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Brady HendersonESPN
SEATTLE – Russell Wilson’s 2020 season started with a record touchdown pace and talked about his first MVP award in his career. It ended abruptly with a thud and a question: What happened to the Seattle Seahawks’ quarterback and high-scoring attack that couldn’t be stopped in the first two months?
The fights for Wilson and Co. culminated on Saturday when the Seahawks lost 30-20 in the wild-card round to the Los Angeles Rams in an empty Lumen Field, breaking what had been the third longest home winning streak in history of the NFL postseason. The Seahawks have not lost a playoff game at home since the 2004 season and had won all six of Pete Carroll’s attempts before Saturday.
“I hate that feeling,” said Wilson after the game, still without a bath two hours after the final whistle.
Wilson shot for 174 yards, two touchdowns and an interception that was returned to a Rams score. His 40.7% completion rate on 11 of 27 passes was tied for the second lowest of his career, while his 17.6 Total CBR was the worst in 16 career playoff games, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
It didn’t help that he was fired or put under pressure in half of his takedowns, even with defensive all-Pro Aaron Donald on the sideline for much of the second half. The Rams’ 50% pressure rating was the highest Wilson faced this season and the second highest he faced in the playoffs. He was fired five times.
“They did a good job at the beginning, obviously. They caught me a few times,” said Wilson. “I think for us, we just didn’t play our best. We weren’t working as hard as we needed to.”
Carroll did not blame Wilson for his choice of six in the second quarter, which came in an attempt to pass a screen pass to DK Metcalf that cornerback Darious Williams read perfectly.
“I found it very difficult,” said Carroll of Wilson’s afternoon. “They make a fantastic interception for a touchdown, which is a great move for the boy. He kicked and got it right, and that was a great move in this game, as it hovered all the time, those seven points. there is no mistake on Russ’s part. It’s a great move for them. But it was difficult. When you are rushed like that, you are fired five times, against that group, it is just difficult. “
Wilson was also fired five times when the Seahawks beat the Rams 20-9 in Week 16 to beat NFC West.
“This is not surprising,” said Carroll. “That’s how they played against other people. We needed to keep this game like we did last time, where we kept it low, where we scored nine points and we found a way to score 20.”
Wilson released an NFL record with 16 touchdown passes in the first four games, while establishing himself as the MVP favorite early in the season. Over the first nine weeks, the Seahawks’ attack led the league with 34 points per game, while Wilson led the league with 28 touchdown passes. But in the last eight weeks of the regular season, Seattle’s average points per game dropped to 22.6 (16th), while Wilson launched 12 TD passes (tied 13th).
His average yards per attempt went from 8.56 yards (fourth) to 6.4 (28th). He also averaged 6.4 yards per attempt on Saturday.
Carroll lamented that the Seahawks did not adapt better to the way opponents defended their deep passes in the action game, traditionally a big part of Seattle’s offensive success.
“It does not mean that we throw the ball over their head all the time and try only bombs,” said Carroll. “But there is a lot of space that we created in the pass game, and it seemed that during the course of the season, after halfway there, we had been so right in the beginning, we had been so effective that people found a way to stay behind and just try bleed ourselves and make us have to throw the ball under, and maybe we were really going further than we needed and we didn’t take the opportunity to change gears as effectively as we would like to. “
Wilson’s 40 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions in the regular season were both career highlights.
The veteran pointed out the injuries along the offensive line as one of the reasons for the Seahawks’ difficulties after their hot start. They had their first five favorite games from Duane Brown, Mike Iupati, Ethan Pocic, Damien Lewis and Brandon Shell for their first four games, but only once again in the second half.
However, those top five were together again on Saturday, and there was no match for the Rams’ defensive front … with or without Donald. The Rams generated six pressures and two sacks after Donald left, with just over 10 minutes remaining in the third period.
Seven of the nine penalties accepted by the Seahawks were against the attack, with five on their offensive line. One came on a false start in the fourth period, when Seattle broke the huddle late – despite having overtime while Lewis was being examined for an injury on the field – and was racing to get a quarter game in time. The Seahawks then bet.
Carroll said that they were discussing plays and that he got in the middle, contributing to the delay. He said he didn’t mind punishing after the penalty because that was initially a consideration.
Wilson launched his two touchdown passes to Metcalf against a standard four-man pass-rush, but it was only 8 from 18 to 130 yards in those plays. Its 44.4% completion rate against standard pressure was the lowest in a game since week 15 of the 2017 season against Rams (44.0%), according to ESPN’s statistics and information survey.
The Seahawks finished just 2 of 14 on the third down, starting 0 on 8 before their first conversion, with less than four minutes left for the third quarter. They ran 136 yards in 25 attempts.
“I wish we had found a way to run the ball more, to slow them down and prevent them from running over us,” said Carroll. “… When Donald left, we wanted to try to throw the ball without him in the passing race and we couldn’t get enough of that.”
The Seahawks won 12 regular season games for the first time since 2014 and won NFC West for the first time since 2016.
“We have a great football team. Don’t get me wrong,” said Wilson. “You can write whatever you want, but the reality is that we have a great football team and I think we have guys, but we don’t play well today. That’s what matters most.”
This marked the second time in three seasons that the Seahawks were eliminated in the wild card round and the fifth time in their last five trips to the playoffs that came close to the game for the NFC title.
“We are going to heal, but it is unfortunate because these years are difficult to pass,” said Carroll. “It is difficult to reach 12 wins. It is difficult to get into a playoff game at home. We have won many playoff games at home, and it is difficult to lose one. We have won all of them playoff games with a loud, wild and crazy fan base. , and not today, we needed you. I wish I had you. This is not an excuse, this is just a pity. “