When he takes over as a more dynamic play maker, he is almost impossible to account for. He's more aggressive in running the ball, which takes teams off balance since usually he hasn't tried to run the ball for positive yards earlier in the game. Then he gashes them with the run, and then hits them over the top with the pass.
Also, when we HAVE to have points to win a game, then we HAVE to throw it down the field. Once that threat is there, it softens up the defense a bit and Russ can either hit vertical routes or hit underneath and intermediate stuff towards the sidelines.
We haven't been stretching the field enough this year. I think that's going to change, and I honestly think Pete and Bevell are rope a doping the NFL right now. Notice all of Richardson's stuff has been intermediate passes and come backs. Towards the end of the season, in really important games (like getting into the playoffs) and the playoffs, we'll see Richardson going deeper a bit to throw more wrinkles at defenses.
I think we're going to see some different stuff all year when we play AZ. That's the leader of the pack and the ones we really need to hang two losses on.