Badgers in the NFL: Russell Wilson and T.J. Watt win player of the month awards

A pair of former Wisconsin Badgers are off to a red-hot start after the first month of the NFL season. Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson won NFC Offensive Player of the Month and Pittsburgh Steelers OLB/EDGE T.J. Watt won AFC Defensive Player of the Month for September.

Wilson is off to an historic start this season, having thrown a league-high 14 touchdown passes, the most ever in the first three games of a season. If he can throw three more against the Dolphins this week, Wilson would also own the best four-game start for touchdown passes, passing Peyton Manning’s 2013 mark of 16.

Per a release from the Seahawks: “Wilson also leads the NFL in passer rating (139.0) and is second in completion percentage (76.7) and is third in average yards-per-attempt at 9.0. Wilson is also throwing a touchdown on 13.6 percent of every pass attempt, the highest mark in the league by a comically high margin.”

Wilson also led his 33rd game-winning drive in the fourth quarter or overtime this past Sunday, the most in the NFL since he entered the league in 2012. This is Wilson’s first ever player of the month award, although he has won player of the week 11 times in his career.

Watt, who is coming off a game where he played with brother Derek against brother J.J., has three and a half sacks through three games, 10 quarterback hits, nine tackles, three tackles for a loss, two pass defenses and an interception. In Week 2, Watt was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week for his dominant performance against the Broncos. He had 2.5 sacks for a loss of 20 yards, four quarterback hits and four tackles.

This is Watt’s second time earning AFC player of the month honors, having done it in November of last season as well.