Last year Russell Wilson was the NFL’s darling. Running around making sandlot plays that looked spectacular on TV, he achieved an enviable impermeability to criticism. He was constantly lauded for bucking quarterbacking norms, and if you spoke up about the downside of his sandlot approach—throws left on the field, the burden that unstructured quarterbacking could put on Seattle’s offensive line and receivers, the inherent snap-to-snap inconsistency you get when plays are not executed as designed—you were deemed either a moron or hater.
By December, Wilson was miles above reproach, so when he was held to under 110 net yards passing a game in Seattle’s 1–2 finish to miss the playoffs last year, few seemed to notice—but the Seahawks brass did.