“Let Russ Cook” became a LITERAL battle cry amongst Seahawks and Russell Wilson fans after years of watching a self destructive mind numbing offense. Pete Carroll’s run first mentality is something he’s carried his entire career. And while in the short term it gave us moments like the “Beastquake”, it wasted part of Russell Wilson’s prime, and took a toll my mental health. There’s only so many 2nd & 10 hand offs for a loss of one I can watch.
Heading into the 2020 season the majority of the league was moving to a pass first, pass often mentality, while Pete seemed stubborn to change. Being tied for the 13th toughest schedule almost assuredly meant another season of stress and anxiety.
Over the last four years, on early downs in the first half of games, Seattle has passed the ball on only 50% of snaps.
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 10, 2020
That’s the 5th LOWEST rate in the NFL.
Only the Titans, Jags, Bears & Bills, and all their struggling QBs the last 4 years, have been lower.
LET!
RUSS!
COOK!! https://t.co/ADZSTtzV8I
Little Did We Know…
Seattle would leave week one not only with a win against the Falcons, but with the second highest rate of “early downs pass frequency”. A trend that would continue throughout the season garnering MVP buzz around Wilson.
No longer did Seahawks fans watch the offense run, run, pass the football into a punt. No longer would Russell Wilson take a backseat in the offense as if he was Blake Bortles. Pete Carroll finally realized he had one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game on his roster. Armed with DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett, and an improved offensive line, they averaged an NFL high 34 points per game, and had the number one total offense.
A trend that has also continued this season however is the flat out INEPTNESS of his defense. Heading into the week 10 match-up against the LA Rams, Seattle had the 32nd ranked defense per ESPN. They’re dead last against the pass, top five against the run (which doesn’t even matter), allowing 30 points per game, appear to be getting worse, and is starting to affect Russell Wilson’s play.
Russ is Cooked
The chances of this defense capturing any resemblance of mediocrity are slowly fading into the distance with Wilson’s MVP odds. Russell Wilson is 1-3 in his last four games with nine total turnovers. Against the Rams, Wilson threw the UGLIEST interception I’ve seen in his nine year career.
— PFF (@PFF) November 15, 2020
Over the last four games Russell Wilson is averaging 322 passing yards, 3 touchdown passes, and the offense is scoring 30 points. Sadly, his sorry defense over the same time span is allowing 33 points per game. If you take Wilson’s rushing yards away, the team is averaging 75 yards on the ground. Add his rushing numbers, they average 118. When people said “Let Russ Cook”, they didn’t mean carry the WHOLE organization. And Wilson isn’t dumb
He can see that his defense can’t stop a nose bleed. He takes the field every game knowing he needs to score a minimum of 30 points. Him knowing this has forced him to play hero ball, and attempt things he shouldn’t. Watching him against the Rams… he looks tired.
Russell Wilson looks tired. I wonder why pic.twitter.com/kpQzKDI3Ex
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) January 13, 2020
What Could Have Been…
Sitting on a tie for first place in the NFC West, the 6-3 Seahawks look ahead to their Thursday night showdown against the Cardinals, and I can’t help but think about what could’ve been. How many championships could the Seahawks have won if they maximized Russell Wilson earlier? Since 2012 Seattle has had five top five defenses, and seven top 15 scoring defenses. Wilson had been graded by Pro Football Focus as a top 15 Quarterback all nine years of his career, and top six in seven of the nine . Yet they haven’t made it out of the divisional round since 2014.
Russell Wilson is a first ballot Hall of Fame Quarterback, and for Pete Carroll to have allowed him to “cook” only after their defense became the worst in the league is a stain on his resume. The only thing keeping the Seahawks relevant is “Mr. Unlimited” himself, Russell Carrington Wilson.
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