Breakdown on the 7 sacks, and more.

There has been a lot of speculation about why so many sacks.

I hope this is helpful

The first sack.


A look at a good pocket after about 3 seconds. It's time to throw or scramble. Russ scrambles and runs right into a sack. I do not know how you lay this one on a lineman. Time enough to make a pass, good pocket.
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The second sack. Presnap look, notice how there are 6 potential rushers and 5 blockers.


And just as the snap arrives in Wilson's hands.


This play is dead on arrival, should have never been run. Empty set vs 6 blockers, better at least have an instant hot read, and even then your QB is likely to get smoked.
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The third sack. Cards blitz 5 vs empty again.
The pocket looked like this:


That ball has to get out of Russell's hands now. It doesn't. sack. Not a bad pocket at all, especially vs a blitz.
Here is Russell's view:

That ball has to be gone, Russ.
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The 4th sack. Seattle fakes an out to the right, sets up a screen left. Another horrid play design, if they were going to let the right side run free to set up the screen so they could get 3 guys out on the screen block, the play fake right was always going to take too long. By the time Russ flips his hips left, he is wearing a 300 pound dude. But you cannot hang this one on Bailey, the free release he gives his guy is part of the play.

Another bad play design, unless the play fake right was Russ's idea, which I doubt.
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The 5th sack.
The photo will show another good pocket, but not a lot of open looks. The Seahawk bottom right will have a slim window in just a second when he runs his out to the sideline, but you can see in the picture the DB is looking at Russ, and Russ is looking at him.


So Russ rabbits, right into a sack. Russ could have thrown this one away.
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The 6th sack.
Presnap, another potential 6 man blitz.


A second later, it is a 4 man rush, any hots are covered


Britt down blocks, and his guy gets an easy chase of Wilson.

A masterful look by the Cards. the 2 safeties threatening blitz take away the hot routes, one of which has a passing lane created by the downblock of Britt. I know Britt looks bad on this one, but I really think the release of the rusher was part of the blocking scheme for that blitz look. Helfet goes to run a hot right in the middle and there is a safety right in his way.
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Sack 7
This play is a first down max protect attempt at a homerun throw. Only two route runners, play action. Cards counter with a 6 man run blitz. The pocket is solid.

Look at all the real estate to the QB's left


But Russ slowplays this one, even though no receiver ever actually runs a route to that left side. Eventually he ends up sacked for a loss of one.

There has been a lot of blaming the offensive line for those sacks. From what I can see, we had schematic issues and Russ held the ball a bit too long for the majority of the sacks. To Russell's credit, and I think the pictures show this, there were not a ton of open looks, that secondary was damn good. I thought a change in playcalling in the mid third QTR also helped, our first TD came on a drive with a lot more quick passes.
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One more picture to show just how bad some of our playcalling can be.
This was a 3rd and 9 from our 45 in the 4th QTR. The play just after the flea flicker.
Trips set, and the Cards respond by sending 8. Talk about a ballsy defensive call, the risk is huge. 3 receivers, 3 DBs. The cards bring the majority of the pressure from the left side, Russ is flushed right, opposite of the trips set, and has to throw the ball away, while taking a needless shot.

That picture astounds me. A huge wave of pressure, but all three receivers have their back to Russ as they are headed out on routes. No safety valves anywhere.

I'm back on the " I hate darrell bevell" bandwagon

The infallible Russell Defense Squad has bee alerted. Please stand by.....

So your saying that Russell Wilson stills has things to improve on going forward?

That kind of reminds me of my "Is Russell Wilson progressing thread" I started where quite a few posters seemed to imply that the problems were all on the OC, Cable, our O-Line and finally our receivers and TE's. None of it could possibly be because of RW.

It's good Scott that your willing to point out those specifics to at least show that some of the issues may be with him.

Just saying...

Scottemojo":1ud89txd said:

There has been a lot of speculation about why so many sacks.

I hope this is helpful

Click to expand...

Nice post. A tip of the cap to you.

That last picture is startling. I see two completions there (contingent on decent throwing lanes, I can't tell), if Russ has sufficient trust in his receivers. An out-route or hitch to the receiver nearest the sideline, then a delayed slant across the middle to the interior triplet.

Also, on the first picture of Sack seven: is that two spys I see on Wilson? I don't see any eligible receivers back behind the LOS. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Fantastic breakdown, thanks.

Not surprisingly, the issue is multifactorial. It seems that our scheme often allows a free rusher.

CurryStopstheRuns":nrbavgfd said:

The infallible Russell Defense Squad has bee alerted. Please stand by.....

Click to expand...

I rarely see a reason for placing blame on one individual. Not sure why so many others do (and not just on this board--seems to be a football board thing in general).

Russ said he made mistakes. Pete said it too. Pete also said Russell was under siege and they went max protect in the 2nd half.

I'd say it's clear that o-line, playcalling and Russell all could have improved in that first half.

kf3339":dft4g7u1 said:

So your saying that Russell Wilson stills has things to improve on going forward?

That kind of reminds me of my "Is Russell Wilson progressing thread" I started where quite a few posters seemed to imply that the problems were all on the OC, Cable, our O-Line and finally our receivers and TE's. None of it could possibly be because of RW.

It's good Scott that your willing to point out those specifics to at least show that some of the issues may be with him.

Just saying...

Click to expand...

Russell is the football equivalent of a homerun hitter who has a bit of a strikeout problem. I pointed out during the off season that the majority of his mistakes and the majority of his big plays come on throws where he has held the ball longer than 3 seconds. The boom or bust quality to what he does is simply part of the package. I don't mind that quality, but some of the more clever defensive coordinators know how to scheme him. Still, his escapability cannot be underestimated, one of our biggest plays Sunday came on a play where the Cardinals ignored play action and headed for the bootleg, Russ pirrouetted and did his magic, and found Lynch for 29 yards. They knew just what he was going to do, and he still made a play.

That is our QB. It is what he does. I love it. But I don't think the line should take all the blame for the difficulties he creates for them.

Whenever you have a Houdini-ish quarterback, they're sometimes going to take some sacks in situations where other QBs might throw the ball away, because they're still trying to make their great escape and find someone open. You can't have the rewards without the risks, so you have to decide whether you think the crazy escape plays are worth the sacks.

Spin doctor hinted at this yesterday of course minus the pictures as evidence. But great post and breakdown of the issue.

CodeWarrior":1vf676l3 said:

Scottemojo":1vf676l3 said:

There has been a lot of speculation about why so many sacks.

I hope this is helpful

Click to expand...

Nice post. A tip of the cap to you.

That last picture is startling. I see two completions there (contingent on decent throwing lanes, I can't tell), if Russ has sufficient trust in his receivers. An out-route or hitch to the receiver nearest the sideline, then a delayed slant across the middle to the interior triplet.

Also, on the first picture of Sack seven: is that two spys I see on Wilson? I don't see any eligible receivers back behind the LOS. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

Your first point, no, there are not two completions there. Look closer, neither WR has actually presented Russ a target yet, in fact the two DBs in the off coverage are the only ones with eyes on Russ. A tic later Kearse will spin for a hook route on the left numbers, but the pressure also from the left side makes it far too dangerous a throw.

The 7th sack was a play action two man route, max protect. The Cards are sending 6, but in reaction to the run. While I am sure the 2 linebackers you reference have spy duty, they are in a short passing zone primarily. All the 3 eligibles behind the line are pass blocking.

Scottemojo":bwxerxys said:

A look at a good pocket after about 3 seconds. It's time to throw or scramble. Russ scrambles and runs right into a sack. I do not know how you lay this one on a lineman. Time enough to make a pass, good pocket.

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Most people aren't aware that 3 seconds is considered "long enough" by NFL standards, and it's a good figure to be bringing to the public's knowledge. Aaron Rodgers trains for 2.8.

I'm more and more willing to think Bevell is a problem, but it's also hard to say whether he really knows what to do with the limited experience of his WRs.

Jeremy517":1m48us5a said:

Whenever you have a Houdini-ish quarterback, they're sometimes going to take some sacks in situations where other QBs might throw the ball away, because they're still trying to make their great escape and find someone open. You can't have the rewards without the risks, so you have to decide whether you think the crazy escape plays are worth the sacks.

Click to expand...

Perfectly stated.

There is blame to go around. I go to bat for certain units and coaches because I feel there's tendency here to put it all on the shoulders of one single piece of the offense/coaching.

There are certainly things we can do to make life easier for Russell, which we were able to do fairly well in the second half against a very disciplined and effective blitzing unit. That being said, there are some throws available above (some easy, some hard) that a different quarterback would make. That is just a fact. The short-middle of the field is basically irrelevant in this offense. It is either being missed or not ran because there's no point (other than drawing a defender). That is a huge limitation to have to deal with against a relentless blitzing attack; yet we were able to move the ball somewhat effectively without run production. That is a credit to the overall offense.

That being said, this is not an indictment of Russell Wilson at all. The "multiple" effect of his rushing and his big play potential is about the only thing keeping this offense dynamic in spite of an utter lack of size or playmaking on the outside. However, it is fair to suggest he has limitations in other areas of the game that make life difficult for the OC, O-line and receivers. During his QB Camp with Gruden, about the only weakness Gruden could identify was Wilson's difficulty in dealing with an auto-blitz on empty formations. That has carried through to his pro career.

Still, the Arizona game showed progress. If we can finally solve that riddle and get the right personnel at WR/TE, then I have no doubt that this can evolve into a dominant offense with Russell at the helm.

Thanks for the analysis Scott, though I fear something that should spark some intelligent debate is about to eventually transpire into a Wilson bashing/defending thread. Hopefully not.

Are you sure Bailey's whiff was actually deliberate? I mean, quite clearly he had no intention of blocking the guy but it seems like an odd play and I wondered if he got it wrong.

That last one's a definite head-scratcher and pretty much sums Bevell up for me. Just when I'm feeling positive about him (after the flea-flicker), we follow it up with a real wtf play. Ballsy defensive call for sure though, the footballing equivalent of Bevell being teabagged.

Scottemojo":5e5zoxpr said:

CodeWarrior":5e5zoxpr said:

Scottemojo":5e5zoxpr said:

There has been a lot of speculation about why so many sacks.

I hope this is helpful

Click to expand...

Nice post. A tip of the cap to you.

That last picture is startling. I see two completions there (contingent on decent throwing lanes, I can't tell), if Russ has sufficient trust in his receivers. An out-route or hitch to the receiver nearest the sideline, then a delayed slant across the middle to the interior triplet.

Also, on the first picture of Sack seven: is that two spys I see on Wilson? I don't see any eligible receivers back behind the LOS. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Click to expand...

Your first point, no, there are not two completions there. Look closer, neither WR has actually presented Russ a target yet, in fact the two DBs in the off coverage are the only ones with eyes on Russ. A tic later Kearse will spin for a hook route on the left numbers, but the pressure also from the left side makes it far too dangerous a throw.

The 7th sack was a play action two man route, max protect. The Cards are sending 6, but in reaction to the run. While I am sure the 2 linebackers you reference have spy duty, they are in a short passing zone primarily. All the 3 eligibles behind the line are pass blocking.

Click to expand...

Ok. My thinking in seeing two completions on that last picture was that if Russell had solid trust in those two receivers he'd make anticipatory throws. Definitely clogged throwing lanes, however. Probably not worth it, as you stated.

DavidSeven":j6zx92bq said:

There is blame to go around. I go to bat for certain units and coaches because I feel there's tendency here to put it all on the shoulders of one single piece of the offense/coaching.

There are certainly things we can do to make life easier for Russell, which we were able to do fairly well in the second half against a very disciplined and effective blitzing unit. That being said, there are throws available above (some easy, some hard) that a different quarterback would make. That is just a fact. The short-middle of the field is basically irrelevant in this offense. It is either being missed or not ran because there's no point (other than drawing a defender). That is a huge limitation to have to deal with against a relentless blitzing attack; yet we were able to move the ball somewhat effectively without run production. That is a credit to the overall offense.

That being said, this is not an indictment of Russell Wilson at all. The "multiple" effect of his rushing and his big play potential is about the only thing keeping this offense dynamic in spite of an utter lack of size or playmaking on the outside. However, it is fair to suggest he has limitations in other areas of the game that make life difficult for the OC, O-line and receivers. During his QB Camp with Gruden, about the only weakness Gruden could identify was Wilson's difficulty in dealing with an auto-blitz on empty formations. That has carried through to his pro career.

Still, the Arizona game showed progress. If we can finally solve that riddle and get the right personnel at WR/TE, then I have no doubt that this can evolve into a dominant offense with Russell at the helm.

Click to expand...

You can count me among the ones who thinks Russ is the future of the franchise. Particularly do I think his ability to extend plays is vital when our receivers cannot "post up" defenders. I also think that our OC calls a lot of boom or bust plays that don't give the QB any options besides hold the ball and wait, scramble, or throw it away.

However, the tenor of many posters here has been to hang all the problems on the offensive line. Britt, Bailey, and others have been blamed for blocks that on 2nd view don't look like their mistakes. I mean, that screen play with the play fake right first should have made Bevell stand with his nose in the corner, fer Chrissakes. Yet some hung it on Bailey.

sc85sis":3l7d08ld said:

I rarely see a reason for placing blame on one individual. Not sure why so many others do (and not just on this board--seems to be a football board thing in general).

Click to expand...

Fans of anything look for scapegoats when confronted with bad outcomes. It's a much simpler narrative ("we lost because Justin Britt sucks at pass blocking") and it allows for stronger opinions ("cut player X, fire coach Y, Z is just the worst"). Fan is short for fanatic and passion doesn't mesh well with carefully looking at 102 different factors that contributed to a bad outcome. This morning I had the treat of listening to a Portland State alumni explain why the main reason they lost over the weekend was because of depth? or something along those lines.

Scottemojo":33n8xetv said:

I mean, that screen play with the play fake right first should have made Bevell stand with his nose in the corner, fer Chrissakes. Yet some hung it on Bailey.

Click to expand...

Yeah, that 4th sack on the screen was just a cluster-frick from the jump. I agree that they were thinking too hard on that one.

SomersetHawk":53ah8is1 said:

Thanks for the analysis Scott, though I fear something that should spark some intelligent debate is about to eventually transpire into a Wilson bashing/defending thread. Hopefully not.

Are you sure Bailey's whiff was actually deliberate? I mean, quite clearly he had no intention of blocking the guy but it seems like an odd play and I wondered if he got it wrong.

That last one's a definite head-scratcher and pretty much sums Bevell up for me. Just when I'm feeling positive about him (after the flea-flicker), we follow it up with a real wtf play. Ballsy defensive call for sure though, the footballing equivalent of Bevell being teabagged.

Click to expand...

That play was undone by the playfake to the right, not Bailey letting his guy go. First of all, it's a play from the gun, so the time to even get the ball back to the QB means there is exactly zero time for a fake throw right. That might be a good play if Russ doesn't take the time to do that. I have watched that play a dozen times, and it looks like Bailey does everything a guard should do on a screen release.