I have been reading this site the past few weeks and have been absolutely baffled at the level of criticism and hatred thrown Russell Wilson's way for what has been nothing but expected rookie qb play. I realize Seahawks fans are excited over our awesome defense and desperately want to win NOW. But I've read a lot of Russell Wilson hate on this site that I really do not understand. If one were to only read this site or listen to sports radio and not watch the games, you would think we were watching one of the worst rookie qb's of all time. That Ryan Leaf was reincarnated in the body of a midget.

Russell Wilson is a rookie qb starting from week one. Here is a quick and simple recap of all qb's who have done the same over the past 20 years and started their team's first five games.



http://seattletimes.com/html/seahawksbl ... _comp.html

If you analyze these #'s closely, you'll note the crazy similarities between Wilson's #'s (pass attempts and yardage, especially) to that of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco's. And guess what differentiates Ryan & Flacco from the rest of the qb's on the list? They played on playoff caliber teams with really good defenses that were able to carry their teams and allow their team to play conservative on offense. Sound familiar? But then again, hey, Wilson could be putting up passing #'s like Cam Newton, Sam Bradford, and Matt Stafford, whose teams sucked, were usually losing, and led to them thowing the ball an extra 75 times compared to Ryan, Flacco & their playoff teams. Yeah, Wilson could be doing that, right? Then he would be putting up the #'s fans are demanding, yes?

I have read more than a few on this site talk of Wilson as if he has zero future and as if his play right now is 100% indicative of his ultimate future potential. Really? If so, was this the case for Peyton Manning, Drew Bledsoe, Matthew Stafford, Matt Ryan, & Joe Flacco? Did those guys never grow beyond their first 5 start #'s?

One interesting thing to note is Wilson has the 6th best qb rating of the entire 20 year list (also interesting is that 2 of the 5 better ratings belong to Luck and RG3). Not to mention Wilson is tied for the most wins of anyone. Most here can agree that at least a couple of Wilson's int's this year were mostly on his receivers (McCoy, Baldwin, Lynch). Do away with just one or two of those, and his qb rating goes up drastically. Not to mention if Braylon Edwards catches a game winning TD in AZ. Yes, those things didn't happen. But even so, Wilson measures up fairly with just about every qb that has been in the same circmstances over the past two decades.

And yet Seahawks fans demand more! Really? Would Atlanta, Baltimore, or Detroit be better off today had they benched their rookie qb's in favor of possibly more ready at the time, safer, but ultimately lower ceiling qbs? Would they be better off today in 2012 had they back in 2008 and 2009 felt it was all or nothing for their franchises and had to do whatever possible to win then, future be damned? I'm sure their fans wanted desperately to win right away. But I'll also venture to guess they as they are now, look back and are more than glad they took the route they did.

The "only" differences I can see between Matt Ryan/Joe Flacco and Russell Wilson through 5 games is perception. Not play, stats, or winning by any means. They are all basically the exact same. Rookie qb's, whose teams asked very little of them, in effort to let their superior defense lead the way. No, the only difference I see is Ryan and Flacco were highly praised 1st rounders, and Ryan and Flacco were of prototypical height. Russell Wilson is neither. Yet he to this point is matching his taller, higher drafted counterparts to the letter. But fans thought more of Ryan and Flacco. Because they were 1st round draft picks with high expectations and didn't have every expert in the land saying they are physically incapable of every being anything more than they had shown in their first 5 games in the NFL.

So that's it. The only difference between Russell Wilson's first five games and those of Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco is the people who continue to doubt and degrade this no good, 3rd round, midget who will never be any better than Mel Kiper or Hugh Millen say he will be. And this includes a good portion of Seahawks fans.

It's a polarizing debate to say the least. But when you really study the #'s, it starts to paint a much more accurate picture as to how people are seeing what they want to see. Because I can say say with 1000% certainty, that if Russell Wilson had played these exact 5 games, but was 6'4" and drafted in the first round, that most Seahawks fans would be comparing his numbers to all the other rookie starters with great pride and esteem, and confidently proclaiming that he was only to get better.

You're an interesting pyschological study, Seahawks fans. At the very least, I can say that. Thanks for the case study.

This^

Great post. Great post.

Wow! This guy really has Seahawks fans figured out!! Where have you been all our lives?

And how tall are you?

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

I've been pointing out the comparisons to Flacco for some time now. I was in Baltimore in 2008, and the similarities are eerily close. And not all us Seahawks fans are full of hyperbolic criticism.

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I blog, I tweet. When I'm not writing or goofing around on Seahawks.NET.

I hope Wilson is more like Bledsoe, and less Mirer.

I know preseason means nothing but Mirer and some of those other QB's on there never played as well as Wilson did in his preseason so that gives me a lot of hope and confidence he will be special.

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NFL, all your Owlz are belong to us!

You guys are going to let this guy off the hook without providing his height?

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

It's amazing how no one mentions Wilson's height as a problem now. Suck it haters!

You seem about 5' 8". And proportionate (if you know what I mean).

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

Are you asking him out for a drink?

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President of the Perfect Parents Society - est. 2013

Great post, the Millenites are going to hate it though.

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Hugh Millen = CBJ minus the cool beard

Sad that the boa guy feels the need to turn every thread into a joke. Sorry for bothering bringing facts and figures to the table. One would think it would stoke more conversation. Maybe I should focus more on developing schtick. Seems to be what plays on this site as Mr bestfightstory is proving.

Don't worry about the trolls. Thank you for the thoughtful post. Keep it up.

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This Wilson-Flynn debate reminds me so much of Hasselbeck-Dilfer. So many at Husky Stadium were chanting "Dilfer" with every Hasselbeck incompletion. And if those fans had their way, pretty damn good chance we don't make the Super Bowl in 2005. By all means, we must win NOW!! Screw building, and screw the future! I want a 1st round playoff loss, dammit!

Great read thanks.

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Digsbone
Alaskas Biggest Seahawks fan.

I still think we can have our first round playoff loss with the rookie QB, honestly. He doesn't need to put up huge numbers, just manage the game, which he's been doing.

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Official Tharold Simon Fan Club Member

Thanks for the post. I enjoyed looking at the numbers and comparing them.

I am a Seahawk fan who happens to think that Russell Wilson starting is best for the team. We get to figure out if he can do the job or if we need to pick somebody else next year. I am also not against Matt Flynn. If he stays ready, he'll probably get a chance due to injury.

BTW - I am over 6 foot...

Don't you take issue with the OP repeatedly referring to RW as a midget? I don't think that was called for.

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"Some people here have been groomed to accept mediocrity and lame ducks, I'm on board with the vibrato!" -SouthSoundHawk

Honestly though, this is a great post by the OP. Let's not derail this thread, remember how the asparagus thing started? Maybe on stupid threads like that. But not this one.