NFL1000: What’s the Cause of Russell Wilson’s Recent Struggles?

On Sunday night, the Seattle Seahawks’ defense put together a historic performance. It was lost in the ugliness of a 6-6 tie, but the Arizona Cardinals had 95 total plays and 46:21 total time of possession, gained 443 total net yards, and didn’t score a touchdown. It was the longest any NFL defense had stayed on the field without allowing a touchdown in regular-season NFL history, according to the News Tribune’s Gregg Bell. Safety Kelcie McCray led Seattle’s defenders with an astonishing 108 snaps (95 on defense, 13 on special teams), and each member of Seattle’s Legion of Boom secondary (McCray, Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman and DeShawn Shead) stayed on the field for all 95 plays. To limit Arizona’s generally explosive offense to no end-zone appearances with that many chances should be talked about far more than it will be.

Sadly, that superhuman effort was lost in the ugly mixture of reductive play design and execrable offensive-line performance on the other side of the ball.

Let’s review four examples of Seattle’s current pass-protection issues, starting with this incomplete pass from Russell Wilson to Doug Baldwin. Here, Cardinals edge-rusher Markus Golden moved hard and quickly off the snap, and Garry Gilliam appeared to get into a good pass set. However, he dropped his hands and head and failed to engage through the arc, which is fatal against a guy as talented as Golden. This is the base example of what Seattle’s passing offense has become in the last few weeks—quick dump-offs to avoid imminent pressure.

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Then, there was this play with 1:52 left in the second half. Defensive lineman Calais Campbell is playing in a wide alignment as opposed to his usual three-technique spot, and Gilliam can’t handle Campbell from the start. He gets a few good steps into the arc and engages Campbell, but Campbell then throws Gilliam aside, because Gilliam doesn’t get set and doesn’t use his hands to force the action. A man of Campbell’s strength will dominate a blocker without fundamental root power every time. To add insult to (psychic) injury, Gilliam is busted for a hold when he grabs Campbell’s jersey to save his quarterback.

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On the very next play, it was left tackle Bradley Sowell’s turn in the bucket. Sowell had edge-rusher Chandler Jones on his left shoulder, ready to rush out of a two-point stance. Sowell tried to get in his set, but his kick-step was slow, and Jones just rushed right by him. Six steps into the play, Jones gave Sowell a hand-strike, which rocked him off his point. Jones was able to throw him aside, and this is what it looks like when an offensive lineman is beaten by both power and speed.

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The Cardinals were not done with Sowell. Check out this play with 11:51 left in regulation, when Sowell was facing Golden. Right away, it’s clear that Sowell isn’t going to be able to handle Golden’s speed around the edge—he’s huffing all the way. As Golden moves past Sowell (who doesn’t get into the arc at all), Sowell is left to push and flail with no strength from a base. At this point, he’s just guessing and holding, and indeed, he’s called for a hold on this play.

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Russell Wilson finished that game with 24 completions in 37 attempts for 225 yards, no touchdowns (obviously) and no interceptions. Seattle had just 63 plays to Arizona’s 95, but if you want to point to Wilson as the root cause of his team’s anemic output, that’s a bit unfair. Better to lay blame at the feet of the four other guys who matched Wilson’s 63-snap effort: left guard Mark Glowinski, center Justin Britt, right guard Germain Ifedi, and Gilliam. Sowell would also be a prime offender, though he was injured during the game and played just 39 snaps before undrafted rookie George Fant replaced him.

Wilson, for his part, has looked every bit a top-tier quarterback when his offensive line has allowed him to be. Since the start of the 2015 season, per Pro Football Focus, he’s been the league’s best deep passer, completing 49 percent of his passes that traveled 21 or more yards downfield (the NFL average is 36 percent) for a league-leading 16 touchdowns. And in his last 12 regular-season games, his 29-2 touchdown-to-interception …

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