Last week in my three questions post previewing the game between the NFC West leading Arizona Cardinals and reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks one of my major questions was whether or not the Cardinals would be able to contain Russell Wilson as a runner. Wilson has some kind of fairy dust in his shoes or something because it's damn near impossible to keep him contained for a whole game. Alas, I kinda think after watching the film that asking them to keep Wilson contained was asking them to do the impossible, and for that I sincerely apologize.
How far can Russell Wilson’s legs take the Seahawks?
No quarterback has the deadly combination of awareness and wheels like Seattle’s Russell Wilson. Retired NFL defensive end Stephen White says that could carry the Seahawks a long way once again this season.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Look man, this is not hyperbole. The dude does shit that just doesn’t seem physically possible while escaping pass rushers to get out on the perimeter. It’s amazing stuff and one play in particular on Sunday is a perfect example of how hard it is to keep Wilson in the pocket.
With 11:04 left in the third quarter, the Seahawks took over on offense at the Cardinals' 24-yard line after having blocked Arizona's punt on the previous play. Wilson lined up in shotgun with running back Marshawn Lynch on his right. The Cardinals stacked eight defenders at or near the line of scrimmage, looking like they were blitzing. The whole Seahawks offensive line slid to their left in order to try to pick up the blitz. Normally the running back would then block the end man on the line of scrimmage to the right, but Lynch went out to the flat on a pass pattern. This meant there was nobody to block the end man on the line of scrimmage, so Wilson would be faced with a free rusher.
That's dicey enough, but right tackle Justin Britt got confused on his blocking assignment which made matters much worse. At first, Britt did slide to his left, but he still tried to block the end man on the line of scrimmage to his right which happened to be Cardinals outside linebacker Alex Okafor.
Wrong. WRONG!
He was too busy (apparently) busting his assignment and getting beat on the line of scrimmage by one of the worst swim moves I’ve ever seen to notice that Kelly was also running free inside of him. So now that’s two guys who are basically free runners coming at Wilson, no way he gets out of it right?
See, this is what I love about how Russell Wilson scrambles. He never seems to be caught off guard or surprised and he definitely never panics. He is just about to throw the ball when he notices Kelly and Okafor both in his face, almost simultaneously. He continues with the pump fake which gets Okafor to jump.
Side note here, because this is an issue that is really near and dear to my heart. Folks, don’t let your kids grow up to be the kind of football players who jump at a pump fake when they have a free run on the quarterback. That is not what football is supposed to be about. Jumping to knock passes down is supposed to be reserved for dudes who are stuck on a block. If you have beaten a block or nobody blocks you, it is your job, your frigging duty, to run right through that quarterback’s chest and come out of your hips on contact so as to make sure he feels it. Damn all that jumping around shit, all you are doing is giving away sacks.
But I digress.
Okafor jumped which got him too far up field and he fell down. Wilson stepped to his left away from both Okafor and Kelly after the pump fake and then took a few steps forward to try to let Kelly go by him up field as well. Kelly did manage to get a hold of Wilson, first by his jersey and then when Kelly fell to the ground he grabbed Wilson’s ankle, but he basically strong armed his way out of Kelly’s grasp. Okafor was also on the ground after trying to stop his momentum upfield and reaching out to try to tackle Wilson. He had a second bite at the apple as Wilson fought to free himself from Kelly’s clutches. Unfortunately, he fared no better on his second attempt than he had his in first and Wilson was able to run through his outstretched arm.
I forgot to mention that even though the Cardinals showed blitz initially, they actually only rushed four guys. They played zone behind their four-man rush which meant several guys kept their eyes on the quarterback in their drops. One of those dropping defenders was safety Deone Bucannon who seemed to act as a spy on Wilson in the short middle of the field. As Wilson got away from both Okafor and Kelly, Bucannon tried to come up and make the tackle on him. However, when Wilson paused for a second and faked as if he was looking to throw the ball, Bucannon made the mistake of also slowing down. That momentary hesitation was all it took for Wilson to turn on the jets and get outside of Bucannon to gain four yards.
If you have made it this far, I’m sure a few of you are like “did this asshole make me read all this about a play that only gained four stupid yards?” Yes, yes I did.
What you need to understand is how unlikely it was that Wilson did anything but lose yardage on that play. You can put almost any other quarterback in the league in that same situation, no matter how athletic, and they are going to get sacked. I don’t know how he does it, but just because he makes it look so easy at times don’t think for a minute that it actually is. Quarterbacks just do not get out of that kind of trouble, and if you are a defensive coordinator I don’t even know how you plan against it.
I also chose that play because it completely showcased what Wilson brings to the table as a runner and how he can make a positive impact for his team even when the rest of the offense is struggling. Did I say struggling? Wilson threw for 211 yards completing 17-of-22 passes, including one touchdown, and those are very efficient numbers. However, no Seahawks player listed as a receiver had more than two catches. Marshawn Lynch was the second leading receiver with three catches for 43 yards. Starting receiver Doug Baldwin and Jermaine Kearse combined for three catches and 25(!) receiving yards. Oh, and Lynch also only had 39 rushing yards on 15 carries for a 2.6 average on the game and no touchdowns.
Can you look at those numbers and say the Seahawks didn't need every bit of Russell Wilson's 73 rushing yards on 10 carries? Hell no you can't. The kid is a true dual threat weapon, one that is going to come in real handy in these later months of the season when everyone else's passing game seem to sputter. I don't know if the Seahawks can squeak back into the playoffs this year to try to repeat as champions, but I will be willing to bet that if they do, Russell Wilson's legs will have about as much to say about it as his arm will. And that isn't a bad thing at all.
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