The National Media's Protecting of Andrew Luck

[rsm650]

I don't have cable TV, but I'm getting the vibe that many people on this board think Luck is significantly inferior to Wilson. Let me say some things from watching the Colts play:

-He keeps his composure throughout the game
-He makes amazing comebacks
-He has great running legs (for a white dude )
-His defense is garbage
-His running backs are garbage

Now, obviously the Colts are 6-3. If Luck had Beast Mode in the backfield and our defense, they'd be 9-1 like us. Also, I don't think Tavon explodes like that again for this season.

Wilson had very subpar games last year (where almost everyone was chanting to start Flynn on the Facebook page until the Bears game where the few remaining Flynn supporters shut up) but he learned quickly throughout the season (similar to his time at Wisconsin for a year). He is also a robot, capable of escaping a non-existent pocket.

Of course, since we're talking about the media here, I'd say it's only natural. The Seahawks aren't a big market team (yet), while Peyton has transformed Indy into a football media hub.

Don't worry, when Wilson wins at least 4 Super Bowls and takes us to the playoffs every year, the media will be talking about us even when we're mediocre and rebuilding!

 

[SeaTown81]

Sorry, rsm650. Most here do not think Luck is inferior to Wilson. You're missing the point entirely.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

There really is only one way to stop the madness. 2-3 Superbowl wins hopefully in succession.

 

[joeseahawks]

Is there a problem flying under the radar of the bias East Coast Media?
I think our guys (and Wilson) are perfectly fine with that.
I don't think we should sweat this stuff ...

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

its so bad they came up with some BS stat on the pre game tonight, saying that if Luck wins his next 4 our of 6 games he'll be the fastest to 20 wins by a QB. uhh, losers, Wilson already has 20 wins.

Yup when Eisen said that I immediately threw my arms up like WTF? I try to ignore this stuff and know it shouldn't bother me but I was like come on...

(Though I believe the stat was regular season wins, so after Russellmania runs wild over the Vikings this Sunday he will be the first)

Wilson is 20-6 RIGHT NOW!?! So what are you talking about? If they both win out this season it would be...

Wilson 26-6
Luck 23-9

 

[rsm650]

Sorry, rsm650. Most here do not think Luck is inferior to Wilson. You're missing the point entirely.

I probably am.. I don't have ESPN or NFL Network or anything on my TV so it's a shot in the dark :? . Also I'm not referring only to people in this thread but past ones I remember reading as well.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

Sorry, rsm650. Most here do not think Luck is inferior to Wilson. You're missing the point entirely.

I probably am.. I don't have ESPN or NFL Network or anything on my TV so it's a shot in the dark :? . Also I'm not referring only to people in this thread but past ones I remember reading as well.

The deal is it pisses off most here that in reality Wilson is equal to Luck despite the media spin. Simple as that.

 

[Kixkahn]

The media goes after every mistake Wilson makes and talks about it. When Luck makes a mistake it is someone else's fault not his. That no matter who it is they are talking about gets old. That is what I have been seeing.

 

[volsunghawk]

Maybe it's just me, but I haven't seen hardly any articles/discussions of the Seahawks's struggles on offense this year that haven't pointedly acknowledged the issues with injuries on our O-line. The O-line issues have been front and center the entire season, and writers/pundits have been acknowledging it. I have heard a couple of "Wilson's holding on to the ball too long" things being noted, and the fact is that it was true, whether due to his desire to make something happen or due to the design of the play.

I'll agree that Luck is being coddled by the media, but I'm not seeing the downplaying of Wilson like some here are suggesting.

 

[Polaris]

I'll agree that Luck is being coddled by the media, but I'm not seeing the downplaying of Wilson like some here are suggesting.

Directly, perhaps not, but I'd at least like to hear Wilson mentioned when the idiot talking heads start making up stats to make Luck look good (such as the fastest starting QB to achieve 20 victories). That last was particularly blatent disrespect.

 

[tom sawyer]

Seattle sports teams don't get much respect nationally. This from a sports fan who has lived here for 47 years (1963-1969 / 1973-present)

 

[Laloosh]

Can't even listen to ESPN today. Good thing Luck is in the league, I mean... there literally wouldn't be any other young quarterbacks to talk about if it weren't for him.

 

[canfan]

its so bad they came up with some BS stat on the pre game tonight, saying that if Luck wins his next 4 our of 6 games he'll be the fastest to 20 wins by a QB. uhh, losers, Wilson already has 20 wins.

Yup when Eisen said that I immediately threw my arms up like WTF? I try to ignore this stuff and know it shouldn't bother me but I was like come on...

(Though I believe the stat was regular season wins, so after Russellmania runs wild over the Vikings this Sunday he will be the first)

I missed that one. I did hear Eisen say that outside of the Chiefs, the Panthers had the longest winning streak at 5 games. No mention of the fact that the Seahawks share that 5 game win streak.

 

[ivotuk]

its so bad they came up with some BS stat on the pre game tonight, saying that if Luck wins his next 4 our of 6 games he'll be the fastest to 20 wins by a QB. uhh, losers, Wilson already has 20 wins.

Yup when Eisen said that I immediately threw my arms up like WTF? I try to ignore this stuff and know it shouldn't bother me but I was like come on...

(Though I believe the stat was regular season wins, so after Russellmania runs wild over the Vikings this Sunday he will be the first)

I missed that one. I did hear Eisen say that outside of the Chiefs, the Panthers had the longest winning streak at 5 games. No mention of the fact that the Seahawks share that 5 game win streak.

That's Eisen though, when he was interviewed by Seattle Media he felt it was necessary to take a jab at the "fail Mary" and a few other comments that I'm sure were meant to rile up Seahawk fans. The guy is arrogant to the point that he reminds me of those kids in school that had some underlying issues that they dealt with by trying to make others unhappy.

 

[kearly]

Kind of an apples to oranges comparison, but I remember when Lady Gaga come out with Poker Face in the summer of 2008 on youtube alongside several other songs that are considered mega-hits today, and it took about 6 months for popular opinion to catch on. There's been plenty of times I've heard great songs in other cases that took over a year to finally hit radio play, and when they finally did, they were huge, huge hits. When Lady Gaga was finally noticed many months later than she should have been, the fact that she came out of nowhere played in her favor and she became the biggest pop star of her generation.

The thing I've noticed about humanity is the following:

1) Collectively we are slow on the take. We wait until a truth has been obvious for a long time before finally accepting it. In most cases. I chalk this up to the saying "you are only as fast as your slowest."

2) When the truth finally is accepted, things often swing the other way and people over-react in the opposite manner. For example, Jake Locker was ridiculously over-hyped after a solid 2009 season, but after an injury plagued senior season that was only a little worse than his junior season, everyone thought he was a bum. Matt Barkley endured a similar ordeal.

I love the analogy as Luck being the new Favre, but I don't think that analogy will still work in five years. Eventually, just winning games with lucky bounces, officiating help, and unsustainable clutch play will regress to the mean, and people will eventually realize that Andrew Luck is a Cam Newton level passer with less dynamism as a runner. Eventually people are going to look up and notice that he's a decent but not great passer. Even this season where Luck is dramatically improved, his passer rating is right at the NFL median level.

And when that day comes, people will over-react talking about how Luck is a bust that didn't live up to his legendary potential. Which is all bullshit of course. I struggle to even name a few QBs who were drafted for their potential and lived up to it. Even the elite QBs in the NFL are basically the same guys they were in college. Brees, Manning, even Brady, all were awesome college QBs who've simply seen their game translate. Luck is the same exact guy he was at Stanford. He's more like Big Ben or the over-rated John Elway, every time people mindlessly compared him to Peyton Manning I cringed. They are absolutely nothing alike.

Luck was never a high ceiling QB. He was an extremely safe prospect with with the kind of tools that fooled overly simplistic minds into thinking he had untapped ability.

I guess we'll see how long it takes the media to realize that Luck is a 2nd tier level QB, and when they do, I'm interested to see how the pendulum swings.

At the end of the day, Luck is actually kind of a victim of all this. He has no control over what people say, he's just out there doing a job, and now he's getting antipathy from haters who hate him not because of anything he did, but because of how others kiss his ass. I admit to being a bit of a Luck hater myself, it's hard to resist sometimes when the media goes overboard hyping a guy.

 

[WilsonMVP]

Kind of an apples to oranges comparison, but I remember when Lady Gaga come out with Poker Face in the summer of 2008 on youtube alongside several other songs that are considered mega-hits today, and it took about 6 months for popular opinion to catch on. There's been plenty of times I've heard great songs in other cases that took over a year to finally hit radio play, and when they finally did, they were huge, huge hits. When Lady Gaga was finally noticed many months later than she should have been, the fact that she came out of nowhere played in her favor and she became the biggest pop star of her generation.

The thing I've noticed about humanity is the following:

1) Collectively we are slow on the take. We wait until a truth has been obvious for a long time before finally accepting it. In most cases. I chalk this up to the saying "you are only as fast as your slowest."

2) When the truth finally is accepted, things often swing the other way and people over-react in the opposite manner. For example, Jake Locker was ridiculously over-hyped after a solid 2009 season, but after an injury plagued senior season that was only a little worse than his junior season, everyone thought he was a bum. Matt Barkley endured a similar ordeal.

I love the analogy as Luck being the new Favre, but I don't think that analogy will still work in five years. Eventually, just winning games with lucky bounces, officiating help, and unsustainable clutch play will regress to the mean, and people will eventually realize that Andrew Luck is a Cam Newton level passer with less dynamism as a runner. Eventually people are going to look up and notice that he's a decent but not great passer. Even this season where Luck is dramatically improved, his passer rating is right at the NFL median level.

And when that day comes, people will over-react talking about how Luck is a bust that didn't live up to his legendary potential. Which is all bullshit of course. I struggle to even name a few QBs who were drafted for their potential and lived up to it. Even the elite QBs in the NFL are basically the same guys they were in college. Brees, Manning, even Brady, all were awesome college QBs who've simply seen their game translate. Luck is the same exact guy he was at Stanford. He's more like Big Ben or the over-rated John Elway, every time people mindlessly compared him to Peyton Manning I cringed. They are absolutely nothing alike.

Luck was never a high ceiling QB. He was an extremely safe prospect with with the kind of tools that fooled overly simplistic minds into thinking he had untapped ability.

I guess we'll see how long it takes the media to realize that Luck is a 2nd tier level QB, and when they do, I'm interested to see how the pendulum swings.

At the end of the day, Luck is actually kind of a victim of all this. He has no control over what people say, he's just out there doing a job, and now he's getting antipathy from haters who hate him not because of anything he did, but because of how others kiss his ass. I admit to being a bit of a Luck hater myself, it's hard to resist sometimes when the media goes overboard hyping a guy.

Pretty much this. I guess you could call me a "luck hater" but im more of a anti "luck lover". If you look at his stats he has just been an average QB at best. Wilson is doing something Historic. He could potentially have a 100+ qb rating for his first 2 years in the league and have more wins than ANYONE else, and he also tied mannings rookie TD record. People saying Russ is a game manager and luck is far better piss me off. Russ came into a 7-9 team and had them tied for the division with 11 wins last year and is now 9-1.

 

[hawk45]

I didn't see Luck much in college, was he not clutch and badass in college? I sure heard about him a ton, and not in the vein of "safe prospect".

I was impressed with him against us. I went into that game totally prepared to say "I knew it!!!" if it was all hype, but he managed to do a couple of things against our defense under some pretty good pressure, and that's more than some really really good QBs have managed to do against our defense. The win was an utter BS ref-gift, but sprinkled in between the outrage of bad calls were some very nice throws and plays.

Indy doesn't have the Seahawk D or rushing attack also. I can't deny in the couple of games I have watched, the ref helping has been a noticeable trend, but to even be in the games vs San Fran, Seattle, and Denver, much less win them, I have difficulty thinking an average QB with a low ceiling can do that. It's only his second year.

Nobody will be happier than me if Luck regresses to some mediocre baseline, I guess I just find it difficult to picture.

 

[DistantHawk]

Seattle sports teams don't get much respect nationally. This from a sports fan who has lived here for 47 years (1963-1969 / 1973-present)

Forgive the intrusion but the natural inquisitor inside of me is curious as to where you lived for that 4 year period?

 

[Fudwamper]

I too dislike the bung hole licking. I watched NFL network for a 30 minute show and I saw the same commercial/propaganda 3 times on how Luck is one of the all time greats.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

I too dislike the bung hole licking. I watched NFL network for a 30 minute show and I saw the same commercial/propaganda 3 times on how Luck is one of the all time greats.

It isn't just NFLN slobbering all over QBs that have proven little at this point. Don't forget that "San Fran" Ron Jaworski proclaimed Krapperdink as a future HOFer IIRC after he ripped a Green Bay defense that is like a JV squad compared to our team's or the Panthers or the other top tier defenses in the NFL (Clay Mathews notwithstanding).

Kearly: nice to see someone besides me say John Elway was overrated. Sure he's a legit HOFer but he threw into coverage and thus threw too many picks for my taste.