Russell Wilson and the Quick Release

[kidhawk]

Pete's been talking for weeks about how hard they've been working on practcing those quick drop and throws that guys like Manning and Brady can use with such deadly precision. I haven't really heard much talk about it by any of the national media, and really haven't even heard much discussion about it by our own fans. I think this is a HUGE step for our offense.

Previously teams would blitz and Wilson would either make something happen with his feet or take a sack or throw it out of bounds. With this new quick release we've been seeing more of recently, he can read a defensive blitz and throw to the hot receiver. This is something I've been wanting to see out of our offense as long as Wilson's been here. Combining the rushing attack, Wilson's scrambling ability and now the ability to hit the hot read with the quick release, gives our offense enough elements to allow Wilson to use his ridiculous football intelligence to read defenses and make the proper calls on the field. This can be a real turning point in our offense and it's something that I think fits into what Bevell would be better at game planning.

It seems to be that as good as Wilson is, they've still been bringing him along behind the scenes and letting him get comfortable with new things before adding more to his repertoire. I believe these quick release passes are the last piece missing to make Wilson a complete NFL QB.

 

[hawkfannj]

It's the part of his game that he must master in order to be one of the greats!
He is not quite there yet IMHO . With that said he is on his way.

 

[kidhawk]

It's the part of his game that he must master in order to be one of the greats!
He is not quite there yet IMHO . With that said he is on his way.

He isn't all the way there yet, but he has made great strides in this area in the past month. I find the idea of him perfecting this portion of the game as something that has exciting potential for our offense and we're starting to see glimpses of it already.

 

[Lords of Scythia]

I just read a great BR report detailing Wilson's three blitz-adjusts scoring tds on third and long in the Panthers game--with Xs and Os.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2326 ... tains-form

 

[mikeak]

Honestly I am really really surprised that he has been held back this long. BUT I agree completely he has been held back. I wonder if those Arizona blitzes that led to a few sacks didn't push this issue a bit more. We all know he can do it I just wonder about the setup / practice / authority to have done some of this before

 

[hawk45]

Being killed by the blitz was such a theme around here that it led to different factions, each having Bevell, the OL, or Wilson himself as the major problem (nearly all factions agreed it was a multifactorial problem, straw man arguments aside).

Mojo dedicated a few all-22s to the subject to the delight and edification of all which I think nudged the board in the direction of "all of the above".

So with respect to improvement, I also think it isn't just Wilson who is responsible. Wilson certainly has elevated his blitz recognition (or perhaps it's more on the response side than the recognition side), but whatever, Wilson has elevated his own play.

I think our line still struggles with blitz pickup from time to time, but Wilson's improvement makes it moot. And I think Bevell's improvement has been another enabler, without which we'd still be getting killed by the blitz. We're no longer seeing all long-developing routes in blitz situations. We're seeing many more TE seam routes on obvious passing downs. We're no longer seeing PA pass on 3rd and long resulting in auto-blitzes because it doesn't fool anyone.

On the Willson TD where Britt gets worked Bevell not only has Lynch as an outlet he also has Willson right there in the vacated area. Bevell is providing Russ the options and Russ is killing it. I've gone from cowering in fear when I see blitz to perching on the edge of my chair.

It definitely has been the last frontier for Wilson as a passer. Up until now if we weren't running RO and Lynch wasn't beasting we were DRT (dead right there). Hell, often even when we did have Lynch beasting blitzing would kill our passing game. We were weak against teams with strong front sevens, even if their secondary should have been open for exploitation.

So I agree with the article. If this keeps up we will not lose. Essentially you need a great front 7 and a great secondary to take away all our options, in other words, you need the Seattle Seahawk defense.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Much of the problem is Wilson getting blitzed so heavily. I feel like I could count on one hand the number of times I've seen a three- or four-man rush against Wilson since he arrived (and that many such instances have led to a big play). Every DC over the last few years has blitzed the hell out of Wilson. They blitz him far more than they would dare blitz Manning or Brady or Rodgers. It's what you do to new quarterbacks. They haven't developed the quick decision-making or safety-net throws that they need to counter the blitz, so they're likely to make dumb mistakes (or at the very least take a lot of sacks) when blitzed.

The result is that our offensive line has been made to look worse than it is (i.e. average) by the constant rush of five or six defenders. It also puts more schematic stress on our RBs and TEs to remember and execute protections, chips, and outlet routes. It holds our OC's feet to the fire to develop those blitz-beater routes. And it requires Wilson to know by heart exactly what his options are and develop his blitz-trigger.

Naturally, those demands have created a lot of growing pains for the entire offense. NFL opponents are brutal on new quarterbacks, for good reason. And as Wilson and his offensive players grow in this area, life will get easier for everyone.

 

[Sarlacc83]

Football Outsiders has a really good set of comments on this in their weekend recap.

 

[Tical21]

Doing much, much better. I actually stated about a month ago that I had seen some skinny posts come out of his hand on time for the first time in his career. Still has miles to go though. The bad sack that he did take, he had an easy read come wide open on a skinny post against cover 1. It is the same route we've been improving with, so I am really surprised he didn't see it. Of course you would have to know the progressions to know how far down it would have been. However, at this point, we should no longer be confused by cover-1, that is a little ridiculous.

 

[pehawk]

It wouldn't surprise me, in the least, if the unboxing of this blitz-beating/quick passing attack was purposely unveiled now. Pete has an uncanny ability to coach for today and tomorrow, all at once.

 

[sutz]

Some of this is also on the receivers. We have what is still a young group overall, so I don't blame all of it on Russ Wilson.

IIRC, Baldwin made a comment about his TD pass in which he looked over at Russ and gave him the high sign about the blitz read, and Wilson acknowledged it. Result, TD. It's something they couldn't necessarily do two years ago, but now is getting more common.

It can take a while before the receivers get on the same page with the QB, and since all of our guys are young, they're growing and learning together.

 

[IndyHawk]

My thought is after you see something enough,you learn to counter it better ..When this happens the blitzes happen less often..

 

[kearly]

Like the OP says, the advent of a quick passing game is a big deal. The only question is why it took this long.

 

[sc85sis]

Honestly I am really really surprised that he has been held back this long. BUT I agree completely he has been held back. I wonder if those Arizona blitzes that led to a few sacks didn't push this issue a bit more. We all know he can do it I just wonder about the setup / practice / authority to have done some of this before

I don't think it was a question of him being held back. I think it was Pete seeing that this was an area in which Russell could improve and so they've really been emphasizing it.

He's still young. There are lots of things for him to get better at. I'd be worried if there weren't, actually.

 

[Mick063]

I haven't really heard much talk about it by any of the national media, and really haven't even heard much discussion about it by our own fans.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=104237&p=1520136#p1520136

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=104127&p=1518108#p1518108

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=104058&p=1517723#p1517723

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=102896&p=1501551#p1501551

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=102896&p=1500724#p1500724

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=98687&p=1445049#p1445049

 

[kidhawk]

I haven't really heard much talk about it by any of the national media, and really haven't even heard much discussion about it by our own fans.

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 6#p1520136

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 8#p1518108

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 3#p1517723

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 1#p1501551

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 4#p1500724

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 9#p1445049

I didn't say never. Of course there have been a few posts here and there, but they are mostly within parts of other discussions, such as the offensive line improvements. My point here is that it is something that Pete has said they have specifically been practicing to improve recently. Felt worthy of a discussion on it's own merits.

 

[Hawkfan77]

I haven't really heard much talk about it by any of the national media, and really haven't even heard much discussion about it by our own fans.

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 6#p1520136

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 8#p1518108

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 3#p1517723

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 1#p1501551

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 4#p1500724

http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f ... 9#p1445049

Someone has far too much free time...you want a cookie or something for this?

I just don't get this response...why not just add to the topic?

 

[RolandDeschain]

Like the OP says, the advent of a quick passing game is a big deal. The only question is why it took this long.

Damn good question and I'm not sure there's a legitimate answer, personally.

I'm still not convinced it'll stay, either.

 

[Scottemojo]

I prefer to call it a rhythm passing attack.

Pete has talked about this several times in the last few weeks. Every single time, he has put all the credit on Wilson finally adjusting. I think it's a big damn deal that Pete has both credited and blamed Wilson in the same sentence. Offensive lines have both good and bad games, but by and large ours takes a beating if Wilson gets sacked a few times, and a big part of it has been on him. IF I had a nickel for every time the line has been blamed for pressures where the blockers were actually outnumbered, I would be filthy rich. I am a football dork, even during live games I often pause the game and count potential rushers before the snap, pause right after the play begins to see how many actually rush, and the number of times it is at least 5 rushers is astounding. The book on Russ has been send pressure, I think that might be the worst kept secret in the NFL. On the rare occasions I see a team we face not rush 5 or more very often, I have to wonder if they ever look at our division games at all.

The emergence of a quick hitter game has been, IMO, the single biggest development Russ has had as a Hawk QB. I know a loss of big play threats hurt us this year, no Tate and no Rice was a big deal, but defenses also cheated to stop deep passes more than ever before, this new focus on the rhythm passing game is huge. Could be worth 10 points a game to our offense. Certainly will pay dividends in the red zone, where we had been languishing.

 

[Scottemojo]

Like the OP says, the advent of a quick passing game is a big deal. The only question is why it took this long.

Damn good question and I'm not sure there's a legitimate answer, personally.

I'm still not convinced it'll stay, either.

I think it has been mostly Russ. He has had to ignore his own tendencies to get this rhythm game.