my first and hopefully only twitter thread ever:

there is something wrong with russell wilson.

he has otherworldly arm talent. he has strength and zip and touch, he punishes 0 blitz with impunity, he throws redline open hangar balls better than anyone I have ever seen.

when he is in control of his abilities, he looks like a normal tier 1 quarterback. he beats pressure by standing tall in the pocket and getting the ball out on time. he beats zone with zone beaters and man with man beaters, he spreads the ball around to TEs and WRs and RBs.

he runs when the defense gives it to him, and uses his mobility to find a new spot to set his feet and throw.

he has had stretches of enormous success every season of his career. recall any primetime RW showcase game over the years and you see the QB that I described above.

and then there’s the other guy.

he doesn’t trust his reads, or doesn’t read at all. he holds the ball. he fumbles snaps. he ducks into pressure. he intentionally, uh, groundings. he spins 20 yards into the backfield and takes sacks. he throws what-was-he-thinking interceptions.

at his worst, he is simply not a functional quarterback. plays and entire drives are doomed before they start. he’s playing some other game in his head that none of the rest of us can see.

so here’s what drives me nuts about the guy, and the larger conversation surrounding.

both of these versions of the quarterback exist, and have always existed, regardless of who is calling the offensive plays, and regardless of the weapons the front office has (or hasn’t) afforded him, and the talent lining up across from him. he transcends, or he doesn’t.

every season we see the A+ russell wilson and the C- russell wilson, and in year 9 it is beyond tiresome to get more of the latter than the former and still hear the same stuff about the coaches or the play selection or the talent around him or the strength of the opponents.

i think it would be useful to just admit there is something wrong with russell wilson. that it happens every season, that it is independent of the outside factors, and that any discussion of how to steward the franchise hinges on whether we can live with it.

i love good russ. i admire his toughness and appreciate that he won a super bowl and took us to another. i also acknowledge that you could probably write the same stuff about rodgers and others after spending enough time watching them.

but i shouldn’t be able to watch three dropbacks and immediately know if we are getting the good version or the bad version of our elite starting quarterback for that game. and i don’t see how the seahawks ever get back to the super bowl without fixing this guy first.