Let Russ Cook

[TriCitySam]

I heard Florio say “One source close to Wilson said ‘if they don’t let Russ cook, it’s time to bake his farewell cake’. The Let Russ Cook leader has been Jake Heaps, the KIRO guy who refers to himself as Wilson’s ‘QB Coach’. I guess he worked with RW in the offseason and was a former roommate - but this kind of stuff doesn’t strengthen the relations with PC.

[RiverDog]

That's the media talking. Russell has given no indication that he's nothing other than the ultimate team player and will enthusiastically do whatever his coaches tell him to do. As Russ would say, don't pay attention to the static.

[jshawaii22]

Interesting take. I'm not in the 'radio zone' around Seattle to hear Heap, but letting Russ go has been a topic all over the NFL this offseason. And I certainly don't know if any of this radio talking head show was somehow started up from a threat to leave by Russell, but you could see Russell's influence in the number of plays he called in the hurry up at times today and I doubt Pete is going to throw a hissy-fit over winning on the road again with his Star QB hitting on 90% and 4 TD's on the first game with 3 new OLine starters and a rotation at left guard, too.

Add: Speaking on that, I never heard Posic's name called and no penalties. That's pretty good for the first game as our new starting center.

[RiverDog]

Add: Speaking on that, I never heard Posic's name called and no penalties. That's pretty good for the first game as our new starting center.

They gave up 3 sacks in the first half but none in the 2nd half. Plus, as Russell's completion percentage shows, he didn't have to throw the ball away due to pressure very often. The OL had a couple of penalties, but not the drive killers that we've seen in the past. I would have liked to seen a more consistent running game but 4.2 yards per attempt is nothing to sneeze at. All in all it was an admirable performance against a good but not great team. I liked what I saw.

[TriCitySam]

Agreed about RW, just surprised he’s hooked up with a guy that likes to stir the pot.

[curmudgeon]

It’s the media folks. 99.9% chance it’s complete BS.

[Hawk Sista]

Heaps was a practice squad guy and is an announcer on 710. I can’t listen to him. If he were the guru he acts like, he’d have a job in the NFL. RW is a team guy who likes to win. He knows he’s got it good.

[TriCitySam]

The Athletic has a "Cook Index", that measures how often teams pass on 1st and 2nd downs. For week 1 so far, 17 (61%) passed less than 50%, of the 39% that passed more than 50%, Seattle was 2nd highest passing 67% on those downs. Those at that passed 50% or below had a higher win % (53%).

....which leads me to believe the index is meaningless. Simply, teams on the lead tend to run more than teams that are behind. There are advantages to being balanced (keep D off the field; shorten game; save QB). However, in order to stay in the game, you need to have a more balanced attack early on and with a quality QB like RW it makes sense to give him more opportunities early in the first half rather than playing catch up.

[Hawktawk]

Russ will finish his career here. First ever Hawks QB with 4 TD passes in the opener. Carson looks strong. DK is huge and fast. If he had better hands Russ would have been almost perfect. But the beautiful dime on 4th down

[Rambo2014]

Rams are the ones cooking today, wow they look sharp as a new razor

[RiverDog]

Russell's past two games were IMO the best two consecutive games a Seahawk quarterback has turned in. Dave Krieg had some really amazing games, but to my recollection, he never strung together two in a row and certainly not two in a row to start off the season. It's too early to start talking about MVP candidates but at least statistically, I don't see a better performance so far in the league.

This game was a little different, though, as we were more run heavy than we were against the Falcons. In this game, we actually ran the ball more than we passed, with 30 rushing attempts vs. 28 throws by Russ. Against the Falcons, we ran the ball just 20 times while Russell attempted 35 passes. IMO there hasn't been a change in philosophy as much as it's been that Russell has taken his play to another level. He's had two games of nearly mistake free football, the only truly bad decision I could see being the pass attempt that resulted in an illegal forward pass. Obviously the pick 6 can't be hung on him.