Jack Merlino
At the beginning of this NFL Week 7, the Seattle Seahawks wrapped up an easy 20-3 win over the hapless San Francisco 49ers. The game was effectively over from the start; Seattle jumped out to a 3-score lead by halftime and it never felt like San Fran was even playing. Seattle had the game won on the legs of Marshawn Lynch, who plowed through 49er defenders like they were in freshmen in high school. Thank goodness too, because with his two picks, it seemed like Seattle QB Russell Wilson was doing everything in his power to give the game away.
There's so much evidence that Wilson is a mediocre QB, I'm still trying to gather my thoughts and choose which juicy point to attack on first. Well, let's talk about the Seahawks' offseason. They used their 1st round pick to acquire tight end Jimmy Graham, who would be the undisputed best in the league if it weren't for Rob Gronkowski. With their 3rd round pick, they drafted wideout Tyler Lockett. That's two new weapons to use. Yet, here are the Seahawks- 3rd in their division, 3-4, and failing to score more than 24 points in four of their games. Three times they've failed to score more than 20. Twice they've been held to the teens.
Now, the Seahawks haven't had a stud wideout since their Super bowl-winning year, when Percy Harvin was still extremely productive. That can pretty much be overlooked now. As far as WRs go, the Seahawks still have competent starters in Doug Baldwin, Tyler Lockett, and Jermaine Kearse.
Now add the best bruising back in football, Marshawn Lynch.
Remember Jimmy Graham? The Seahawks have no excuse for such futility on offense. And it all comes down to the quarterback.
Here's some teams who average more yards per game than Seattle: Detroit, Cleveland...actually who am I kidding? It'd be easier to name the teams who average FEWER yards per game than Seattle: Bills, Panthers, Vikings, Rams, 49ers. It should be noted at this point that the 'Hawks have lost to two of those teams. Also worth noting is that besides (perhaps) Carolina with Cam Newton, none of those five teams have a good quarterback (I say that with a heavy heart; I liked Nick Foles in Philly).
Back to Wilson. He's simply a mediocre quarterback who has the ability to extend plays with his athletic ability. He should be given credit where credit is due; by my own recollection, he's the closest to a 'running quarterback' to have ever won a Super bowl.
Pure runners, guys who seem like wide receivers told to throw the ball 30 times a game, like Michael Vick, Randall Cunningham, and Colin Kaepernick have come close, but all come up short at one stage or another (and it doesn't look like that statement is changing any time soon for Kap).
Somehow, Wilson is as high as 6th in the league in passing yards. His rank takes a bit of a dive when you look at TD passes- he is tied for 14th. Ahead of him? MVP candidates such as Tyrod Taylor, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Matt Stafford, Sam Freaking Bradford.
"At least he makes up for that in his rushing," you'd be correct to say any other year. He has yet to score a rushing touchdown this season. He's averaging about 38 yards of rushing per game. So far this season, he's also tied a career low in yards per rushing attempt, with 5.2.
So what's the conclusion of all this data? Simply that once his legs are taken out of the equation, he's as average as the 16th-best starting quarterback in the league.
Perhaps teams are finally figuring something out with him. Or heck, maybe teams believe in him as a passer even less than I do, and are selling out in the passing game in order to focus on keeping Wilson contained at the line of scrimmage (this would lend evidence to how he's totaled so many passing yards, despite not having a SINGLE 300-yard passing game this year, fwiw).
Whatever they're doing, it's working. And Wilson, for all the weapons he's given, just can't put the ball in the endzone on a regular basis. That they're only two games out of 1st place is a testament to how good the defense is (the same defense that's been lit up for 27+ points in 4/7 games so far, but that's for another story).
But that's football. Rosters change. Teams evolve. Out with the old and in with the new, as the cliché goes. It's starting to look like Russell Wilson's Seahawks are old news.
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