Russell Wilson’s 33 Touchdowns in 2014

Play 6
Situation: 2nd and 6 at PHI 15
Description: Q3 - (14:12) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass short left to M.Lynch for 15 yards, TOUCHDOWN. S.Hauschka extra point is GOOD, Center-C.Gresham, Holder-J.Ryan.
Opponent: 14. PHI

Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Left Near
Offensive Personnel: 12
Defensive Formation: Cover 1

This play design is one of the Seahawks main package plays off of play-action to pass the ball quickly to WR89 Baldwin in the flat. Since the Eagles recognize the play and cover Baldwin excellently, Lynch escapes to the far left side on a swing route for a wide open touchdown pass. Normally I am firmly against across the field passes, but seeing as HOW wide open Lynch was this is not a bad decision by Wilson.

It seems like a lot of Wilson’s touchdowns (that I didn’t show) especially earlier in the season were wide open checkdowns to his runningback or tight end for an easy score, but you can’t penalize Wilson for taking advantage of the defensive breakdown.

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Play 7
Situation: 3rd and 9 at CAR 16
Description: Q1 - (1:01) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep middle to D.Baldwin for 16 yards, TOUCHDOWN. S.Hauschka extra point is GOOD, Center-C.Gresham, Holder-J.Ryan.
Opponent: 19. CAR

Offensive Formation: Empty-Set Shotgun
Offensive Personnel: 11 - RB24 Lynch splits out wide right
Defensive Formation: Cover 0

WR89 Baldwin runs a seam route from the left slot The cornerback that lines up against Baldwin blitzes which is why Wilson instantly looks for him. Typically on a design CB blitz who fakes man-coverage, the wide receiver will change his route to something short and across the middle to give the quarterback an easy pass if there is immediate pressure. Instead, Baldwin continues on his seam route towards the endzone. Baldwin takes a nice step inside which makes FS33 Boston bite and get burned for the touchdown in the back of the endzone.

Even though this resulted in a touchdown, this throw could have been better placed. Wilson places it to the inside of Baldwin where it should have been placed outside seeing as the defender was playing inside technique. Overall, it was a great route by Baldwin and a great blitz recognition by Wilson to find his wide receiver, but there is always room for improvement.

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Play 8
Situation: 3rd and 7 at SEA 37
Description: Q2 - (5:06) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep left to J.Kearse for 63 yards, TOUCHDOWN. S.Hauschka extra point is GOOD, Center-C.Gresham, Holder-J.Ryan.
Opponent: 19. CAR

Offensive Formation: Shotgun Trips Right Near
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1, two LB zones underneath, SS blitz, bump-and-run coverage

Wilson in shotgun snaps the ball and instantly looks towards his trips right. This pulls FS33 Boston out of the play as he goes to help cover the seam route. WR15 Kearse in the left side of the trips right runs a drive route across the field blowing by CB25 Benwikere in bump-and-run coverage.

Wilson shows excellent footwork in the pocket and delivers the ball perfectly in-stride to Kearse. Boston sees that Wilson has waiting for Kearse to move upfield and cuts across to stop the touchdown. He almost does, but Kearse dives for the pylon for the score.

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Play 9
Situation: 1st and 10 at GB 35
Description: Q5 - Jermaine Kearse 35 Yd pass from Russell Wilson
Opponent: 20. GB

Offensive Formation: Pistol Left
Offensive Personnel: 12
Defensive Formation: Cover 0

This is the final play of the NFC Championship game that sends Seattle to the Super Bowl. It’s 1st and 10 on the Packers’ 35 yard line and the Packers defense was expecting a run from pistol formation. The Seahawks line up with two TE’s on opposite sides of the line of scrimmage while only having two WRs split out wide. SS28 Richardson is playing in the box expecting a run, while the Packers leave no men in deep coverage.

In this defensive formation the Packers essentially sold out to stop the run making it a man vs. man situation with Kearse and CB29 Hayward. Wilson takes the snap and looks at the middle of the field to see what the safety is doing. Since SS28 Richardson is playing in the box Wilson immediately looks deep to find WR15 Kearse on the go-route. Wilson places the ball perfectly in front of him for the touchdown. Great recognition of the coverage by him and to execute a perfectly thrown deep pass.

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Play 10
Situation: 1st and 9 at WSH 9
Description: Q2 - (4:44) (Shotgun) R.Wilson left end for 9 yards, TOUCHDOWN. S.Hauschka extra point is GOOD, Center-C.Gresham, Holder-J.Ryan.
Opponent: 5. WAS

Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 3

In this play against the Redskins, the defender is rookie linebacker 93 Trent Murphy. Murphy gets completely pulled inside leaving a wide open gap to the left for Wilson to escape into. Wilson reads his edge blockers to get into the corner of the endzone. In my opinion, there is holding on CB39 David Amerson as he tries to pull away from his blocker, but can’t turn around to get to Wilson. Regardless, this is a completely blown play by the Redskins defense. The Seahawks were SO effective with this play and they use it against the Redskins NFC East Rival the Cowboys for the same result from the same exact distance (9 yards).

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Play 11
Situation: 2nd and 5 at ARI 5
Description: Q4 - Russell Wilson 5 Yd Run (Steven Hauschka Kick)
Opponent: 16. ARI

Offensive Formation: I-formation Left
Offensive Personnel: 21
Defensive Formation: Cover 1

In this touchdown against the Cardinals, LB57 Okafor actually reads the play correctly but simply gets outmatched by Wilson to set up an excellent juke into the endzone.

In the 2014 season Wilson scored six touchdowns on the ground. All six came from read-option plays where Wilson read the edge defender and then cut outside to get into the endzone. Looking over all of Wilson’s passing touchdowns, a lot of them were wide open dump passes to his checkdown receiver usually running back Marshawn Lynch. Next year Wilson will have tight end Jimmy Graham and rookie wide receiver Tyler Lockett from Kansas State in the mix as well. Graham will provide a great intermediate and endzone target for Wilson that should help Lynch as well. Next year I would expect the Seahawks to run more empty-set shotgun and singleback spread formations to get all of their receivers out on the field at the same time.