No Excuses for Russell Wilson: QB Must Overcome Lack of Protection, Weapons
The Seattle Seahawks are Russell Wilson's team.
Running back Marshawn Lynch has one foot out the door, per ESPN's Chris Mortensen (via NFL on ESPN on Twitter). Receiver Percy Harvin is already gone. As Bleacher Report NFL Lead Writer Mike Freeman reported, Harvin was a wedge splitting the locker room into pro- and anti-Wilson camps.
When the Seahawks sent Harvin to New York for peanuts, despite the ransom of picks and cash they'd invested in him, the message from team brass was clear: Wilson is The Franchise.
So why isn't he playing like it?
Since trading Harvin in the wake of a surprise home loss, the Seahawks are a shaky 2-1. A surprise loss to the St. Louis Rams, their second straight, followed by close shaves against the Carolina Panthers and Oakland Raiders, means the Seahawks have outscored their last three opponents, with a combined record of 6-18-1, by just eight points.
What's going on with Wilson and the Seahawks offense—and what does he have to do to keep the Seahawks' title-defense campaign from going down in flames?
Excuse No. 1: The Protection
It's no secret the Seahawks have struggled with injury and continuity problems up front. Only left guard James Carpenter and right guard J.R. Sweezy started both Super Bowl XLVIII and Week 9's game against the Raiders—and Carpenter left that game with an ankle injury.
In the Week 7 game against the St. Louis Rams, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the Seahawks surrendered four sacks, five quarterback hits and 17 hurries. The Rams pressured Wilson on nearly two-thirds of his 43 dropbacks.
In fact, Pro Football Focus charts Wilson as the league's second-most harassed quarterback on the season. Only the Houston Texans' Ryan Fitzpatrick has been sacked, hit and hurried at a rate as high as Wilson's 42.1 percent.
At one point against the Oakland Raiders, as ESPN.com's Terry Blount pointed out, three backups and a rookie were manning four of the five offensive line spots. "Maybe," Blount said, "everyone who was quick to judge a rare poor performance by quarterback Russell Wilson should take those things into consideration."
Despite the protection problems, though, Wilson's left a lot of plays on the field. He could help himself stay clean if he did a better job of taking what the defense gives him.
Here's a 1st-and-10 against the Carolina Panthers in Week 8:
The Seahawks have gone five wide here with an empty backfield. Let's focus on the right side of the set, with the slot receiver set to run a five-yard comeback. The outside receiver will release inside and then turn it upfield on a go route:
Wilson liked this matchup pre-snap since he looked that way throughout his dropback. When he planted his back foot, the comeback route was clearly open, but Wilson felt heat on his blind side.
Here's how that looked from the pocket:
This is the instant he set his back foot at the end of the dropback. He's looking at the comeback route. If he throws it, it's complete and likely turned upfield for more yardage. That's exactly what this route is there for: an underneath safety valve.
Wilson's lack of faith in his blindside protection should spur him to plant and throw ASAP. Instead, he bounces onto his front foot and takes off running.
As he flushes to the right, the receiver releases upfield into the "turkey hole," the gap between the corner and deep safety. The pass doesn't have to be on the money to go for a big gain, and Wilson can make this throw in his sleep anyway:
At this point, the comeback route is getting stale; he's made his break, and the outside linebacker is closing in. If Wilson throws the comeback now, it'll likely be batted down—or picked off. That's OK because Wilson has plenty of space to throw the go route.
Again, the pocket view:
Instead of making a with-his-momentum throw to a wide-open receiver, Wilson chooses to stop, break down and look back across the field.
The Carolina pass rush immediately swarms him:
Russell realizes his mistake, turtles and goes down for the sack.
This has happened over and over again in the last few games: Instead of deflating the pass rush by getting rid of the ball quickly, he's extending plays and improvising. Often this pays off—but sometimes it gets him into even more trouble.
Wilson's been sacked on just 12.5 percent of dropbacks this season, per Pro Football Focus, sixth-best among qualifying starters. Why? Because he takes off at the first sign of trouble and is really hard to catch. But Peyton Manning is sacked even less often, 11.3 percent of the time, because he makes good pre-snap reads and pulls the trigger.
Excuse No. 2: The Weapons
Harvin's gone, but he's not the only weapon Wilson is missing. Zach Miller and Luke Willson, the Seahawks' top two tight ends, have both missed significant time. Miller is still hurt. As Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post (via Bob Condotta of The Seattle Times) reported, the Seahawks just worked out free-agent tight end Tony Moeaki—not a great omen for Miller's return timetable.
It may be this lack of weapons that's making Wilson gun-shy.
Though receivers Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse are generally underrated players, neither has the size, physicality or verticality to box out his coverage or win jump balls. Wilson has no possession receiver to whom he can dump it under duress.
Yahoo Sports' Eric Adelson pointed out the Seahawks are now in the same situation their division rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, were without a healthy Michael Crabtree: asking their young quarterback to make plays on his own.
It might not seem fair, but it comes with the territory. If Wilson is to prove he's a franchise quarterback—and earn the massive payday he's surely in line for—he's got to elevate his teammates. If Tom Brady can win Super Bowls with David Patten and Troy Brown, Russell Wilson should be able to beat the Rams with Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse.
Excuse No. 3: Everything Else
Sure, Marshawn Lynch is on pace for just 264 carries, 1,098 yards and 10 touchdowns. Sure, all of those marks would be the lowest he's recorded in four-plus seasons with the Seahawks.
Sure, the mighty Legion of Boom defense is allowing 21.8 points per game and is only ranked 10th in scoring defense (after finishing in the No. 1 spot two years running).
All the excuses in the world, though, can't make up for Wilson's unforced errors.
Two or three times a game, it seems, Wilson flat-out misses a wide-open throw. Yeah, that happens to all quarterbacks sometimes; expecting perfection 40 times a game is unrealistic. But look at this:
Here's the Rams game again. This is a simple play action from "21" personnel, and the primary read seems to be the go route to the right:
Right off the bat, the corner makes a mistake. From the snap, he immediately bites down—I have no idea what he thought his assignment was—and boom. Blown coverage. Wilson's still dropping back and sees his man come wide-dirty open:
The pocket sets up beautifully; Wilson has all the time in the world (and he takes it too). He sets his feet, rears back, lets it fly...
...and throws it about six feet over his receiver's head.
There's no excuse for mistakes like these when you're falling behind in a divisional road game. When a defense is playing a team as hard and aggressively as the Rams were the Seahawks, and they slip up and hand the Seahawks a touchdown, Wilson has to capitalize.
None of this is being unfair to Wilson. None of this is asking too much. As the prime-time national viewing audience saw on Monday Night Football against Washington, Wilson has proved he can make these throws. He's proved he can make these decisions. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll didn't shy away from pointing out the difference between Wilson at his best, and Wilson's current level of play.
"He wasn’t connecting like he normally does," Carroll said about Wilson on Monday, per Blount. "He was a little high with the ball and maybe a little quick getting rid of it. Timing was just not normal."
Carroll and general manager John Schneider wouldn't have put the team squarely in Wilson's hands if they didn't know he was capable of carrying them to the top.
Now, he just has to do it.
After hosting the flailing New York Giants in Week 10, the Seahawks might have the most difficult stretch run in the NFL. From Weeks 11 through 16 they play at Kansas City, at home against the Arizona Cardinals, at the San Francisco 49ers, at the Philadelphia Eagles, the rematches against both the Cardinals and 49ers and then at home to the Rams to close the season.
That's four games against the Cardinals and 49ers in five weeks. Five divisional games in their last six. Six games against opponents with combined records of 25-15 (without double-counting the NFC West teams). They're two games out of first place.
That's both an onerous challenge and a huge opportunity. If Wilson can take what the defense gives him when the heat is on, the defense will have to start giving him the deep ball. If it gives him the deep ball, that makes life easier for both the running game and the defense.
That's how a franchise quarterback is supposed to elevate the players around him, and that's why teams with franchise quarterbacks make the playoffs year after year.
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