Seattle Seahawks Won't Be Beaten If Russell Wilson Sustains Form
It was Russell Wilson's best game of the season.
His statistics don't suggest it, as the Seattle Seahawks quarterback completed 15 of 22 passes for just 268 yards and three touchdowns with only 22 rushing yards. Yet, with Marshawn Lynch largely contained, an offensive line that was often overmatched, wide receivers who struggled somewhat at the catch point and a handful of handcuffing penalties, Wilson carried his offense to a postseason victory.
That's not something he could have claimed during last year's run to the Super Bowl.
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Wilson didn't play particularly well during the postseason last year. He was overly cautious compared to most of the regular season, when he had been exceptionally sharp in difficult circumstances. Debate raged last year about Wilson's ability to be a pocket passer, but it was never really a question.
For most of 2013, Wilson's play from the pocket elevated all of his teammates. He may not have attempted a huge number of passes, but that was primarily a result of how games developed (the Seahawks regularly had a seven-plus-point lead in the fourth quarter).
In 2014, Wilson hasn't been a sharp pocket passer. Instead he has relied on his feet more than he did last year to run 22 more times for 310 more yards and five more touchdowns.
Running has been invaluable to Wilson, but as with all quarterbacks, against better quality of opposition you need to be able to make plays from the pocket. Wilson had developed a hesitation during the regular season this year that didn't exist during the first 12 or 13 weeks of last season.
Against the Carolina Panthers in the divisional round of the playoffs, that hesitation disappeared.
Wilson showed poise, composure, awareness and intelligence while making accurate throws down the field with consistency. His deep passes hung on a number of occasions to cost him big plays down the field, but those were few in the context of his whole performance.
"That was a fantastic night, coming through in those crucial situations," Seattle head coach Pete Carroll told reporters after the game. "I was really fired up for Russell. He hit almost everything. Three third-down TD passes is almost unheard of. How does that ever happen?"
One of Wilson's marquee plays during the 2013 season was a huge anticipation throw against the blitz in a game vs. the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. For his first touchdown against the Panthers, Wilson made a very similar play.
At the Panthers' 16-yard line, the Seahawks spread the field on 3rd-and-9. The Panthers responded aggressively, leaving a linebacker in off coverage outside on Lynch while showing six defenders in the box who are in position to blitz.
Importantly, the lone deep safety is offset to the narrow side of the field, where the Seahawks have fewer receivers. This is a hint that the slot cornerback is coming on a blitz.
The snap appears to be slightly off target, but as soon as he gets it, Wilson is looking to his right side. He is able to clearly see that both linebackers who initially lined up in the box are coming after him. Wilson doesn't panic at this point, instead remaining in the pocket and continuing his drop.
Hesitation is a destructive disease for quarterbacks because of plays like this one. If the quarterback recognizes the blitz but hesitates in his reaction, he likely won't be able to gain a first down.
On many occasions this year, this kind of play has caused Wilson to hesitate, and that has led to him moving his feet to scramble or even turn his back on the play. While this can work, it's typically not the best way to attack the defense.
Wilson didn't do that this time. Instead he was decisive and immediately brought his eyes back to the other side of the field while maintaining the discipline of his drop. There he could see that wide receiver Doug Baldwin was left in a one-on-one with the safety, meaning the cornerback had blitzed.
As the pressure closes in on Wilson, he releases the football early.
His mechanics aren't perfect, but his arm strength allows him to push the ball past the deep safety. The deep safety would have had a chance to make a play on the ball, but Wilson threw with anticipation to Baldwin on his double-move route.
The above image shows that Wilson has already let the ball go at a point when Baldwin hasn't come out of his break underneath. Wilson hangs the ball in the air so Baldwin can adjust underneath it.
Because Wilson understood the coverage and acted decisively within the pocket, he put the ball in a spot where only his wide receiver could catch it. This touchdown had very little to do with his athleticism or elusiveness; it was all about his intelligence as a pocket passer.
For his second touchdown, Wilson didn't negate a blitz, but he did have to make a coverage read from the pocket and release the ball at the right time to negate pressure.
Once again, Wilson is in a 3rd-and-long situation—this time it's 3rd-and-7 in Seahawks territory. Most significant on this play is the alignment of the defense. The Panthers don't send a blitz after Wilson, but they only have one player lined up farther than five yards away from the line of scrimmage.
The Seahawks have the perfect play called to attack this defense.
Because the Seahawks are running all deep routes down the field, they keep an extra blocker in to help with pass protection. Lynch also only releases into his route once he recognizes that there is no blitz. This gives Wilson time to work in the pocket.
While we can never be certain, Wilson appears to be reading the deep safety with his eyes.
Despite the added protection, defensive end Mario Addison is able to push his way toward Wilson relatively quickly. As Wilson releases the ball, Addison is applying pressure and threatening to hit the quarterback. Wilson is able to get rid of the football in time to negate the pressure.
Because of the route combinations and the initial alignment from the defense, Wilson had to determine whether he would throw the ball down the right sideline or to his crosser. When the safety stayed with the deep sideline route, he made his decision to release the football to Kearse.
Kearse hasn't created much separation, but he is in behind the man covering him.
Wilson is able to drop a perfectly placed pass over the defensive back and to a spot where only Kearse can catch it. The control of the velocity and trajectory of this pass is simply phenomenal from the young quarterback.
Kearse is able to carry the ball the rest of the way to the end zone for the touchdown.
The speed of Wilson's thought process, the timing of his throw and the physical execution of this pass were simply perfect from the Seahawks quarterback. He ran the play as it was designed to run and was able to throw his receiver open even when he hadn't created significant separation.
Although the Seahawks don't have All-Pro players at the wide receiver positions, both Baldwin and Kearse are quality starters who have an established rapport with their quarterback. Both players were important pieces of the offense during last year's journey to the Super Bowl.
Wilson's third touchdown pass went to a less familiar face.
While leading 17-10 early in the fourth quarter against the Panthers, the Seahawks essentially iced the game with a touchdown pass to tight end Luke Willson. Willson has been more prominent in the offense this year because of Zach Miller's absence.
He isn't necessarily a consistent tight end, but he has become a reliable source of important plays for his quarterback this season.
As was the theme for Wilson's touchdown passes in this game, this play occurred on another 3rd-and-long. This time it was 3rd-and-10 at the Panthers' 25-yard line. The Panthers were threatening to blitz with three of their linebackers while also having three defensive linemen on the field.
The Panthers want a sack here or at worst to force Wilson to throw the ball quickly so they can come up and make the tackle to force the field goal.
At the snap, the Panthers blitz off either side of the offensive line. The slot cornerback to the bottom of the screen attacks the line of scrimmage, and the two linebackers to the other side rush the passer also. Addison and Luke Kuechly drop into coverage from the middle of the defensive line.
Willson is lined up to the top of the screen against off coverage. He is running a slant route into space. Because his quarterback recognizes the space behind the two blitzers coming from the top of the screen, the tight end is going to get the football quickly.
Russell Wilson places the pass slightly behind Luke Willson, but because of the quarterback's recognition of the play and the tight end's athleticism, it doesn't prevent him from turning upfield and running in a touchdown.
Even though the pass wasn't perfect here, Wilson's recognition of the blitz and quick actions meant it didn't need to be for the offense to get a first down and ultimately a touchdown.
Wilson threw the ball quickly, something the Panthers would have hoped so they could come up and make the tackle short of the first-down marker. However, he found the perfect spot of the defense to attack. Instead of throwing to Kuechly's side of the field, Wilson forced a defensive lineman to try to track down his very athletic tight end.
Tape study of the Panthers' blitzes will likely have helped him recognize this defense. That and his decisiveness gave Willson the opportunity to make an impressive play, even though the tight end deserves a lot of the credit for making defenders miss in the open field.
Having a quarterback playing like this will elevate every single player on the offense around him. CBS Sports' Jason La Canfora sang Wilson's praises Saturday night:
Against a quarterback who is quickly diagnosing blitzes and breaking down coverages, it's very difficult for the defense to create pressure and tighten passing windows. If Wilson can sustain this level of play from the pocket, it's going to be exceptionally difficult to contain this offense.
When you add in the most dominant defense in the NFL, beating the Seahawks in the NFC Championship Game or the Super Bowl is going to be almost impossible.
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