If his last 4-5 seasons weren't good in your opinion then I'm going to have a hard time with anyone trying to tell me Geno is good now then because Wilson was much better and we had massive problems with the offensive line, a couple of years with a historically bad running game and a defense that was terrible. It was a miracle we were able to get to the playoffs in my opinion a few of those years and it was mostly Wilson and Carroll being great at what they do that lead to that.
But to your first point I do think its a valid and reasonable argument.
Here is Wilsons stats including the last 5 years with Seattle. I would argue that is pretty damn good especially considering the problems we had. This doesn't include rushing stats either. Geno isn't on pace to even come close to any of those years and that's with a MUCH BETTER supporting cast.
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I dont understand how you can say we had terrible rushing attacks. That's complete revisionist history. We had down years in 16 and 17 because of injury.
In 15, we were 3rd
18, 1st
19, 6th
20, 12th, despite not running and Russ 'cooking'
21, 9th again, despite not running.
And the '20 was lost in large part because we abandoned the run game often.
Had we run the ball with the balance we pretty much maintained from the LOB years to 2020, '20 and '21 would no doubt have both been top 5 to 10 years.
I just don't see how anyone at this point can't see that a guy who has blatantly missed what pros like Kurt Warner called 'high school ' reads, could have been such a dominant force during his time here.
Or how such an elite qb could be so easily defeated by one of the most basic cover schemes in the NFL.
Or how bad O lines seem to follow him wherever he goes. Remember, Denver was supposed to be his saving grace because finally, he would have solid protection. Didn't happen.
Then, Payton was supposed to be his saving grace because he could get the best out of him, build an offense that could protect him, etc. Etc. Hasn't happened.
I still can't find a single Russ supporter who can make a reasonable defense of his inability to make basic reads (I'll leave it there on that one deficiency) and / or explain how any QB in NFL history could be so bad, yet NOT be responsible for putting his team in negative situations.
1 and 1 is 2, always. If you can't read defense and diagnose coverage, you invariably will be a liability. There's no 2 ways around it.
Fact is, Russ was great and part of his greatness was getting us out of deficits. He, the qb who couldn't and still can't read basic plays was also responsible for putting is in a good number of those deficits. That is by now undeniable fact, proven by his play on the field, sans the 'cover ' of being held back by Pete, AND by the testimony of his former mates.