Russell Wilson’s 33 Touchdowns in 2014

After a dominating Super Bowl victory against the Broncos, Russell Wilson and the Seahawks started the 2014 season with a target on their backs. The Seahawks only managed a 3-3 record in their first six games after two tough defeats against the Cowboys and the Rams. After the Week 7 loss versus the Rams, the Seahawks started clicking and won nine of their next ten regular season games to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC. The Seahawks went on to the Super Bowl and almost beat the Patriots and only lost in a historic fashion. Regardless of this dissapointing finish to the Seahawks season, it must be noted that Wilson played incredibly throughout the regular and postseason throwing for 27 touchdowns while running in 6 on the ground. In this breakdown we will take a look at Wilson’s top touchdowns in terms of difficulty, play design, and general usage.

Stats
Regular Season - 285/452 (63.1%), 3,475 yards, 7.7 y/a, 20 TDs, 7 INTs, 118 rushes for 849 yards and 6 TDs
Postseason - 41/72 (56.9%), 724 yards, 10.1 y/a, 6 TDs, 5 INTs, 17 rushes for 86 yards and 1 TDs
Note: Play numbers correspond to plays found here in the GIF Database.

First let’s take a look at the recipients of Wilson’s 27 thrown touchdowns during the 2014 season:

Receiver Breakdown

Doug Baldwin	5
Luke Willson	4
Marshawn Lynch	4
Jermaine Kearse	3
Cooper Helfet	2
Ricardo Lockette	2
Robert Turbin	2
Derrick Coleman	1
Chris Matthews	1
Paul Richardson	1

 

Doug Baldwin was the main recipient of Wilson’s touchdowns, but as he only had five the rest were pretty evently distributed. Next year the Seahwaks will have Jimmy Graham, traded from the Saints, and Tyler Lockett at their disposal so I imagine Graham will receive a lot of Wilson’s touchdown throws in the 2015 season. Let’s take a look at the quarter and down breakdown of the touchdowns:

Quarter Breakdown

1st Quarter	3
2nd Quarter	10
3rd Quarter	8
4th Quarter	11
Overtime	1

 

Down Breakdown

1st Down	16
2nd Down	9
3rd Down	7
4th Down	1

 

As well as the distance and location of the touchdown throws. Note: There are only 27 touchdown throws, but I included the six running touchdowns to the distance breakdown.

Distance Breakdown

Fewer than 6 Yards	7
Between 6 and 15 yards	12
More than 15 yards	14

 

Location Breakdown

Deep Left	Deep Middle	Deep Right
3	2	3
Intermediate Left	Intermediate Middle	Intermediate Right
4	1	0
Short Left	Short Middle	Short Right
4	0	9

 

I find the large number of greater than 15 yard scored touchdowns very interesting. Everyone knows how dynamic the Seahawks’ defense is, but their offense led by offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell deserves credit for meshing his player’s strengths together. Finally here is the route breakdown:

Route Breakdown

Seam	5
Slant/Drag/Drive	5
Flat	4
Swing/Wheel	4
Hitch	3
Vertical - Go/Fade	2
Post	1
Corner	1
Out	1

 

Wilson seemed to profit most on seam routes to attack zone coverages and then like most play-action based offenses Wilson found the underneath routes like slants and flats for a large portion of his touchdowns. Now let’s take a look at the plays:

Play 1
Situation: 1st and 10 at DEN 39
Description: Q2 - (3:12) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep right to R.Lockette for 39 yards, TOUCHDOWN. S.Hauschka extra point is GOOD, Center-C.Gresham, Holder-J.Ryan.
Opponent: 3. DEN

Offensive Formation: Pistol Slot Left
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1 - Three Underneath Zones - Man Coverage on WRs

In pistol formation, Wilson motions TE86 Miller to the left side of the formation and then snaps the ball. He scans the field looking at the coverage and then finds WR83 Lockette streaking up the right sideline on a go-route towards the endzone. The play call is two outside go-routes with the slot wide receiver running a post over the middle of the field. This play is designed to attack Cover 2 defenses by making the safeties choose the receivers to cover while still giving Wilson one extra wide receiver either on the sideline or over the middle of the field to attack deep on 1st down. The Broncos defense is in Cover 1 with off-man coverage on the outside. CB21 Talib is covering Ricardo Lockette. Lockette runs the stem of his route right to Talib and then cuts to the outside giving Talib the interior lane. By the 20 yard line Wilson releases the ball deep as Talib is still barely in front of Lockette. Lockette passes Talib by the 10 yard line to overtake him into the endzone and is able to turn around and locate the ball in the air on a beautifully thrown ball for the long touchdown score.

This is a difficult throw to make. Wilson gets a lot of credit for (a) trusting his wide receiver to get the ball, but (b) throwing on Talib, an excellent cornerback, where if he left the ball short it would be an easy interception for him. These type of throws are typically low percentage, but Lockette and Wilson make the most of it to score. Give credit also to the Seahawks offensive line for allowing this long play to develop.

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Play 2
Situation: 1st and 14 at STL 19
Description: Q4 - (9:51) R.Wilson pass deep left to C.Helfet for 19 yards, TOUCHDOWN. (Pass formation) TWO-POINT CONVERSION ATTEMPT. R.Wilson pass to J.Kearse is incomplete. ATTEMPT FAILS.
Opponent: 7. STL

Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Far
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1

Wilson in shotgun takes the snap and DT92 Carrington gets an excellent push on LG77 Carpenter. Wilson feels the pressure and moves left in the pocket while from that side DE94 Quinn is playing contain to make sure Wilson doesn’t break free to the outside. Meanwhile, TE84 Helfet releases from the left side of the line of scrimmage running to the sideline before cutting north on a wheel route to the endzone. Wilson decides to release it to him on a touch pass to just out-of-bounds so that only Helfet would have a chance at the ball. Helfet catches the ball and holds onto it falling out of bounds Santonio Holmes-style for the touchdown.

What a beautiful pass using Helfet’s height advantage on the linebacker. For the most part the Seahawks did a good job of managing the Rams’ pass rush on 1st and 14. The Rams need to bring an extra defender on a delayed blitz through the A-gap to attack Wilson since DE94 Quinn and DE95 Hayes were playing contain. He was simply given too much time as the defense actually had good coverage down the field.

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Play 3
Situation: 2nd and 9 at STL 9
Description: Q4 - (3:22) (Shotgun) R.Wilson pass short right to D.Baldwin for 9 yards, TOUCHDOWN. S.Hauschka extra point is GOOD, Center-C.Gresham, Holder-J.Ryan.
Opponent: 7. STL

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

I wanted to show this pass simply to illustrate the velocity that Wilson throws the ball at. Watch how quickly the ball flies to Baldwin on the hitch route at the 5 yard line underneath TE84 Helfet. Very impressive.

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Play 4
Situation: 1st and 10 at CAR 23
Description: Q4 - (:53) (No Huddle, Shotgun) R.Wilson pass deep middle to L.Willson for 23 yards, TOUCHDOWN. S.Hauschka extra point is GOOD, Center-C.Gresham, Holder-J.Ryan.
Opponent: 8. CAR

Offensive Formation: Shotgun Slot Right Near
Offensive Personnel: 11
Defensive Formation: Cover 1

R.Wilson recognizes the Cover 1 defense with SS41 Harper playing deep middle and instantly targets TE82 L.Willson over the middle of the field on a seam route. Perfect ball placement to keep it away from FS33 Boston in coverage.

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Play 5
Situation: 1st and 15 at ARI 20
Description: Q3 - (1:02) R.Wilson pass short right to C.Helfet for 20 yards, TOUCHDOWN. S.Hauschka extra point is GOOD, Center-C.Gresham, Holder-J.Ryan.
Opponent: 12. ARI

Offensive Formation: Singleback Twin TE Slot Left
Offensive Personnel: 12
Defensive Formation: Cover 6

I wanted to show this touchdown simply because of how much I liked the play design.

Wilson is in singleback with RB24 Lynch in the backfield. He fakes the handoff and runs a bootleg to the right side of the field. TE84 Helfet stays with LB94 Acho to block until Wilson completes the bootleg and Helfet releases to the flat waiting for the pass. Meanwhile TE88 Moeaki and WR15 Kearse (from the left slot) all flood the right side of the field to set up downfield blocking for him. Helfet navigates the running lanes and breaks free up the sideline for a diving touchdown. What a beautiful play design.

Please continue reading on the next page.

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.

Click here to see all of Wilson’s plays in the GIF Database.