People Outside Seattle Just Do Not Understand Russell Wilson

SeaTown81

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From John Clayton's ESPN Mailbag today:

Q: All I want for Christmas is for ESPN and NFL analysts to admit Russell Wilson has had absolutely nothing to do with the success the Seahawks have been having the second half of the season. Their run, just like last year's, is being driven by a dominating defensive unit that has rounded into form and has nothing to do with Wilson. Earlier in the season, when the defense wasn't hitting on all cylinders and the Seahawks needed Wilson to pick them up with the offense, he didn't do it. He couldn't do it! They were a .500 football team, and everyone was saying they probably weren't even going to make the playoffs. That's because Wilson is not a franchise QB.

Scott in Minnesota

A: I couldn't disagree more. He's 35-12 as a regular-season starter and has a Super Bowl Ring. He and Marshawn Lynch carry this team. In three years, he has moved into the elite class of quarterbacks. You can't just look at the stats. He doesn't make many turnovers, and that is critical to the Seahawks' formula for success. He's worked behind an offensive line that has struggled for two years. More importantly, he keeps getting better. The Seahawks average 24.9 points a game. That's sixth best in the NFC. Without Wilson, the Seahawks would average around 18 points a game and be a seven- or eight-win team.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12073 ... as-cowboys

The same ignorant thinking that's happened with a lot of the national media (many of whom after 3 years and a SB win, have been forced to choke on the truth) to this day continues to be barfed up by opposing NFL fans.

I don't know if it's more a sign of the average fan being ignorant and stupid, blinded by fantasy football conditioning to see the qb position as "300+ yards a game = good qb". Or if it's just a whole lot of bitter, jealous fans of teams with lackluster qb's, who do not want to admit the guy their team (who likely still needs a franchise qb) passed on is any good. I mean, why else does this idiot (likely Vikings fan) feel the need to email John Clayton and demand Wilson be given zero credit for Seattle's success?

Most NFL fans who have one team that they follow above all others are incapable of truly gauging opposing teams. They simply do not pay as close attention to the every detail as they do their own. That and odds are their own homerism for their squad generally makes them pretty biased against perceived rivals/teams they're jealous of. I get all that. But there's something about Russell Wilson that really pushes the envelope in this regard. Be it the dumbification of the common fan thanks to fantasy football (personally, I think this is culprit #1), jealously, or pure ignorance. There's something that's causing your average fan to miss entirely just what makes #3 beyond special.

Maybe I shouldn't care. Maybe as a Seahawks fan, I should be more than happy having loser Vikings fans say such things, while my team is the best in the league, winning a title and going for more. Something tells me that Russell will never get the credit he's fully due until the Hawks win thanks to him and not the defense at all. That he'll have to win "New NFL" age 45-37 games like many of the teams in this league with good qb's and terrible defenses are forced to. That he'll get more credit if he starts throwing for 350 yards and game and multiple interceptions. The more I think about it, I actually think it bothers me more how stupid the common fan is becoming in today's stats obsessed fantasy football era.

Oh well, whatever. Let Scott in Minnesota enjoy his fantasy title. I'll gladly take another Hawks Super Bowl.

Go Hawks.
 

SalishHawkFan

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........................................ ...............Russell Wilson ......Tom Brady ......Peyton Manning
W-L since Wilson entered NFL ............39-13 ...................38-13 ................39-11
2014 yards (passing+rushing) ..............4,078 ...................4,077 .................4,124
 

Mick063

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All you have to do is take a one hour drive to figure out what the median intelligence level of the general populace is. Many folks drive at the level of their incompetence, so they are easily exposed.

It applies to everything including politics. My own opinion is that we have collectively gone away from fact based intellectualism, and dove into a world of popular opinion propped up by the interconnected consciousness called the internet. There is money to be made from access to a large group of easily accessible dimwits. Hence, the infrastructure reinforces it. Clicks = $$$$ so the dimwits get an uninformed voice.

This example of the Minnesota fan is the smallest of sample size, but very representative. The fact that we are constantly exposed to it collectively pollutes our minds. Clayton should know better than to give the guy a forum, except that he used it as a platform to debunk his argument.
 

VivaEfrenHerrera

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Talk about shuttin' their mouths real quick! Boom! Numbers mean everything, you say? Well here's some, then...
SalishHawkFan":24a4s0wd said:
........................................ ...............Russell Wilson ......Tom Brady ......Peyton Manning
W-L since Wilson entered NFL ............39-13 ...................38-13 ................39-11
2014 yards (passing+rushing) ..............4,078 ...................4,077 .................4,124
 

Maulbert

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Just saw this comment on the John Clayton Mailbag article. Loved it. Thought I'd repost it here.

Who cares about elite numbers. Dan Marino put up elite numbers and never won a Super Bowl. Joe Montana never had elite numbers - nor did Roger Staubach or Terry Bradshaw - but guess what - they won Super Bowls.

Maybe the point to highlight here is that Russell is not an elite passer - but he is an elite QB. An elite QB wins games and Super Bowls. An elite passer gets a lot of passing yards.

I would rather have an elite QB instead of an elite passer.
 

joeseahawks

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But it is not only the fans, it is many talking heads in the Media, it is those "famous" radio personalities, reporters, commentators, ... etc.
I can understand fans, because they mostly follow their respective teams.
But to hear this nonsense come from talking heads and "experts" is just ridiculous ...
I want to call out people like Tim Hasselbeck, who is constantly on Cowherd program, Jorge Sedano on ESPN, Mike Gorlic, Chris Carter, ... etc. These guys have never given Russell much credit, because he is just a "game manager" and a System QB. These same guys have called Richard Sherman a "system DB", because he only lines up on one side of the D#.
I would say ... people in general don't understand the Seahawks ...
But to be honest, it doesn't matter ...
 

Anthony!

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joeseahawks":18s7fh7k said:
But it is not only the fans, it is many talking heads in the Media, it is those "famous" radio personalities, reporters, commentators, ... etc.
I can understand fans, because they mostly follow their respective teams.
But to hear this nonsense come from talking heads and "experts" is just ridiculous ...
I want to call out people like Tim Hasselbeck, who is constantly on Cowherd program, Jorge Sedano on ESPN, Mike Gorlic, Chris Carter, ... etc. These guys have never given Russell much credit, because he is just a "game manager" and a System QB. These same guys have called Richard Sherman a "system DB", because he only lines up on one side of the D#.
I would say ... people in general don't understand the Seahawks ...
But to be honest, it doesn't matter ...


Actually Carter just said Wilson should have made the Pro Bowl over Luck, and also recently said it is well known within the guys at ESPN that without Wilson the offense is nothing and this team is not even a 500 team.
 

joeseahawks

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Anthony,
Good to see that some of these guys have finally come around ...
I stopped listening to those fools a while back, because they never gave credit to a 5ft10 guy, who doesn't throw for 300 yards every game.
 

sutz

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Anthony!":1n1yis91 said:
joeseahawks":1n1yis91 said:
But it is not only the fans, it is many talking heads in the Media, it is those "famous" radio personalities, reporters, commentators, ... etc.
I can understand fans, because they mostly follow their respective teams.
But to hear this nonsense come from talking heads and "experts" is just ridiculous ...
I want to call out people like Tim Hasselbeck, who is constantly on Cowherd program, Jorge Sedano on ESPN, Mike Gorlic, Chris Carter, ... etc. These guys have never given Russell much credit, because he is just a "game manager" and a System QB. These same guys have called Richard Sherman a "system DB", because he only lines up on one side of the D#.
I would say ... people in general don't understand the Seahawks ...
But to be honest, it doesn't matter ...


Actually Carter just said Wilson should have made the Pro Bowl over Luck, and also recently said it is well known within the guys at ESPN that without Wilson the offense is nothing and this team is not even a 500 team.
Well, one could make the point that without Wilson and with Lynch, we'd be the Bills. ;)
 

hawkfan68

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sutz":3isilmig said:
Anthony!":3isilmig said:
joeseahawks":3isilmig said:
But it is not only the fans, it is many talking heads in the Media, it is those "famous" radio personalities, reporters, commentators, ... etc.
I can understand fans, because they mostly follow their respective teams.
But to hear this nonsense come from talking heads and "experts" is just ridiculous ...
I want to call out people like Tim Hasselbeck, who is constantly on Cowherd program, Jorge Sedano on ESPN, Mike Gorlic, Chris Carter, ... etc. These guys have never given Russell much credit, because he is just a "game manager" and a System QB. These same guys have called Richard Sherman a "system DB", because he only lines up on one side of the D#.
I would say ... people in general don't understand the Seahawks ...
But to be honest, it doesn't matter ...


Actually Carter just said Wilson should have made the Pro Bowl over Luck, and also recently said it is well known within the guys at ESPN that without Wilson the offense is nothing and this team is not even a 500 team.
Well, one could make the point that without Wilson and with Lynch, we'd be the Bills. ;)

Or the Cardinals or the Rams.... plenty of good defensive teams without a competent QB and a great running back. I'm happy that the Seahawks have all three.
 

el capitan

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It's a height thing coupled with the fact that he's a Seahawk, if he was 6'4 and played for the Cowboys (but had an otherwise identical career thus far) he'd already be being talked about as potentially one of the greatest of all time.

People struggle to accept things that are different and Russell Wilson is not a prototypical QB.
 

drdiags

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The problem for the common fan is what helps them identify an elite QB. The magical 300 or 4K/5K passing a year is the best they can use to know given lack of true study of the game's best. I would imagine if a QB was putting up 100 yds/game he would be judged a game manager, so what is the line of demarcation to help those that just don't want to invest the extra effort to truly understand the game?

We could say look at the YPA, but what if the number of attempts are 15-20 a game? It seems most folks want to use volume passing as an indicator that the QB is elite and not one of those "running" QB, which has its own code word associated with it.

At the end of the day you have to leave a fool to his own folly. There is no educating you can do for those who have their own preconceived concept of what makes an elite QB.

We don't know what Wilson becomes down the road. The man has the ability to be whatever type of QB he wants to be. Right now he provides for Pete what Pete wants his QB to be. Absent PC, maybe he would provide a Sean Payton the type of QB Payton wants?

I saw the disaster that was Atlanta and this man almost made a legendary comeback, only to be robbed of glory by the now world renown LOB (or Bradley's pucker job). Braylon Edwards stole his legendary pro career storybook beginning. Such is the way of the Seahawks. We do nothing without drama.

I count my lucky stars to have this "game manager" leading the Seahawks in the twilight of my life. Pound sand haters!
 

QuahHawk

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sutz":3ij2kl8n said:
Anthony!":3ij2kl8n said:
joeseahawks":3ij2kl8n said:
But it is not only the fans, it is many talking heads in the Media, it is those "famous" radio personalities, reporters, commentators, ... etc.
I can understand fans, because they mostly follow their respective teams.
But to hear this nonsense come from talking heads and "experts" is just ridiculous ...
I want to call out people like Tim Hasselbeck, who is constantly on Cowherd program, Jorge Sedano on ESPN, Mike Gorlic, Chris Carter, ... etc. These guys have never given Russell much credit, because he is just a "game manager" and a System QB. These same guys have called Richard Sherman a "system DB", because he only lines up on one side of the D#.
I would say ... people in general don't understand the Seahawks ...
But to be honest, it doesn't matter ...


Actually Carter just said Wilson should have made the Pro Bowl over Luck, and also recently said it is well known within the guys at ESPN that without Wilson the offense is nothing and this team is not even a 500 team.
Well, one could make the point that without Wilson and with Lynch, we'd be the Bills. ;)
The Bills is a pretty good example.
 

kearly

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Funny thing is, Wilson has actually been a stud in fantasy football this year. He currently ranks 3rd among QBs, and he actually has an outside shot at #1 if Luck and Rodgers fall flat again in week 17.

Wilson also put up 36+ points in week 16 which is the championship round for most leagues. To put that in perspective, 20 points is considered to be a good outing, like 100 yards for a RB/WR or 300 yards for a passer. In the game that matters the most for fantasy football, he had nearly double that amount.

Wilson is currently better in fantasy football than the consensus #1 drafted QB in August, Peyton Manning.

The antipathy for Wilson definitely isn't coming from fantasy football people. It comes from incurable laggards, who almost 100% of the time also happen to be huge morons in general. It also comes from ESPN analysts who are stuck in the 90's and oughts, and think that a QB is measured by how many 300 yard games he puts up, but not by how much he produces per snap.

Also, there are some others who know damn well that's he's good, but come up with fake reasons to hate him. This is true for 'cheat Carroll' and 'Dick Sherman' as well.
 

YYZHawksFan

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I understand him in yyz. In fact, had my jersey on today and at least one person in YYZ agreed.
 

hawknation2014

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The reality is a lot of country is still uncomfortable with the idea of a black QB, even someone as likeable as Russell Wilson.
 

HawKnPeppa

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hawknation2014":w7arveci said:
The reality is a lot of country is still uncomfortable with the idea of a black QB, even someone as likeable as Russell Wilson.

That is incorrect. He's 'not black enough.' :lol:
 

hawknation2014

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HawKnPeppa":2okc1677 said:
hawknation2014":2okc1677 said:
The reality is a lot of country is still uncomfortable with the idea of a black QB, even someone as likeable as Russell Wilson.

That is incorrect. He's 'not black enough.' :lol:

The ignorance is coming at him in both directions.
 

HawKnPeppa

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hawknation2014":3bmje9q9 said:
HawKnPeppa":3bmje9q9 said:
hawknation2014":3bmje9q9 said:
The reality is a lot of country is still uncomfortable with the idea of a black QB, even someone as likeable as Russell Wilson.

That is incorrect. He's 'not black enough.' :lol:

The ignorance is coming at him in both directions.

The 'not black enough part' is what irks me the most. He's supposed to purposely dumb himself down so he doesn't make his bros look bad. Did you notice how many of his teammates gave him props in the EZ when after the Juke-stiff arm-juke? One guy...our Stanford-grad WR. Perhaps he needs to go heavier on the Ebonics to gain some acceptance.
 

evergreen

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Mick063":39xhaavh said:
All you have to do is take a one hour drive to figure out what the median intelligence level of the general populace is. Many folks drive at the level of their incompetence, so they are easily exposed.

It applies to everything including politics. My own opinion is that we have collectively gone away from fact based intellectualism, and dove into a world of popular opinion propped up by the interconnected consciousness called the internet. There is money to be made from access to a large group of easily accessible dimwits. Hence, the infrastructure reinforces it. Clicks = $$$$ so the dimwits get an uninformed voice.

This example of the Minnesota fan is the smallest of sample size, but very representative. The fact that we are constantly exposed to it collectively pollutes our minds. Clayton should know better than to give the guy a forum, except that he used it as a platform to debunk his argument.


OMG how true! He looked all world juking that Cardinal on his way to the end zone People are seeing him on TV beating all these good teams and they have to recognize he's good. Wait until the announcers start talking him up that's when they'll know
 
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