Why the Seahawks can't just turn Russ loose
Yes, the NFC playoffs have concluded.
Come and gone.
And folks who believed the Seahawks had a divine right to take their quest for the Super Bowl onward and upward remain…
Down and out.
I’m going to address your several million emails in a moment, but first let me say that I get your pain.
It hurts just thinking back, right?
The officials blew a pass interference call against the 49ers that likely would have set up a Hawks victory — along with the NFC West title — on the final day of the regular season.
Then came the agony of Jacob Hollister just inches short of a winner.
And finally, after a workmanlike wild card win in Philadelphia, the Seahawks tumbled into a 21-3 hole at Green Bay and — almost miraculously — came back from the dead to score touchdowns on three consecutive drives.
They had the ball and momentum, and…
Malik Turner dropped an easy pass that halted everything, and will keep the poor guy awake for months.
THIS IS where the millions of emails become important.
Oh, sure, there were some fans who are just plain hurt and wanted to tell a newspaper columnist that the Seahawks should be going to the Super Bowl instead of the 49ers.
But there was a bigger batch than asked some form of the same question…
Why couldn’t the Seahawks play as well in the first halves of games as they do with all these rousing rallies?
Why not get leads like 31-10 with Russell Wilson running and throwing all over the place — thus removing the terror of having to somehow come back as the final seconds tick away?
These are great questions, not silly ideas from fans who don’t understand how games develop.
In fact, at Pete Carroll’s first media briefing back home after the loss in Green Bay, this very issue — why wait until the fourth quarter? — was put to the coach and he said…
“Whoa! That’s a good question.”
And he wasn’t being facetious.
So. Pete…
How about it?
Carroll wouldn’t commit to anything specific, but he hinted at a few wrinkles that might be added to next year’s offense.
But we need to back up a second, because…
YOU SIMPLY can’t unleash the run-and-shoot on every series in the NFL. Wilson’s body, the franchise’s most precious commodity, wouldn’t hold up.
Still…
Pete was kind of thinking aloud when he suggested going up-tempo, with Russ calling the shots in a bit of playground football — maybe at a few surprising times in the first half.
Yes!
The Wilson you see finding receivers, racing around, dashing for 18 yards and so forth late in games, please remember…
All those plays are being run against tiring defenses — and pass rushers, especially, get thoroughly gassed down the stretch.
So for everyone who wrote to ask why the Hawks don’t play at breakneck speed all the time…
They can’t.
It would be dangerous, especially for Wilson, to keep dashing around against fresh, angry defenses.
But maybe on one series each in the first and second quarters, with the right personnel on the field?
I’ll just put it this way: Russell Wilson is Seattle’s ticket to any Super Bowls in the near future..
So the more you can let him dictate football games, the less he’d have to rally in a fourth-quarter panic.
You have to be clever about it, though — as clever as Russ.
Come to think of it, why not let him decide to go sandlot for some quick scores.
Russ?
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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns for The Press appear on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. He also contributes the “Zags Tracker” package on Gonzaga basketball each Tuesday.
Steve’s various tales from several decades in sports — “Moments, Memories and Madness” — run on Sundays.