Seahawks' season shouldn't be squandered just to please Wilson partisans

While one Mike Salk on the local ESPN affiliate continues to make an embarrassing buffoon of himself by groveling at the feet of one Russell Wilson, one Seahawk player gave this evaluation of the Seahawk offense following the 19-13 defeat at the hands of the Rams:  “It sucks.” This was wide receiver Sidney Rice after the game, as an aside after being asked how Wilson failed to see him running wide open late in the game with no defender within telescope distance of him, although he tried to sugarcoat it with a lame excuse for Wilson. The postgame show, of course, was nothing but excuses for Wilson; these were the same people who, after all, were deaf and dumb to the national fury that was occurring outside their studio following the Seahawks’ discreditable “victory” over Green Bay last week.

The problem is that people who actually dissected Wilson’s play even during preseason could see this coming. In the fourth game against Oakland that Wilson fanatics said “didn’t mean anything”—mainly because Matt Flynn led two impressive touchdown drives without the three-straight incompletion hiccups—Wilson had a mediocre performance; one commentator on Bleacher Report noted that one problem that was less obvious in Wilson’s previous games, but which might have consequences in the future, was that he often threw the ball high, probably to compensate for his lack of height. Unfortunately for Wilson, he didn’t have scrub officials making poor calls to mask such issues—or nullify his intercepted passes, this time. You know what happens when you throw a ball too high? It gets tipped in the air and intercepted (of course, that could happen when it is thrown too low at the line of scrimmage). You know what happens when a receiver has to contort his body to angle for a poorly thrown pass? He falls down and the pass gets intercepted. 

Wilson’s lack of height also seems to factor into his repeated failure to step into the pocket, instead running around to try to find that elusive “vision.” Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports commented that “The thing that happens as soon as Wilson gets pressured is that his eye level changes and he can't find receivers downfield. He basically becomes a runner almost immediately.” And yet all you heard in the postgame show with Dori Monson and company was excuses, excuses, more excuses. This guy can do no wrong—it is everyone else’s fault. And yet we were told that Wilson’s “big hands,” his “strong arm,” his “elusiveness,” his “leadership” and countless other superlatives could compensate for every encountered problem. 

Here are some passing and rushing statistics for you:

40-63 539 yards 5 TDs 1 Int.

10 carries 150 yards 15.0 avg.

And these:

60-100 594 yards 4 TDs 4 Int.

22 carries 80 yards 3.6 avg.

The first group of numbers are the preseason stats that “justified” Wilson being named starter. The second set of numbers is Wilson’s regular season numbers through Week Four. Were Wilson’s preseason stats an accurate predictor of his regular season performance? Obviously not. You want to know a funny thing? I will tell you: Hard as it is to believe, Wilson actually makes Tarvaris Jackson look good in comparison. If we be honest, T-Jack did at least put-up numbers that resemble (but not well) that of a typical NFL quarterback. The question is if Wilson will actually be as “good” as T-Jack, and even if he becomes at least marginally better than T-Jack, is that good enough? 

Of course, the wild card in all of this is the dreaded “F-word.” After the game, I commented to one guy who is a serious football aficionado that the Seahawks needed to put Flynn in there and see what he can do, and he had no reservations in agreeing with me. Unfortunately, for all of these “fans” on the local sports radio shows who masquerade as “serious” analysts, Flynn is a dirty word that you are not supposed to enunciate. The “unfortunate” fact is that there is a solution to the Seahawks offensive incompetence, and he is unfortunately unnamable and hidden away on the bench to satisfy the personal politics of too many propagandists. Coach Pete Carroll, meanwhile, keeps preaching “competition.” That shouldn’t stop just because the season is on the line. Unfortunately, he remains moonstruck over Wilson, if the following post-game comment means anything: ''I still think he (Wilson) is improving and getting more comfortable and all that. We'll see what it all means. I don't know yet.'' Of course, offense isn't Carroll's specialty--not that it is under particularly competent care now:  The only time one of Darrell Bevell's charges finished above ranking in the mid-twenties in total offense was the 2009 Vikings--and we know who was really running the offense that year.

There is another factoid that is interesting to make note of: Since 1976, when the Seahawks entered the league as an expansion team, they have never, ever, drafted a quarterback who was successful in the NFL. I don’t see that changing this time, either. Of the team’s most competent quarterbacks, Jim Zorn and Dave Krieg were undrafted free agents, while Matt Hasselbeck was, like Flynn, acquired via Green Bay.  Here is the infamous roll call of the Seahawks’ sorry record of drafting quarterbacks:

1976 Steve Myer, New Mexico, 4th round. NFL stats: 83-160 851 yards 6 TD 14 Int.

1977 Sam Adkins, Wichita State, 10th round. NFL stats: 17-39 232 2 TD 4 Int. (none as a rookie)

1985 John Conner, Arizona, 10th round. No stats

1986 David Norrie, UCLA, 11th round. NFL stats: one pass attempt

1987 Sammy Garza, Texas-El Paso, 8th round. NFL stats: 47-106 605 yards 1 TD 2 Int.

1990 John Gromos, Vanderbilt, 12th round. No stats

1991 Dan McGwire, San Diego State, 1st round. NFL stats: 74-148 745 yards 2 TD 6 Int. (Don’t feel bad; the Raiders picked Todd Marinovich over Brett Favre, too)

1993 Rick Mirer, Notre Dame, 1st round, second overall pick. NFL stats: 1088-2043 11,969 yards 50 TD 76 Int. 

1999 Brock Huard, Washington, 3rd round. NFL stats: 60-107 689 yards 4 TD 2 Int. 

2001 Josh Booty, LSU, 6th round.  No stats

2002 Jeff Kelly, Southern Miss., 7th round. No stats

2003 Seneca Wallace, Iowa State, 4th round. NFL stats:  452-764 4804 yards 31 TD 18 Int.  Wallace may be best known for “The Run” against Texas Tech. Playing for Iowa State,  he took a snap at the 12-yard line and ran all the way back to the 32-yard line to evade two rushers, and ran down the right sideline to the ten, and then cut across clear to the other side of the field and ran to the corner to score. His numbers with Iowa State reminds one of Wilson’s at NC State. Wallace is also only 5-11. People also talked about Wallace’s athleticism and “intangibles” when he was with Seattle, but with Hasselbeck already the established starter, there was less hype than with Wilson. Draw your own conclusions.

2005 David Greene, Georgia, 3rd round.  No stats

2009 Mike Teel, Rutgers, 6th round. No stats

2012 Russell Wilson, Wisconsin/NC State, 3^rd round. I’m not waiting with baited breath on this one.