The deterioration of Russ's scrambling ability

In my opinion and I'm sure many others will agree on this board, what made Russ truly a one of a kind player and special was his unreal scrambling ability early in his career. I had never seen a QB do what he did and I have seen all the great ones from the mid 80's on.

My question is what happened to it? Why has he regressed so much in such a short period? Even as recent as 2016-17 that I can remember he was still special in this area.

Do you think it was age or something else? To me it is just perplexing and he now is just an average at best scrambler.

Thoughts?

seabowl":2f2hs0eu said:

In my opinion and I'm sure many others will agree on this board, what made Russ truly a one of a kind player and special was his unreal scrambling ability early in his career. I had never seen a QB do what he did and I have seen all the great ones from the mid 80's on.

My question is what happened to it? Why has he regressed so much in such a short period? Even as recent as 2016-17 that I can remember he was still special in this area.

Do you think it was age or something else? To me it is just perplexing and he now is just an average at best scrambler.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

On Dot net, the collective wisdom would tell you it's Pete, or Peteball, that has been shackling Russ's prowess. With the right HC, right offense philosophy, Russ will dominate like you have never seen before.

toffee":rx2z0g3k said:

seabowl":rx2z0g3k said:

In my opinion and I'm sure many others will agree on this board, what made Russ truly a one of a kind player and special was his unreal scrambling ability early in his career. I had never seen a QB do what he did and I have seen all the great ones from the mid 80's on.

My question is what happened to it? Why has he regressed so much in such a short period? Even as recent as 2016-17 that I can remember he was still special in this area.

Do you think it was age or something else? To me it is just perplexing and he now is just an average at best scrambler.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

On Dot net, the collective wisdom would tell you it's Pete, or Peteball, that has been shackling Russ's prowess. With the right HC, right offense philosophy, Russ will dominate like you have never seen before.

Click to expand...

So he's beyond elite for a number of years and then deteriorates rapidly the last few years all while the same head coach is leading the team? How is his lack of running and escapability the head coaches fault?

Frankly he looks slow as sh** out there.

Trust me I love Russ but his skills (running) have regressed tremendously and this IMO is not on Pete.

Wilson began regressing as a running threat when he started bulking up his playing weight. The increase in playing weight was to improve his durability, which may have happened but the downside was he is not very quick/elusive as a runner anymore.


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seabowl":1oh1os08 said:

toffee":1oh1os08 said:

seabowl":1oh1os08 said:

In my opinion and I'm sure many others will agree on this board, what made Russ truly a one of a kind player and special was his unreal scrambling ability early in his career. I had never seen a QB do what he did and I have seen all the great ones from the mid 80's on.

My question is what happened to it? Why has he regressed so much in such a short period? Even as recent as 2016-17 that I can remember he was still special in this area.

Do you think it was age or something else? To me it is just perplexing and he now is just an average at best scrambler.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

On Dot net, the collective wisdom would tell you it's Pete, or Peteball, that has been shackling Russ's prowess. With the right HC, right offense philosophy, Russ will dominate like you have never seen before.

Click to expand...

So he's beyond elite for a number of years and then deteriorates rapidly the last few years all while the same head coach is leading the team? How is his lack of running and escapability the head coaches fault?

Frankly he looks slow as sh** out there.

Trust me I love Russ but his skills (running) have regressed tremendously and this IMO is not on Pete.

Click to expand...

I love Russ too, although I did advocate for trading him last off-season when his trade value was all time high. I did that because I love the Hawks more than any one coach or player. I predicted that Russ's trade value will drop, and I think that we are getting there.

seabowl":3gozzoel said:

In my opinion and I'm sure many others will agree on this board, what made Russ truly a one of a kind player and special was his unreal scrambling ability early in his career. I had never seen a QB do what he did and I have seen all the great ones from the mid 80's on.

My question is what happened to it? Why has he regressed so much in such a short period? Even as recent as 2016-17 that I can remember he was still special in this area.

Do you think it was age or something else? To me it is just perplexing and he now is just an average at best scrambler.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Dude the escape he made in the 49er game is proof its still there. I think he probably isnt as fast as he used to be but he is stil very very good...


LTH

AKNFidel":1h4v9jvo said:

Wilson began regressing as a running threat when he started bulking up his playing weight. The increase in playing weight was to improve his durability, which may have happened but the downside was he is not very quick/elusive as a runner anymore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Click to expand...

Honestly its this. Russ bulked up because he was getting killed behind horrid offensive lines and in doing so, he lost a lot of speed.

He slimmed down again and showed he still has it, problem is he is now figured out and DE's and spies know where he spots up and go there and not directly at him. He runs into them basically.

Additionally Pete wanted a more pocket oriented Wilson to help the line out who were getting holding calls as well. Which is why they brought in Schotty as well.

chris98251":k5htc35s said:

He slimmed down again and showed he still has it, problem is he is now figured out and DE's and spies know where he spots up and go there and not directly at him. He runs into them basically.

Additionally Pete wanted a more pocket oriented Wilson to help the line out who were getting holding calls as well. Which is why they brought in Schotty as well.

Click to expand...

This!!

Another thing I think we need to mention is the way defenses have adapted to the way they play Russ. Teams are much more disciplined when they go after Russell Wilson. He isn't as nimble as he used to be, but even if he was I still think he'd struggle.

seabowl":32t47794 said:

In my opinion and I'm sure many others will agree on this board, what made Russ truly a one of a kind player and special was his unreal scrambling ability early in his career. I had never seen a QB do what he did and I have seen all the great ones from the mid 80's on.

My question is what happened to it? Why has he regressed so much in such a short period? Even as recent as 2016-17 that I can remember he was still special in this area.

Do you think it was age or something else? To me it is just perplexing and he now is just an average at best scrambler.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

I literally was thinking exactly about this when addressing just how often Wilson gets sacked. He used to pose a real threat to scramble and caught so many defenses out. I do know that a few years in to his career, the NFL teams started to really take notice and evolved defences to counter his scrambling and the Seahawks playbook reverted to a more conservative QB pocket style to a point you would just think Wilson is an average threat to scramble.

There are reasons but I am as perplexed by it all as you are.

The scrambling speed has been compromised by...age--weight--wife--kids--and lots of $$$ . Chit happens .

This forum never fails to crack me up. Surprisingly I agree with LTH.. Has he lost a step, probably, but he is still the most elusive qb in the game so just stop. His regression IMO in his all around play, is solely the fault of Carroll. He needs a real O line... period.

Defences are adapting and have learned his signature moves. It doesn't help that so many QBs drafted recently are also mobile, so the whole league has adapted to the more mobile QBs and developed more disciplined rush techniques to counter.

And yeah, he's probably lost a step or two along the way.

Age and wanting to prove to everyone how good of a pocket passer he is.

Lots of examples of mobile QB's that aged well into their 30's and still were very effective QB's.

Steve Young
Drew Brees
Donovan McNabb
John Elway
Cam Newton

The problem is Russell's ego hasn't allowed him to admit that he might have to change the way he plays, he still thinks he can spin out of the pocket, run around and make explosive plays downfield.

Which he still can at times (fantastic TD in the Niners game), but as he ages those plays will become less and less.

So it's not the fact that Russell's slowing down, it's the fact that he needs to come to terms with that and change his game. He's certainly got the work ethic and arm/accuracy to adjust.

Age.
Game film.
Pathetic O line

hawker84":2nv257fh said:

This forum never fails to crack me up. Surprisingly I agree with LTH.. Has he lost a step, probably, but he is still the most elusive qb in the game so just stop. His regression IMO in his all around play, is solely the fault of Carroll. He needs a real O line... period.

Click to expand...

This is also for a guy who supposedly has lost this scrambling he scrambled his way to over 500 yards last year. even this year he has shown on plays to be very elusive. Like I said people see what they want and ignore what they don't want.

I thought he lost his scrambling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyZGL_-wut0

and that is one of several I could post

Russ is 32 now, and not quite as quick as he was at 23. But it does seem as if he's lost that innate sense of when the pocket is breaking down, and is a little slower to react. I also think defenses are doing a better job of filling those escape hatches Russ used to find to evade the rush, and take off on a long scramble.

Finally, I think Pete's less inclined to call a designed run unless it's the 4th quarter, and that's the best way to pick up a quick 10-15 yards. Basically, he wants to minimize a Russ injury, unless the game is on the line. It's not a bad strategy, but it does take away a weapon in the early part of the game.