Russell Wilson

[blstoker]

People have always looked at Russell as a QB who can't pass the ball - and some were even unhappy that it was pointed out that he has thrown for at least 200 yards in each of his last 16 games, but he has shown an ability to throw the ball while at the same time he hasn't needed a huge increase in attempts to achieve his increase in production.

His numbers from his last 16 games:

Completions- 298
Attempts - 453
Yards - 4025
TD - 26
INT - 13
Rating - 101.1
YPC - 13.5
YPA - 8.9
TD % - 5.7
INT % - 2.9
Rush - 102
Yards - 566
TDs - 2
YPR - 5.5

 

[Itsmytime]

Those are some pretty decent numbers.

 

[dude82]

That's the stuff that's been bothering me, and it's sprouted up in various places on the internet over the past few weeks. A lot of people say that he's "overpaid". He's made some uncharacteristically bad decisions here and there, but I think most of them can be chalked up to awful pass protection and/or a heavier workload (although there have been a few head scratchers that didn't seem to have an external cause).

Speaking of that heavier workload... as you mentioned, he has been throwing more passes per game this year than he has in the past, but it doesn't seem to have negatively impacted his stats much at all. In fact, he's on pace to break or even shatter his previous career highs in multiple passing categories and his game against Pittsburgh only helped that along. For example, he's completing passes at a nearly 68% clip so far this year. His previous best came his rookie year when he completed just over 64%. His QB rating, albeit with five games to go, is the highest it's been in his career at 102.9. He's destroying his previous yards per game mark by more than 30 yards, is throwing for 8.5 yards per attempt and has a really good shot at besting his career high in touchdown passes. That one was looking a little more difficult until he threw his five TDs against Pittsburgh. He has thrown 8 TDs in his last two games and only needs 8 more to tie his career high and has five games to do it. Really the only major part of his game that he hasn't improved is his rushing, but even if he finished the season rushing at his current pace, he'd have the second highest rushing total of his career, which can be accounted for with the extra passing attempts.

In short, if someone wants to tell you that Wilson is overpaid, they haven't been paying attention. He's not going to be a guy who bombs it 40-50 times a game on a regular basis because that's not the offense the Seahawks run and that's not what they ask him to do, so if that's your criteria for how much a QB should be making, he's probably never going to be worth the money to you and I wish people would get that through their head.

 

[JMR]

People have always looked at Russell as a QB who can't pass the ball...

What people are those? Now I've seen and heard critics praise what he does out of the pocket while saying he isn't as good in the pocket and/or that he's not a great pocket passer, but that's a far cry from saying he "can't pass" the ball....and I also think that's a fair assessment of his first 3+ years in the league. Now last night he was GREAT in the pocket, maybe for the 2nd week in a row, but that's probably been the weakest part of his game over the years.

 

[dkmightyhammer]

I would like to point out that I watched Brock Osweiller get the ball knocked down at the line of scrimmage twice last night. 6'7" Osweiller, two blocked passes. Just pointing this out to the "Russell is too short crowd" that being smart is just as good as being tall.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

He stayed in the pocket pretty well IMO this last game. Now granted the Steelers' D is absolutely terrible, but still... He didn't seem to have as many over throws. I just saw that Gilliam was rated the highest this week out of all players according to PFF. Could be that the line is starting to gel a bit more. I predicted that very early on in the season when we were giving up all those sacks. Most important thing to O-Line is playing time together, and we're starting 3 new players (with Britt counting as new at the LG).

 

[BHF]

He stayed in the pocket pretty well IMO this last game. Now granted the Steelers' D is absolutely terrible, but still... He didn't seem to have as many over throws. I just saw that Gilliam was rated the highest this week out of all players according to PFF. Could be that the line is starting to gel a bit more. I predicted that very early on in the season when we were giving up all those sacks. Most important thing to O-Line is playing time together, and we're starting 3 new players (with Britt counting as new at the LG).

Was that before or after your threads blasting them?

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Was that before or after your threads blasting them?

Hey, no denying they sucked early on. They were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked. That said, I did post numerous times that as an O-Line continues to play together, they usually get better.

Not denying I'd still like to see Seattle draft some early O-Lineman, but we desperately need interior D-Line as well IMO.

 

[Anointed One]

Speaking of sacks, RW has only been sacked 6x's in 4 games... Looks like they figured that out, which is why you see RW staying in the pocket a bit longer translating into 8 TD's/0 INT's in last two games...

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

That's the stuff that's been bothering me, and it's sprouted up in various places on the internet over the past few weeks. A lot of people say that he's "overpaid". He's made some uncharacteristically bad decisions here and there, but I think most of them can be chalked up to awful pass protection and/or a heavier workload (although there have been a few head scratchers that didn't seem to have an external cause).

Speaking of that heavier workload... as you mentioned, he has been throwing more passes per game this year than he has in the past, but it doesn't seem to have negatively impacted his stats much at all. In fact, he's on pace to break or even shatter his previous career highs in multiple passing categories and his game against Pittsburgh only helped that along. For example, he's completing passes at a nearly 68% clip so far this year. His previous best came his rookie year when he completed just over 64%. His QB rating, albeit with five games to go, is the highest it's been in his career at 102.9. He's destroying his previous yards per game mark by more than 30 yards, is throwing for 8.5 yards per attempt and has a really good shot at besting his career high in touchdown passes. That one was looking a little more difficult until he threw his five TDs against Pittsburgh. He has thrown 8 TDs in his last two games and only needs 8 more to tie his career high and has five games to do it. Really the only major part of his game that he hasn't improved is his rushing, but even if he finished the season rushing at his current pace, he'd have the second highest rushing total of his career, which can be accounted for with the extra passing attempts.

In short, if someone wants to tell you that Wilson is overpaid, they haven't been paying attention. He's not going to be a guy who bombs it 40-50 times a game on a regular basis because that's not the offense the Seahawks run and that's not what they ask him to do, so if that's your criteria for how much a QB should be making, he's probably never going to be worth the money to you and I wish people would get that through their head.

I laugh at the people that say RW is over paid. 3 playoff apps, 2 SB app and 1 SB title should equal out to what he's getting. Looking around the league and seeing what other QB's are getting paid that has done far less, that's laughable.

 

[Anointed One]

I laugh at the people that say RW is over paid. 3 playoff apps, 2 SB app and 1 SB title should equal out to what he's getting. Looking around the league and seeing what other QB's are getting paid that has done far less, that's laughable.

Players get paid for what they've done for the most part... RW hasn't played that great this year after signing a huge contract... Up until 2 weeks ago, I personally don't believe he was earning his paycheck... Am I ok w/ his contract? Of course because he go paid for what he's done for our franchise along w/ the future of our org...

However, when you get the big pay day, the bigger the expectations are... There is a reason no one has complained about RW one time w/ the pay check he's been receiving until this season... We definitely were getting a bargain w/ RW... Now, we're not getting the bargain so the criticism will be there...

 

[JMR]

Players get paid for what they've done for the most part... RW hasn't played that great this year after signing a huge contract... Up until 2 weeks ago, I personally don't believe he was earning his paycheck... Am I ok w/ his contract? Of course because he go paid for what he's done for our franchise along w/ the future of our org...

Fans complained because that's what fans do. When the team isn't winning, they want someone to blame. The guy making the most money is the low hanging fruit. Never mind that the OL is terrible (nearly on purpose) and over the years the bulk of the cap dollars has been spent on defense.

However, when you get the big pay day, the bigger the expectations are... There is a reason no one has complained about RW one time w/ the pay check he's been receiving until this season... We definitely were getting a bargain w/ RW... Now, we're not getting the bargain so the criticism will be there...

Sure, expectations. Some expectations are not realistic. We should expect him to continue to be RW, not all of a sudden turn into Aaron Rodgers or Tom Brady just because of a raise. He's a top 10 QB, has been that way for a while, now finally making what top 10 QBs make.

 

[SonnyCID]

RW needs to dump that trash Ciara.

We talk football here, take the lame gossip page stuff to TMZ with the rest of the yentas.

 

[SonnyCID]

@phredmojo yeah, that's what I thought. You should delete more of your posts.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

@phredmojo yeah, that's what I thought. You should delete more of your posts.

I did that actually. That guy should just go away.

 

[blstoker]

We talk football here, take the lame gossip page stuff to TMZ with the rest of the yentas.

My first thought when I saw him post that was that Russell had thrown for 600 yards and 8 TDs the last 2 games, so who he's dating doesn't mean crap.

 

[SonnyCID]

I did that actually. That guy should just go away.

Oh, lol. Well either way, less of his posts are a good thing.

 

[dude82]

Players get paid for what they've done for the most part... RW hasn't played that great this year after signing a huge contract... Up until 2 weeks ago, I personally don't believe he was earning his paycheck... Am I ok w/ his contract? Of course because he go paid for what he's done for our franchise along w/ the future of our org...

However, when you get the big pay day, the bigger the expectations are... There is a reason no one has complained about RW one time w/ the pay check he's been receiving until this season... We definitely were getting a bargain w/ RW... Now, we're not getting the bargain so the criticism will be there...

He's on pace to set a bunch of career highs. When you consider that he still has to operate within the parameters of the offensive scheme he's told to run, I'm not sure what else he can do to "play great". He's made some bad decisions as all quarterbacks do when their offensive line is a turnstile, but all things considered, he's having a career year so far. Really the only thing that is lacking a bit for him this year is the running aspect of his game. He has a chance to match his second highest single season total if he runs for about 30 yards a game the rest of the season, but his rushing attempts, either planned or improvised, are down from previous years and I can't say I blame him. He's been getting crushed when he tries to pass and trying to run leaves him open to getting crushed even more.

 

[flyerhawk]

Here are some interesting numbers...

Five numbers that matter with Seahawks QB Russell Wilson

Russell Wilson has the No. 2 passer rating inside the pocket.
He's completing 71% of his throws inside the pocket, best in the league.
Wilson has the No. 2 career passer rating in NFL history behind Aaron Rodgers.

The more you look at the numbers the clearer it becomes that Wilson's performances have more or less be directly tied to the amount of protection he gets.

 

[chf]

FROM THAT SAME LINK:

"But the last two weeks have served as a good reminder that he is still a relatively young quarterback who has the ability to develop. A month or two from now, it's possible that the discussion of what his ceiling could be and what type of quarterback he is could be different than it is currently."

This is the part that Seahawk fans forget. We've got another 10 years (injury notwithstanding) to watch him continue to develop and get better.