstream or the prototype for quarterbacks moving forward, but I believe his intangibles will continue to win for a long time, even as the Seahawks’ personnel changes around him.