Russell Wilson

[River Dog]

Yep, you're correct. My bad. Georg Pickens. But I didn't get him confused with Slim Pickens. George has been out the last three games with a concussion.

Slim Pickens? Now that dates you! A couple days ago, I referred to Joe Buck as Jack Buck. Boy, if that doesn't date me!

And hey look! We now have 29 pages of Russell Wilson posts!

[River Dog]

It was an up and down year for our former signal caller, but it ended on a downer. The Steelers lost their last 5 games in a row, including last weekend's wild card loss to their division rival Ravens. Russell's stat line was nothing to write home about. He had a very respectable TD:INT ratio, throwing 16 touchdowns to just 5 picks, but his completion percentage was on the low side at 63.7%, his passer rating a lackluster 95.6, and he's still taking a lot of sacks, averaging 3 per game, one of the highest sack rates in the league.

What the Steelers will do in the offseason is a bit of a mystery. Russell has said that he wants to stay with them....but of course, he said the same thing in Seattle just before he waived his no-trade clause to become a Bronco. There are rumors of friction between Russ and OC Authur Smith, and HC Mike Tomlin has kept his cards close to his vest about the QB position, whether the team keeps Russ, Justin Fields, or if they let both go. And Smith could end up as the HC with someone else. He has interviews lined up with both the Jets and the Bears.

Thoughts?

[trents]

Opponents at the end of the season started double teaming George Pickens and took the deep ball away from Russ, which is his forte. Russ was forced to rely on the short passing game which he has never been good at. I think his stature hurts him in the short pass game. At the same time, taking away the deep threat allowed opponents to pack the box and take away the Steeler's run game. And the Steeler's O line struggled to protect. It all imploded. It's hard to say how much of all that can be laid on Russ.

[4XPIPS]

The beat goes on! Russell now a Giant. Interesting he got signed before Aaron.

[River Dog]

The beat goes on! Russell now a Giant. Interesting he got signed before Aaron.

I'm not sure why it would be surprising that Russ signed before Rodgers. The Giants obviously felt that they were the odd man out in the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes.
They're a rebuilding team that isn't expected to contend, and Rodgers will likely end up with either the Vikings or Steelers, both playoff teams from a year ago.

The deal is pretty paltry as far as NFL QB's goes and significantly lower than the $20-30M Russ was looking for. It's a one-year deal is worth $10.5m with incentives that could push it to $21M.

[4XPIPS]

I'm not sure why it would be surprising that Russ signed before Rodgers. The Giants obviously felt that they were the odd man out in the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes.
They're a rebuilding team that isn't expected to contend, and Rodgers will likely end up with either the Vikings or Steelers, both playoff teams from a year ago.

The deal is pretty paltry as far as NFL QB's goes and significantly lower than the $20-30M Russ was looking for. It's a one-year deal is worth $10.5m with incentives that could push it to $21M.

Then it poses the question. Knowing full well this probably would never happen, but the pieces were there to make it happen. Bear with me.. why didn't the Hawks just sign Russell to $21m per year, and use him as a bridge for the future? I believe most of the beef was between Pete and him, and John was the guy who pounded the table to draft him after we had signed Matt Flynn.

If we weren't a contender, and signing Darnold doesn't make us a contender immediately and he appears to be the bridge for the future..... then why didn't we just do it with Russ? If one can see that Russ and Darnold will probably give you the same output next season, why not save the money and make it a homecoming of sorts. Most of the locker room has flipped since then, or did he burn the bridge that bad that reunion would have been off the table? Clearly Russ has to realize by now he isn't close to the elite QB he once was, but if given the magic wand and I was given the choice between Russ for $21 m per year vs Darnold round $30 m per year, hmmm I may go with Russ, but that's me.

[River Dog]

Then it poses the question. Knowing full well this probably would never happen, but the pieces were there to make it happen. Bear with me.. why didn't the Hawks just sign Russell to $21m per year, and use him as a bridge for the future? I believe most of the beef was between Pete and him, and John was the guy who pounded the table to draft him after we had signed Matt Flynn.

If we weren't a contender, and signing Darnold doesn't make us a contender immediately and he appears to be the bridge for the future..... then why didn't we just do it with Russ? If one can see that Russ and Darnold will probably give you the same output next season, why not save the money and make it a homecoming of sorts. Most of the locker room has flipped since then, or did he burn the bridge that bad that reunion would have been off the table? Clearly Russ has to realize by now he isn't close to the elite QB he once was, but if given the magic wand and I was given the choice between Russ for $21 m per year vs Darnold round $30 m per year, hmmm I may go with Russ, but that's me.

Bringing Russell back to the Hawks would be out of the question IMO. If you heard the reception he received when he returned to Seattle, there is a significant part of the fan base that can't stand him. And how do we know that most of the beef was between Russ and Pete didn't include JS? Rumor is that Russell lobbied ownership to fire both JS as well as Pete. There's also rumors that JS and Russell's agent don't see eye to eye. It would have been a huge distraction that our young coaching staff doesn't need.

Besides, now that Metcalf is gone, we don't have that big, fast deep threat that plays to Russell's biggest attribute. He does not excel in the short passing game, which seems to be the direction we're heading.

[NorthHawk]

I don't think it's that complicated. Schneider and Wilson's agent Mark Rogers (I think) hate each other so they wouldn't even get to the negotiating stage.

[River Dog]

I had to dig up this thread on Russell, if for nothing else, that at 29 pages long, it has to be one of if not the longest threads in the history of this forum. It's one of those topics that everyone has an opinion on.

I only saw glimpses of the Giants 21-6 loss to the Commanders via the Red Zone, but what I saw didn't look good at all. And Russell's numbers were butt ugly: 17-37 for a 45.9% completion percentage, 168 yards, 0 TD's/0 INT's, 59.3 passer rating, 25.5 QBR. The Giants offense was kept out of the end zone and managed just two field goals.

To be fair, the Commanders have what appears to be a contending team with a stout defense, and Russell got no help from his offensive line. The Giants ran for just 74 yards, over half of which came from Russell Wilson's 44 rushing yards. 30 yards out of their running backs and here I am harping on Russell. Nevertheless, it's hard to rationalize a 45.9% completion percentage.

The fact is that this is Russell's 4th team in 5 seasons. It hasn't gone well for him since being traded to Denver. Even if he plays well, he's not the long-term answer for the Giants, who apparently are looking for a place holder to avoid throwing first round draft pick Jaxson Dart to the wolves so early in his career.

We'll get a good look at the Giants a week from this Sunday when they host the Chiefs on SNF. Before that, they have a tough game with the Cowpukes, who looked surprisingly good against the defending SB champ Eagles. Will Russell still be the starter? What kind of reception will he get from the Big Blue faithful?

Comments?

[NorthHawk]

His skills have clearly eroded, and he looks a bit like he has some David Carr syndrome but I wonder if the bad Giants OL is telling their coaches to keep Wilson in there so Dart doesn't suffer the same consequences.
It wouldn't be the first team to put a young QB in play and have his confidence shattered by a bad OL in front of him.