All Seahawks

What's Wrong With Seahawks QB Russell Wilson?

Once the front-runner for NFL MVP in the first couple months of the season, an extended drought by Wilson has brought those dreams to a crashing end and the Seahawks have lost three out of five as a result. Matty F. Brown analyzes why the star quarterback is mired in a prolonged slump.

Matty F. Brown

What’s wrong with Russell Wilson?

It feels crazy we’re all asking this question. Wilson has gone from leading MVP candidate to a worrying level of struggle. His vanished MVP campaign isn’t just Patrick Mahomes being Patrick Mahomes.

No, Wilson has looked flat-out bad versus certain types of defense. There were patchy spells against certain looks the Miami Dolphins and Arizona Cardinals threw at him. Reassuringly, his production remained high. Then came the real low moments, the performances that could not be overlooked or patched over against the Buffalo Bills, Los Angeles Rams, and most recently the New York Giants.

Defenses are getting smarter, more and more are built to play this kind of troubling style. Defensive Coordinators around the league should study these games and note the difficulty Wilson has experienced. This isn't an anomaly. Worse, a potential post-season opponent in the Green Bay Packers is primed to unleash similar woes.

Focusing on last Sunday, the Wilson-led Seahawks offense scored just 10 points against what was a 4-7 football team. The $140 million quarterback completed 62.8 percent of his passes for 263 yards and a touchdown. He was picked off once and turned the ball over a second time on a messy under center exchange with Ethan Pocic.

With 2020 Seattle embracing the ‘Let Russ Cook’ fan movement that the signal caller rapidly moved to trademark, everyone knows that Wilson has to play far better. On 72 offensive plays, Seattle let the 32-year old drop back 50 times versus 15 called runs in a largely neutral game state.

To those paying attention, this Wilson slump has been due. Like any player, Wilson is weaker against certain designs. In 2019, the offense experienced difficulties passing the football versus middle field open and/or nailing-down defenses like the Bengals, Eagles, and Vikings. This may not have been apparent statistically in previous years, but it’s starting to show up in 2020’s raw data.

It’s very difficult to work these middle field open coverages when you cannot attack the open space over the middle of the field. For passing success, there has to be regular horizontal and vertical conflict placed on the outside cornerbacks, the two-high safeties, and the high hole defender.

What the Giants did so successfully was blend this usage of two-high safeties, a middle run thru linebacker, and outside underneath zone corners with pre-snap coverage disguise. They would show one shell pre-snap, then spin into a different coverage post-snap. For instance: showing single high, middle field closed and then playing two-high.

Furthermore, they accounted for DK Metcalf, playing Cover 3 cloud to his side (a rerouting flat corner with a deep 1/3 over the top of him AND a post safety), plus quarter quarter half to him (an outside quarter and an inside quarter to prevent him getting deep). Tyler Lockett also got some trips attention via slot matching quarters with invert 2 accounting for an isolated Metcalf. The first read or true target Wilson wanted often was not there.

Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was also able to make Wilson uncomfortable with simulated pressure — exchanging a non-traditional rusher, often a nickel, for a traditional rusher and still sending just four at Wilson. This moved Wilson from his spot while still dropping the typical seven defenders into coverage. Wilson looked sped up and hurried by what was often merely an illusion of pressure, not pressure itself.

Wilson was sacked five times for a loss of 47, with unexpected post-snap pictures seeing him hold the football. He was hit 10 times according to Pro Football Reference and pressured on 27.8 percent of his drop backs. Jacob Hollister completely blew his pass protection assignment for one of these sacks. The offensive line played fine, although they really struggled with the “rush to contact” aspect of the Giants’ pressure scheme - with players seemingly going after the passer before dropping back into zone coverage. Mike Iupati was especially vulnerable to this.

Offensive execution was lacking away from the trenches. Seattle dropped four Wilson passes: Chris Carson twice, Metcalf and Lockett each once. The run game also suffered from a few snaps where they were unable to win with seven versus six in the box (Eight versus six if you factor in the threat of Wilson keeping the football). Carson had some uncharacteristically poor vision and patience. Meanwhile, Pocic had some reps really struggling one-on-one.

The bootleg flood plays were impacted by the intermediate deep routes being run too shallow and close to the underneath linebacker layers. This enabled easy recovery for the New York second-level defenders. It failed to punish the light boxes and heavy flow that asked of the Giants run fitters.

While acknowledging that Wilson is by no means solely responsible for this meager offensive display, a large amount of blame should be apportioned to the veteran quarterback. Whatever Brian Schottenheimer admitted in his press conferences this week about needing to call better plays, Seattle’s offense did adjust and did have plenty of opportunities to win this game comfortably. My mega video thread explains 21 of the significant plays in relation to Wilson’s display:

With another MVP campaign lost, Wilson’s attention will now turn towards winning the NFC West and securing the highest-possible NFC playoff seed. Lockett battling through injury has coincided with this low spell. Wilson is a quarterback who currently appears particularly guided by his trust in each target and their respective skill set. Currently, Lockett being diminished means Wilson has lost one of his most trusted over the middle targets. Perhaps the return of Josh Gordon and the digs he runs will be the clutch factor this attack requires.

Published
Matty F. Brown
MATTY F. BROWN

Based and born in the UK, Matty has coached football for over 5 years, including stints as a scout, defensive coordinator, and Wide Receiver/DB Coach. Asides from an Xs and Os obsession, he enjoys: other sports; eating out; plus following Newcastle United. He graduated from the University of East Anglia in 2018 with a BA in Modern History.

Home/Seahawks News