Good lord. So Pete and Bevell talked it over on the sideline and agreed to the play to make Wilson the hero? Lol. At least call it like it was. Carroll and Bevell panicked due to Belichick not calling a timeout. The clueless duo got cute and called a play that Browner practiced against everyday while he was in Seattle. Browner told Butler what was coming and the rest is history. If Carroll really wanted Wilson to be the hero, he would have at least gotten the correct personnel on the field or called a play that wasnt so obvious.
Yes Wilson has weaknesses, but his strengths far outweigh them. Yes he quit on Seattle because he had to. He saw the ownership was not going to part with Carroll and he knew nothing would ever change as long as he was there, so he left. Its like beating your head off the wall. You know its not going to fall, but you keep doing it anyways. Russ was tired of beating his head off the wall in Seattle. I dont blame him at all for leaving.
Ok. The call to pass when they did in the superbowl, wasn't panicking. It was a legit call. The play? questionable. The pass? Terrible.
And Russ left because the gig was up. Literally the entire league knows his game. The offenses we ran here were tailored to him. The disconnect between he and PC was regarding how much the team ran vs passed, and how much time SHOULD have been required for Russ to get the ball out. PC - the plays are there, get the ball out ( evidence? All of 2021 when PC was complaining all season, until the last 4 games... about taking plays that were there.. and then celebrating that actually happening when Russ's backup played. And the calls for every play not needing to be spectacular is the exact same criticism Warner had of Russ to close the 2020 season. And his one dimensional, Russball offense (not PCs offense, or Waldrons, or Schottys) was just described in detail in a youtube vid i linked in a thread, questioning what exactly will change with Russ going to Denver. Ie - Denver is about to get the same Russ they saw in Seattle, because that's who he is.
Russ left because the charade wasn't working anymore. He had no more cards to play. It was time for him to pack up and take the show to a new town. He wasn't getting 50 mil here. And frankly, he might not get it in Denver either.
He wooed DK as a rookie. Had him drinking the kool-aid completely, and then even he was fed up with the nonsense of running routes that got him wide open, only to see Russ patting the ball and taking sacks, or not seeing him at all.
Yeah. His skills were amazing. But his flaws... he could sometimes overcome them in spectacular fashion. But only when he had the defense that Pete built and the running back that changed the franchise, was it enough to actually matter.
Even in our golden years, there are articles questioning why Russ's play was so shaky in the playoffs and to close out the season. That was after the Tip game vs the 9ers.
The following year... Unlimited had a 0.0 passer rating in the first half on 4 ints against the Pack.
Ryan, Lynch, Hauschka, an unknown, practice squad wr, and the LOB secured a return trip to the SB. Were it not for them, we'd never even be having these conversations about whether it was Russ who was held back or was doing the holding back. The story would have been about how our 3rd year qb literally threw away a chance to go to our second Superbowl. And everything that followed... literally EVERYTHING from that game to 2021 would have just been confirmation that Russ was good at HIS game, but not good enough to win it all.
