Huard: Wilson’s decision-making ‘problematic’ for Seahawks against Giants

The Seahawks dropped a game they likely should have won against the New York Giants on Sunday and a lot of the blame for the 17-12 loss has been pointed at quarterback Russell Wilson.

Hawks’ offense hits low point as it threatens to undermine the season

Wilson completed 27 of 43 passes for 263 yards and one touchdown and seven rushes for 45 yards in the loss. He also threw an interception and lost a fumble while being sacked five times.

Those stats may not look all that bad, but when watching the game, it was clear Wilson was far from the MVP frontrunner we saw for the first five games of 2020.

Former NFL quarterback Brock Huard on Twitter Sunday said that Week 13 was the worst game Wilson has had when it comes to making decisions on the field in a long time. He went into more detail on Monday with 710 ESPN Seattle’s Danny and Gallant.

“Just not taking what’s there and taking checkdowns,” Huard said of Wilson’s play. “Three or four times, a couple in the first half and second half, just take what is there. Don’t try and continue to push it down the field. Get rid of the ball and avoid negative plays … Avoid an intentional grounding that is just a drive killer.”

It appeared that the Seahawks were regularly looking deep down field in the passing game for big plays, but the Giants were employing two-safety looks and were doing a good job of taking those big plays away. Rather than taking what the defense was presenting and getting the ball out to someone close by for a short gain, Wilson held the ball far too long far too often, which resulted in sacks, thrown away passes and incompletions.

Huard said that there are games where any quarterback is going to be off their game in terms of their touch and accuracy, but that doesn’t excuse how Wilson performed.

“A pitcher is not going to have command and throw a strike every single game and be at his best,” he said. “But the overall decision-making was as problematic as it’s been in a long time.”

Huard thinks that the Seahawks’ offensive game plan was the wrong one.

“That goes to the very top and that’s what (head coach Pete Carroll) is echoing to (offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer) and ultimately what Schotty and Russ, who is in complete control of this thing, kind of decide how to attack it and it was the wrong attack mode yesterday,” Huard said.

Later, Danny O’Neil asked Huard if he thought that Wilson was “gun shy” after his 10-turnover spell in four games recently, or if Carroll is trying to limit what Wilson does after that stretch. Huard said the Seahawks’ offense just needs to be different than it was in Week 13, and that Seattle in some ways got complacent.

“Just get the ball out. When they ran the quick game they were three of four (on third down),” Huard said. “They only ran a couple screens and some of those (took longer to develop). When you’re struggling that way, I want jet sweeps, I want screens, I want quick game, I want movement, I want tempo, I want no huddle. I want to change the pace and it just never really materialized over the course of it because I think in some ways you’re up 5-0 and you think these guys can’t do anything (offensively). No, not in this league. That’s not the way it works.”

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