Seahawks beat themselves. Not the refs or the NFL. It was Russell Wilson.

The Seattle Seahawks now have their first losing season of the Wilson era. There’s a lot of blame to go around but start with Russell Wilson. Russell Wilson and the coaching staff that allows him to “play through it”.

Yes 12s, that missed pass interference call on what should have been a DeeJay Dallas touchdown was atrocious. But if Russell Wilson puts the ball where it needs to be, Rams LB Ernest Jones couldn’t have made the desperation play, and the Seahawks put six on the scoreboard. How many long balls did Russ throw accurately yesterday? Hmmm… the answer would be zero.

It isn’t as if this was Russ’s first bad game since his injury. Yes, he looked good against the Niners, there’s no doubt about that. If not for some unfortunate drops and fumbles, the Seahawks would have won that game by three scores. But look at the plays. The longest pass play was 33 yards, and that was his only completion over 20 yards. Now check to see how often you see the phrase, “pass incomplete deep”. Nah, don’t bother, I did it for you. Three missed passes, two completions – although those were both under 20 yards.

Russell Wilson can’t cook, and Seahawks loss is on him

I wrote a version of that headline just a few weeks ago. I said that Mr. Unlimited has been anything but that since his return from injury and that he clearly wasn’t ready to play. I think that’s even more obvious after last night. Let’s see how he’s done since then. The Texans game was an easy 20-point win. I named DangeRuss as my underachiever of the game. How could I do that, when he threw for two scores, no turnovers, and had a passer rating over 115?

It was the Texans, people. Yes, he hit on a beautiful deep strike to Tyler Lockett for 55 yards. He also missed the Seahawks best receiver on four other attempts. And please, if you don’t know that Lockett is a better receiver than Metcalf, I can’t help you. Put Lockett’s skill in Metcalf’s body, and you’d have the greatest football player ever. DK’s amazing, and can do some spectacular things, but number 16 is better.

Back to Russell Wilson. In that Houston game, he was 7-8 when throwing to tight ends and backs. On passes to wide receivers (or in the slot), Wilson was only 10-20. 50% accuracy isn’t bad, but again, we’re talking about the Houston pass defense. It isn’t terrible, but that’s only because their run defense is so pathetic, you don’t have to bother throwing the ball against them. Again, you’ll see “pass incomplete deep” over and over, with no defender listed. The pass wasn’t broken up, Russ simply missed the open man.

This brings us to the atrocious performance of Russell Wilson last night. Wilson targeted his wide receivers 17 times in the game. He completed just seven of those passes. Eight times, you’ll see the phrase “pass incomplete deep” when reading the box score. How many times did he underthrow the ball last night? I mean, besides the DeeJay Dallas pass, and the pass to a wide-open DK Metcalf that would have been another score? How many times did he overthrow the ball, like sailing it five yards past DK in the end zone? Listen, it’s not just me saying this.

“We’ve got to throw it better, and we’ve got to make sure that we make our plays.” That’s Pete Carroll after the game, quoted in The News Tribune by Greg Bell. Of course, Carroll talked about the terrible call. But as he said, what’s the point of bellyaching about it? The Seahawks can’t fix the officiating (but they absolutely should file a protest). They can’t fix covid, either, despite being the only team in the NFL that tests twice weekly, not once.

You know what they can fix, though? They can fix Russell Wilson missing on virtually every deep ball he throws. They fix that by not putting him in the game when he isn’t healthy. He still isn’t taking snaps under center. Seems to me that if your hand is still so sore you can’t handle a direct snap, it’s going to affect your throwing, too. Russell Wilson is a terrific competitor. It’s the coach’s job to tell him he isn’t ready. The season’s over. Take a seat and rest.