.

JOHNNY MANZIEL

Looked so good yesterday - in context now - that it made me wonder whether the Browns' current admin has been picking on him.  For example, Manziel showed an ability to go through his progressions, and slide-step around the pocket, that RGIII and Kaepernick could never dream of.

Dr. D is hardly a partier himself, but Joe Namath was, and a few other guys were, and .... let's just say Manziel looked MILES better than we'd been hearing that he was.  It's an ancient tradition in football, sliming players over because they're not deferential enough to a domineering head coach.  (No idea whether that's true of whoever coaches the Browns, and/or true of his QB coach.)

His QB rating, as a rookie who just got washing-machined by the Seahawks, is higher than Matt Hasselbeck's career rating.  What again was the issue with his play?

.

RUSSELL WILSON

At Field Gulls, they're saying that he has definitely leaped a big plateau.  They credit it to Wilson's newfound ability to slide-step around the pocket in Aaron Rodgers fashion.  They've got an especially convincing breakdown on the Lockett TD.

Well, sure.  Like Pete Wilson said, the game is going to be slowing down for Wilson over the next few years.  Wilson's game is more complex than most players'.  That Wilson has now established himself as a 135-rate quarterback, I'm not so sure.  :- )  The last five games are a combination of happy circumstances, such as a desperate Pete Carroll (absent RB's and Graham) engineering a pass plan that is easier for Wilson to execute.

......

Wilson is #2 alltime in quarterback rating, behind Rodgers.  You know and I know he's not actually that good.  C'mon, now, his QB rating is higher than Brees' and Brady's and Manning's, higher than everybody's, other than Rodgers.

He's throwing for 3,500 yards per season, not 5,000.  It's one thing to pass efficiently when you can pick your battles; it's another thing to play 50 games in a row (Manning, Roethlisberger, Brees) against defenses that KNOW you are going to throw the ball 25 yards downfield all day long.

That said, Wilson is establishing himself as the new Joe Montana.  Joe also picked his spots to throw downfield, and those 49'er offense attacks looked like .... well, like the attacks of chess grandmasters.  GM's don't rush in hyper-aggressively.  They build momentum.  Their attacks are slow, inexorable, unstoppable, zero-risk.  I think at this point it's safe to say that the Seahawks have the 2010s' version of Joe Montana.

......

I don't keep track.  But there were three or four FG commenters who were absolutely pitiliess in their condemnations of Wilson during the pre-season, the nanobubbles, the Twitter, etc.  Do those guys still comment on Wilson?  What do you do in this situation, try to slide in with "Oh well whatever nevermind" or do you give it the "crickets" treatment?

Tell you what I'll do on Leonys Martin if he hits .270.  I'll write an article Dr. D = Moron.  Not that it would ever be necessary, of course.

.

CHRISTINE MICHAEL

His performance calls into question Thomas Rawls'.  A little bit.  Don't get me wrong here. 

There is no doubt as to the 2015 draft class, however.  It goes down as the 2nd-best to the one where they got Wagner, Wilson, Irvin, Sweezy & co.  And we doubt that NinersNation is pleased about it :- )

.

AHYTBA RUBIN

Carroll said something about Rubin being the Seahawks' best run-stuffing interior DL ever.  That includes Mebane (who plays alongside him), sort of includes Red Bryant, and several other water buffalo.

The Browns scored on their first drive with a bunch of misdirection.  That's because they conceded the line of scrimmage, back in the tunnel.  The Seahawks have had some great defenses, but they've never had one with this kind of interior steel.  I mean, the other team lines up in the I formation, runs between the tackles on 1st-and-10, and you know for a fact it's 2nd-and-long.

The 1970's Steel Curtain had run defenses like this.  Once or twice.

.

OFFENSE vs DEFENSE

Thought is being floated, maybe the Joe Montana offense is surpassing the Legion of Boom now?  Two things:  (1) No, it hasn't, but (2) eventually it will.  It's a perfectly natural evolution when you're watching a dynasty that is going to the Super Bowl six times over the career of one quarterback.

Enjoy,

Dr D