How will Seahawks, Wilson react to new defenses?
Jun 8, 2013, 4:50 PM | Updated: Jun 10, 2013, 11:57 am
By Brent Stecker
When the 2013 NFL season finally arrives, opposing defenses will be geared up for Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
The sophomore signal-caller tortured teams down the stretch in 2012 with his ability to mix in zone-read option plays to the Seahawks’ otherwise balanced attack. Each and every instance of Wilson’s success will have been pored over by the rest of the league by the time the Seahawks reach their season opener, however, and how Wilson reacts to defensive schemes he hasn’t seen before will be key for the Seahawks, as Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com told “Brock and Danny.”
“(The Seahawks’ season) is gonna depend on how Russell Wilson reacts to that adjustment that teams will be making as they try to figure out how to shut him down based on a full season of game tape,” Florio said. “Will the Seahawks and Russell Wilson be able to essentially predict what defenses are going to do and exploit the weaknesses that pop up when the defenses reconfigure to take away the things that Russell did well? I think he’s got the will and the brainpower to do it. The physical ability – I don’t know at what point he reaches his limit, but I think that as Wilson goes, the team goes, and they still have a chance to be very very good.”
Brock Huard and Danny O’Neil have another reason why Wilson and the Seahawks will continue to outsmart defenses. As they explain in the video below, the effectiveness of the Seahawks’ zone-read keeps the focus off other more essential parts of their offense.