Where Wilson may stand alone among NFL QBs
Aug 7, 2013, 11:18 AM | Updated: 11:21 am
By Brady Henderson
The Seahawks used play-action on 35 percent of their offensive plays last season, a figure that according to FootballOutsiders.com ranked second in the NFL and represented a 60 percent increase from 2011.
Darrell Bevell has been Seattle’s offensive coordinator for each of those seasons, but it wasn’t until last year that he had Russell Wilson and his athleticism under center.
Seattle’s use of the play-action was among the subjects covered when Bevell joined “Brock and Danny” on Tuesday, and Bevell agreed with Brock Huard’s contention that there’s not a quarterback in the NFL who’s better than Wilson in terms of his abilities as a play-action passer.
“I don’t think there is right now,” said Bevell, who played quarterback at Wisconsin and has coached the position at the college and NFL levels. “He lets us do so much. He can do all the stretch passes that you’re talking about but then we can do half-rolls, we can do full sprint-outs, so he just really opens up the playbook for you.”
Bevell worked with quarterbacks Brett Favre, Matt Hasselbeck and a young Aaron Rodgers among others during his coaching stops in Green Bay and Minnesota, but he said none of them could match Wilson’s adeptness at play-action.
“Favre had his strengths in a lot of ways,” Bevell said. “The play fakes were important to him, but all the other stuff that Russell adds, he’s just a different being.”
Huard shares additional insight into Wilson’s strengths as a play-action passer in the video below.
You can listen to Tuesday’s show here.
