Across Enemy Lines - Seattle Seahawks

[chknwing]

all carolina has to do to beat seattle, is keep it simple stupid.  play to your strengths, dont do a bunch of fancy poo. dont abandon the run game and blitz wilson, hes still a young qb, he can get rattled into making mistakes.

[Hawkscanner]

all carolina has to do to beat seattle, is keep it simple stupid.  play to your strengths, dont do a bunch of fancy poo. dont abandon the run game and blitz wilson, hes still a young qb, he can get rattled into making mistakes.

 

You know, I expect the Panthers to try to load the box and to bring pressure early and often in an attempt to bottle up Beast Mode and to try to apply heat to Russell Wilson.  Greg Hardy admitted as much on Twitter this week …

 

Jim Moore ‏@cougsgo

Carolina DE Greg Hardy on Russell Wilson: "We're going to tire him out. He can run all he wants. Eventually we're going to catch him."

 

I'm just not sure that's the wisest move.

 

Teams tried that strategy last year.  In Week 6, New England stacked the box and made a real point of keying in on Lynch and stopping him.  As we also know though, that game had a very positive effective for the offense as a whole, as it marked the real beginning of the rise of Russell Wilson.  With Lynch under wraps for most of that game, Wilson put the offense on his back, completing 16 of 27 passes for 293 yards and 3 TD’s (including the dramatic game winner to Sidney Rice). 

 

In the playoffs, the Redskins also loaded up the box, crowding the line of scrimmage in order to bring heat on Russell Wilson and to take away the running threat of Marshawn Lynch.  That worked to some degree, as Wilson was sacked 5 times … but the offense as a whole got clicking midway through the 1^st Quarter and never looked back.  Lynch rumbled through the Redskins defense, finishing the day with 132 Yards Rushing on 20 Carries (a 6.6 Yards/Rush Avg) and a touchdown.  

 

Statistically speaking, Russell Wilson had one of his worst days last year against the Panthers.  Though he completed 19 of 25 passes (76% Comp Rate) for 221 yards … he was also picked off twice in that game.  I remember CB Captain Munnerlyn (5’8” 195 pounds) last year stepping in front of a route intended for TE Anthony McCoy and took it back 33 yards the other way to the house.  You guys are certainly thinking you'll see a repeat performance if they are able to apply pressure.

 

as I noted above, this is a vastly different Seahawks Offense from the one that the Panthers faced back in Week 5 last season.  Wilson is actually at his most dangerous when he is on the move, as he is an extremely accurate passer and innovator on the fly.  Anyone who at all paid attention to the Bears game and to the playoffs knows that to be true.  Danny Kelly over at Field Gulls noted some very interesting stats regarding Russell Wilson in a piece he wrote back in May …

 

In 2012, Russell Wilson worked his way outside the pocket to throw on 119 plays - he completed 65 passes on 105 attempts, a 61.9% clip. On those plays, he threw for 814 yards with 7.8 YPA, with 5 TD to 2 INT. His NFL rating on those 'outside the pocket' plays was 93.9 and his Total QBR was 73.4.

Source:

http://www.fieldgulls.com/2013/5/6/4304096/russell-wilson-the-signature-nfl-throw

 

For a team that has a strong secondary, a better plan against Wilson might actually be to keep him in the pocket, telling the defensive lineman to stay home and shut down those running lanes, keep their hands up, and close off those passing windows.  The problem for the Panthers; however, is that I just don’t think they have the kind of secondary to truly dominate the Hawks receivers.  Just my .02