Thing Learned 1 – It Begins And Ends With The Quarterback

The glory of wins and the grief of losses – it is, or at least seems like, due to the quarterback.

Good quarterbacks discuss what went wrong when they lose and acknowledge praise when they win.

Great quarterbacks take all the blame for the losses and give praise to others when they win.

Thing Learned 2 – You Never Get The Correct Amount Of Credit

And, in real life, you get too much blame for when you screw up and not even credit when you do a great job.

The Quarterback Eats The Sins Of The Players

Every high school, college and professional football players works hard at their position and, most, do the best that they can.

The running back position is probably the most physically demanding position on the field. They not only take the most hits, but the most multiple hits on any given tackle. Of course, if you have played other positions besides running back, you may be inclined to think your position is the most physically demanding.

The quarterback frequently takes vicious hits because they are exposed, holding the ball, waiting for someone to get open, unable to fully protect their body. Recall the video of QB Joe Theisman ^1*QB Joe Theisman Breaking Leg breaking his leg. The quarterback also takes mental hits. The quarterback is the hardest position to play on the field. They have to know their job and they have to know all of their offensive players jobs and they have to know all the defensive player alignments as well. They have to know down and distance, who is hurting on their team and who is hurting on the other team. They have to decipher the incoming call over the headset and then determine if the defensive alignment will allow that call.

The quarterback has to do all the above, and then the quarterback has to assume, accept and acknowledge blame when others fail to do their jobs.

Just What Is A Sin Eater?

The tradition of the sin eater ^2*Wikipedia sin eater was said to originate in England. The sin eater was selected as the most ‘unworthy’ individual in the community. This was because they were already so bad, they had nothing else to lose. The sin eater performed an unholy task for the benefit of everyone else, except for the sin eater.

When someone would die the sin eater would make an appearance outside the home of the recent dead. The family members didn’t want their loved one to carry his or her sins into the next world, so that would pass bread, a wooden bowl of beer, and sixpence over the corpse and then give that to the sin eater. The belief was that the bread and beer absorbed the sins from the deceased so when the sin eater would eat the food and drink the beer, they were absorbing all the sins of the deceased. The sixpence was presumably for the service of eating those sins.

Wikipedia also states, “a sin-eater is a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to magically take on the sins of a person or household. Traditionally, the food was believed to absorb the sins of a recently deceased person, thus absolving that person’s soul. Consequently, sin-eaters supposedly carried the sins of all people whose souls they ‘ate.'”

There is an even older sin eater reference in Wikipedia about Tlazolteotl ^3*Wikipedia Tlazolteotl . In Aztec mythology, Tlazolteotl who is a goddess of purification, steam bath, midwives, filth, and a patroness of adulterers. Tlazolteotl was a goddess of filth (sin), vice, and sexual misdeeds. However, she was a purification goddess as well, who forgave sins and cured diseases caused by misdeeds, particularly sexual misdeeds. She would take away sins as well.

In short, a sin eater darkens his soul so that others may remain pure. Let’s see how that applies to Russell Wilson.

The Quarterback Eats The Sins Of The Players

The quarterback is the sin eater on, and off, the field:

• They scramble when blocking assignments fail.
• They though interceptions when their receivers run the wrong route.
• They fumble when their running backs fail to pick up a blitzing linebacker.

A sin eating quarterback takes the blame for:

• Not getting rid of the ball fast enough when they scramble because blocking assignments fail.
• Not noticing the wide receiver failed to read the defense properly and thus the quarterback throws an interception because their receivers ran the wrong route.
• Not holding tightly enough when a quarterback fumbles because their running back was more interested in getting open in the flat instead of picking up a blitzing linebacker.

Listen To Russell Wilson ^4*Russell Wilson - Sin Eater

At the 30 second mark Wilson is asked about ‘protection issues’ he says,

0:31 “You know, you know. “I have to figure out if I can get the ball out quicker.” He says this even though Wilson didn’t even have time to throw the ball into the ground to stop the clock.

0:50 “I put it on me and you know we had two turnovers.” Even though he had no time.

1:51 “We played a very very tough teams the past few weeks and we found ways to win.” What little ‘good’ happened, Wilson shares the glory.

3:02 “We kept fighting you know and to be a championship team you have to fight you have to got to keep swinging.” Again, what little ‘good’ happened, Wilson shares the glory.

4:33 “People get dinged up this year obviously I’m within that system injuries that’s no excuse.” Wilson not only eats the sins of his teammates, he eats his own sins.

Why Russell Wilson Is A Sin Eater

Wilson is a sin eater because in defeat he takes all the blame thus freeing his teammates and coaches from guilt and he gives praise in victory, allowing his teammates to live in glory.

Wilson is a sin eater because he is a great quarterback.

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Russell Wilson Press Conferences On Youtube

You can listen to any Russell Wilson press conference on Youtube.com ^5*Youtube.com Russell Wilson press conference

We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin.
CS Lewis ^6*CS Lewis Official Web Site