Russell Wilson: no glove again Sunday, Seahawks ‘can’t hope and wish. We’ve gotta DO’

Same set up. Different results.

That’s Russell Wilson’s plan for the Seahawks’ basically must-win game Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals at Lumen Field.

The quarterback who missed three games following surgery on the middle finger of his throwing hand said Thursday he again doesn’t expect to wear a glove or a protective device over his right hand in the game.

He didn’t wear anything but basically a clear Band-Aid covering on the finger last weekend in 35-degree weather at Green Bay.

“Same thing is the plan, depending on weather, this and that. But same thing is the plan,” Wilson said.

The forecast for the game at 1:25 p.m. Sunday is nearly ideal for late November in Seattle: 47 degrees, no rain and next-to-no wind.

“I feel great. Everything’s been great with my hand and feeling really confident about it,” Wilson said.

“So feeling great there.”

The team’s season and recent results? Not so great there.

Wilson is coming off one of the worst games of his career.

In his return after missing the first games of his 10 years in the league, the $140 million franchise quarterback was shut out in a game he finished for the first time since at least high school. He completed 20 of 40, often wobbling and floating passes, for 160 yards. He had two crushing interceptions in the end zone in the second half, on which he threw into a crowd of five total Packers.

The first interception, Wilson tried to sneak a throw to DK Metcalf past Green Bay cornerback Kevin King, who briefly had his back turned to Wilson. King turned around in plenty of time for an easy catch of the pass before Metcalf had any chance to compete for the ball.

That interception came on third down in the red zone midway through the third quarter in a 3-0 game. Seattle was in position for an easy field goal from Jason Myers that would have tied the score.

It was the kind of mistake a rookie — or high school — quarterback cannot make, let alone a 32-year-old Super Bowl champion and holder of 26 Seahawks records.

“He made a mistake and he knows it,” coach Pete Carroll said. “He knew we were in field goal range. He knew all of that.

“It shocked him, too, that the guy was able to make that play.”

After the 17-0 loss to the Packers, Wilson refused to let his finger or his five-week layoff between starts be excuses.

But Carroll said the layoff was an obvious factor — basically, how could it not have been?

“We expected to come out and pop the ball around and look like we did in practice (last week),” Carroll said. “But we weren’t as sharp at getting the ball thrown and caught. They had something to do with that. But I would say that there is no question that if you don’t play for a month, it’s going to affect you.

“We were hoping that we would be able to find our way and get going, but unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as sharp. Maybe in this week coming back we will be a little more on it and more precise.”

They have to be.

The Seahawks are 3-6. Yet because there are only six teams with winning records in the NFC past the halfway point of the 17-game regular season, Seattle is just 1 1/2 games out of the final playoff spot in the conference.

These Seahawks know they have yet to play a complete game this season. Even in their 24-point rout of two-win Jacksonville Oct. 31, Wilson and running back Chris Carson were sidelined on injured reserve so the offense was running with spare parts, Geno Smith at quarterback and Alex Collins at running back.

Early in the season, when Wilson and Carson were playing, the defense was allowing the most yards in the league. That unit has since held New Orleans to 13 points, Jacksonville to seven points and Green Bay to 17 — and just three points into the fourth quarter.

“We have great confidence, a lot of great players,” Wilson said. “If we can have all three parts clicking at the same time — sometimes we are ‘on’ on offense in the first quarter and then off in the second, or vice versa — the defense has been rolling in the last few weeks, if we can marry that all together, special teams has been doing great all year...

“We can do it. We really believe that. We know what we are capable of. Now, we’ve got to show it. We’ve got to make it happen.

“We can’t hope and wish. We’ve gotta DO.”