HawkShack.com

....Russell Wilson is legit from the pocket:

Bruce Arians said Russell Wilson is now "one of the best in the league" from the pocket. "Years ago, everybody said make him stay in the pocket. Now you better rush him and hope you can contain him because he's lighting everybody up from the pocket."

From the Seahawks page on espn.com. I guess Wilson passed Arians' eye test.

I heard Arians comments about Russell Wilson on NFL Radio this morning, but I heard him say it a little differently. He said that Wilson was doing "a better job" at passing from the pocket. At the risk of mincing words, I would argue with this statement because it implies that he was doing a bad or average job in past years. The difference this season is that his injuries have forced him to stay in the pocket, so I don't see his performance this season as matter of improvement vs. simply more pocket passing attempts.

I'm not sure that is what Arians was implying... I think he was simply saying that was the thought ( wrong as it was, much like Wilson was to short to play in the NFL... Ultimately, people merged the two ~ ie. Too short to play from the pocket)... Neither assessment was accurate, or based in truth ( kind of like the thought he was a game manager simply because he had a good RB and defense)..

Ultimately the majority was wrong, dead wrong, and he's simply acknowledging it. ( which I appreciate considering "experts" and fans cling to that stupidity to this day).

HumanCockroach wrote:I'm not sure that is what Arians was implying... I think he was simply saying that was the thought ( wrong as it was, much like Wilson was to short to play in the NFL... Ultimately, people merged the two ~ ie. Too short to play from the pocket)... Neither assessment was accurate, or based in truth ( kind of like the thought he was a game manager simply because he had a good RB and defense)..

Ultimately the majority was wrong, dead wrong, and he's simply acknowledging it. ( which I appreciate considering "experts" and fans cling to that stupidity to this day).

Honest question: Were you listening to the same quote from Arians as I was? I got the distinct impression from listening to him that he was saying that Russell had improved his pocket passing vs. simply not being asked or choosing not to put it on display.

lol, Arians.

The league, other coaches...just still can't believe how good RW is. The stats are kinda there - they certainly were last season - but it's his smarts and improvisation that really carry him through. He has all the intangibles of a great QB. He's had them since he entered the league.

I HATE BA. Sports hate him, that is. I heard his comments and he was, as any good coach does, giving props to Wilson and the many weapons on the Hawks offense. He also described the D as one of the best and toughest in the NFL. No bulletin board material - giving praise to his upcoming opponent. Nothing more/nothing less.

Are you saying Wilson hasn't improved his pocket passing RD?

Riverdog, sounds like Kapadia may have heard him wrong then. Arians saying "better from the pocket" is just dead wrong; you are spot on saying that Wilson hasn't been playing poorly from the pocket, he's just doing it more and more as his career progresses and doing it well. Here's to Wilson torching the Cards from the pocket to stick it to BA.

MackStrongIsMyHero wrote:Riverdog, sounds like Kapadia may have heard him wrong then. Arians saying "better from the pocket" is just dead wrong; you are spot on saying that Wilson hasn't been playing poorly from the pocket, he's just doing it more and more as his career progresses and doing it well. Here's to Wilson torching the Cards from the pocket to stick it to BA.

The only problem with RW in the eyes of others, is that he doesnt put up gaudy numbers. A lot of that is due to the fact that he doesn't have a Julio Jones, OB, or Dez Bryant to throw to. IF he had a Larry Fitzgerald to throw to he would have lit up!

The only problem with RW in the eyes of others, is that he doesnt put up gaudy numbers. A lot of that is due to the fact that he doesn't have a Julio Jones, OB, or Dez Bryant to throw to.

No.

To this point in his career, it's 100% due to not having the same volume of passes as Luck, Brady, et al.

To put RW among the best in the NFL, the only variable you have to remove from his stats is the number of passes thrown. That is literally the only thing that puts his numbers among the mortals.

[edit]

And yeah, there's always the inevitable comeback of "Yeah, but he only has those numbers because he never *has* to throw as much", but that only exposes the critic as a headline-reader. RW doesn't suffer when he throws more- he gets *better*.

We are a lucky fanbase to have this guy on our team.

HumanCockroach wrote:Are you saying Wilson hasn't improved his pocket passing RD?

In a way, yes, I don't think there has been a large improvement in his pocket passing, but before you accuse me of sacrilege, what I'm saying is that I didn't think he was bad to begin with, that it was just a matter of him not doing it as often as other quarterbacks, some of that, particularly last season, due to his not having a pocket to pass from. Up until this season, people didn't remember his pocket passing, what they thought of when his name was mentioned was his scrambling and running the read option.

This season, he's not running hardly at all, so people like Arians have no choice but to recognize that he's pretty good from the pocket.

Pretty big difference between "not bad to begin with" and dismantling teams from in there... That's the point. Wilson has improved in every aspect across the board, no way to deny that. I don't see Arians claiming he wasn't good from there, what I see is him acknowledging that keeping him in the pocket isn't going to help you as an opposing coach.

Hawk Sista wrote:I HATE BA. Sports hate him, that is. I heard his comments and he was, as any good coach does, giving props to Wilson and the many weapons on the Hawks offense. He also described the D as one of the best and toughest in the NFL. No bulletin board material - giving praise to his upcoming opponent. Nothing more/nothing less.

Sista belts a homer...again! Spot on sis.