Russel's "Decline"

[Giblien]

(Forgive me if this has been discussed ad nausem...I am on lots of pain meds and high as a kite right now...It's prescription...stop judging )

So Russell has not been his awesome self lately (Not that he has been "bad" by any means, just not as good as he was previously this year). Why do you all think that is? Is it on Russell? Are our receivers not doing their jobs? Has it been more "stout" defenses? Bevel's Play-calling? A combination? I'd love to hear your thoughts while I am feeling so wonderfully fuzzy...

 

[ShaunPope]

Russell misfired on quite a few passes today so at least part of it is on him. He also seems very scared/hesitant to take off and run when there's lots of green in front of him.

 

[sutz]

I'm not sure Russell has been around long enough or risen high enough to have a "decline."

 

[MidwestHawker]

Pretty tough to tell without seeing coaches' film, since the regular TV view doesn't leave you anything but guessing about how open receivers are (or aren't). Likely to be a combination of him being somewhat inaccurate and receivers not doing a good enough job of getting open.

 

[Polaris]

I note that since the MNF New Orleans game (the usual demarcation point) Seattle's foes have been:

@SF, @NYG, Arz, StL,and now NO

There isn't a bad defense in the lot. Add in that the weather (esp the wind) was terrible and negatively affected both QBs. Starting late in the third qtr, New Orleans starting taking chances and started attempting a LOT of very low percentage plays (out of desperation I think), and frankly got just about every possible 'lucky' bounce their way they possibly could.

That makes Brees passing stats completely misleading. Remember that Brees had all of 34 yards in the entire first half and it's the first half that really mattered for both teams in this particular game.

 

[Canhawks]

While I agree he seems to lack a little confidence,the reality is the weather and defenses are a lot tougher now than in the first 3/4 of the year.How many QB's are going to have impressive numbers this weekend?Russell is not alone even amongst the best in the NFL right now.

 

[Polaris]

While I agree he seems to lack a little confidence,the reality is the weather and defenses are a lot tougher now than in the first 3/4 of the year.How many QB's are going to have impressive numbers this weekend?Russell is not alone even amongst the best in the NFL right now.

Indeed. You know who else had a no-touchdown pedestrian day in the weather yesterday and had to be 'rescued' by his running game?

Tom Brady

 

[ShaunPope]

Why is Russell so hesitant/scared to take off and run these days? That was such a lethal weapon for us in the 1st half of the season and it seems to have completely disappeared for some reason. I think it also helped the passing game when he did that.

 

[Polaris]

Why is Russell so hesitant/scared to take off and run these days? That was such a lethal weapon for us in the 1st half of the season and it seems to have completely disappeared for some reason. I think it also helped the passing game when he did that.

New Orleans was explicitly protecting the edges. That's one reason. The other reason was that New Orleans was clearly head hunting (watch those tapes again), and doing a lot of zone read on a wet and rainy day, is asking for:

1. A turnover
2. A QB on IR

It was the conservative play not to run so much (and Wilson did run a little), but the right call IMO.

 

[ShaunPope]

Why is Russell so hesitant/scared to take off and run these days? That was such a lethal weapon for us in the 1st half of the season and it seems to have completely disappeared for some reason. I think it also helped the passing game when he did that.

New Orleans was explicitly protecting the edges. That's one reason. The other reason was that New Orleans was clearly head hunting (watch those tapes again), and doing a lot of zone read on a wet and rainy day, is asking for:

1. A turnover
2. A QB on IR

It was the conservative play not to run so much (and Wilson did run a little), but the right call IMO.

I'm not talking about designed runs but rather when passing plays would break down and he escaped the pocket, there were a few times when it looked like he had lots of green in front of him but was very hesitant to take off and probably gets an easy 1st down.

 

[Erebus]

New Orleans was explicitly protecting the edges.

What I don't understand is why, if they're committing extra guys to contain the edge, we can't exploit that? There has to be open space those guys aren't covering across the middle. They need to use Zach Miller more. We need to run more constraint plays to make sure defenses can't focus on just one or two things.

 

[UGotHawked]

While I agree he seems to lack a little confidence,the reality is the weather and defenses are a lot tougher now than in the first 3/4 of the year.How many QB's are going to have impressive numbers this weekend?Russell is not alone even amongst the best in the NFL right now.

Indeed. You know who else had a no-touchdown pedestrian day in the weather yesterday and had to be 'rescued' by his running game?

Tom Brady

Bad example. Brady was 6/9 for 73yds on 3rd downs. Shows a QB with a good running game can have a pedestrian passing day IF he is efficient on 3rd down. I love Russ, but he was NOT sharp yesterday. Must improve on 3rd downs and I'm talking about Russ, Bevell, the receivers - the whole passing game.

 

[Polaris]

New Orleans was explicitly protecting the edges.

What I don't understand is why, if they're committing extra guys to contain the edge, we can't exploit that? There has to be open space those guys aren't covering across the middle. They need to use Zach Miller more. We need to run more constraint plays to make sure defenses can't focus on just one or two things.

Weather played a huge role in this, and yes Wilson had an off day. That was a side-to-side/swirling wind that made any pass dicey. Near the end of the game, Brees was playing with fire with the wind, and was making some very dicey and low percentage plays, but don't pretend much of that wasn't luck. It was.

 

[Polaris]

While I agree he seems to lack a little confidence,the reality is the weather and defenses are a lot tougher now than in the first 3/4 of the year.How many QB's are going to have impressive numbers this weekend?Russell is not alone even amongst the best in the NFL right now.

Indeed. You know who else had a no-touchdown pedestrian day in the weather yesterday and had to be 'rescued' by his running game?

Tom Brady

Bad example. Brady was 6/9 for 73yds on 3rd downs. Shows a QB with a good running game can have a pedestrian passing day IF he is efficient on 3rd down. I love Russ, but he was NOT sharp yesterday. Must improve on 3rd downs and I'm talking about Russ, Bevell, the receivers - the whole passing game.

It's not a bad example. For starts it wasn't nearly as windy in Foxborough as it was in Seattle. For another, Seattle's third down numbers while hardly ideal weren't completely horrific if you actually look at the stat sheet. I am not saying that Wilson was prefectly on his game (he wasn't), but I think a lot of you are being far harsher than is merited.

The details may differ, but Brady DID had a pedestrian day and NE did win in much the same way we did (minus the good defense).

 

[Axx]

In the post game russ made a comment about "the weather".
As you could clearly tell drew breese through some horrible ones also possibly due to the wind.

 

[BleedGreenNblue]

In Russell We Trust

 

[tom sawyer]

He won the game, what more can you ask of our QB?

 

[formido]

Several games against elite defenses and then yesterday's weather. Folks think throwing for 300 yards matters and it doesn't, so they start with a warped idea of what winning QB play should look like in the first place. Exacerbate that with playing top 5 defenses and 50 mph winds, and people think Wilson was worse than he was. Combine that with some legitimately missed throws and everyone thinks it's a disaster.

He should have made a couple of those slants, that was bad. However, he didn't throw to some guys who looked open downfield because we were managing risk in the wind with a lead.

Wilson did make that throw to Baldwin with everything on the line...just like Brady looked bad all game against the Saints earlier this year until he threw the game winning pass.

Think very carefully about this. Brees had ~30 yards in the first half. The only reason Brees started getting yards in the second half is that he took more risks. Brees had three INTs dropped one of those turned into 50 of his yards through an extremely lucky break. That was not good QB play, it was desperation that worked out by chance. INTs don't win football games (if you watched Luck's game, you see what I mean) and INTs are what Brees deserved.

By the way, weapons matter. SF's offense has looked much better with Crabtree. Seattle's offense has looked much better in the limited snaps with Harvin. Harvin earned us 10 points. He was the difference in this game, despite hardly playing.

 

[seahawks08]

I was at the game and I wanted to comment on not using Zach Miler. I feel he was heavily involved in designed runs on blocking schemes and given the weather, opponents were taking the underneath routes and the wind was affecting the accuracy of the deep routes.

 

[strohmin]

Brees had TWO ints that were dropped. One of those came off a big time mishap and led to a huge play. Plus the offense started to get it going and scored a touchdown on their last drive. Even if New Orleans scored, the offense might have scored.