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A number of people have been unhappy that Wilson left the pocket as much as he did against the Cards - until the end of the game when many fans wanted him to roll out. (I get the feeling that had he hit one of those late game passes, people would be praising his pocket presence.)
But what about those runs? What were the results? Were they really all that bad or did they help us get down the field.
Keep in mind that just because a guy looks open down the field doesn't guarantee a big play if the QB pulls the trigger. The receiver might finish the route differently than the QB expects, the pass might be off target, or the receiver might drop the ball or end up out of bounds. So if the QB runs for an actual four yards and a first down, put it in the bank with a smile. We would rather have him make the big pass play, but a first down run is way better than a possible drop and a punt.
So, let's look at the plays...
[Q1 9:47] 1st and 10 at the Arizona 31. Zone left with clean blocks as Wilson keeps the ball on a naked bootleg and gains 4 yards before going out of bounds.
This looked intentional to me. Wilson had full vision of the field and didn't see a target he liked. A four yard gain on first down isn't bad. Credit the Arizona D for their discipline. If the players get sucked into a run, the QB can potentially get a whole lot more out of this play. This is straight out of the Alex Gibbs playbook when the defense starts to overplay the run. It was planned and Wilson played it safe.
[ Q1 7:54] 3rd and 6 at the Arizona 13. Wilson takes off on a designed run from shotgun. The line faked pass protection. Four yards to the left sideline.
This looked totally planned to me. Wilson didn't run from pressure. He ran the moment he caught the snap. Unfortunately, he was two yards short of the first down. Then again, we got a bit more breathing room from deep in our own end of the field. We can't blame Wilson though as this looks like this was the play as called. (Though it's possible that Wilson saw something in the D that made him choose this on his own.)
[ Q2 13:22] 2nd and 20 at the Seattle 30. It looks like Sweezy goes zone right rather than pass protection leaving Dockett unblocked. Wilson barely escapes and gets one yard.
Sweezy blocked the wrong guy. Dockett was unblocked and got his hands on Wilson seven yards deep. Wilson's scramble gave us a one yard gain. Sweezy owes Wilson a nice dinner.
[Q3 13:14] 1st and 10 at the Seattle 14. Nice zone left. A free LB blitzes past Lynch, who gets 9 yards before the fumble. Wilson recovers after going back one yard and doesn't attempt to advance the ball. (In the stats, Lynch gets 8 yards on a carry and Wilson gets no yards on a carry. Go figure.)
Wilson hurt his stats by getting a carry with no gain, but his quick action saved a turnover. Lynch owes Wilson dinner too.
[Q3 11:54] 3rd and 1 at the Seattle 23. Bootleg. Wilson is rushed from the edge, but by the time Lynch turns to look for the ball, he's covered. Wilson keeps it and rushes to the edge for a hard two yards and a first down.
On this one, Lynch could have blocked or released. He gave a micro-block, which didn't delay the defender but upset Lynch's balance. By the time Lynch turned, there were two defenders nearly on top of him. Lynch was short of the first down marker and now Wilson had a defensive back in his face. Wilson's scramble gave us the first down. This wasn't how it was drawn up, but Lynch played it poorly and Wilson's improvisation gave us a first down.
[Q3 7:05] 2nd and 6 at the Arizona 30. Pass protection with lots of time for Wilson, until Sweezy is beat on a spin move. Wilson gains a yard by taking it to the sideline where he biffs a ref.
Wilson had lots of time and stood in there, but didn't pull the trigger. After Sweezy got beat, Wilson could run or throw it away. Maybe Wilson could have zipped it into a tight window earlier in the play, but I'm thinking that Pete will be happy that he played it safe on 2nd down. I think it would have been better to have thrown it away. It's one less yard but it's also less risk to the QB.
[Q3 6:01] 3rd and 10 at the Arizona 34. The Arizona D rotates clockwise, overloading our right side. The OL fails to adjust. Gay has a clean shot at Wilson who is able to turn it up the middle for a gain of five.
The protection totally failed here. That Wilson was able to gain five yards was impressive. Fault the protection, not Wilson.
[Q4 1:51] 3rd and 2 at the Arizona 34. Wilson has time, sees nothing open, and runs for two yards and a critical first down.
This was a huge first down. Maybe Wilson missed an open read. Maybe Wilson played it too safe with the pass. But the result was a scramble for a huge first down.
So there it is. Wilson had 8 runs for 20 yards for a 2.5 ypc average. One "run" was a recovered fumble for no gain. Two runs resulted in first downs. Two looked like planned runs (4 yards on 1st and 10 and 4 yards on 3rd and 6.) Two were scrambles under duress that avoided sacks and gave us positive yards. One play gave Wilson time and he probably should have thrown it away.
While we can wish that all these plays were touchdown throws, overall, the results of Wilson's runs were positive. They kept drives alive, avoided sacks, and moved the sticks forward. Only one "planned" run resulted in a punt.
It's hard to fault Wilson for running when he did and though he didn't gain a lot of yards with his legs, the results were consistently in the positive direction.
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