Improvement as a Passer Key to Russell Wilson Taking Next Step in 2015

It's a dreary day in Seattle and not just because of the weather.

The city, its citizens and its NFL team are still trying to shake off the end of Super Bowl XLIX. In the span of a few seconds Sunday night, the Seahawks went from the cusp of their own dynasty to becoming a team that will go down as having suffered the biggest fourth-quarter meltdown in Super Bowl history.

It was a Russell Wilson interception that sealed the game for the New England Patriots. It will be Wilson (and his looming megadeal) who dominates most of the offseason storylines in the Emerald City.

And if Wilson is going to live up to that contract and the expectations of fans looking for a shot at redemption in Santa Clara next year, then the three-year veteran has work to do.

As Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk reports, Wilson stepped up and took the blame for the play that some are already labeling "The Interception." (Creative, ain't it?)

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I put the blame on me — I’m the one who threw it. It’s something you learn from, it’s something you grow from. I’m proud of our guys about the way that we got down the field there in that situation. We had so many great plays, and we’re right there. We’ll just keep learning and keep growing.

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Now, before we go any farther, or you go scrambling off to the comments section to avail me of all the new invectives you learned during the last 15 minutes of Super Bowl XLIX, a couple of notes.

First, I'm not blaming Wilson for the Seahawks loss. The point can be made that Wilson's last throw of the game could have been put in a better spot. You can make the argument that Wilson should have seen cornerback Malcolm Butler jumping the slant route.

Of course, you can also argue that calling any play other than a Marshawn Lynch run on 2nd-and-goal from the 1-yard line is the worst idea since New Coke.

You can point fingers until carpal tunnel sets in, but as Lynch said it's a team sport:

The Seahawks didn't score as many points as the Patriots. That's why they lost.

Nor is anything I'm about to say meant to imply that Wilson isn't already one of the best players at his position in the National Football League. If I could have one quarterback around which to build an NFL franchise...OK, it would be Aaron Rodgers. But Wilson is a close second.

Wilson's fun to watch thanks to his Tarkenton-esque scrambling ability, and from all indications he's a genuinely decent, humble young man.

The Seahawks hit the proverbial jackpot with Wilson. I have absolutely zero issues with Seattle returning the favor this spring, even if it means making Wilson the NFL's highest-paid quarterback.

However, all that doesn't mean there isn't still work to be done, especially where Wilson the passer is concerned.

Year	Comp. %	YPA	Yards	TD	INT	Rating	QBR
2013	63.1	8.2	3357	26	9	101.2	58.9
2014	63.1	7.7	3475	20	7	95.0	62.4

While Wilson's rushing numbers increased in his third NFL season, he plateaued as a passer. His regular-season passing yardage and quarterback rating was up just a tad. His completion percentage remained the same. Wilson's yards per attempt, touchdowns and passer rating all dipped slightly.

Granted, the Seahawks' pupu platter at wide receiver in 2014 was a factor, but it doesn't change the fact that Wilson's career arc as a passer hit a flat spot in 2014.

The playoffs were even more concerning.

Games	Comp. %	YPA	Yards	TD	INT	Rating
3	56.9	10.0	724	6	5	90.3

Wilson's game-winning bomb to Jermaine Kearse may have changed the narrative of the NFC Championship Game, but it didn't change the fact that for much of the contest Wilson played on a level somewhere between awful and craptastic.

There were forced throws. Bad decisions. A strong fourth quarter and Green Bay's collapse got Wilson off the hook, but were it not for a truly improbable series of events, Wilson never would have been in a position to make that last errant throw against the Patriots.

And if you want to split hairs, that throw could have been better, put in a spot where either the receiver would catch the ball or no one would.

This is the point in this article where a second group of readers will likely split off to regale me with their knowledge of palabras de cuatro letras.

They'll blame Wilson's struggles in the postseason on the Seahawks' dearth of options at wide receiver. Or accuse me of splitting hairs or "hating."

I won't argue the former a whole lot after Seattle's leading receiver in the Super Bowl was Chris Matthews, a former CFL-er with all of zero catches in his NFL career before that game.

Nick Shook of NFL.com also believes that the Seahawks need to get Wilson some help:

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It isn't just Wilson who might need to up his game in the coming seasons. Seahawks general manager John Schneider might also want to look into upgrading the wide receiver position in 2015 and beyond, as evidenced by a lack of a big-bodied wideout needed to make a touchdown grab in traffic in the final minute of the game. Previously unheralded 6-foot-5 receiver Chris Matthews made key plays throughout but wasn't on the field on the decisive second-and-goal play.

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So far as the nitpicking goes, Wilson brought that on himself.

With all he's accomplished to this point in his career, Wilson is already being mentioned along the league's elite signal-callers. Now that has its perks (I hear the pay's pretty good), but it also has its pitfalls. Every mistake goes under the microscope. Every flaw is magnified and dissected by the media.

And as good as Wilson is, there are still flaws. Wilson takes good care of the football in general, but he showed against Green Bay that he isn't above occasionally trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.

Wilson throws a pretty deep ball, and a player who throws on the move as much as Wilson isn't likely to lead the NFL in completion percentage, but a quick look at Wilson's Pro Football Focus page (subscription required) demonstrates that Wilson could stand to improve his accuracy on short and intermediate passes.

His average grade at the site when throwing passes under 10 yards (-1.8) is a full six points lower than on passes over 10 yards. By weight of comparison, a similar analysis of Wilson's counterpart in Super Bowl XLIX shows Tom Brady of the New England Patriots with a gap only half that size.

At this point, however, it's very important to point one thing out. None of this has escaped the attention of Wilson himself:

And that's the thing. Wilson has offered zero indication that he won't diligently focus on improving in any and all areas where he might be lacking in the offseason. If Wilson didn't work hard, he never would have gotten this far to begin with.

The problems are hardly insurmountable. These "flaws" are just the kind you want a young quarterback to have—the kind that can be fixed.

The mistakes aren't the end of the world, either—assuming Wilson learns from them.

In fact, that's where everything that has happened to Wilson and the Seahawks over the past month could wind up a blessing in disguise.

Warning: The language gets pretty salty in this video.

Stop throwing tomatoes—I'm wearing a poncho anyway.

To this point, Russell Wilson has thrived on adversity. He's the Little Engine That Could, the too-short quarterback who has already been to two Super Bowls.

The bitter end of Super Bowl XLIX should provide plenty of fire for that engine, and provided that Wilson learns from his miscues and gets after it in the offseason, he and the Seahawks will be fine.

There's a reason Vegas oddsmakers established them as the early favorites to win Super Bowl 50.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPManor.