Seahawks7
courtesy of Homer McFanboy

Russell Wilson, the Richmond Virginia native and 41st round pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2007, returns to the area this Sunday to take on RGIII and the Redskins. Wilson as a baseball prospect wasn’t much. He hit .229/.354/.342 in a combined two seasons as a Rockies prospect. There were questions as to if he would hit enough at the majors as a 2B to warrant much of a future. So, Russell Wilson decided to go pro in something other than baseball, and this season as the Seahawks quarterback has passed for 3118 yards, 26 touchdowns (a rookie record), a 64.1% completion rate, and only 10 interceptions. Wilson has also rushed for 489 yards on 94 attempts.

If this style of quarterback sounds familiar it should. The Seahawks run a similar read option style offense to the Redskins and Wilson is the surprise entrant into the Luck or RGIII debate for NFL ROY. Comparing the stats of RGIII to Wilson and it is very close except in a couple areas. Griffin has thrown for 3200 yards, thrown 20 touchdowns, a 65.6% completion rate, but has half the interceptions Wilson does and 326 more rushing yard on 26 more attempts, and Griffin did all this in one less game.

While this debate has little to do with who wins on Sunday it will be fun to see two of the top rookie quarterbacks in the league squaring off. As a team the Seahawks are ranked 27th in passing yards per game with 189.4. This low ranking may not matter as the Redskins passing defense is the third worst in the NFL having allowed 281.9 yards a game. The problem with looking at Seattle as a passing ranking is that, like the Redskins, they are primarily a running offense, and who can blame them when they have the 3rd leading rusher in the NFL in Marshawn Lynch, who’s among the Top NFL Free Agents in the league. The Seahawks as a unit rank 3rd in the NFL with 161.2 yards a game.

The Redskins defense ranks 5th in the NFL in stopping the run having allowed an average of 95.8 yards a game. This isn’t exactly strength on strength as the Redskins defense has faced the fewest rushing attempts against in the NFL and are allowing 4.2 yards a carry which is about average for an NFL defense. The Seahawks rushing defense ranks 10th in yards a game having allowed an average of 103.1, but have only faced five more attempts than the Redskins and are allowing 4.5 yards an attempt.

The Seahawks run defense looks good on paper, and while they have the third leading rusher in the NFL on their team the Redskins have the second on theirs. Alfred Morris is often overshadowed by the presence of RGIII but what he did last week against the Cowboys in taking over that game and rushing for 200 yards and three touchdowns shows how good of a running back he is. Morris is rarely brought down by the first man, and gets those tough yards after contact. And the better Morris runs the more that opens up the passing game and the quarterback keepers for RGIII.

Make no mistake about it this game on paper looks to be a close one, and it could be, but the Seattle Seahawks are on of the best teams in the NFL at stopping the pass and if they can take away that aspect of the Redskins attack and concentrate on stopping the run it will make the Redskins weaker. Other teams have tried that and the Redskins aren’t afraid to ram the ball down another teams throat when they know it is coming, and that is the type of players that Morris and RGIII are. They don’t care if the other team knows what is coming. They will beat them anyway.

David Huzzard

David Huzzard was born at Fairfax Hospital in 1981 and has spent his entire life in the Washington, D.C. area. He has been a fan of all the area sports teams either since he was born or since they arrived here. He is also very pleased that his hometown is a burger town.