It was no surprise that Super Bowl week launched with a frantic rush to surround Richard Sherman but with plenty of good space available in the presence of Russell Wilson. That injustice of unbalanced attention revealed far more about the malleability of the news media — especially during the long, news-starved run-up to the game — than it did about either player.

Between Sherman’s linguistics and Peyton Manning’s legacy, Wilson was easy to miss — and not because he is an undersize starting quarterback at the listed height of 5 feet 11 inches.

It’s just difficult to reduce his story to a sound bite. It’s harder to explain how and why he has succeeded in reaching the big stage against Manning’s Denver Broncos — however removed from the spotlight he has been — in his second N.F.L. season, before Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III, the two darlings of the 2012 draft.

Yes, a good deal of that accelerated progression has to do with location, location, location. Wilson, selected in the third round with the 75th overall pick, landed on the Seattle Seahawks, a team with a formidable defense, Sherman included. Still, Wilson has been an audacious playmaker and a record-setter, winning more games as a starter than any other quarterback in his first two seasons during the Super Bowl era.