NFL coaches on Wilson, according to Cossell

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=10 ... api_public

"Slightly above average QB"
He says they laugh when you mention him in the same sentence as Andrew Luck.
Coaches refuse to change, they continue to think in their myopic mindset.
Now I don't know if Wilson is ahead of Luck, but I feel it's at least close, I believe it's about even personally.

This is again coming from all the coaches who didn't win the Lombardi this year

and RW has simply gone on and thrown daggers into those opposing coaches.

After being 2nd in the league in come back wins the last two years, it is really funny when those same opposing coaches say, "we just couldn't stop RW".


that guy is saying an opinion, opposing coaches do fear RW

I think u hear that from the Ron Rivera's and the john fox's, the defensive minded coaches that get how hard it is to defend a guy who can extend plays and make plays with his feet, but I still think the offensive minded guys who are tied to a system will spew out crap like that.
If it's an opinion and he's just saying coaches are telling him that it's cowardly

Maybe Cosell is just covering his arse for the time he called Ryan Lindley the most intriguing quarterback in the 2012 draft...

How's Christian Ponder's rocket arm working out too, Greg?

Russell's performances speaks for themselves.

We are beyond the speculation stage. No longer can we think "Oh I wonder if Russell is the real deal".

Personally I had the feeling he was for real after literally game 1... After game 2 I was a 100% faithful believer and he's never let me down.

Sure he hasn't been at his full potential every single game, but I always knew his potential and when it's mattered most he's delivered.

There is no comparison to Wilson and Luck. Wilson is FAR superior. Anyone who says differently is an ignorant noobie cake.

Wilson > Luck > RGIII. Wilson is THE premier new QB he is far better than Kaepernick as well.

This league belongs to Wilson, just wait for next year. If Harvin stays healthy Wilson is going to make all the other QB's look silly. He already has multiple records for a Rookie and 2nd year QB. He's just getting started, look out all you dumbass non-Seattle media guys, wait to get rocked by the truth of Russell Wilson.

People will always look at stats but always forget that he puts up great stats for the amount he throws which is not a lot. When he gets asked, he delivers. If he was asked to pass as much as Luck, I'd bet he'd be more successful.


Luck is an interception machine in the playoffs too. Joke that Luck is even compared to Russ in my opinion.


This is another reason why 20+ of the coaches will never come close to being successful. Jokes on them.

I don't doubt that Cosell is telling the truth. There are a lot of coaches and GMs in the league who just don't get it, guys that will likely be out of a job sometime in the next few years. That statement didn't really offend me much.

Saying "we all have a lot of respect for Bill Polian" was definitely pushing it though. Polian is a lot like Cosell actually, keen on X's and O's but clueless about talent evaluation. You would think Polian would have some collateral after all those wins with Indy, yet Manning gets hurt, the franchise tanks for Luck, and the powers that be jump on the chance to dump Polian. Jim Irsay may not be the brightest dude, but even he knew that Polian's talent evaluation issues were eroding the franchise.

As far as Wilson being undervalued, I blame Bevell for constructing an offense that is so easy to game plan and being so slow to adjust when DC's had his number. A lot of plays late in the season were DOA because defenses attacked knowing that Bevell would never counter, and the result is that it made Wilson look bad.

I think there is also some old-school bias too. Any time a player represents a threat to previously established paradigms of what a top player should be, that player is going to be hated by inflexible old school minds who just assume his success is a mirage. Notice that Cosell referenced guys who coached OFFENSES for 25+ years? First off, the 25+ years thing is a dead give-away that they shared his old school biases. Second, he talked to old-school offensive guys. I bet if he talked to DCs in the NFC who've had to defend Wilson the last 2 years, he'd get a very different set of answers. So I do think there is obviously some confirmation bias going on here (Cosell has downplayed Wilson from day one).

I am kind of amazed though how anyone can watch the amazing plays Wilson pulls off, turning sure sacks into 50 yard bombs, and thinks "slightly above average QB." I'm pretty sure Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman, and Trent Dilfer weren't annoying defenses with clutch and/or insane playmaking anywhere near as much as Wilson already has.

I really hope Wilson and the team hear about this and use it as bulletin board material in 2014. And 2015... and 2016...

God I can't wait for Russ to have Percy for a full year going to light the league on fire.

This annoyed me for a split second, then I just thought of the joy it will give me when he keeps proving the doubters wrong.

If our defense doesnt completely show up in the Super Bowl, Russ would have still won it.

I cannot wait to see what he achieves with a healthy O-line and a healthy Harvin. MVP.

Another reason I think Cosell is a dummy. If teams viewed Wilson as a slightly above average QB then why was the story of the 2013 draft about finding the next Russell Wilson? And why is 5'11 3/4" Johnny Manziel suddenly considered a top 5 lock when two years before being under six feet made you a 3rd rounder?

I'm pretty sure Cosell's opinion on Wilson is in the minority, and he's only seeking out the opinions of others that he knows will satisfy his need for confirmation bias. I do think his opinion on Luck is probably close to consensus though. Which I am actually okay with, even though I think that opinion is also mildly stupid.

I think he is making that up. I think it's telling that he said he talked to "3 to 4" long time coaches and then said that is the "consensus of NFL coaches". How is that a consensus? Even if it was just Head Coaches and it was 4 it would be 4 of 32 Head Coaches which is 15%. He didn't limit it to head coaches and there are a couple hundred assistants so that would be an even smaller sample size.

He is making the whole thing up and chose something that isn't is not verifiable.

i dont even care about stuff like this anymore. We won the superbowl. We're the best team in the world.

"bill polian, whom we all have respect for"

lol no.

I think Andrew Luck is one of the most overrated QBs in the league. He was a turnover machine in his rookie season so the Colts' new OC this year tried to take pressure off of him by establishing a power running game. It helped a bit since Luck's passing attempts and turnovers were down but Trent Richardson turned out to be terrible so by the playoffs they were back to relying on Luck slinging the ball around the field and he threw seven picks in two games. Luck looks great at times, awful at other times, and his accuracy and decision making are all over the map.

Luck may yet develop into a great QB but he's nowhere near that now and I'm getting tired of the media continuing to promote him as the game's best young QB when he's actually only been marginally better than even Ryan Tannehill. Hell, as much as RG3 was ripped for his play this year his stats were pretty similar to Luck's before he was benched.

Russell Wilson has been the better QB so far by any meaningful measure.

Even if Russell was to light up the stat sheet next season guys like this would just say its because of the team around him. We'd have to listen to how unfair it is that Luck doesn't get to play with Percy. He will always be graded on the upcurve while Russ gets the down curve. As long as Russell doesn't care I don't.

Whatever. Didn't listen to it, but that sounds made up by Cosell. Manziel is being touted as a potential #1 overall pick on the premise that he COULD BE as good as Russell Wilson. He'd already be locked in at #1 if he had Wilson's character ratings.

So, you mean to tell me NFL coaches are willing to burn a top 5 pick in potentially the deepest NFL draft ever for a "slightly above average" QB? GTFO, Cosell.

I don't care about comparisons to Luck because he does indeed shoulder a lot more of the total offensive burden than RW, and that is going to lead to some mistakes. It's also very impressive given his relatively minimal amount of NFL starting experience.

But "slightly above avg" is ridiculous. The reality is if we re-ran the 2012 draft right now with everyone getting to look at these guys for 2 seasons, Russell would be the #2 overall pick. Luck would still be #1.

I like Cowherd's response. He countered by saying Wilson plays mistake-free against the toughest defenses in the league. Then, after Cosell proceeded with the "coaches will laugh at you comment", Cowherd paused for a second (as if he's thinking WTF?) and then moved on without even acknowledging Cosell's comments. I didn't listen to the rest of it so not sure if they came back to the topic.

By "shoulders more of the offense" do you mean that he gets to throw the ball more when it's not third and long? It's all relative. I would say that Russell has done a better job of exacuting his game plan. I also think that comparing these two is like comparing Brady and Manning the greater.

Tokadub":2q5k92lc said:

Russell's performances speaks for themselves.

We are beyond the speculation stage. No longer can we think "Oh I wonder if Russell is the real deal".

Click to expand...

That was exactly my first take as well. The talking heads can go in whatever sensationalist directions they want, serving their particular agendas at the time. In the meantime, Wilson is going to continue stacking up seasons full of wins, playoff successes (including SB wins), highlight improvisational and deep ball plays, and stellar TD/turover ratios. It just doesn't matter what they might say in the studios anymore, because the proof is on film. Plus, he's already dealt with the pressure of a SB. How many INTs does Luck throw in that setting? The crazy part is he's just going to continue getting better.

Arians. I am confident he was one of the sources.