Russell Wilson grade week 13: Wilson struggles again versus Giants

Russell Wilson has simply not been the same quarterback he was in the first 5 weeks of the season in the last 7.

Russell Wilson had his second-worst game of the 2020 season Sunday versus the Giants and the Seahawks lost 17-12. The offense led, of course, by Russell Wilson, was out of sync seemingly all game long. By the end, Seattle’s vaunted offense outgained a Giants team led by career-long backup Colt McCoy by just 37 yards.

Yes, the Giants have a very good defense but a quarterback of Russell Wilson’s ilk should be able to get his team to more than 17 points and 18 points would have won the game.

Wilson was sacked five times for 47 yards and a lot of that was because he simply held on to the ball too long. Wilson seemed indecisive quite a bit and this is something that is more difficult to fix many times than simply a throwing motion. Indecisiveness usually means there is doubt in the outcome of a pass and doubt and lack of confidence are one and the same.

Confidence seems to be an issue

I wouldn’t presume to say that Russell Wilson is playing without confidence in himself but I would argue that he is playing with less confidence than he was early in the season. This Seahawks team wins a lot but also wins by small margins of error. Anything less than a full belief in a play or drive or game means Seattle is a lot less likely to win.

And Seattle hasn’t been winning as much lately. Since starting the season 5-0, the Seahawks have gone 3-4. For a team that once seemed as if it could be a number one or two seed in the NFC playoffs, Seattle is likely only going to end up a 5 through 7 seed. This means road games in the playoffs.

And oddly, a big reason for Seattle’s lack of success in the last seven games is Russell Wilson. Wilson had a bad fumble on a snap against the Giants, completely his fault as he was under center and the snap was fine. Instead of falling on it, Wilson tried to pick it up but lost control and the Giants recovered. This kind of thing has happened twice to Wilson this season.

Wilson does have an interception on his stat sheet from week 13 but this was not his fault as he threw a catchable pass to Chris Carson who let the ball bounce off his hands into the hands of a Giant.

Wilson finished 27 of 43 for 263 yards with a touchdown and a quarterback rating of 78, his second-lowest of the year. He is no longer an MVP candidate this year. And unless Wilson gets the full amount of his confidence back Seattle will be lucky to win a playoff game, or heck, to even beat the Jets in week 14.

Grade: D