Anyone feel like Russell Wilson is overworking himself?

[BamKam]

He needs to use his legs. I enjoy how he is always looking down field but he needs to realize sometimes the play isn't there and just commit to the run. By the time he starts to run he is only able to pick up a couple yards now where as if he commits to it a little earlier he could probably pick up 7-8.

 

[Crizilla]

I hope he finds time during the bye week to sleep more. This whole no time to sleep thing is awesome, he's really working hard. But humans need a certain amount of sleep to function properly. Especially when you're a pro athlete. I'm not saying Wilsons recent struggles are because of a lack of sleep, I just hope he gets enough rest before jan 11th. I wanna see this offense hitting on ALL CYLINDERS come playoff time.

 

[Evil_Shenanigans]

I noticed he wore a long sleeve shirt for the game yesterday. Just sayin!

 

[Basis4day]

Defenses will always adapt to what a player does well. To an extent they have figured out what Wilson has done well and it's up to Wilson and the coaching staff to adapt to what he is facing.

 

[Crabhawk]

I don't understand why so many scoff at this notion. I work in finance and we commonly use the term "paralysis by analysis." Sometimes, you can handicap yourself by overdoing/analyzing certain things. RW played better yesterday, but he still looks off. And I don't think the OP is too far off with this idea because it really does look like RW is over thinking and not trusting what he sees like he was, for example, in the Saints game.

This was my first thought after the Cardinals game, too. There is a steep learning curve for a rookie, but because of Wilson's dedicated preparation, he was able to ascend the curve very quickly. This year he faced the challenge of teams having tape on him in the Seahawk's system and the natural flattening of the curve. I do not think it is a matter of overworking so much, but as you said, over thinking. It looks like he is trying to process everything, rather than trusting his reads and playing by instinct. He is trying to do too much. That with the o-line problems is not a good combination. I think he will settle down. At the start of the game yesterday he looked to be struggling, but once he got into a rhythm, not much was phasing him.

 

[joeseahawks]

I agree with the Original poster. RW needs to sleep more. Nobody is suggesting he should become a slacker. But there are definitely lots of situations during the game, where RW could have handled better.
There was a play during the Cards game, where RW thought it was first down, although it was clearly 3rd down. He rolled to his left and plenty of room in front of him and he could have easily picked up the first down, but he elected to throw the ball, which ended in an incomplete pass and a 3-out.
I think a well rested RW would have known the situation and made the right decision.

 

[seahawk2k]

Wow. What's next? A "Doug Baldwin doesn't seem as happy as he used to be" thread?

Teams are learning how to play him. Teams rush the quarterback differently, scheme differently and are taking away a lot of the things he instinctively does.

Last year they learned he likes to spin out of the pocket and roll around his tackle, so teams started playing that spin and based their rush angles on his back shoulder.

This year they have learned that, hey, he's short. The Seahawks don't call a lot of pass plays in the middle of the field and Russell doesn't go to that read often. The Seahawks don't do a lot of three step drops because they like to give him a deeper drop so he can see the field better. Teams have learned this. Teams have adjusted. It's up to Wilson and the Seahawks to adjust. Which they have.

And yeah, he is going to miss throws, that doesn't mean there is some kind of overarching issue. In the first quarter of a lot of games he's going to be jacked up and over throw timing patterns, like that quick out on third down on the first drive that he air mailed out of bounds. It happens, its always happened.

Also, his third receiver yesterday was Bryan Walters. The excellence that we expect from him is affected by the fact that his third receiver has been a short guy that can't get open, a fast guy that can't catch, and a guy who keeps getting hurt that needed eye surgery in order to catch a pass. The refs don't blow that pass to Willson dead and Willson catches that seam route that Wilson threw and suddenly Wilson has 260 yards and a couple tds, is he still tired and overworking himself?

He's staying in the pocket more because he is actually a better statistical passer inside the pocket, teams have adjusted their rush lanes to keep him in the pocket and when a team is dedicating one, sometimes two spies on him on any given play, more people will be open(in theory) in the passing game. He knows this.

Football is sports greatest chess match. You have a scheme and a style, your opponent has the same. You run your scheme, your opponent adjusts, then you have to adjust to the adjustment, then they have to do likewise, back and forth until one has broken the other.

At this point of the season, everyone is hurting, everyone is tired, and everyone is banged up. There is nothing "wrong" with Wilson, its just football.

 

[253hawk]

There was a play during the Cards game, where RW thought it was first down, although it was clearly 3rd down. He rolled to his left and plenty of room in front of him and he could have easily picked up the first down, but he elected to throw the ball, which ended in an incomplete pass and a 3-out.

Lynch thought it was a first down as well; one of the officials miscommunicated something on their end while signaling after the play was over. This is the same crew that nullified an obvious Cards fumble that we recovered and called a ball bouncing off the turf with clear evidence an INT for them.