Good Read on Russell Wilson

[olyfan63]

You can believe whatever you choose to. The guy is a well known popular subject now, and stories both true and concocted are everywhere. Come up with a take on him and you're sure to find something that will support your narrative.

But the story I related about Russell during his minor league stint here in my hometown was completely genuine and irrefutable simply because Team 3 didn't exist back then, and even if it did, they wouldn't have been able to get to some little old lady in eastern Washington and get some hick newspaper to run with it. It aligns perfectly with many of those stories from what I regard as credible sources, so I choose to believe it.

Why can't both be true? As Sun said, "I always suspected something was off. I think team Russ did a very good job of crafting a persona and getting the organization to help prop up that persona.", which was about his Seahawks time.

Both you and Sun have captured some of the essence of Russell Wilson, just different timing, different parts of his career. With the resources of an NFL millionaire, Russell has evolved his persona and presentation and has a "staff", unlike his NC State and minor league baseball days.

I absolutely 1000% buy the story from Pasco. Absolutely, "they wouldn't have been able to get to some little old lady in eastern Washington and get some hick newspaper to run with it." It's clear Russell did work his ass off to have the early success he did.

Like others, I wonder if now with Russell and his Team 3 entourage, if Jake Heaps is mostly writing the "scouting reports" while Russell FaceTimes with Ciara about what he should wear to the ESPYs or the Met Gala, while still other Team 3 members are tasked with rounding up "recovery water" and Wolverine blood.

It's like Russell, in his head, has talked himself into believing his own false reality. Last year, IIRC, in Pete's presser, he very gently mentioned that he wanted Russell to make better decisions in certain situations, and Russell, in his own way, used his presser to tell Pete to go F*** himself, and that, he, Russell, was beyond questioning and didn't need Pete's armchair analysis. I was shocked, Russell doubling down on defending his own poor decisions.

 

[RiverDog]

Why can't both be true? As Sun said, "I always suspected something was off. I think team Russ did a very good job of crafting a persona and getting the organization to help prop up that persona.", which was about his Seahawks time.

Both you and Sun have captured some of the essence of Russell Wilson, just different timing, different parts of his career. With the resources of an NFL millionaire, Russell has evolved his persona and presentation and has a "staff", unlike his NC State and minor league baseball days.

I absolutely 1000% buy the story from Pasco. Absolutely, "they wouldn't have been able to get to some little old lady in eastern Washington and get some hick newspaper to run with it." It's clear Russell did work his ass off to have the early success he did.

Like others, I wonder if now with Russell and his Team 3 entourage, if Jake Heaps is mostly writing the "scouting reports" while Russell FaceTimes with Ciara about what he should wear to the ESPYs or the Met Gala, while still other Team 3 members are tasked with rounding up "recovery water" and Wolverine blood.

It's like Russell, in his head, has talked himself into believing his own false reality. Last year, IIRC, in Pete's presser, he very gently mentioned that he wanted Russell to make better decisions in certain situations, and Russell, in his own way, used his presser to tell Pete to go F*** himself, and that, he, Russell, was beyond questioning and didn't need Pete's armchair analysis. I was shocked, Russell doubling down on defending his own poor decisions.

We can't both be right about Russell's work habits when he first broke into the league.

What I am saying is that it is possible, perhaps even probable, that Russell's work ethic isn't what it once was in the past, that he may have changed over the years due to his celebrity status, his marriage, fatherhood, Team 3, or a whole host of other environmental conditions that didn't exist in 2012. It would explain a lot of things. Indeed, it's happened to other quarterbacks, like Cam Newton.

But in my mind, it is undeniable that early in his professional career Russell had very good work habits. He would not have had the success he had if he didn't have them, especially given his physical limitations.

You don't get to playing quarterback at a high level like he once was without a heck of a lot of refining work, and that requires a superior work ethic on both the physical aspects (throwing a football through a tire) and mental aspects (learning the playbook) of the position. It is inconceivable that he was born lazy, which is essentially what Sun is saying.

 

[olyfan63]

We can't both be right about Russell's work habits when he first broke into the league.

What I am saying is that it is possible, perhaps even probable, that Russell's work ethic isn't what it once was in the past, that he may have changed over the years due to his celebrity status, his marriage, fatherhood, Team 3, or a whole host of other environmental conditions that didn't exist in 2012. It would explain a lot of things. Indeed, it's happened to other quarterbacks, like Cam Newton.

But in my mind, it is undeniable that early in his professional career Russell had very good work habits. He would not have had the success he had if he didn't have them, especially given his physical limitations.

You don't get to playing quarterback at a high level like he once was without a heck of a lot of refining work, and that requires a superior work ethic on both the physical aspects (throwing a football through a tire) and mental aspects (learning the playbook) of the position. It is inconceivable that he was born lazy, which is essentially what Sun is saying.

Yeah, I was cherry picking the one closing sentence in Sun's post, which applied to his Seahawks time. The earlier part of Sun's post also seemed like he was extending Russell's "image management" focus back to his NC State/Wisconsin days, but I probably misinterpreted. The Pasco minor league baseball story Sun was questioning was run before SB48, so Russell was a 2nd year pro. I don't think Russell was able to do very much media manipulation until he got his first big payday. That PR staff schitt costs money that rookie contract guys would rather not spend. Geno got his jaw broken over a $600 disagreement with a teammate who was on a rookie contract.

As best as I can tell, Russell's focus and "separation in the preparation" decline kicked in when he started being invested in being a "celebrity". I don't think it's fair to blame Ciara because clearly the celebrity life is something Russell craved, or maybe he's somehow competing to outdo "Future" at celebrityhood. IMO Russell fell of a cliff in 2021, hand injury not even the biggest factor. He was too accepting of the losing, too "awshucks we lost" nonchalant when the reason the Hawks lost was that Russell failed on every 4th qtr game-winning drive opportunity.

 

[toffee]

You can watch all the videos and scouting reports, but after a couple of hits from 300lbs linemen, all that goes out the window. Compounding the fact that it's hard to see over a 6'5" wall when you're 5'10".

I often joked that we needed three Poona Fords as our interior linemen.

 

[RiverDog]

I think it's one thing not playing well and your skills declining but going by accounts in Denver, having people like Jake Heaps around despite being a non Broncos employee and other entourage along with Wilson getting his own office are rubbing the other players the wrong way and having an effect on the dressing room/culture. A lot of that stuff only flies if you are peak Brady or Manning.

I am starting to think Wilson believed the hype and genuinely thought he was going there to win MVP and spray the ball around. Ironically, it might cost him a HOF spot though, if this bad form continues.

It's a weird one. While we have the Broncos draft picks I want them to crash and burn but some of the stuff negative said about Wilson by people sounds personal and harsh. I think some of the narratives by the media/Wilson camp about the seahawks in the off season did piss me off but Wilson and the rest of the team also won us a super bowl, almost 2.

Of course, we don't know that for sure, but IMO it's a viable explanation of one of the things that

Yeah, I was cherry picking the one closing sentence in Sun's post, which applied to his Seahawks time. The earlier part of Sun's post also seemed like he was extending Russell's "image management" focus back to his NC State/Wisconsin days, but I probably misinterpreted. The Pasco minor league baseball story Sun was questioning was run before SB48, so Russell was a 2nd year pro. I don't think Russell was able to do very much media manipulation until he got his first big payday. That PR staff schitt costs money that rookie contract guys would rather not spend. Geno got his jaw broken over a $600 disagreement with a teammate who was on a rookie contract.

As best as I can tell, Russell's focus and "separation in the preparation" decline kicked in when he started being invested in being a "celebrity". I don't think it's fair to blame Ciara because clearly the celebrity life is something Russell craved, or maybe he's somehow competing to outdo "Future" at celebrityhood. IMO Russell fell of a cliff in 2021, hand injury not even the biggest factor. He was too accepting of the losing, too "awshucks we lost" nonchalant when the reason the Hawks lost was that Russell failed on every 4th qtr game-winning drive opportunity.

Russell has always been conscious of the image he projects. There was a story from back when he was at Wisconsin where he was to do a post game locker room interview, and all Russell had was a tee shirt, so he borrowed a dress shirt from a teammate to do the interview.

But as an old wise man once told me, an overdone strength becomes a weakness. Russell seems to have become preoccupied with his image to such a degree that it makes him sound like a phony or Pollyanna. He wants everyone to love him and does not want others to think that he has enemies or people he doesn't like or get along with, which we all know is impossible. He was living in a fantasy world, or at least that was the public image he was projecting.

That doesn't make him a bad person. We all have character flaws, and that's one of Russell's. Like a lot of relationships that last as long as we have had with Russell, his personality began to grate on me. He constantly talked in cliches. Everything was rainbows and unicorns. His interviews made my eyes roll. I was not unhappy to see him leave and felt that given that Pete was staying, that trading Russell was the right decision.

But I can think of a lot worse character flaws. He didn't drive drunk 95mph on an urban freeway then tell a cop that he had little dick syndrome. He doesn't have a couple dozen women from rub-and-tug joints suing him. We have to keep his personality in perspective.

 

[HawkRiderFan]

Could be a situation where he does all the preparation in the world. But there's still being able to process that information on the field in a split second and he may not be good at that. It's one thing to quiz someone or answer "what if" questions in the meeting room on where to throw on a particular play. Lot harder where the definsive backs are disguising things and d-linemen are coming at you.

It's not an either or where he can never process info or read coverages. Any pro QB can do it on some level, but Russ many not be as good at it as he thinks he is

 

[seatownlowdown]

i had soured on rw3 a few years ago. whereas people like fade claimed pete was holding russell back , i was always of the mind that wilson's negatives outweighed his fancy positives and bloated numbers. my problem with pete was that pete kept holding onto the diva, catered to him, put band aids on the roster, and refused to take the hit and fully invest and rebuild the defense or the offensive line. that finally changed this last offseason. we're headed in the right direction. but if he again trades our top picks for band aids, instead of building the team through the draft and rosterchurn, i'm right back off the pete bandwagon.

even at his peak, wilson was a limiting factor. despite his positives he couldn't see the whole field, missed initial reads/progressions, and the playbook went usually out the window. that has to be frustrating for any OC. schotty wasn't good but i don't even think bevell was bad during his tenure, he was a little naïve in that he just never figured that simple reads and scripted-open WRs would be missed so often.

it must be nice as an offensive coordinator to have a qb that simply follows the script and does what he's asked. must be nice to be able to utilize the whole playbook. must be nice to have a qb that's not a diva and doesn't need catered to. must be nice to have a qb that can be coached. must be nice to have a qb that sees open receivers and can anticipate routes. must be nice to have a qb that gets the ball out and doesn't run into soul-crushing sacks on 3rd down. must be nice to have a qb that doesn't wanna play hero ball each down.

essentially "let russ cook" became 3-5 explosives and nothing else. played into the defenses hands. negated playaction, under center usage, and a power run game. throw T.O.P. and long drives out the window. that's unsustainable and drains the defense. if we had actually drafted mahomes, he's the rare guy you let sling it 40+ times a game. but not rw3. hindsight being 20/20 i'll take geno ball / pete ball over "let russ cook" any day.

 

[BASF]

I think Wilson's version of studying film had nothing to do with watching himself and seeing how he could improve. When the players and coaches described them as scouting reports, I take it literally. He was watching film on our upcoming opponents and seeing things he believed he could exploit. What he saw was the things that went into his scouting report for the receivers to study so they would be on the same page.

 

[seatownlowdown]

chris simms on cue

 

[Milehighhawk]

I have wondered if Ciara is Russel Wilson’s Brook Shields…..

Some may understand.

 

[onanygivensunday]

I have wondered if Ciara is Russel Wilson’s Brook Shields…..

Some may understand.

Not me. I've always wondered if Brooke Shields isn't Ciara's Russell.

It's all in the brow, dude.

 

[RiverDog]

I just picked up on something else. Former Bronco WR and HOF'er Shannon Sharpe, never one to hold back his feelings (he's the one that got into it with Metcalf last year after the Pittsburgh game), has a scathing 94 second dissertation about Russell on his FS 1 show "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" with Skip Bayless in which he implied that Russell has his own office at the Broncos' practice facility, and that he's not integrating himself with his teammates.



When it rains, it pours. Piling on is an understatement. I've never seen so many people turn on a player as quickly as they've turned on Russell, unless they've gotten themselves in trouble with the law, etc. The only way to stop all this is for Russell to start playing well and for the Broncos to start winning.

 

[Donn2390]

I just picked up on something else. Former Bronco WR and HOF'er Shannon Sharpe, never one to hold back his feelings (he's the one that got into it with Metcalf last year after the Pittsburgh game), has a scathing 94 second dissertation about Russell on his FS 1 show "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" with Skip Bayless in which he implied that Russell has his own office at the Broncos' practice facility, and that he's not integrating himself with his teammates.



When it rains, it pours. Piling on is an understatement. I've never seen so many people turn on a player as quickly as they've turned on Russell, unless they've gotten themselves in trouble with the law, etc. The only way to stop all this is for Russell to start playing well and for the Broncos to start winning.

So you're saying this can't be stopped..??

 

[RiverDog]

So you're saying this can't be stopped..??

No. What I said was that the only way to stop it was to start winning.

 

[toffee]

No. What I said was that the only way to stop it was to start winning.

hard to win when there's that Pete Carroll voice in his head all the time. Borrowing a line from our own great John63, Pete Carroll living in Russ' head, rent free.

 

[projectorfreak]

But just to reiterate , you're saying this can't be stopped ,,,,,lol

 

[evergreen]

he wasn't like this originally. That happened later. Tweeting about doing knee rises? Shut the F up go win a game! How can he not understand this?

 

[acer1240]

I just picked up on something else. Former Bronco WR and HOF'er Shannon Sharpe, never one to hold back his feelings (he's the one that got into it with Metcalf last year after the Pittsburgh game), has a scathing 94 second dissertation about Russell on his FS 1 show "Skip and Shannon: Undisputed" with Skip Bayless in which he implied that Russell has his own office at the Broncos' practice facility, and that he's not integrating himself with his teammates.



When it rains, it pours. Piling on is an understatement. I've never seen so many people turn on a player as quickly as they've turned on Russell, unless they've gotten themselves in trouble with the law, etc. The only way to stop all this is for Russell to start playing well and for the Broncos to start winning.

Shannon may be a loud mouth at times but he sure as hell has credibility when talking about an NFL locker room. It's not just his public image he's losing, it's also respect from any current or former player that I've heard comment on all this stuff. Winning a few games might quiet Twitter or reddit down but his teammates that have to deal with this shit day in and day out are still going to resent/hate him.

 

[RiverDog]

Shannon may be a loud mouth at times but he sure as hell has credibility when talking about an NFL locker room. It's not just his public image he's losing, it's also respect from any current or former player that I've heard comment on all this stuff. Winning a few games might quiet Twitter or reddit down but his teammates that have to deal with this shit day in and day out are still going to resent/hate him.

What seems incredible to me is how not only Russell, but the Broncos management couldn't see the potential problems if they gave any player such obvious and blatant preferential treatment by giving him his own personal office in the practice facility. And here I thought that the Packers gave the Weird Beard special treatment when they didn't require him to follow the Covid protocols.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Russell was a full participant in yesterday's practice and was named the starter for their game vs. the Jags. This was supposed to be the soft spot in their schedule. From here on out, the competition gets tougher, with the Titans, Ravens, Rams, Chiefs x2, Chargers, etc, all teams in the playoff hunt. We could be looking at a top 5 and a mid 30's pick if the Broncos keep going sideways.

 

[BleuEyedHawk]

What seems incredible to me is how not only Russell, but the Broncos management couldn't see the potential problems if they gave any player such obvious and blatant preferential treatment by giving him his own personal office in the practice facility. And here I thought that the Packers gave the Weird Beard special treatment when they didn't require him to follow the Covid protocols.

We'll see how it goes tomorrow. Russell was a full participant in yesterday's practice and was named the starter for their game vs. the Jags. This was supposed to be the soft spot in their schedule. From here on out, the competition gets tougher, with the Titans, Ravens, Rams, Chiefs x2, Chargers, etc, all teams in the playoff hunt. We could be looking at a top 5 and a mid 30's pick if the Broncos keep going sideways.

Laughing at "Weird Beard" in addition to liking the post.