I guess the whole Russ debate falls into the categories of "Did Pete elevate Russ" or "Did Russ elevate Pete". I'm for the latter of course, but to each their own. I think there was a tremendous weight thrown on him since 2015 on and he performed admirably. Inconsistent running games, awful Olines, game plans that were questionable at the least, etc,,,. He was good enough that 10 to 12 wins were practically automatic in his prime. Dave Krieg and Geno Smith couldn't do that.
The only year he had an inconsistent running game was 2017 and that was only because of mass injury. Our record that year was 9-7 WITH solid defensive support. Every year thereafter, our RBs averaged top 10 to top 5 production in terms of ypc.
He also didnt have to deal with a horrible defense until 2020. Before that we were middle of the pack.
But apples to apples? This is just fact - Geno Smith has never had a running game that was even top 20, let alone rop 10. And, he just this year had a defense that only over the 2nd half was anywhere close to the defenses Russ had from 2015 on.
That is just reality. In 2020 when we had a questionable D and underutilized run game, we stumbled to 12-4 and were enbarrased in the playoffs, a game where Russ finished 11-27 with a TD... for the Rams, and 2 for us. It was the defining case of ' solved by a defense that knew how he played'.
In 2021, again with a bad D and bad run game, we started with a losing record BEFORE Russ got hurt . After his rush back from injury, he was even worse.
So if you want a remotely comperable analysis of Geno v Russ with similar supporting pieces, the only years that Russ's supporting cast even remotely approached the poor play Geno has dealt with is 2020 and 2021. That is just the reality of it. Geno has had perennial bottom 3 run games, defense and o lines as a starter. Russ NEVER had those failures across 3 supporting units. It just never happened. And that is to say nothing for the fact that Russ had Schottenheimer calling plays for him in his best years and STILL waffled when the games became single elimination. And he has waffled every season since. Geno has had 2 guys that were fired.
The thing that clouds the negative aspects of Russ's play and the impact it had on the offense was that his stats were as steady as a rock, regardless of how poorly we faired overall at season's end. Even in 2021 before his injury, we were below 500 but his individual stats looked great. Those handful of games and our record are as close to a 1:1 comp between Geno and Russ under similar circumstances (same OC, poor balance running the ballx and poor defense) AND, we were among the 2 worst teams in the league at sustaining drives, plays per drive and effectiveness PASSING on 3rd down - a trend that has also been fairly consistent with Russ even after leaving Seattle. Geno, the following year took the same team, same OC, same crap defense (it was actually worse) same unreliable running game and got us into the playoffs. Nothing about the 2022 seahawks supporting cast was better than ehat Russ had when he had us below 500, despite posting his feast or famine, consistent stat lines.
