During the NFL season, The Post’s Anthony Sulla-Heffinger will break down five storylines to watch for each week.
Russell for ROY
Russell Wilson may not put up the yards numbers that Andrew Luck does or make the breath-taking plays that Robert Griffin III does, but he is slated to do some things neither of his fellow rookie QB sensations is going to do.
Become the most prolific rookie quarterback in NFL history when it comes to passing touchdowns, win his division and earn a week off before the postseason begins.
Wilson’s 25 TD passes puts him just one behind Peyton Manning, who threw 26 in his rookie season with the Colts in 1998, and based on how the Seahawks offense is operating at the moment, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that Wilson will break that record.
The crazy thing about all of this is that if you polled NFL pundits and fans, I’d be willing to wager that a significant number of them would put Wilson third behind Luck and RGIII in Rookie of the Year voting. Wilson has led the Seahawks to a NFC West crown, a playoff berth and potentially a bye, all after he needed to beat out Matt Flynn in training camp to win the starting job.
If Wilson is able to pull off these feats on Sunday against the Rams, he certainly deserves status as the frontrunner for Rookie of the Year.
Audition time
Certain players this week should be wearing their numbers “American Idol” style because they’ll be auditioning for their next job.
Some of the biggest names that will be showcasing their talents are Arizona’s Beanie Wells, St. Louis’ Steven Jackson, Philadelphia’s Michael Vick and even the Jets’ Tim Tebow (you thought I would not take one last chance to mention Tebow this season?).
This notion has existed well before this season started, but it has been getting a little more publicity after Wells’ comments this week that he was “just going to go out there and put my best foot forward for all the 31 other teams that’s watching.”
Keep an eye out on Wells as well as those other names as they try and earn their next contracts.
End of an Eagles Era
Smart money would bet that Philadelphia will part ways with Andy Reid and Michael Vick following this season, which means we will see the end of Reid’s reign with the Eagles.
Reid lost control of his team over the past two seasons and has dealt with a ton of media scrutiny for his actions on the field as well as his personal struggles off of it, but before Tom Coughlin came along, Reid was the class of coaching in the NFC East.
The Eagles experienced one of the greatest runs of any team in the NFL during Reid’s 14-year tenure with the team. Philadelphia made the playoffs in nine of Reid’s 14 seasons, made five NFC championship games (including four straight) and one Super Bowl during that span. To let two bad years, this one being catastrophically so, ruin a successful career would be a shame.
To a lesser degree and with much less certainty, Michael Vick’s run in Philadelphia will likely end Sunday. Vick revived his career and did as much for the Eagles as they did for him in his four seasons with the team. His departure leaves the franchise without a proven commodity at quarterback and could spell doom for the Eagles.
MVP home stretch
Week 17 marks the last chance that players have to make their case to be the league MVP.
Essentially the race comes down to three players, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Adrian Peterson.
Each player has a legitimate claim to the award, with Peterson closing in on a 2,000-yard season and potentially breaking Eric Dickerson’s rushing record, Manning putting together the second-best statistical season of his career and Tom Brady being, well, Tom Brady.
All three players are at home, playing against division rivals and could potentially be playoff-bound. Throw in the chase for the MVP award and you have some great football during the 4:30 EST set of games.
To rest or not to rest
The never-ending debate as to whether or not to rest your players in Week 17 continues this year, but it seems as if there are going to be more coaches opting to keep their starters on the field rather than keeping them fresh for the playoffs.
Green Bay, last year’s defending Super Bowl champion and No. 1 seed in the NFC, rested its players and look what happened, it was upset by the eventual Super Bowl champion Giants in its first playoff game.
With both playoff byes still up for grabs in the AFC and the NFC East and West division champions yet to be decided, there is still a lot to play for, and the players and coaches know it.
“How’d [resting players] work out for us?” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said earlier this week.
“We’re too young to rest,” Colts receiver Reggie Wayne said.
“You have to play this game full speed,” Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said.
It will be interesting to see if and how much the coaches allow their players to play in Week 17.
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com