Let Russ Cook

Submission 24,533

Part of a series on Let Him Cook / Let That Boy Cook. [View Related Entries]

About

Let Russ Cook is a catchphrase used by American football fans in reference to quarterback Russell Wilson, essentially meaning let Russell Wilson be himself and do his thing, which is taken from the slang expression "let him cook." The phrase was first used on Twitter in 2019 and became increasingly popularized over the following years as a rallying cry to support Wilson, inspiring him to trademark the phrase in 2020. In 2022, following Wilson's trade to the Denver Broncos and a perceived dip in his in-game performance, people started using the phrase ironically to criticize Wilson in memes and jokes.

Origin

On January 5th, 2019, Twitter^[1] user @davekorzinski posted the first known use of the phrase "let Russ cook," writing, "I love Carson but maybe running him straight into the line over and over isn't the best strategy. Let Russ cook. #Seahawks." The tweet encourages the Seahawks, Wilson's team at the time, to let Russell be himself and use his strengths to lead the team to victory. Wilson was widely considered one of the team's best offensive players. The tweet followed a game where the Seahawks lost 24-22 to the Dallas Cowboys.^[2]

The phrase "let Russ cook" is derived from the slang term let him cook, a catchphrase used as a callout to give someone the space to plot, strategize or hone their craft. The phrase was coined by Lil B in 2010.

Spread

The phrase became increasingly popular throughout the 2020 NFL season as a rallying cry for the Seahawks and Wilson. On September 24th, 2020, The Athletic^[3] published an article about the phrase, calling it "the meme that may have saved the Seahawks." On September 27th, the NFL on Fox Facebook^[4] page and ESPN Instagram^[5] pages posted memes using the phrase in celebration of the Seahawks going 3-0, garnering over 8,000 reactions on the former and 256,000 likes on the latter in two years (shown below, left and right). On November 6th, ESPN^[6] reported that Wilson had filed a trademark for the phrase "let Russ cook." The trademark purportedly covers "cooking utensils, cookware and cooking attire such as chef's hats and aprons."

2022 NFL Season

In March 2022, the Seahawks traded Russell to the Denver Broncos. The 2022 NFL Season began on September 12th, 2022 and saw the Broncos lose to the Seahawks 17-16. On September 18th, the Broncos won against the Texans 16-9, however, Wilson's performance was underwhelming. He threw no touchdowns and only 126 yards passing. TSN^[7] called it one of the "ugliest games of Russell Wilson's storied career." Following the game, people began making memes using the phrase "let Russ cook" ironically over images and videos of bad food. For example, on September 18th, Twitter^[8] user @barstoolsports posted a meme like this, garnering over 31,000 likes in a month (shown below).

On September 25th, the Broncos won against the 49ers 11-10. Despite the win, similar memes about Wilson's performance continued to be posted online. On September 25th, Twitter^[9] user @NFL_Memes posted a meme using the Nyquil chicken meme under the phrase, garnering over 26,000 likes in two weeks (shown below, left). The memes continued after an October 2nd 32-23 loss to the Raiders.

On October 6th, the Broncos lost 12-9 to the Colts, inspiring a large increase in ironic "let Russ cook" memes after Wilson's poor performance.^[10] For example, on October 7th, thescore's Instagram^[11] page posted a meme criticizing Wilson's performance, garnering over 25,000 likes in four days (shown below, right).