pittpnthrs":15t4fy00 said:
KiwiHawk":15t4fy00 said:
Before you throw stones, climb off your Wilson bandwagon for just a moment and look at what I actually said - all of it is true, and none of it suggests Wilson is not a great QB, because he is. However, the other side of the coin is not scoring early, and that does need to be addressed.
Scoring early has been an issue for 10 years now though. Carroll's mantra is you cant win the game in the 1st quarter. When I see Wilson take over the game in the 4th quarter because he has to, its hard for me to lay the majority of blame on him for the sluggish offense in the previous quarters.
There seems to be this myth that Russell -- in defiance of his coaches -- decides to be more aggressive and starts calling (or making up?) his own plays when we are down in the 4th quarter to lead us to victory.
First off, there's only one playbook, so he's not running anything that the coaches didn't put in and the team has practiced ad nauseum already.
Second, I'd argue that he's not being more aggressive at all. Early in the game he's holding the ball and waiting for a sure thing or some homerun play to manifest to 'win' the game in the first half. THAT is aggressive -- to the point of being suicidal.
Down late in the game, he's looking to extend the drive by any means possible. He realizes he might not get another chance, so he's hyper-focused on moving the chains if the homerun is not there. What if he started the game with that mindset?
And what if he handed the ball off half the time so the opposing defense was tired in the 4th quarter instead of fresh from resting in Zones and 3-and-outs they didn't have to work for?