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According to PFT Wilson is now ready to play on Sunday.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2 ... ay-sunday/

Awesome. Of course Russell was the quickest healing and most determined patient ever. Speaking of "ever", can the Hawks now go win in GB for the first time since 1999?!

Is anyone really surprised by Wilson's miraculous healing? I knew from Day 1 he wasn't going to wait long - he was even warming up on the sidelines after he had injured his finger. I'm glad to see his doctor has cleared him, but at the same I won't be surprised if he aggravates it...I mean, he had a hole in his finger from the pin not more than a week ago! I'm just glad that I have a little more confidence in Geno after seeing him play a bit, just in case.

Wow that was quick . I read a quote from Pete’s press conference saying it would be “ really close “ whether Russ would be ready . A week out isn’t close . I hope Russ is truly ready and it’s not a case of the inmate running the asylum . Love me some Russ . I hope he’s good as new . He’s played some of his worst ball of his career vs GB.
I remember that game vs GB in 99. Holmgrens first season in Seattle . John Kitna at Qb. Favre hiding his face in a towel after playing a bad game . I want to say Seattle was 8-2 after that game and collapsed to go 9-7, back into the playoffs and lose at home to Dan Marino , last game in the kingdome , last win of Marino’s career .

I-5 wrote:Is anyone really surprised by Wilson's miraculous healing? I knew from Day 1 he wasn't going to wait long - he was even warming up on the sidelines after he had injured his finger. I'm glad to see his doctor has cleared him, but at the same I won't be surprised if he aggravates it...I mean, he had a hole in his finger from the pin not more than a week ago! I'm just glad that I have a little more confidence in Geno after seeing him play a bit, just in case.

I wasn't. Say what you want about Russell, but he loves playing football and wasn't about to sit out one day longer than what the doctors told him to.

Psychologically I've written off this season so I'll be rather passive watching our next few games. If we beat the Packers back there with Rodgers in their lineup, then I'll start getting excited.

Not sure if anyone heard the bizarre fawning statement from Russes doctor . He talks about it being “ the most serious hand injury I’ve ever seen in a qb, I’ve never seen someone so dedicated to blah blah blah.” I was reminded of Trumps Doctor Ronnie Jackson who proclaimed him to be the fittest man on the planet . Love me some Russ but I’ve got a couple curiosities . Was Russ cleared by team physicians or his own doctor ? Is his hand ready or is he coming back early ? Remember it was a few days ago PC said it would be “ really close “ if Russ could get back and next day he’s cleared ? And what if he’s ina curate ? Playing poorly ? It’s not unusual for him in Green Bay but what if. Just random musings . I hope to watch vintage Russ dealing a blow to the super spreader .

Amazing, was I ever wrong on that one! Not sure it matters. IF we dont get a split in the next two, we are done.

Hawktawk wrote:Not sure if anyone heard the bizarre fawning statement from Russes doctor . He talks about it being “ the most serious hand injury I’ve ever seen in a qb, I’ve never seen someone so dedicated to blah blah blah.” I was reminded of Trumps Doctor Ronnie Jackson who proclaimed him to be the fittest man on the planet . Love me some Russ but I’ve got a couple curiosities . Was Russ cleared by team physicians or his own doctor ? Is his hand ready or is he coming back early ? Remember it was a few days ago PC said it would be “ really close “ if Russ could get back and next day he’s cleared ? And what if he’s ina curate ? Playing poorly ? It’s not unusual for him in Green Bay but what if. Just random musings . I hope to watch vintage Russ dealing a blow to the super spreader .

Those are all good questions.

You can say what you want about Russell Wilson, but you can't deny that for whatever reason, he has a burning desire to play football. I never doubted for a second that he'd be back on the field at the earliest possible time. But I'm not sure if his decision to play is driven by his desire to do what's best for the team and increase our chances of winning or if he simply wants to be on center stage again.

We'll find out soon enough. I'd love to see him and the rest of the team bury the Packers and that lying POS.

Did you see his professionally produced video of his recovery and announcement of his return . Again …. Love me some Russ but everything is so scripted . So made for TV. Obviously Russ loves to play ball but he loves the spotlight too. I heard a discussion on ESPN Seattle affiliate asking who is the bigger Narcisdist . ODBJ , Rodgers or Russ . They had a hard time deciding . Russ wouldn’t have been in that conversation a few years back .

So now go produce . Win somewhere you never have, beat a guy who really hates you and your team . Otherwise press releases are useless . . Be Great Russ !

Hawktawk wrote:Did you see his professionally produced video of his recovery and announcement of his return . Again …. Love me some Russ but everything is so scripted . So made for TV. Obviously Russ loves to play ball but he loves the spotlight too. I heard a discussion on ESPN Seattle affiliate asking who is the bigger Narcisdist . ODBJ , Rodgers or Russ . They had a hard time deciding . Russ wouldn’t have been in that conversation a few years back .

So now go produce . Win somewhere you never have, beat a guy who really hates you and your team . Otherwise press releases are useless . . Be Great Russ !

I hadn't seen that, but somehow it doesn't surprise me. Russell does enjoy being in the spotlight, the star of the show. However, I'm stopping short of comparing Russell to Rodgers and OBJ. Russell may have developed a somewhat narcissistic personality, but it pales in comparison to the other two, especially Rodgers. If Rodgers is a 10, Russell would check in with a 3.

I don’t see Russ as divisive as Rodgers and he’s never been caught in such a monumental lie as Rodgers . At least he and Rodgers have something to be narcissists about . ODBJ ain’t ever done squat or won anything .

Hawktawk wrote:I don’t see Russ as divisive as Rodgers and he’s never been caught in such a monumental lie as Rodgers . At least he and Rodgers have something to be narcissists about . ODBJ ain’t ever done squat or won anything .

he’s never been caught in such a monumental lie

Plural, man. Lies, not lie.

OBJ had a heck of a first three years and he attained legendary status by making that incredible, behind the head catch and did it on national TV. But you're right, since that time, outside of some ordinary and rather pedestrian statistics, he hasn't done anything to justify all the hype that surrounds him today, no MVP type seasons, no clutch catches in critical games, nothing. Hell, Cooper Kupp has more to brag about than OBJ.

Kupp is far more of a weapon than OBJ. Other than injuries there’s no comparison . Kupp is one of the tougher assignments in the league

Hawktawk wrote:Kupp is far more of a weapon than OBJ. Other than injuries there’s no comparison . Kupp is one of the tougher assignments in the league

Yup, and he's a local boy, too, from the Palm Springs of Washington.

Hawktawk wrote:Not sure if anyone heard the bizarre fawning statement from Russes doctor . He talks about it being “ the most serious hand injury I’ve ever seen in a qb, I’ve never seen someone so dedicated to blah blah blah.” I was reminded of Trumps Doctor Ronnie Jackson who proclaimed him to be the fittest man on the planet . Love me some Russ but I’ve got a couple curiosities . Was Russ cleared by team physicians or his own doctor ? Is his hand ready or is he coming back early ? Remember it was a few days ago PC said it would be “ really close “ if Russ could get back and next day he’s cleared ? And what if he’s ina curate ? Playing poorly ? It’s not unusual for him in Green Bay but what if. Just random musings . I hope to watch vintage Russ dealing a blow to the super spreader .

My thoughts at the time ……
Heard a fascinating quote from Carroll on Salk this morning . He was talking about how long it’s taken this team to get “ right “ he said “ we didn’t really know how it was gonna go with Russ coming back . Geno was ready , he had played well , his last start was his best “. Kinda sounds like a little buyers remorse about rushing Russ back . Maybe just throwing a bone to Geno . Or making an excuse . Interesting . I gotta be careful of being called a Geno worshipper

I caught the announcers last night mentioning that this was the first time Russ has been able to go through his normal pregame workout since his injury. So that is his sixth game since returning, almost 7 weeks since he and his doctor declared his finger good as new . I also heard them mention Pete's previous comments about not knowing how Russ was gonna come back from the injury, that Geno had been ready to go, had played well his last start. I heard the comments from PC live on Brock and Salk after Russ had lost the first 3 starts coming back. Pete left it at that, said nothing more but the inference to me was clear. He came back too soon.

Ill tell you something else. I dont think the finger is right yet. Russ can miss and have off days. But I've never seen so many dying quails, wobblers, wild misses over a period of 6 games from a typically extremely accurate QB. Even vs the Texans, a bad team he was aided greatly by Locks ability to track the ball and be in perfect position almost every time on some balls that hung up a little and there were a couple high and wide's where hes clearly losing the grip on the ball as he releases it.

Hes absolutely lost the ability to connect with DK who has been shut out of the end zone since Russel's return. To be fair DKs hands are regressing as fast as Russell's better than new finger. To be more fair we dont know what Russ in the 4th quarter vs the Rams in Seattle would have looked like or how the Steelers ,Saints and Jags would have gone with him healthy and starting.

But is this who Russ is gonna be now? 17-31 156 yards and a pick and a lot of that was garbage time. Geno threw for 11 less yards and the same amount of points in the 4th quarter in the first meeting as Russ in 4 quarters last evening. Russ has directed our offense to 17 points in 7 quarters vs the Rams this year.
And before I get the Geno worship hatred hear me out. I said when Russ got hurt obviously everyone was devastated but it would be a chance to see someone else run the offense. Honestly I have no idea if hes a starter quality backup or not. He looked decent to excellent to kind of bad vs the Saints. His 2 losses went to overtime. His last game against a bad team was razor sharp. But it wasn't enough of a sample size.

In hindsight Id be willing to debate anyone who will argue we were better off with Russ at least the first 3 games he played coming back. It would have give Seattle a larger sample size of a guy who seemed to be heating up with a injured starting Qb who may demand a trade at seasons end anyway. Russ would have had more time to rest the finger. Hindsight is 2020. But that's on PC. For all the talk of him limiting Russ he let him call the shots and it was really the nail in the coffin on 2021.

I think Russ' finger issue put Pete in a difficult spot. After four weeks your franchise quarterback says he's healed and ready to play. So, if Pete says, "No, I want you to sit out another week or two," that puts Pete in the position of not trusting Russ' word. That would make for bad relational chemistry between the two. But what should have happened is Pete letting Russ start like he did but then pulling him for Geno after it became apparent in that first game back that Russ' finger was not completely healed. And that scenario should have been followed each game until it was obvious that the finger was no longer a factor. That would have retained the trust factor between Pete and Russ. Instead, Pete left him in those three games after the four weeks of partial healing and Russ struggled and handicapped the team as well.

I sincerely hope that Russ' finger is affecting him, because if it's not, then I think he's not the same Russ anymore. He has been universally recognized as throwing the best deep ball, but he is far from that right now - embarassingly so. You can't pin it on pressure last night, that was the most time we've seen him have to throw, and the only sacks were on plays where he held the ball 5-6 seconds. At some point, you have to ask what's going on with him.

During the post game presser, he was asked about the failures this year, and he started ticking off how challenging life is, and even brought up the pandemic. How is that different from anyone else? That was strange.

trents wrote:I think Russ' finger issue put Pete in a difficult spot. After four weeks your franchise quarterback says he's healed and ready to play. So, if Pete says, "No, I want you to sit out another week or two," that puts Pete in the position of not trusting Russ' word. That would make for bad relational chemistry between the two. But what should have happened is Pete letting Russ start like he did but then pulling him for Geno after it became apparent in that first game back that Russ' finger was not completely healed. And that scenario should have been followed each game until it was obvious that the finger was no longer a factor. That would have retained the trust factor between Pete and Russ. Instead, Pete left him in those three games after the four weeks of partial healing and Russ struggled and handicapped the team as well.

I couldn't agree more...that's exactly how Pete should have handled it. You're right that when your start QB declares himself ready to play, and he's more popular than the coach, there's not much you can do. But he looked woefully not ready to play in GB...the fact Russ himself would know he's not ready but thinking that it's better for him to play hurt than let his backup keep playing is really disappointing.

trents wrote:I think Russ' finger issue put Pete in a difficult spot. After four weeks your franchise quarterback says he's healed and ready to play. So, if Pete says, "No, I want you to sit out another week or two," that puts Pete in the position of not trusting Russ' word. That would make for bad relational chemistry between the two. But what should have happened is Pete letting Russ start like he did but then pulling him for Geno after it became apparent in that first game back that Russ' finger was not completely healed. And that scenario should have been followed each game until it was obvious that the finger was no longer a factor. That would have retained the trust factor between Pete and Russ. Instead, Pete left him in those three games after the four weeks of partial healing and Russ struggled and handicapped the team as well.

Which is exactly what I said on the same subject in a different thread. If Russell says he's good to play and that his finger isn't affecting his throwing, then no one is going to tell him differently, not Pete, not our medical staff, not even our owner. Russell is our 500-pound gorilla. He eats, sleeps, and $h!ts wherever the hell he wants. It's almost certainly the very same reason why Matt LeFleur didn't tell Aaron Rodgers to put on a mask and that he couldn't travel on the team plane. Even well-established coaches like Pete are deathly afraid of challenging the authority of their franchise quarterback, with the only possible exception being Bill Belichick.

It's a sad commentary on the state of the game, and perhaps the state of all major league sports themselves, where a player has more power than the coach. Inmates running the asylum. And us fans are partly to blame, by gobbling up their paraphernalia, wearing their names/numbers on our backs, and making them think that their $h!t don't stink.

Bruce Arians would be another one besides BB IMO who would be willing to risk offending his franchise QB.

I-5 wrote:I sincerely hope that Russ' finger is affecting him, because if it's not, then I think he's not the same Russ anymore. He has been universally recognized as throwing the best deep ball, but he is far from that right now - embarassingly so. You can't pin it on pressure last night, that was the most time we've seen him have to throw, and the only sacks were on plays where he held the ball 5-6 seconds. At some point, you have to ask what's going on with him.

During the post game presser, he was asked about the failures this year, and he started ticking off how challenging life is, and even brought up the pandemic. How is that different from anyone else? That was strange.

I hear what you say about Russ and the finger. He and we better hope its gonna get better or the franchise guy just turned into a 5'10" Cam Newton.
Just once Id like to hear Russ say" I blow, I stink, stunk up the joint" It might help him deal with reality. I've had it with the philosophical airy lofty aspirational talk. Your allegedly an NFL QB . Not Tony Robbins.

I've seen enough. I've been going back and forth for a year now, certainly since Russell's comments about being tired of getting hit. To Russ or not to Russ. Fire PC and keep Russ? or vice versa?

I've been rewinding game action. PFF had graded Russ second worse on the team next to that unfortunate nickel back that got the phantom hold. They dinged him for accuracy, field vision, taking unnecessary sacks and most interesting "refusing to run on the read option"
So I went to the video and sure enough the Rams were not respecting Russel's legs at all at any point on the read option and simply keying on the back every handoff. On the first drive Russ had such a wide open lane there was hardly anyone in the TV screen to his right but he handed off to Penney for 2 yards. Saw it again on the second drive. Man didn't want to get run down by Aaron Donald. He fears him. Its as far as I got before turning it off. I counted 6 seconds in the pocket before he took a 9 yards sack. Watching highlights its clear Metcalf beat Ramsey deep 3 times and had nothing to show for it due to inaccurate and late throws.
Its not the coordinator. They are not the ones launching 30 yard rocket balls on 3rd and 5, missing open receivers, taking killer sacks. This is Russ 10 years in . Add it all up, the petulant attitude, the attention seeking, increasing commercialization of his own brand and now the diminishing play. Its time to fish or cut bait. Trade him to the highest bidder. Its sad. Hes the greatest ever to play here or that maybe ever will. I hope not. But this is over.

trents wrote:Bruce Arians would be another one besides BB IMO who would be willing to risk offending his franchise QB.

You think

trents wrote:Bruce Arians would be another one besides BB IMO who would be willing to risk offending his franchise QB.

Keep in mind that we're not just talking about offending a franchise QB. Bruce Arians, and perhaps a couple others, like Andy Reid and Mike Tomlin, definitely have the balls to confront a player like Brady if the subject were game strategy just like Pete has with Russell. But if Brady tells him that he's good to go in a situation similar to the dilemma Pete faced with Russell's injury, do you still think he'd let him play? I'm not so sure.

I am reminded of a situation back in the 60's when the Packers had a very good offensive tackle by the name of Forrest Gregg, who was the first Packers player to hire an agent to negotiate his contract for him. The agent shows up at Head Coach Vince Lombardi's office, introduces himself as Gregg's agent, and asks to speak with Lombardi so the receptionist phoned him in his office in the next room. Lombardi had the agent wait in the outer office with the receptionist for about an hour after which he phoned the receptionist. After a brief conversation, the receptionist hung up the phone and told the agent "I'm sorry, Mr. Gregg has just been traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers."

My, how the times have changed!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/so ... hp&pc=U531
Its a tough article to read but so true. The problems with Russ and the offense started a long time before his injury.

PC was on his day after presser and was asked why "Wilson isn't playing at the same level as he has his entire career". Carroll launched into a meandering response, said it took Russ a while to come back from being out. "he could play and do some things" but it wasn't enough to win. Got to make the plays. He dismissed talk of blaming the calls" we could have won in other ways."


PC is such a nice and classy man it hurts him as a coach. His comments a week before the GB game "its gonna be real close if he makes it" to Russel's camps triumphant announcement a day later he was good to go "good as new "makes clear he knew Wilson wasn't ready. A game plan approved by Carroll exclusively from the pistol with only left handed handoffs against a top NFC team on the road leading to 50% completions and zero points made even more clear he wasn't CLOSE to being ready. The play since his return has confirmed it.

PC let himself get bullied. I get it. Russ has been tough as nails for 9 years, a winner for 9 years. And once PC gave in it was his ball for the rest of the season. No way PC is yanking him no matter how bad hes been and its been brutal. I know the horse is dead. The good coach play was to start Geno in GB and have Russ ready to relieve if it went poorly. We know it couldn't have been any worse.

I complained about this a year ago, and while I can't say this has ANY validity:

The Seahawks have (had) a QB coach, but Russ decided to hire his own "personal QB coach" - one Jake Heaps, a KIRO sports show host and with a less than stellar history as a QB. Heaps used KIRO to help air RW's complaints - was the main one pushing the "let Russ Cook" movement and openly blamed Pete from hold RW back from being the league MVP that he rightfully should be. Heaps was key fueling trade rumors, saying they need to give RW say and if they don't he may not stay (indicating he knew this from RW personally) - and has continued to rag at the Seahawks use of RW ever since......Now here we are: the Seahawks QB coach (Austin) has decided to leave for Auburn and Russ is playing lousy like his "personal QB coach". Any connection may all be fantasy, but makes me wonder.

Probably nonsense, but RW has a lot of outside input - and that's never seems like a good idea in a team sport. But right now, we have a QB that isn't throwing well, isn't reading well, has lost a bunch of mobility and makes $35MM.

TriCitySam wrote:I complained about this a year ago, and while I can't say this has ANY validity:

The Seahawks have (had) a QB coach, but Russ decided to hire his own "personal QB coach" - one Jake Heaps, a KIRO sports show host and with a less than stellar history as a QB. Heaps used KIRO to help air RW's complaints - was the main one pushing the "let Russ Cook" movement and openly blamed Pete from hold RW back from being the league MVP that he rightfully should be. Heaps was key fueling trade rumors, saying they need to give RW say and if they don't he may not stay (indicating he knew this from RW personally) - and has continued to rag at the Seahawks use of RW ever since......Now here we are: the Seahawks QB coach (Austin) has decided to leave for Auburn and Russ is playing lousy like his "personal QB coach". Any connection may all be fantasy, but makes me wonder.

Excellent point, Sam, and something I was only vaguely aware of.

RiverDog wrote:Excellent point, Sam, and something I was only vaguely aware of.

Well, no proof it means anything in what's going on - but RW has a lot of outside voices and champions generally focus on the team.

Matt Hasselbeck was not flattering to RW this morning, questioning why RW did a hard count on 3rd and inches (resulting in a false start), saying "Why? It's 3rd and inches, just go. You gain nothing with a hard count". Seconldy say there is something "off" with the Hawks offense. Saying in RW and DK you have two supremely talented players, but they can't connect on a hitch: "Snohomish High can hit on a hitch".

I never understood the Jake Heaps deal , ever . He did nothing in the league . But Russ wants yes men , cheerleaders . I truly hadn’t thought much of the actual QB coach bailing mid season but it sure makes sense . And yeah Russ is playing like what I remember of Heaps. Like a heap , a pile . If you haven’t read the article I linked I recommend it . Some eye popping numbers and stats . He’s been bad a while now .

TriCitySam wrote:Matt Hasselbeck was not flattering to RW this morning, questioning why RW did a hard count on 3rd and inches (resulting in a false start), saying "Why? It's 3rd and inches, just go. You gain nothing with a hard count". Seconldy say there is something "off" with the Hawks offense. Saying in RW and DK you have two supremely talented players, but they can't connect on a hitch: "Snohomish High can hit on a hitch".

I love Hasselbeck. Self-deprecating to a fault, and his honesty is always refreshing. It's just so clear that the main problem last night is Russ, no matter how anyone tries to rationalize it. The offensive line blocked, the running backs gained yards, the receivers had SOME success getting open (not a lot, but Kupp was never that much open either and still produced). The defense and special teams did their jobs. Did we get outcoached? Probably. But the blatant stink came from our elite QB who hasn't been elite for quite a while now.

Btw, I didn't know about the Heaps thing. Yikes.

I’ve never heard Heaps talk or if he writes articles, either but if he’s in Wilson’s ear,
it might counter the message from the O/C or QB coach, or at least middy the message.

The old expression of too many cooks in the kitchen also comes to mind.

Well here's Heaps handiwork over the last calendar year or so. In the last 10 games last year Russ threw 10 picks to 12 TDs. He was 17th in passer rating and a stunning 28th in YPA from Game 7 on last year. Added another pick 6 in the debacle vs the Rams. So 11 picks in his last 11 games last season. This year hes dead last in 3rd down comp at 46.3 % ,27th in yards per attempt, 20th in passer rating in those situations. The team is 29th in converting them unsurprisingly. Vs the rams we converted 3 3rd downs, On all the attempts Russ completed 4 passes for an average of 2.78 yards per completion. Hes thrown 5 picks in his last 7 starts, gone 2-4 since his return after going 2-3 before. 4-7 as a starter this year. In our last 4 losses the offense has failed to score 20 points one single time. The offense averaged 20 points with him hurt. Not great but had we hit that average we would have 5 more wins. Its not the D. Its not the coordinator.

Do my fellow hawks fans think this is going to improve? Do we sign up for another year of it? several more?

If Pete retires and we sign someone like Eric Bienemy (sp) or another offensive minded HC then I think we can improve on Offense quite a bit.
But if Pete stays on, I think we will be seeing what it's like without Wilson and I suspect it will be maybe a decade of a QB carousel where we
try to find another Franchise type QB.

I think it's not all Pete (his philosophy, his schemes and his in game mismanagement together with poor draft and trade decisions), it's not all Russel and it's not all the O line. I think it's a combination of a number things that feed on each other. I think Russ, for a combination of reasons, some of which have to do with him and some of which have to do with the team culture, has lost his confidence and some of his athleticism. I think he might get some of it back in a different setting through a trade or even a leadership change within the Seahawk milieu but I think he will never be at the zenith we saw a few years ago. I worry that he has been ruined by the Hawks' leadership mismanagement tendencies that have turned Russ into an indecisive field general. That's what stands out to me in Russ's play in the last two years - indecisiveness.

FWIW, Brock Huard also thinks the finger is still affecting him. I also think that is the most likely scenario, because what other explanation is there for such a steep drop off in accuracy such a short time? Not that he was playing great earlier this year, but his deep balls look especially way off:

“He is just not going to use that as a crutch,” Huard said of Wilson and the state of his finger. “Yes, I think some of his coming back faster than he should have was a little bit of hubris on his part, but that’s what he was going to do. He wanted to do it, he wanted to get back faster than anybody could, because that is his mindset. But just watching him up close, I just don’t think he can rip it like he could rip it for (the previous) nine years. And when you have as significant of a finger injury as he has, I mean, that’s real, man, and I do think it’s playing a factor on two or three of those deep balls.

“OK, maybe you miss one or maybe it’s a windy day or it’s a wet day or whatever, but to miss multiple of those when that is his strength, there is no question to me… even though I know that’s going to be met with stark (opposition) – ‘Absolutely not, he’s fine, he’s doing great in practice, he feels 100%.’ So I know that’s what I will hear, but just my opinion from seeing it up close and personal, I just don’t think that finger’s close to right.”

https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1546939/huard-seahawks-russ-just-is-not-russ/

I couldn’t agree more . He has been off but since he came back way off

Yea, I agree, too. You can't blame it on rust anymore as he's been back for 6 games. Something else is at work.

That will be one of the more interesting things to watch for in our remaining 3 games, is how Russell performs.

I listened to PC Wednesday . In addition to dismissing concerns about Russell’s hand while saying he’s had to work through it he also addressed Russ not running with the ball Tuesday . He said “teams account for Russell , they don’t want him as a runner “. He went on to explain teams have taken Russ away on the read so it’s basically just a handoff every time . PFF was scathing in their assessment and gave him a grade of 33, worst of his career . They said he was refusing to run in the read formation . I’ve watched most of the game again and Pete god bless him. He is being as dishonest about why Russ is not running as he is about “ he says the hand is fine , he looks fine in practice , he’s fine “. Russ had opportunities to burn the Rams . They were ignoring him . There was no spy. He handed it off into a wall of defenders a few times with Penney in which hurt his per carry average because when he had a hole he produced . Dee Jay had a great game and we can be upset about the no call on the PI but the guy only gets there because the ball is late and short .

The horse is dead and bloated now but no the hand isn’t right . After a couple of decent games that gave us hope his mind wasn’t right once again . He’s not trying to burn teams with his legs . I saw him break the pocket after 5 or 6 seconds and get run down yard short of the line of scrimmage .
When this QB was signed to one of the largest contracts in league history he was Dangerruss, deadly with his feet and his arm . He had fire on the sidelines , almost never lost multiple games in a row . We’re not getting what we paid for unless this is just a dip . I’ll never root against Russ but I wouldn’t bet on him either .

Russ seems more inclined to hit DK on shorter routes and be a playmaker whose speed and size should get him loose...if the pass is quick enough...not into double coverage which DK seems to draw (even with Lockett on the field). The ease of double coverage is a result of our running game not dictating its will on the opposing team.

Tyler is a "security blanket" because he has better hands and better tracking skills especially on Russ's arching moon balls. Both the 49ers game and Houston's game showed Russ is overcoming his injury...but more than the 49ers game (played at home) ...the Rams game was "prime time" and an away game...and Lockett was missing. Russ's biggest loss has been when his confidence wains ...losing can be so very draining and no one bears blame as much as a QB which is why he needs a P/U from PC but PC's own frustration has come out in subtle negative comments (subtle to most...but clear to Russ).

He tries to be upbeat in press conferences...and this comes across as not accepting blame...but he beats up himself internally more than displayed by his subdued yet upbeat messaging. All his main confidence boosters...winning culture...great fan base...and budding team mate friendships...have been strained by his injury/pride of having his ironman rep severely damaging/loss of his life coach (Sep 17, 2021 · Trevor Moawad, who was Wilson's longtime mental-conditioning coach, business partner and "best friend," died from cancer this week at age 48. Heaven just got better. I love you ) *right before the Titan's game* We pass it off as Russell having suffered loss before and seemed resilient...but Russ is a bit older and perhaps leaned a lot more on this "coach" than revealed. The injury just compounded a life still healing with time...and the reality of life grounded him with its sudden complications.

I think his confidence level is betrayed by his forced smiles...but I really feel his confidence level is KEY to his on-field focus and sense of timing...the interceptions have strained his relationship with PC...and his lack of focus has strained his relationship with DK...losing Tyler to covid took away his safety valve when he needed him most (let alone any personal concern of Tyler having symptoms). A very challenging year which will test RW's mettle . We sometimes gloss over our very human nature...while keeping up our own persona even when its faltering.

Good words, Tarlhawk. I agree with your thoughts. My only input would be maybe Russ would be coping better with all this if he didn't try so hard to put on a positive face. It's like he's in denial about the impact these factors are having on him and until he acknowledges that he won't find emotional healing and health and be able to move on.