twisted_steel2":21yroo51 said:
Good article, I like the stats about getting the pass out in under 2.5 seconds. So much more to sacks then offensive line play.
Consider that in 110 times this season that Russell Wilson has dropped back to pass and got rid of the ball in 2.5 seconds or less, he has been sacked exactly one time
In the 150 times he has taken 2.6 seconds or more, he has been sacked 26 times
Russell Wilson ranks 36th in the NFL in time to throw, averaging 3.18 seconds. Only Michael Vick and Terrelle Pryor take longer
Is this Russell's still learning, and will continue to get faster? Scheme? We just don't run many quick outs, screens, slants, etc? Or the receivers not getting open?
http://www.hawkblogger.com/2013/10/the- ... ction.html
This is because we don't throw much and when we do, it's to make big plays. We're being forced to throw short passes more lately because teams are scheming away our long passes. It's not our preference.
QBs who rely on short passes to handle poor pass protection do well until they don't. Then they throw 9 picks over the course of two games, like Matt Ryan against Arizona. Russell Wilson is "multiple". If the pass protection is too bad, he can still make throwing and passing plays. At a certain threshold, when the pass rush is too fast for them, rhythm passers like Manning and Ryan start making more errors than good plays, like Manning did against Indy. And they have no back-up plan. Football teams always want to be multiple. It's no accident we have a running QB. If a team schemes away our passing attack, Wilson can still make plays, and eventually make them play more honest.
When rhythm passers are pressured, they start having to force the ball too quickly into too tight of windows. They might get away with it for a few plays, but at some point their luck runs out. On the other hand, Wilson won't do that. He tries to avoid INTs like the plague. That's why you'll hardly ever see an INT from him on a simple overthrow in the middle of the field. Almost all his INTs come on final plays of halves, batted balls, or balls that hit the receivers hands.
There are <5 guys who are really consistently good at the ball control passing attack and like I said, even they break against the best pass rushes, e.g., Brady against the Giants. We have no reason to believe that Wilson could copy them. Wilson has his own strengths and he's using them at an elite level despite enormous pressure.
Seattle optimizes for big plays first, not pretty passing attack first. A pretty passing attack is certainly on the list, we'd love to look like the last half of last year all the time, but it's not THE priority. And having correct priorities is how we ended up with an 80 yard TD to Tate that was the deciding points in the Rams game. We had the most points per yard in the NFL last year because we prioritize big plays where other teams prioritize (implicitly) yards.
BTW, no kidding throws that get out in under 2.5 seconds have a higher passer rating. If your play works, it works. That doesn't really tell you anything. You can't tell your QB "hey, throw the ball in under 2.5 seconds every time" and suddenly have a magically delicious passing attack. Don't confuse correlation with causation.
Arizona is now #2 in defensive DVOA. We scored 34 points on them last week. St. Louis is a bad match-up for us. We're 7-1 for a reason. We lead the NFC in point differential for a reason.
Last year, Wilson was 5th in the NFL last year in passer rating when holding onto the ball for >2.4 seconds. This year he's around 10 or 11. This is because the pass protection sucks.
Last year, Wilson led the NFL in holding onto the ball. He was also number one in passer rating for the last 10 games of the year and 5th for the whole year. This should be a fairly obvious clue that holding onto the ball "too long" is not a problem for Wilson. Pass protection is the problem.
