Broncos SB Legend Slams Russell Wilson for Putting His OL in Hot Water

Russell Wilson fell in Mark Schlereth's crosshairs after the quarterback's Week 13 performance, but does the critique hold water?

For as long as he plays quarterback for the Denver Broncos, Russell Wilson will be heavily scrutinized and criticized for his play. After the massive trade, contract, and let-down by Wilson and the Broncos’ offense in 2022, Wilson has appeared to be rejuvenated in Denver under head coach Sean Payton. 

The Broncos have been winning football games, and Wilson is likely playing the best version of quarterback fans have seen since the first half of Peyton Manning’s 2014 season. Unfortunately, the dreadful play at quarterback in Denver for the last decade has been emblematic of the team's struggles more than anything else.

The Broncos are certainly a more competent team this season than in the recent past, and the offense appears to be one with an identity; a heavy reliance on the run game, ball security, calculated deep shots, simplified reads for the quarterback, and allowing Wilson to escape and create when the situation demands it. 

This has led to a lot of exciting and heart-palpitating games in Denver this season. Despite sitting at 6-6 and being very much in the playoff hunt, some are less than thrilled with the play of Denver’s high-profile quarterback.

Count former Broncos’ offensive lineman and three-time Super Bowl champion Mark Schlereth as one of Wilson's lingering critics. After the Broncos’ offensive struggles in their 22-17 loss to the Houston Texans, where Wilson missed multiple open receivers and earned criticism from Payton afterward, Schlereth critiqued the quarterback's play and style on 104.3 The FAN's Schlereth and Evans show in Denver. 

“I could get a quarterback from Smoky Hill High School to do what Russ does… It was bad. It was just awful," Schlereth said. "First off, let’s talk about how many times you run yourself into trouble. How many times do you escape from the back of the pocket? How many times do you allow yourself to be forced out of a play? You scramble, you make a few yards, and everybody lauds you on your ability to get out of there. You are the one that put yourself into trouble.”

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Schlereth would go on to compare Wilson to one of the most famous quarterbacks to ever don the Orange and Blue, who also induced similar cardiac palpitations in the fanbase.

“It’s Tim Tebow-esque when you talk about 55 minutes of dreck, and we are going to praise you for the five minutes of good play at the end of the game? You’re the one that started the inferno," Schlereth said. "If you start the fire and you finally douse out the ashes with water. You're not the hero for putting the fire out. When it’s burned through all the fuel, and it no longer can burn anything, and it’s just ash; you don't get credit for putting it out when you are throwing a bucket of water on ashes.”

Known for being a fiery critic of wideout Jerry Jeudy and Garett Bolles through much of the Broncos left tackle’s career, Schlereth is far from being a sympathizer, nor is he soft on his analysis of the offensive line. Schlereth fairly acknowledges that the offensive line was part of the problem this past week as well, but not compared to Wilson.

“The amount of times you create the pressure, you create the sack. I am not saying that McGlinchey didn’t get shoved into the backfield a couple of times," Schlereth said. "I am not saying that they picked up every twist game because they didn’t. They got some pressure up front…. But the amount of times you put yourself or your team in harm's way is quite frankly sickening, and as a former offensive lineman, it pisses me off because it’s just not right because those guys take the brunt of the criticism. But it’s the quarterback.”

Does Schlereth's scathing critique hold water? Let's break it down and hopefully get to the bottom of it. 

Size & Play Style

Denver Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson (3) drops back in the pocket against the Houston Texans in the second half at NRG Stadium / Thomas Shea-USA TODAY Sports

The relationship and synergy between Wilson and his O-line will likely always be dubious from a play style and statistical perspective. Wilson is shorter, so sometimes he struggles to see over his offensive linemen. 

Rather than stepping up and playing through the chaos within the pocket and within structure, Wilson has made a career breaking the pocket and looking to create. While still a good athlete, at 35 years old, he doesn’t have the same acceleration and twitch he did during his early Seattle years. The current version of Wilson needs to win more consistently within the pocket while going through reads in order to succeed consistently.

Underwhelming Quick Game

Wilson has also struggled historically in the quick passing game. His average depth of target might suggest he's working the quick game, but considering Wilson ranks No. 4 in the NFL among quarterbacks with at least 150 dropbacks in time to throw at 3.10s (per Pro Football Focus), is tied for the longest time to throw under pressure in the NFL at 2.7s (per Fantasy Pros Advanced Quarterback Stats), and is leading the league in running back target share by a whopping 4%, with 26% of his targets going to the backs, these are not the metrics of an efficient, quick passing game.

Instead, it's a passing game that spams the checkdown option more than any offense in the NFL. Due to Wilson’s historical struggles in the quick game, teams with him at quarterback have had to place more onus on the run game and run blocking to move the ball consistently and make up for the lack of efficiency. 

Livin' & Dyin' by the Sword

A strong run game means that Wilson can do what he does best and look to take deep shots down the field, scramble to pick up yards, and create heavily off of play-action. This demand on the run to make up for a subpar quick game places even more responsibility on the O-line for the offense to function. With no quick game and no rushing efficiency, any offense would be feast-or-famine with struggles in consistency and playing behind the sticks on third down — often a recipe for disaster offensively.

The Broncos' perceived struggles on the offensive line are also exacerbated by Wilson’s play style, as Schlereth touched on. McGlinchey at right tackle has struggled greatly in pass protection this season, and the other starters have had their lowlights as well, but overall, the metrics indicate the Broncos’ O-line is a very strong unit compared to the league average. 

The Analytics

When combining the grades from accredited football analytical sites Sports Info Solution, the aforementioned PFF, and ESPN by Ben Baldwin of The Athletic, the Broncos have the consensus 12th-best pass-blocking offensive line this season, the NFL's seventh-best run-blocking unit, and a top 10 overall unit.

According to Composite Rankings and Analytics, averaging grades from SIS, PFF, and ESPN

The #Broncos have a Top 7 Overall Offensive Line in the NFL this season

They are the only team with a top 7 offensive line via this analysis that are currently out of the playoffs https://t.co/ZSIglXCDGk

— Nick Kendell 🏔 (@NickKendellMHH) December 6, 2023

Some may call foul to this notion, but without watching every offensive line snap in the league, it would be hard to understand the baseline of O-line play and the poor play of units across the league. Any given year, there are probably only about five NFL fanbases that are satisfied with their O-line. The rest are screaming at their TVs for their team to take “a gosh darn offensive lineman” during the draft every year.

How could the Broncos’ offensive line score high in advanced metrics and grades despite Wilson being fourth in the NFL in sacks with 36 this season? In the words of ESPN’s sports analytics writer Seth Walder.

"Sacks are a QB stat." 

On the season, Wilson has the ninth-highest rate of pressures leading to sacks (22.8) of any quarterback with 150 dropbacks. It's a number that improved over the Broncos’ win streak, but still not great. 

To counter that example, despite being pressured nearly the same amount of dropbacks this season, Buffalo's Josh Allen has just 15 sacks, and Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes has 19 — a far cry from Wilson’s 36. 

The play style of some QBs helps out their O-line more. The Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs have also lost the lowest EPA per pass this season on sacks, while the Broncos with Wilson are only better than the two teams in the Big Apple.

PFF takes it a step further as well, assessing not only an exorbitant number of sacks being on Wilson but also the pressures themselves. PFF assesses pressures and places the onus of 'blame' for a pressure occurring. On the season, Wilson has the second-highest percentage of pressure due to his play and decisions at 24.1%, only outpaced by the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts at 25.1%. Maybe sacks are a quarterback stat, after all.

The Takeaway

In the end, Schlereth was obviously being hyperbolic in stating he could find a high school quarterback to come into Denver and do what Wilson is doing. Wilson is still making a number of highly difficult throws every game, has mostly protected the football, and has been improving overall in the offense under Payton. 

However, Schlereth’s critiques are valid on how Wilson’s style of play complicates the O-line's responsibilities and how the perception is that the unit isn't doing its job when in reality, the quarterback is making life much harder.

With Wilson’s struggles in the quick passing game, the rushing attack having to compensate for those issues, and the QB's propensity to hold onto the ball, not play within structure and in harmony with the pass protection in the pocket, it might be argued a Russ-led offense is as hard on an offensive line as any signal caller not on a rookie contract in the NFL. 

The offensive linemen's job is hard, they are far from perfect, but this is not a bad unit. Unfortunately, Wilson's play is making it that much harder.

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