Seattle Seahawks

Career-high 5 TD passes helps cure what's ailing Seahawks' Wilson

Published Nov. 30, 2015 1:27 a.m. ET

foxsports

Russell Wilson woke up Sunday morning with flu-like symptoms. His condition improved after turning in a career performance on his 27th birthday.

"If you’re asking how I’m feeling, it’s not too good, but you always feel a little better when you win, especially on your birthday,“ Wilson said after guiding the Seattle Seahawks to a 39-30 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.

Russell Wilson says today had the toughest physical conditions he's had to play through while w/ #Seahawks. 3 IV bags. Up ill at 5:45am
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) November 30, 2015

Wilson threw for 345 yards and a career-high five touchdowns passes, including three in the fourth quarter, as Seattle moved above .500 for the first time this season. And the fourth-year quarterback did it despite taking three IVs during the game.

"We’ve seen, when we need him, we’ve seen him in other games at times be able to have that kind of day," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said. "The last two games, he’s just playing lights out. We needed every bit of it, obviously."

Wilson posted a season-high 147.9 passer rating Sunday, topping his previous best of 138.5 from last weekend. Wilson has eight touchdown passes versus zero interceptions in the past two games, but the degree of difficulty was much higher Sunday given the opposition and the circumstances.

Back and forth they go. Russell Wilson finds Doug Baldwin for a 30-yard TD to give the @Seahawks a 4th Q lead. https://t.co/wsn0WPjroy
— NFL (@NFL) November 30, 2015

Despite waking up at 5:45 and not feeling too good, Wilson was at his best in the final 15 minutes, erasing a pair of deficit with scoring passes of 9 yards to Jermaine Kearse and 30 yards to Doug Baldwin. After Pittsburgh closed within 32-30, Wilson hooked up with Baldwin for the third time with an 80-yard strike to seal it.

“He’s been pretty explosive for a long time," Carroll said of Wilson. "He was on the money and made some terrific clutch plays today. There might have been eight or something, big-time clutch plays to get first downs and it was awesome.”