It was an interesting week one in the NFL, to say the least. Kudos to Robert Griffin III, although I won’t give him my game ball, because his performance was skewed by Drew Brees’ junior college performance in the same game. My game ball goes to Mark Sanchez, who surprised most observers by brushing-off the Tim Tebow Effect with one of his best performances in leading the Jets to a 48-point hurt on the Buffalo Bills. There were plenty of goats this weekend on the quarterback side, of course; these include “elite” quarterbacks giving surprisingly subpar performances, like Brees, Aaron Rodgers and Michael Vick. But they are not my goats-of-the-week, nor is Brandon Weeden; I blame those numbskulls running the Cleveland organization for that fiasco. No, this “honor” goes to the recipient of the most nauseating variety of unjustified hype I’ve been forced to listen to since Hillary Clinton: Russell Wilson.
I tried to tell you what was going to happen, but you didn’t listen. I couldn’t believe that people here were living in this la-la land, like lemmings being led over the abyss by local sports commentators mesmerized with insane glee over Wilson. Never did anyone stop to think “This is a 5-10 rookie. No matter how ‘gifted’ he might be athletically or how his personality might be irresistible, it’s what he does when the live bullets are fired by a team that actually game-plans to nullify his strengths that counts.” Was it really necessary to point out that back-ups usually look better than established starters in the preseason?
You had fanatics “predicting” what Wilson would do in the opener; I’ve been boycotting the Brock and Salk show the last few weeks, but I heard that this maniac of illogic, Salk, made a prediction that suggested something along the lines of Peyton Manning AND Walter Payton-like numbers from Wilson. John Clayton tempered his “prediction” somewhat, to 17 of 28 for 180 yards. After all the hype directed at Wilson this summer, that was clearly the “safest” bet to make; I mean, he couldn’t possibly do worse than that, right? Wilson’s actual line went something like this:
18-34 153 yards 4.5 YPP 1 TD 1 INT 62.5 QB Rating
8 carries, 20 yards rushing 2.5 Avg.
Now, you can say that he’s just a rookie. Well, why didn’t you think that was important before? If you thought that was important, Matt Flynn would be starting. Flynn actually had experience as a starter, and HIS first start was against what is generally recognized as the best team in football, and on the road—not against a team most observers seem to believe is one of the worst in the NFC this year; Flynn only marched his team up-and-down the field against supposed defensive genius Bill Belichick, nearly leading the Packers to victory in the closing seconds before time ran out. In his second start, against another playoff team, he set franchise records in yardage and TD passes. In these games, his QB rating was 30-points higher than his preseason ratings. Yet people chose to ignore the evidence, and be subdued by the “flash.” Wilson didn't so much "beat-out" Flynn for the starting job; he was given it based on false assumptions and politics.
Before we go any further, let’s take a closer look at how the Seahawk’s offense performed when the opponent’s defense actually game-planned to stop Wilson’s particular kitchen sink skill set:
First drive sustained by a 28-yard pass interference penalty, leading to a blocked field goal attempt. Total yards gained minus the penalty: 17 yards.
After an Arizona fumble at the 42-yard line, an advance of 33 yards leading to a field goal.
A roughing the passer penalty allows Seahawks to reach own 40-yard line, then they move backward; 6 yards gained. Punt.
Mr. Downfield Passer goes 2 for 3 for 10 yards. 27-yard drive and punt.
Instead of ending the disastrous first half by getting back into the locker room and regrouping, Pete Carroll decides to go for broke in the final seconds. Wilson completes what seems to be his first completion over ten yards, to Zach Miller, but his final heave is intercepted. A 29-yard drive.
This is it???? Against this supposedly pathetic Arizona defense that was supposed to be “schooled” by this alleged phenom????
Second half. While John Skelton reverts to form, Wilson fumbles away the ball on a drive lasting all of 12 yards.
After an Arizona field goal, Leon Washington takes the kick-off 83 yards downfield. Wilson throws a TD pass to Rice on a drive lasting all of 24 yards.
After a Skelton pass is intercepted, a 10-yard drive leads to a field goal.
7-yard drive. Punt.
22-yard drive, 16 on a pass to Braylon Edwards. Punt.
Washington returns punt for 52 yards to the Arizona 16. Minus-4 yards later, a field goal.
Three scoring drives totaling 13 points, after the ball was moved forward a total of 40 yards.
When Kevin Kolb relieves Skelton, he looks unKolb-like in leading the team on an 85-yard touchdown drive to retake the lead, 20-16.
On the only offensive drive by the Seahawks longer than 33 yards, they march forth on an 18-play, 86-yard drive, twenty of it from two pass interference penalties that kept the drive alive. The drive actually lasted only 4:41—because the clock was repeatedly stopped by eight incomplete passes thrown by Wilson. Surrounding those two pass interference calls were five straight incompletions—including three from the Arizona four-yard line. Turnover on downs, Seahawks lose. Oh, did I forget to mention the phantom time out?
All told, three field goals and one touchdown set-up by two turnovers deep in Arizona territory, and kick returns of 135 yards. The offense moved a total of 73 yards on those four drives. Wilson apologists (and there are legions of them) claimed that he looked “comfortable” in the second half. He was 12-23 for 94 yards. I suppose it is one thing to look “comfortable,” but it is quite another to perform like you are “comfortable.” When it came down to “finishing” drives, Wilson did his best T-Jack imitation. In fact, more often than not he merely looked like a rookie T-Jack—and I recall just how bad that was while watching him in a late season loss to the Packers in 2006.
Leading up to this game, no one was talking about Flynn, of course—it was all Wilson, Wilson, ad nauseam. Even after this distinctly unimpressive performance that has the aroma of unreadiness at best, self-deception is preventing local commentators who are hot-to-trot on Wilson to consider that Flynn would have been the better choice to start. People prefer to dream that Wilson is just a shorter version of RG3 and Cam Newton. He’s not, and the reality is that his limitations are such that all a low-caliber defense needs to nullify him is a linebacker or safety to spy him. But instead of facing the reality that we (or rather, you) were fooled by the “flash,” the talk is how to prop-up Wilson rather than “speculate” if it would have been more intelligent to start Flynn, because of his greater readiness and past success.
But now, Seahawk fans may well be facing the consequences of a failed experiment that also is alienating Flynn—who deserved his chance, only to be upended by shameless favoritism and brainwashing. And unfortunately for Wilson and his fanboys, things are not going to get any easier these next few weeks. The question is whether Carroll will have the political courage to reverse himself, and accept the fact that his judgment suffered a hit, and admit his error. I already know that the local sports media’s credibility on the matter is shot.
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