Having read a little further on the subject of Russell Wilson's weight I think perhaps I was a little hard on him in regards to the state of his conditioning. I still maintain that there is a lot that has gone on with him since the contract that has caused him to lose focus on the task at hand.
Like they tell all the other players, what you do during the off season, is your business, so long as it does not negatively effect the team. I think that the circumstances surrounding the destruction of his first marriage, the big contract, the new relationship, the coming of a baby, the business investments that have required much more than his dollars, and that have distracted his attentions from the task at hand on the field in Seattle, coupled with his religious convictions, which on one hand are admirable, are also at times troublesome, when, by his words would lead folks to think that he is ordained by God to be a great quarter back and to accomplish great things in his career. While I am not anti Christianity or any other religious belief system, I think that at times Russell has been so heavenly bound that he has become of no earthly good, and that he needs to check himself and be re minded that good things come to people who work for them. God may have blessed him with some special talents, that seems pretty clear, its up to Russell to respect and appreciate those gifts by doing the work that allows him to possess them ongoing.
I will also say that whoever they hired to do all of this injury prevention development with the team, needs to be sent packing, I'm old school in my understanding and practices in "injury prevention ". I posted several times early on in the season that it appeared to me that a lot of the players were coming in out of shape, and that this was exposing them to injuries. That my experiences had proven that extreme conditioning efforts, well above and beyond what most teams subject their players to, in readying them for the type of championship competition that the NFL season would subject them to, are not optional in my way of thinking, it is absolutely necessary if they hope to be the best and reduce the number of injuries.
Injuries in my experiences, both as an athlete and as a coach, stem from not being in the type of physical condition necessary to compete in whatever sport it is that you are competing in. Injuries are avoided almost completely when you are conditioned to endure the punishment that your body will surely need to endure in order to compete. bulking up only slows you down and makes it easier for your opponent to take you apart.
I know a lot of folks will argue, and that's okay, I just look at the facts, the experiences of others, in drawing my conclusions. I think had the Seahawk's coaching philosophy provided for a much higher standard and requirement of the players overall conditioning, that a great many of the injuries that plagued us throughout he season would have been avoided. A lot of the types of injuries that resulted in our players being taken out of the game, were conditioning related injuries, sprains, hamstrings, groin, etc.,. Even broken bone and joint injuries are conditioning related. If the surrounding muscles, tendons, and ligaments are conditioned well enough, they collectively, can often times be the difference between a walk it off, scenario and a season ending situation.
I concluded that Russell, in spite of the pre-decided weight gain decision by the coaches and himself, being a disastrous choice, he still has a lot of work to do, if he ever wants to find himself and his team on the field competing for a Super Bowl Title again, Russell needs to get back to the things that got him to Seattle and the Super Bowl. I also maintain that Russell's mindset and indecision, cost the Seahawk's about half their losses this year. Our defense failed to do their job in Earls absence, and that's not their fault or Earls fault, no defense should be so fragile that it cannot continue to function at a championship level in the absence of one or two key players. That is a reflection on the coaching staff and their philosophy being failed. If that is a sound defensive philosophy and strategy, then the unit should be able to continue executing effectively no matter who is able to play or whoever is unavailable to play on game day.