nanomoz":2p9mw7ok said:
I really hope people watch this. Olsen was only here for a year, but he's pretty candid about saying that Russ was treated like, to use his terms, the JV squad.
Look, this season is going to suck. And Russ is going to have success in Denver. But Russ + Pete had run its course. And if they weren't going to pay him 50 million a year next offseason, they had to make this move.
Thanks for the video link! It was fascinating to hear Greg Olsen's take.
Your take is better headline clickbait, "Russell treated like JV squad QB by Seahawks coaches", lol.
IMO, Olsen did NOT say Russell was treated like the JV squad, what he said is there were limits placed on what the offense could do that puzzled him, like, "what, is this the JV squad?" and why were the coaches ruling out using certain offensive concepts, didn't they feel like the personnel on offense were capable?
Also, Olsen's time with the Seahawks was when Schotty was the OC, so it could very well be quite different under Shane Waldron. Recall that when Schotty was fired, "philosophical differences" were cited as part of the reason. It could be that now Waldron is insisting on using some of those concepts Olsen was referring to, and Russell is resisting them. (My guess)
Also fascinating in the video is Olsen describing his first conversation with Wilson after joining the team, a chalk talk meeting over Zoom, Wilson had it set up as playbook on one side of the screen, whiteboard on the other, talking over 2 minute concepts in detail, just like they were in the huddle. Olsen said he had never experienced that type of thing from his QBs (e.g., Newton) and was a little in awe after the experience.
So, Storyline 1, Russell's version, Carroll and the Hawks limited Russell, and didn't let him be the gunslinger QB he is, and forced him to function more as a game manager. Wilson wants OUT from under that restrictive thumb to a team that will put the ball in his hands, and truly "Let Russ Cook".
Storyline 2, Seahawks coaching braintrust version, we tried LRC, and it was a disaster once teams figured out how to defend him. Russell couldn't make the reads vs 2-High or make timing-based throws. It limited what the offense could do defenses had him figured out and Russell wasn't willing to make the adjustments we wanted from him.
Which storyline is correct? I honestly don't know. I'm rooting for Russell to light it up in Denver. I think they'll get a couple good years out of him. His recent predecessors at Denver QB have set the bar so low that Russell should easily be able to exceed it. Denver has a good D from what I've seen. Let's see if LRC 2.0 is more successful in Denver.
Will be massively entertaining to see which storyline plays out as more true than the other over the next couple years.