The line was objectively really bad numerous years tho with Russ here so to just say it was 100% on Russ when we lead the league in quick pressure rate or near it multiple times seems a little revisionist to me. Russ also saved us a lot with his improvising when nothing else would work because we couldn’t run block either.
Russ did cause a ton of sacks too no doubt it’s just when he was in his prime the trade off wa worth it because he could make the miracle play at such a high succession rate. Once he lost that ability it just wasn’t/isn’t sustainable. A lot of guys with similar styles suffered the same fate. Mobile QBs have to adapt as they age to stay competitive.
It's true that our OL was below par. It has been for some time. It was below par in our SB seasons, but that was back when Russell was quicker and more elusive. He could make up for their deficiencies.
Plus, defenses started getting smart. They knew that his first instinct was to break the pocket to the outside vs. stepping up into it, so they would take more of an outside rush. I can remember countless occasions when Russell would try that little reverse spin move that used to work so well but he'd run smack into an edge rusher his LT was trying to push to the outside of the pocket.
I thought that when they brought in Shane Waldron, that it was an attempt to get Russell into more of a Rams-style offense, quicker developing plays. But it didn't work. 2021 was a disaster.
What you say is true, that it wasn't all on Russell. But it's a bad combination when you take a substandard OL unit then put them under even more pressure by having them block for a quarterback that takes forever to throw the ball. The same thing happened in Denver last year when he was the most sacked QB in the league and this season where he's still in the top 3 in taking sacks. It's not a coincidence.
