Hi Ken,

It was difficult to watch the Hawks lose another game Sunday night. The Cardinals are a good team but we have had such great seasons that losing a division prime time game at home seemed to be impossible. I do not want to break the game down play by play or criticize the referring because there are a lot of things that could have gone either way and it is not my place to criticize play calling. Let’s focus on the performance of the most important player on the team Russell Wilson.

The quality of play from Russell has dropped since last season. The last two previous season Russell had 16 interceptions combined and already through nine games he has 7 and on pace to finish with 13 interceptions in one season. The line play doesn’t help but it has always been average. I think the off season hurt Russell in terms of too many distraction from dating a celebrity and the lifestyle that brings. He has been on several magazine covers and talked about in the media more than in any point in his career. Weather he realizes it or not, it affects everyone who has gone through that experience. It has been proven that the five people you spend the most time with influence your life more than anything else. The reason is you start to believe and act the way that those people believe and act. It does not happen suddenly but is a process that slowly takes place. For example, in middle school I hung out with a certain group of friends that played basketball and football all the time so that is what I did. I then started to hang our with a group of guys that fought all the time. Not more than one month of hanging out with them, I started to get into fights also. A couple years later I started going to a private school and hung out with people that didn’t fight at all and surprisingly I stopped.

Russell skipped a honeymoon with his then wife to come to Seattle to start competing for the quarterback position after he got drafted. During this past bye week, he took a vacation with his celebrity girlfriend to Mexico and twitted about it for the world to see as you can see in the picture above. Instead of taking a vacation, why not get extra reps with your receivers and tight ends? The Seahawks are number 27th in passing yards per game and in passing touch downs in the NFL. This is no time to be taking vacations. Obviously, his focus is not the same and that has been what separated him from the other quarterbacks in the NFL. Usually Russell plays his best after a bye week but he had his worst game of the season after this bye week. The first time that has happened in his career.

Being around celebrities all the time changes your view of yourself and others. Some if not most celebrities think they are more important than normal everyday people, which is easy for anyone to think if you are in the media all the time. The problem with that kind of mindset on a team setting is that it does not work. I been on teams where the quarterback thought he was special and never said hi to anyone accept the best players on the team. This created an atmosphere where no one cared for him and the offensive line didn’t work hard to keep him protected and the defense didn’t sell out as well. The quarterback is the most important position on the team and if he loses the respect and loyalty of the team, there is no way for the team to be great.

There is no rhythm or chemistry between Russell, the receivers and tight ends. If the players do not believe in him or come to think that he is different in any way, it will only cause trust issues to take place and poor play will be the result. The way Russell carries himself affects the whole team positively or negatively. Now his demeanor has a negative impact on the team and something must change for them to get back to the play offs. The Seahawks have been rated with the best roster in the NFL by many sources. Many analyst picked them to win it all again. No one would have predicted that we would be sitting at 4 – 5 and possibly missing the play offs.

There is still a chance for the Seahawks to make it into the playoffs and do well once they get there. Pete Carroll is a great coach and hopefully he will find a way to get Russell back to his normal self. If they can get Russell’s mindset back to where it was the last two seasons, everything else will fall into place and they will start playing up to their potential.

Sincerely,

Donny Mateaki
DM Athletics