Great Kapadia piece: Improvements of Graham, Michael, Britt

http://www.espn.com/blog/seattle-seahaw ... ce-in-2016

It's not that Russell Wilson is looking for him more. Last season, Graham was targeted on 24.1 percent of his routes, per ESPN Stats & Information. This year, the number is 25.3 percent.

He's catching a higher percentage of his targets -- 72.7 percent this season to 67.6 percent last year. But that doesn't represent any kind of crazy leap.

The biggest difference is where Graham is catching the ball.

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And more on why Michael and Britt are looking improved.

To me, the biggest surprise of the three is by far, Britt. I've been tough on him most of his career here. He's shown some real ability at times, but other times, he looked lost or just sub par. Very inconsistent. This move to center fits him very well though. I've yet to see him have too many bad moments and his play so far this year, has been some of his finest.

I agree with this. Russ is throwing Jimmy open and making more contested catches. It's not Jimmy getting "open more often".

One difference for Wilson playing through injuries is that he's been reluctant to scramble. But that hasn't led to more sacks. It's led to him throwing some balls up for grabs and letting his receivers make plays. That's really stood out on passes to Graham, Doug Baldwin and Paul Richardson. They've all rewarded Wilson when he's shown trust in them.

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Great article. Kapadia makes a great point that Britt is our best O-lineman.

Great stuff there!

First two years of Russ on this team, ball security was his #1 job. Ingrained in his head: "Don't make a risky throw. Make a play with your legs, throw the ball away or take the sack instead". Three years later he's now expected to "Make the risky throw--throw your receiver open or let him go and get it".

Tough to shift gears like that I imagine, but he's getting there.

Though it always makes a difference when someone catches the ball, I just don't think that's the case. Last year, like the Percy year, teams knew we were focusing on throwing to Graham much like Percy was the focal point when he started to play. It was just so obvious how Russell would force the ball to Graham and forcing anything just doesn't work. The difference this year is the flow. Graham isn't the primary receiver, the 3rd receiver, he's just one receiver of who ever lines up and if he's open, even just a bit, he has a great chance of a catch. Our O with our new born OL has just flowed, it's dynamic and it's a beautiful thing to see.

Also, as I was watching the Jets game, I noticed this and was wondering about my barometer on such things. Glad to hear another opinion on it.

One of the big story lines of the first part of the season is that coaches feel like they can trust him in all phases. Pete Carroll recently referenced Michael's improvement as a receiver, but what stood out to me was his blitz pickup.

I counted four different occasions Sunday where Michael did a good job in pass protection. The Jets blitzed Wilson (five rushers or more) on 51.4 percent of his dropbacks. He went 11-for-16 for 146 yards on those plays, and Michael executing his blocking assignments definitely played a role in buying Wilson enough time.

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Adding to this, noticed Michael's pass catching in the Jets game was good too.

I've turned the corner on him as being a very steady/sturdy swiss-army knife kind of back that can block, run, pass catch. He won't do any of those on an epic level, but seems that he can do all of them on an above average level. Got to think that his more "disciplined" nature has led to the consistent performance so far of all facets of his position

kidhawk":3rlaxioi said:

To me, the biggest surprise of the three is by far, Britt. I've been tough on him most of his career here. He's shown some real ability at times, but other times, he looked lost or just sub par. Very inconsistent. This move to center fits him very well though. I've yet to see him have too many bad moments and his play so far this year, has been some of his finest.

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Agree.
I thought the Britt thing was going to be a disaster, like the Novak experiment last year.
It's been the complete opposite and a very pleasant surprise.

I'm pretty stoked about the multiple tied end personnel groupings. I doubt getting Vannett back makes that decrease.

nanomoz":3sm7b98s said:

I'm pretty stoked about the multiple tied end personnel groupings. I doubt getting Vannett back makes that decrease.

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If anything, he's ideally suited for that grouping.

It'll still probably decrease. But as a function of Lockett getting healthy.

Attyla the Hawk":1ve9tz0s said:

nanomoz":1ve9tz0s said:

I'm pretty stoked about the multiple tied end personnel groupings. I doubt getting Vannett back makes that decrease.

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If anything, he's ideally suited for that grouping.

It'll still probably decrease. But as a function of Lockett getting healthy.

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I shivered and giggled.