These Seahawks without Russell Wilson? This is ugly. And this is not a surprise
Not that you, or the Seahawks, need reminded: This is what happens in the NFL when teams lose their franchise quarterbacks.
For the second consecutive pregame, Russell Wilson came out hours before kickoff and pantomimed a hurry-up drive of rushing to the line, calling plays, rolling out, looking for receivers — doing everything but passing the ball with his surgically repaired throwing hand.
For the second consecutive week, Wilson put on a team jacket then stood on the sidelines for three-plus hours into the night. He again watched, helplessly, as the Seahawks squandered a last chance to win a tight, winnable game without him.
This — Seattle’s ugly (what else?) 13-10 loss to the New Orleans Saints Monday night after its overtime loss at Pittsburgh and late loss at home to the Rams since Wilson got hurt — is what life without your franchise-pillar QB is.
It just is.
Wilson and Seattle have become the 20th instance since 2015 of a team losing its megabucks passer for at least three games if not the rest of the year to a major injury during the season. Seventeen times in the 19 previous such situations that team has not made the playoffs that season.
The combined records of the teams that lost their starting QBs the last six years sank to 59-119 on Monday night.
That’s a dismal winning percentage of .331.
No wonder the Seahawks are 2-5 for the first time since 2011, their last before Wilson became their quarterback as a rookie.
No wonder they are 13th of 16 teams in the NFC.
No wonder they are five games out of the NFC West lead with 10 games remaining. They have to go 7-3 the rest of the season to have a winning record.
Teams that lose starting quarterbacks lose. Period.
“Let’s say it this way: I’ve been here a long time. And if we didn’t have Russell, I probably wouldn’t have been here a long time,” said 70-year-old Pete Carroll with a chuckle at how true it is.
It’s as true as anything Carroll has said in his 12 seasons coaching Seattle.
“Because, think of all the magic that he’s created in the years,” Carroll said. “He’s got numbers and stats, and fourth quarters, this’s and that’s, and all of that stuff. One of the winningest quarterbacks in the history of the NFL. And it will be really fun when he comes back and plays football again for us this year. And we owe a tremendous amount.”
Wilson is what Smith right now is not: most accomplished when games are on the line, late and tight in the fourth quarter and in overtime. Those times are why the Seahawks gave Wilson a then-NFL-record $140 million contract in April 2019.
Wilson has 35 fourth-quarter and overtime drives in the 165 consecutive games he started from week one of his rookie season of 2012 until he tore a tendon and dislocated the middle finger in his throwing hand Oct. 7 in Seattle’s home loss to the Los Angeles Rams. That’s the most game-winning drives late in the NFL since the beginning of the 2012 season.
He’s not coming back until Nov. 14 at Green Bay, at the earliest, per the NFL’s rules for players on injured reserve.
Smith? Playing his first extended time in 3-1/2 years, he threw an interception when Tyler Lockett fell down on Seattle’s final chance to win down six late to the Rams. In his first start since December 2017 the following week, Smith fumbled on a hit by T.J. Watt in the Seahawks’ end of the field in overtime in Pittsburgh, handing the Steelers the winning field goal.
Then Monday night, Smith took two crippling sacks holding onto the ball in the second half. The second pushed Jason Myers into a missed field goal of 53 yards, in a game where the offense scored just three points the game’s final 55 minutes.
“In hindsight, just doing whatever it takes, whatever it takes to get the ball out, that’s a part of my job, putting us in the best position to win,” Smith said. “And when things like that happen, it’s the quarterback’s job to make sure it doesn’t.”
Smith completed 12 of 22 passes for 167 yards, five sacks and an 84-yard touchdown throw to DK Metcalf on his first pass against New Orleans.
In three games since Wilson went down, Smith is 45 of 71 passing (63.3% completion rate) with three touchdowns, two turnovers lost and 10 sacks. All 10 of those sacks are in the last two games.
Smith is getting little help. His defense played well enough to win — until blitzing nickel defensive back Marquise Blair slammed into Saints quarterback Jameis Winston on a third-down sack for a drive-extending penalty. Until tackle Al Woods jumped offsides on a fourth-and-5 field goal try by New Orleans with 3:08 left in a tie game.
The running game Carroll, offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and everyone else who knows the Seahawks play in Seattle have said Smith needs to win? Lead rusher Alex Collins had 35 yards on 16 carries (2.2 yards per rush) against the Saints defense that is second in the NFL against the run. Rashaad Penny came off injured reserve to play for the first time since the opener Sept. 12. He had 9 yards on six rushes (1.5 yards per carry).
But most of all, the Seahawks don’t have Wilson.
Period. End of realistic chance to win.
“You can see how hard it is. I mean, all of these games; the Rams game, the ... Steelers and this one. You know, Russell’s a factor,” Carroll said.
“He’s a fantastic, positive factor and always has been.”
Especially — absolutely — when the game is on the line and the Seahawks have the ball with the chance to win.
“And, I mean, those were exactly his times. That’s his time. That’s when he shines,” Carroll said.
“And so, we miss him. And in the meantime, we’re going to keep fighting and clawing, and doing everything we can.”
So where does Smith go from here, until — if — Wilson gets back?
“Man, the sun’s going to come up tomorrow,” Smith said late Monday. “And we going to get right.”
The forecast in Seattle for Tuesday: all clouds, 100% chance of rain.
It’s that kind of season.
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 5:15 AM.
