Why doesn’t Russell Wilson ever get hurt? I understand that he’s got a good feel for avoiding punishment by sliding and stepping out of bounds, but he is taking a decent number of hits.
Yet he rolls on. They drafted him in 2012, and he’s started all of their ensuing 128 regular-season games. He’s been banged up a few times, but he’s always been able to start the following week.
It’s not as if Marino-Manning type guy who just gets rid of the ball before defenders get near him. He’s the only quarterback in league history who’s been sacked 40-plus times seven years in a row. And he’s got 720 career rushing attempts.
The league tracks quarterback hits. That is, there are sacks, but there are also plays where the quarterback gets hit just after throwing the ball. The Seahawks have been a bottom-5 team in that category in each of the last five years.
Over the last three years, Seattle has allowed its quarterback to be hit on almost 20 percent of its pass plays. That’s the most in the league. (And on the chart below, quarterbacks hits are taken only from passing plays – runs aren’t included.)
Seems to me that Wilson definitely has beaten the odds by not getting hurt at some point in the last eight years.
QUARTERBACK HIT RATES (last 3 years) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Offense | '17 | '18 | '19 | Pct |
New Orleans | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9.9% |
Oakland | 1 | 15 | 1 | 10.9% |
Baltimore | 2 | 3 | 7 | 11.3% |
Pittsburgh | 4 | 2 | 16 | 11.7% |
Cincinnati | 6 | 9 | 8 | 12.2% |
LA Rams | 12 | 8 | 6 | 12.6% |
New England | 11 | 4 | 12 | 12.9% |
Carolina | 9 | 10 | 18 | 13.6% |
Chicago | 20 | 7 | 10 | 14.0% |
LA Chargers | 8 | 19 | 17 | 14.4% |
Kansas City | 14 | 23 | 5 | 14.5% |
Detroit | 15 | 12 | 19 | 14.6% |
Cleveland | 32 | 5 | 4 | 14.7% |
Minnesota | 18 | 16 | 11 | 14.7% |
NY Giants | 5 | 18 | 26 | 14.9% |
Green Bay | 23 | 17 | 13 | 15.2% |
Jacksonville | 13 | 27 | 9 | 15.4% |
Denver | 21 | 14 | 21 | 15.6% |
Tennessee | 10 | 13 | 30 | 15.8% |
Tampa Bay | 17 | 21 | 22 | 15.8% |
Dallas | 16 | 25 | 14 | 15.9% |
NY Jets | 25 | 11 | 28 | 16.4% |
Philadelphia | 26 | 20 | 20 | 16.4% |
Indianapolis | 31 | 6 | 25 | 16.6% |
Arizona | 28 | 29 | 3 | 16.8% |
Atlanta | 19 | 22 | 29 | 16.9% |
Buffalo | 24 | 26 | 23 | 17.2% |
Washington | 22 | 24 | 27 | 17.6% |
San Francisco | 27 | 31 | 15 | 17.9% |
Miami | 7 | 30 | 32 | 18.5% |
Houston | 29 | 32 | 24 | 19.4% |
Seattle | 30 | 28 | 31 | 19.8% |
—Ian Allan