Russell Wilson's Creativity Outside of Pocket Critical During Title Defense
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson doesn’t need consistency to be successful. Or at least not in the way we usually think about consistency.
At first, that sounds strange or downright blasphemous. Consistency is a basic but core quality for any quarterback. Consistent footwork leads to consistent mechanics, consistently accurate throws and, most importantly, consistent results.
Wilson has the results part down. But how he arrives there isn’t consistent or conventional. It’s something else entirely, and it's an approach that relies on surprise, often with the creation of a play when none seemed to exist.
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Wilson wasn’t consistent in that traditional sense for much of a win Sunday over the San Francisco 49ers.
Of his 168 total passing yards, 104 came in the second quarter. That’s well over half of his total yardage (62 percent) during a single quarter before the Seahawks turned to the ground and the punishment delivered by running back Marshawn Lynch.
Overall, he completed only 50 percent of his passes, which brings us back to the issue of consistency. If we focus only on that important yet often deceiving metric, it could quickly feel like as a passer, Wilson is lost in a dense fog.
After 14 games, his completion percentage this season rests at 62.6. That’s average in the modern NFL or even slightly below if you’re in a less forgiving mood. Wilson’s completion percentage currently slots him 19th among quarterbacks who have taken at least half of their teams' snaps, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
But look a little closer and see how Wilson has meandered his way to even that average percentage. His completion peaks this season have been among the highest in the land, and by comparison, his valleys sink deep into the Earth’s core.
| Number of games | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
A consistently accurate quarterback who doesn’t experience even the smallest hiccup is a mythical creature and a Loch Ness-level invention. But to deviate as wildly as Wilson has—with a single-game completion-percentage high this season of 77.3 and a low of 48.6—seems baffling for the quarterback of a team that’s won 10 games.
There are times when Wilson misses open receivers and others when he simply doesn’t see them. But those two completion-percentage extremes are largely a product of the higher degree of difficulty he faces due to pressure.
Wilson has been sacked 38 times, tied for the league’s fifth-highest total. Worse, he’s faced pressure on 46.1 percent of his dropbacks, per PFF. That puts Wilson in a special area of frenzied neck swiveling.
There are only four quarterbacks who have taken half of their team’s snaps while facing pressure on at least 40 percent of their dropbacks. Putting Wilson alongside the other three is the first step toward gaining a better appreciation for what he does as a passer—and by extension, as a runner too.
| Russell Wilson | 46.1 | 68.8 |
| Josh McCown | 43.5 | 54.9 |
| Austin Davis | 42.8 | 65.2 |
| Geno Smith | 40.6 | 48.2 |
For the unfamiliar, accuracy percentage is charted by Pro Football Focus. It’s the standard completion percentage but with a significant tweak: It counts drops as completions. So when using accuracy percentage, we get a truer representation of a quarterback’s ball placement, as he’s not penalized for an incompletion if the responsibility for it lies elsewhere.
With that understanding, compare the percentages above again. Wilson has faced the most pressure, but his accuracy percentage when under duress is significantly higher than other frequently pressured quarterbacks.
Only St. Louis Rams quarterback Austin Davis is close, and the divide between him and Wilson is easy to locate. The now-benched Davis threw nine interceptions over only eight starts and 284 pass attempts. Wilson has chucked six picks and just one over his last 137 attempts.
Try as we might, separating Wilson the passer from Wilson the runner isn’t possible. Though we track passing and running in different areas of the box score and he’s the leader in quarterback rushing with 754 yards, the running Wilson never shuts off.
The difference between Wilson and other mobile quarterbacks in today's NFL—most notably, division rival Colin Kaepernick—is that even when on the run, Wilson nearly always finds a way to remain square to his target. That maximizes his accuracy and minimizes the likelihood of sailing balls after he’s done whirling and evading outside of the pocket.
Often it seems that fundamental aspect of Wilson’s approach is overlooked. He rightfully deserves praise for turning nothing plays into something plays, but there’s a certain consistency in how he goes about his scrambling.
Yes, consistency. Wilson finds his own form of it far removed from the traditional football meaning of the word. Yet it works, and we’ve seen multiple examples over the Seahawks’ four-game winning streak. During that stretch, he's averaged 8.4 yards per pass attempt.
His most impressive improvising came on Thanksgiving Day during the Seahawks' first game this season against the 49ers.
On 3rd-and-9, Wilson quickly found himself under intense pressure after Niners cornerback Dontae Johnson sprung free from the left side. Johnson had lined up as a slot corner, and the result was a cleverly disguised blitz that left one pass-rusher unblocked.
Only about two seconds had passed after the snap, and already Johnson was bearing down on Wilson. If we had a freeze frame of Johnson’s face at this exact moment, it surely would have looked similar to Ed Sheeran’s unashamed glee while surrounded by Victoria’s Secret models, beaming brightly with dreams fulfilled.
This is when the play should have ended.
But it didn’t because Wilson summoned his inner Houdini. He evaded Johnson and made him skid on by, though his trouble was only beginning after that immediate breakdown in protection.
Notice that right away, when the initial threat passes, Wilson defaults to his natural and fundamental form. He's scanning the field, and his shoulders are square to a potential target even after the pocket had already crumbled.
That form remained in place as he avoided Johnson a second time along with diving linebacker Chris Borland. Then, Wilson finally found tight end Tony Moeaki along the sideline. The catch-and-run resulted in a 63-yard gain.
When Wilson delivered the ball to Moeaki, 6.35 seconds had passed since the snap. During that time, he avoided the same pass-rusher twice and completed a leaping throw. He did it all while his eyes stayed downfield, and his body was constantly in a position to release and maximize accuracy amid pressure.
That’s how Wilson finds his consistency. It’s also how he’ll need to beat the Arizona Cardinals in Week 16, a game that could determine an NFC West winner. Cardinals defensive coordinator Todd Bowles blitzes constantly while often using exotic disguises to hide the coming pressure. After a slow start, Bowles’ defense is averaging three sacks per game since Week 6.
Wilson will take the same uniquely inventive approach to that pressure, dodging and weaving as he maintains his fundamental form. Danger lurks, but that’s where Wilson lives as a quarterback.
He doesn’t need conventional consistency. Instead, Wilson thrives while being consistently creative.
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