Has this year stunted Russell's growth? (no pun intended)

[seabowl]

With all that has gone on this year with regards to injuries I was thinking that once we do get healthy on the OL will Russell be able to sit back in the pocket and go through reads comfortably? Has the having to bail out of the pocket on most passing plays and improvise hurt his development of being a legit pocket passing QB? I hope not but as the OL returns to it's proper form I wonder if Russel will have to almost re-learn to sit back and look for open targets without thinking it's time to take off. It will be interesting to see and I really wished he would have had a good 2nd year under his belt of being a pure passer so he could get to the next level of his career. I can't imagine how much further along Wilson would be if Russel "Glass Joe" Okung would have not hurt his toe.

 

[RolandDeschain]

WHY ARE YOU CALLING RUSSELL WILSON SHORT?

I actually asked this a week or two ago in the .NET live chat. I'm worried that all these hits might be holding him back, mentally. The NFL is adept at killing the careers of quarterbacks who have crap pass protection. Look at what happened to Bulger, among others.

 

[themunn]

WHY ARE YOU CALLING RUSSELL WILSON SHORT?

I actually asked this a week or two ago in the .NET live chat. I'm worried that all these hits might be holding him back, mentally. The NFL is adept at killing the careers of quarterbacks who have crap pass protection. Look at what happened to Bulger, among others.

That probably has more to do with the ineptitude of the Rams.

Let's bear in mind that Rodgers has 2 50 sack seasons to his name and it doesn't seem to have affected himm too much.
Granted, he drops back more giving more opportunities for sacks - and Wilson escapes pressure like no other in the league deflating his sack numbers - but coping with sacks is a matter of mental toughness more than anything else - something Wilson isn't too bad at

 

[Seeker]

Pete throwing the playbook up in the air and letting russ figure it out is a little frustrating. hits in the head due to a swiss cheese oline doesn't help either.

 

[razgriz737]

This is what has worried me the most about our O-Line issues lately. That last thing I want is for Russell to go the David Carr route.

 

[Rose City Hawk]

I'm not worried at all. Russ will come on strong when it counts and dude just refuses to lose. If this is a sophomore slump, I'll take it.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

I think you can learn to play pocket passer easier than you can learn to scramble. Easier at this juncture in his career to run out and roll off defenders. If you look at history, Roger S, Dan M, and a few others started as pocket passers and had to adjust their game to a escape kind of mentality. The same thing you ask of RW is they same thing that is gonna happen with another QB....Known as unibrow....Kaep. Sorry if I offend..he is a great qb too from the Mountain West.

 

[The Outfield]

With RW, I don't think anything can limit his growth except himself.

 

[Tech Worlds]

I worry that he will be David Carr'ed.

I think he is strong enough mentally to avoid it but is still concerns me.

For now it wouldnt hurt my feelings if he could develop happy feet and get the hell out of the pocket. That is where he is getting killed.

 

[jkitsune]

Not that worried, but it has occurred to me. I think he would be having a much more proficient year in terms of yards and TDs with better protection, but he's not having a bad year at all stats-wise, and in terms of his ability to will the Hawks to a win, he is, if anything, better. His accuracy is a bit off this year but that often accompanies pressure, and he does bail on the pocket a bit too quickly, but he's only a second-year quarterback, and he had that tendency last year too when the protection was better. I think he'll overcome that with more experience, and an eight-game stretch of miserable protection won't ruin it, particularly given his work ethic and dedication.

 

[Mitch]

The game plan: Stand in the pocket and get obliterated! Get the hell out of there early Russ, until we put together a line that can protect you!

 

[Tical21]

To be brutally honest, I actually think it has helped him grow as a QB. I saw some pretty major steps forward in the second half last week. He hasn't even had time to run and do his dancing. It has forced him to do two things. First, get rid of the ball quickly. We hit a big pop pass to Miller last week (a very quick sight pass to the TE. Once the blitz comes, the LB vacates the area, leaving a quick window for an easy completion). Our slant game is finally starting to evolve, which will allow us to punish teams for blitzing us, causing them to blitz less, opening the run game and the deeper passing game. Wait til teams try to blitz us and Wilson throws a quick slant to Harvin with 0 or 1 safeties to help. The slant to the house is a beautiful thing! Wilson also had to find Baldwin on a couple sit-down routes in the short zones, one of which he made a guy miss for a TD. He also got rid of the ball to Kearse on a beautiful fade. Russell didn't make these plays in the past, partly because he didn't have to, and partly because I don't think he really had a feel for it.

The second thing is that Russell put on his big boy pants, and stood strong in the pocket to complete some big throws knowing he was going to get popped in the face. He used to anticipate and vacate the pocket, and was getting too comfortable leaving the pocket too early.

Of course, you don't want to have to do the latter too often, so the protection needs to improve quickly, but it is very important for a QB to have the patience to know that sometimes in order to complete a big pass, you're just going to have to take the hit.

I don't worry about him becoming less resilient. With the chip he plays with, it would take a few years of this kind of beating for him to back down. It was force fed, which probably isn't the best way to do it, but Russell realizing it is in his best interest to get rid of the ball quickly when he has to is a major step forward, and will provide huge dividends down the road, as long as we don't get him killed while he learns.

 

[kearly]

I agree with Tical. Wilson is playing better now than he ever has. To flirt with a 100 passer rating behind the NFL's worst pass protection is a monumental achievement.

 

[JSeahawks]

The only possible thing i'm worried about is that he gets the David Carr syndrome of worrying about the pass rush more then the play. And I havnt seen that yet, so I think this season will just make him stronger.

 

[bestfightstory]

Great observations, Tical. And, you know, isn't it somehow fitting? RW has this 'adversity IS opportunity' ethos, afterall.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Let's bear in mind that Rodgers has 2 50 sack seasons to his name and it doesn't seem to have affected him too much.

Yeah, but look at how many years Rodgers rode the pine behind Favre, watching & learning. (It was 3; he became the starter for his 4th season.)

 

[BleedGreenNblue]

Just watch his games from the end of last year compared to this year. Different quarterback

 

[The Outfield]

Just watch his games from the end of last year compared to this year. Different quarterback

In what ways do you mean?

 

[Mtjhoyas]

Potential injury is a concern, but I do expect the beatings to subside once we get back to full strength.

That said, I think this is actually an extremely valuable growing year for RW. He started with immense expectations (along with the team), and despite overwhelming adversity, the team has won, and RW (IMO) has played extremely well considering the circumstances. Are we 8-1 with any other QB not named Manning, Brady, or Rodgers?

Now, I'm not just saying this to sugar coat some issues, but RW is such a mentally strong individual that he can handle these things. It's so corny, but it almost reminds me of the scene in Batman Begins when Liam Neeson says "will is everything." RW may not be putting up pretty #s, but when it counts he truly wills this team to win (and yes, I hate that term, but with RW, I can't help but think that when I watch him play).

Obviously, we can't be playing like this all year, every year, but for a brief period of time, I don't know how you can't say this has been an extremely valuable first half for RW and his development from a "you are gonna have to dig deep and get dirty to win" point of view. Personally, I love the idea that our QB is not a front runner when everything is going well, but falls apart when things get tough.

 

[Largent80]

I am more worried about Steve Young syndrome. He of multiple concussions. you could even throw Aikman in there as well.

At least both of them had success before retiring.