Bobby Wagner is quite succinct — yet revealing — defining the mood he and the Seattle Seahawks’ vaunted defense has.
Seattle’s highly paid, star-packed unit almost beat Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay by itself in the opener. Then the defense won Game 2, over San Francisco 12-9. But last weekend in Tennessee, the Seahawks’ loud, proud defenders wilted and flailed in the Nashville steam, giving up 33 points and 420 yards. That included 195 yards rushing, Seattle’s most allowed in four years, with 165 of those yards allowed after halftime.
How does the All-Pro linebacker and his fellow Seahawks defenders feel about that entering Sunday night’s home game against Indianapolis (1-2)?
“It pisses us off,” Wagner said.
He’s not the only one upset entering this game. And the reason is likely to help make the Seahawks’ defense feel much better by Monday.
The NFL and NBC were thinking Russell Wilson against Andrew Luck for this primetime showcase in Seattle.
They are getting a North Carolina State summer camp reunion, instead.
Wilson is a former Wolfpack quarterback who transferred to Wisconsin for a Rose Bowl season before the Seahawks drafted him in 2012. He has gone back to Raleigh to hold the annual Russell Wilson Passing Academy camps on the N.C. State campus — and has had Jacoby Brissett help him be a coach at the camp. Twice.
Brissett transferred for his final college season, like Wilson did. But Brissett went from Florida to N.C. State to be one of its successors to Wilson at QB. Then Brissett got drafted in the third round, like Wilson, but four years later and to New England, in 2016. He started and won the third game of last season for the Patriots, 27-0 over Houston, then started and lost the following week 27-17 to Buffalo during the four-game suspension Tom Brady got for Deflategate.
Then on Sept. 3 the Patriots traded Brissett to … the Colts. Indianapolis needed a quarterback with Luck out indefinitely following shoulder surgery. Luck is still out, and Brissett is making his fifth NFL start Sunday night at CenturyLink Field against his former summer-camp leader.
“Yeah I did (have him work for me),” Wilson said. “I had the fortunate situation of getting to know him really well, actually, when I was going back to N.C. State and I run my camps there a lot. And he was able to coach in them as well.
“He is such a great worker. That is the first thing I would say about him. Second of all, he really connects with the guys around him and he really does a good job of making and helping those guys really learn the game. I noticed that when he was in college, just about to come out of college and I had been around him several times, and just his sense of energy. He is really calm. He’s got great positivity. I think he is going to be a great player for sure.”
What did Wilson have Brissett do most? Work.
“We just threw a lot,” Wilsons said. “Whenever I have camp, I typically go out and throw a bunch especially when I have a lot of the other college guys or NFL guys. So we just got to work.
“He asked several questions about just how the process of the NFL was and I kind of gave him my thoughts and everything when he was coming out. Just really telling him that it is all about the work. It is all about the preparation. I’m sure he got a great glimpse of that, obviously being in New England with Tom and understanding that and learning how to study and learning how to prepare for a game.
“He is going to be a really good quarterback,” Wilson said before adding with a grin: “There is a lot of good ones from N.C. State, so it’s been cool.”
Last year at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis, Brissett said he reveres Wilson.
“Most definitely,” Brissett said, his voice rising, in February 2017 in Indianapolis.
Brissett entered the league last year armed with some advice given to him by Wilson, who by then was more than his camp boss. He had played in two Super Bowls and was months away from signing an $87.6 million contract extension with Seattle.
“He just said it’s a business, and you just have to work at it,” Brissett said. “It’s a job that you never fully understand or fully know it, you won’t have fully have all the answers to. So you have to work.
“I mean, you watch his game, and it’s evident that’s all he does is work. He tries to perfect his craft.”
Wilson wasn’t perfect last weekend in the Seahawks’ loss at Tennessee that still has Wagner and the defense fuming. He threw for 373 yards and four touchdowns, three of them in a playground-ball second half, on a career-high 49 pass attempts. If Wilson hadn’t been noticeably off and particularly high on many of his throws during the first half against the Titans, Seattle would have scored more than its 27 points that were six more than it had in the season’s first two games combined. And then it may not have mattered how malfunctioning and tired the defense was.
“Yeah, it was definitely something I was noticing early on. Really, the beginning of the second quarter,” Wilson said. “I mentioned that to (backup) Austin (Davis) and I mentioned that to (offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell), and everybody. I told them, ‘You know, the ball seems like it is really carrying.’
“So I noticed that and just readjusted my eyes a little bit down. Just made a quick adjustment and the next thing you know we got hot there. … So just paying attention to those little things like that and it’s good to know. It’s good to think about too as hopefully you have another game like that where you can make those quick adjustments and all that.”
Seattle thinks — knows — it has problems with its offensive line and pass protection; Wilson has been hit 27 times and sacked six times in three games. But the Colts’ line may be just as bad.
Indianapolis has allowed Brissett and Ryan Tolzien, who started the opener and got drilled in a 46-9 loss at the Los Angeles Rams, to be sacked 11 times through three games. And Sunday night the Colts will be missing starting center Ryan Kelly to injury.
It’s as a prime chance for Wagner, Pro Bowl defensive ends Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril, new defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson and 2016 10-sack man Frank Clark to get back to their dominant selves after their meltdown last weekend in Tennessee.
“I’m looking forward to stopping it and making sure it doesn’t happen again,” Wagner said, smiling.
The Seahawks expect Brissett to get the ball out quickly, as quarterbacks have done this season more to combat Seattle’s pass rush. They also expect Brissett and the Colts’ 29th-ranked offense to hand the ball off to former 49ers lead back Frank Gore — a lot — to try to slow down the Seahawks’ pass-rushers.
Gore, 34, has been getting increasing work this season: 10, 14 and last week 25 carries after Indianapolis jumped to a 28-7 lead over Cleveland in its 31-28 win. But Gore’s yardage has only been 42, 46 and 57 yards in games this season.
His 1,421 yards in 18 career games over 10 seasons with San Francisco are his most yards against any NFL opponent.
“Yeah, he’s still got it. He still has his burst,” said Seahawks defensive coordinator Kris Richard, who was a teammate of Gore’s on the 49ers in Richard’s final NFL playing season, 2005. “He is still very effective running in between the tackles. That is what he prefers. That has always been his style. Again, a couple of cuts, stick his foot in the ground and try and get as much as he can. He still has that explosive nature. He still runs with power and good pad level, so he is still a really good back.”
The Seahawks wouldn’t mind using its running backs more than the 15 carries they got last weekend at Tennessee. Thomas Rawls played only one snap and Eddie Lacy was active but never came off the sideline. Rookie seventh-round pick Chris Carson has taken over all the lead-back duties from both of them. Carson’s likely to have third-down responsibilities Sunday night, too, because C.J. Prosise is doubtful to play because of an ankle injury.
If the running game stays like it’s been behind Seattle’s iffy offensive line so far this season, it will be on Wilson to beat his former summer-camp helper.
Or it will be on Wagner and the ticked-off defense to re-set the Seahawks back to .500 before next week’s trip to Los Angeles to face the Rams, the early leaders in the NFC West.
Asked if they need to get the running game going to be playing “Seahawks Football,” Wilson paused before he responded.
“I think we have to do whatever it takes to win,” Wilson said.
“I think ‘Seahawks Football’ is winning.”
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