Captain Caveman asked my opinion on Brian Russell and I delivered. I've loved Kissing Suzy Kolber since the Sex Cannon days and read it regularly. Basically, it's 9/10 funny and 1/10 minstrel show. It's funny and offensive and fearless. Here's part of Caveman's lead up, but you'll have to follow the link to read my take.

If you’d like to know why the Seahawks have four Pro Bowl starters on defense but still give up 30+ points to the Bills and 49ers, Brian Russell is your answer.

If you’re wondering how J.T. O’Sullivan can get sacked 8 times, but still throw for 321 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions: Brian Russell.

Did you see that Isaac Bruce, who is something like 47 years old, got 153 yards on only 4 catches?  There’s a secret ingredient to that formula, and his name is Brian Russell.

Defense/Offense

Free Safety	Strong Safety
Brian Russell C.J. Wallace Jordan Babineaux	Deon Grant Jordan Babineaux

Right Cornerback	Dime Back	SLB	MLB	WLB	Nickelback	Left Cornerback
Kelly Jennings Josh Wilson Jordan Babineaux	Jordan Babineaux Kevin Hobbs	Julian Peterson D.D.Lewis LeroyHill	Lofa Tatupu DDLewis DavidHawthorne	Leroy Hill Lance Laury D.D.Lewis	Josh Wilson Jordan Babineaux Kevin Hobbs	Marcus Trufant KevinHobbs KellyJennings

Right DE	Right DT	Left DT	Left DE
LawrenceJackson Darryl Tapp JasonBabin	Brandon Mebane Howard Green Red Bryant	Rocky Bernard Craig Terrill Red Bryant	Patrick Kerney Darryl Tapp Baraka Atkins

We pick up the action with 11:50 remaining in the first. Jordan Kent hauls in Matt Hasselbeck's touch pass for the score.

• Nate Burleson runs a very tight diagonal left then horizontal into the flat route that causes confusion and hesitation by the safety and corner and allows Kent to get behind both and be open for the easy reception. It's a level of precision and discipline I'm not used to seeing from Burly.
• The closest thing to legitimate pressure by Seattle's front four was accomplished on Minnesota's second play from scrimmage. Bernard, able to isolate Anthony Herrera, wins his matchup and forces a hold before breaking into the pocket. For the rest of quarter, Seattle's pass rush was nearly non-existent.
• Fumble recoveries are luck--not always. The forced fumble and Seattle's subsequent fumble recovery featured that perennial MVP: the team. It's first and 20. Minnesota is set in a four WR,single TE formation. Seattle deploys nickel coverage. At the snap, the Hawks rush three, optioning Brandon Mebane into a short middle zone. Tarvaris Jackson targets Visanthe Shiancoe, a major mistake. Shiancoe is not tightly covered but sits in the middle of three Seahawks zones. After the reception, Hill and Tatupu close in. Hill hitting from the offensive right forces the ball loose. Tatupu, fractions of a second later, hits from the offensive left, forcing the ball out. Mebane strikes from the back, leveling Shiancoe and removing any chance of an offensive recovery. Grant grabs the loose ball, but half a dozen Seahawks could have collapsed on the ball before a Viking was within five yards of the fumble. Over the past two seasons, Seattle's gang tackling has elevated its ability to force fumbles.
• Next play. Seattle breaks with a three WR, single TE, RB set. Minnesota is in a base 4-3. At the snap, Seattle initially creates nice wedge. This is something Steve Vallos can do; he gets off the snap extremely well. Moments later, Vallos is reeling in his own backfield. Rob Sims and Mike Wahle pull to the second level. Wahle is a revelation as a pull blocker and though Sims lacks Chris Gray's skill, he more than makes up for it with mobility. I believe the skills will come. Morris does something even he didn't often do last season: adjust in the backfield to the free defender. He then makes a nice lateral cut right and shoots through the B gap. He's free. 18 yards downfield, Morris displays another lateral cut, doesn't evade Tyrell Johnson but does put him out of position. The effort nets another three yards. Morris not only looked in top form, he looked like another back: bigger, more agile, reading his blockers with aplomb and making smart decisions in the open field. It's fair to say, yesterday's Morris is untradeable.
  
• On the next play, Vallos exploded off the snap, stood his man up and held his block. On the next play, Vallos was tossed on his back by Fred Evans.
• Coutu kicked the ball three times. The second was serviceable. Decent height, decent length: 2 yards into the end zone. The other two were awful. The first landed at the 9, was so low it only briefly traveled off frame and gave his return team so little time to get downfield that Albert Young made it to the 22 before encountering Seattle's frontline coverage unit.
• Coutu was identified in a graphic as either a "ROOKE" or a "RDDKE". I'm almost sure it was the latter.
• Tru had rough quarter. On Minnesota's first play of its second possession his misread his assignment and blew coverage on Bernard Berrian. The play resulted in a 24 yard gain. Trufant runs stride by stride with Berrian, uses a legal pick to chuck Berrian inside and then assumes man off coverage outside right. Brian Russell, perhaps, shares part of the blame, choosing to double the well covered Shiancoe instead of providing inside cover on the much more dangerous Berrian, but with Trufant alone and Berrian his clear assignment, it's hard to excuse the lapse. Tru wasn't beat, he misread the route and misread his own secondary.
• On the next play, Tru nearly loses his footing after a move by Sidney Rice, but recovers to bury a shoulder into Rice's midsection, truncating Rice's route and putting Tru in good position for a pick.
• Berrian is a good receiver, freed from Rex Grossman and in his prime. In the same drive, on Minnesota's 4^th play, he discarded Kelly Jennings, getting 5 yards of separation and then converted the reception in front of Leroy Hill, nearly scoring. Hill made the wrong read, jumping on a double team to his right and ignoring Berrian, but it wasn't Hill's assignment. No, this was all about Berrian looking like a superstar, embarrassing a hell of a young cover corner.
• Tru would blow coverage on the next play. Biting inside on a rollout and finding himself in an inexescapable trailing position against fullback Thomas Tapeh.
• Seattle's third play, third drive: three WR, TE, RB. Minnesota is in a base 4-3. Another nice run by Morris, aided by a good, quasi-legal block by Sean Locklear and a decent pull block by Sims. Sims is much quicker than Gray, but still lacks the skill to engage a blocker on the run. It's coming, and he at least shielded Morris. Morris shows good patience and a nice read, gets skinny at the end for another two yards and again impressed the heck out of me against a top rush defense.
• Weaver threw a real nice lead block on Duckett's 7 yard run that converted the first.
• Is Burleson making the jump? On Courtney Taylor's end around, Burleson made a sufficient but crucial block that allowed Taylor to cut inside for an additional ~7 yards. On the next play, Burleson looked downright savvy. Seattle breaks with three WR, single TE, RB. Minnesota in nickel. Burleson is able to isolate Tyrell Johnson, initiates contact but does not push off, and forces a Illegal Contact penalty while simultaneously creating separation and converting the 15 pass. The sequence looked vintage Michael Irvin.
• I was pleased to see Jennings attempt to jump a route knowing he had deep help by Russell. I was displeased to see Russell run past Rice and turn good coverage into a 9 yard reception.
• On the next play, Jennings put it all together. Matched against Berrian in man coverage, Jennings used his tremendous speed to outpace burner Berrian and then, recognizing a go route, cut off Berrian midstride placing himself as the only man able to catch the ball, should the ball have been catchable.

Play 1: In which Marcus Trufant unwittingly puts on a clinic in deep-flat zone coverage.

The "--" approximates the player's shoulders. The ">" indicates the direction they are facing/looking. And "- - -" indicates the direction they are moving, should they be moving. Each symbol is important, because though I've up until now used simple circle or oval zones, a player's actual zone is relative to their speed, the position of their body and their motion. A zone actually looks bit like a mushroom:

For obvious reasons: A person can run in a straight line faster that a diagonal line. A person can run forward faster than backward. Ergo, back and to the left or right is the weak spot of a zone even at relatively close distances. From there, the shape changes based on a player's acceleration and agility. The above is for a player that's pretty quick, but only adequately agile--like a linebacker.These are not rendered perfectly, but if an enterprising front office out there is interested in...

Play 1: The INT Cometh

1^st and 10, Arizona 42.

56 seconds remaining in the 3^rd quarter.

Seattle 27 - Arizona 14

Arizona has just recovered an onside kick.

The pocket is collapsing around Kurt Warner. His eye is squarely on Larry Fitzgerald, who is running a deep curl route. Warner makes a smart read, but ruins it by A) Staring down Fitzgerald and B) Ignoring Trufant. Let's explain each.

Why it's a smart read: As you can see, Fitzgerald is in the soft spot between Brian Russell and Leroy Hill. Russell is barreling down on Fitzgerald, so if Fitzgerald can make the reception and run diagonally towards the goal and sideline, he'll have beat Hill and, minimum, have Russell on a bad angle.

How he ruins it: With the pocket in shambles, Warner's only open throwing lane is towards the rightmost, say, quarter of the field. Still, a smart quarterback must always do his best to hide his intended target. An opposing DB is much more likely to see where the quarterback is staring and adjust to that than quickly diagnose available throwing lanes, scan every receiver within that lane, and determine the perfect zone to fit the two.

Trufant, initially running alongside Fitzgerald, breaks off into a deep-flat zone just under the receiver. The rushed Warner suffers tunnel vision, seeing only Fitzgerald, and we can guess, Russell and Hill. Warner passes, Trufant breaks on the ball and grabs the pick.

This isn't a Pro Bowl play in of itself. The pass rush deserves the lion's share of credit for harassing Warner, but Tru quietly plays his assignment perfectly, almost vanishing into the turf, and when opportunity arises, combines quicks, agility and awareness to create a game changing interception.

I don’t know what the average number of injuries, their severity and to what positions is typical for an NFL team, or even if that information would be informative. I do know that when a team suffers an injury to a starter, their replacement is usually worse. So when I say that the Seattle Seahawks were abnormally lucky with injuries in 2007, it’s not because I know that they suffered fewer or less severe injuries than should be expected. It’s because when the team lost Chuck Darby, Shaun Alexander and Mack Strong, each was replaced with a superior player. We cannot expect a similar turn of fortune in 2008.

Predicting injuries can be dicey. Older players are typically more susceptible to injury than younger players, but certain members of Seattle’s geriatric have an out. Walter Jones is a future Hall of Famer whose play, ability to protect his body and resulting excellent and consistent health is alike his enshrined peers. Matt Hasselbeck has enjoyed good health most of his career, and the injuries that commonly befall quarterbacks are decidedly of the freak, unpredictable type. As for the rest…

Rocky Bernard: Turned 29 April 19, Bernard is not “old” for a defensive tackle. He has a lengthy recent history of minor injuries. Bernard missed the final two games of 2007, but mostly as a precaution. In the past two seasons, Bernard has transitioned from a quick single-gap tackle to more of a run stuffing two-gap tackle. That’s not unlike “old player skills” in baseball.

My Guess: Will miss time, could suffer lingering ineffectiveness.

DT Depth: Excellent

Bobby Engram: Engram is an old 35, having turned 35 before Seattle’s season even ended. Engram enjoyed/endured a career high in receptions in 2007. The last time he surpassed 70 receptions in a season (1999), he played only three games the following season. Good overall health most of his career, he’s missed time in only 6 of 13 seasons.

My Guess: Will miss significant time in 2008.

WR Depth: Poor

Patrick Kerney: He doesn’t turn 32 until December 30. Kerney missed 7 games in 2006 after suffering a torn right pectoral muscle tackling tight end Steve Heiden—the only 7 games Kerney has missed throughout his career. Only 12 injury mentions in 9 year career, Kerney is known for his excellent conditioning and health.

My Guess: Will not miss time.

DE Depth: Very Good

Julian Peterson: It’s hard to believe he will turn 30 July 28. Peterson is among the most athletic players in the NFL. He missed 11 games in 2004 after tearing his Achilles tendon and was visibly slowed in 2005. Peterson plays a little fast and loose, sometimes putting his body in dangerous spots.

My Guess: Should age gracefully, could miss significant time.

LB depth: Very Poor

Brian Russell: Russell turned 30 two days after the Giants won the Super Bowl. Both facts are a little hard to believe. Russell entered the league in 2001, having none of the tools that get a player drafted, much less invited to the combine. But unlike so many fast, quick, muscular busts, Russell has parlayed a good work ethic and some football savvy into a respectable career. Unfortunately, when age hits the tools, the tool-less are especially crippled. Russell’s extremely conservative play might spare him excess wear and opportunities for injury, but should Russell get hurt, he could quickly slide into an Alexandrian late-career black hole.  Non-contact, running strains, like hamstring or groin pulls, could be enough make Russell a true liability.

My Guess: Should avoid injury; can’t afford not to.

S Depth: Average

Brian Russell

Stats

Highlights

Lowlights

Outlook

*Includes all games minus Week 10, Divisional Round and the second half of Week 3 and the first half of week 1.

Highlights

11/25/07

9th play, now from the 2. Rams rush Steven Jackson, Russell comes in for the fill, bounces a bit off to the side, but stalls Jackson's progress. Leroy Hill grasps Jackson's legs and the two combine for the stop. Each play was essential to the Hawks winning. Kudos, guys.

12/16/07

Brian Russell had his best tackle of the season, in what should have been a forced fumble. Russell gets his share of cheepy hits, but in this case, it almost paid off. Brad Hoover was sliding down after a 1 yard dump off by Moore. The typical thing to do here is get a hand on the guy so that he's down. Russell decides he's going to blow Hoover up. The brunt of the hit lands on Hoover's arms and the ball, spitting it up into the air and right back into Hoover's arms. The whole play is called dead on a Kelly Jennings illegal contact, but the effort's appreciated.

Lowlights

Think when he decides to play bad: I was not very high on the Brian Russell signing. At the time I didn't even think he'd make the starting squad. Through training camp and into the preseason it became clear that Russell would be the starter and Michael Boulware's days as a Hawk were over. I was still pretty iffy on Russell - in part because of a natural distrust of players whose "leadership" is touted well above any particular skill or accomplishment. But the defense was playing well, the deep pass wasn't the bugaboo it had been for so many years and it's just plain hard to evaluate the play of a free safety.

Eight games into the season, it's time we start asking ourselves "

what is Brian Russell doing?"

I went back through the entire season's play-by-play (provided by CBS) and recorded every play Russell was listed beside. That encompassed an interception, 3 pass defenses and 38 tackles. For each I recorded the total yardage recorded on the play. The interception and 3 pass defenses each earned 0s. I also recorded if the play was successful or not. First let's establish a baseline. Pro Football Prospectus records very similar stats for all defenders, my 2006 copy was most handy so I grabbed a couple players from it: A Pro Bowler and a Castaway.

Brian Dawkins:

Target: 14% (6th out of 75)

Pass Stop: 53% (33)

Pass Yards: 7.4 (28)

Rush Stop: 46% (24)

Rush Yards: 7.2 (41)

Michael Boulware:

Target: 10% (29)

Pass Stop: 51% (39)

Pass Yards: 9.2 (51)

Run Stop: 33% (47)

Run Yards: 8.4 (51)

Boulware had a decent season, it was 2005 and everything was right in the world of the Seahawks. I provided his data instead of someone who performed worse, because Boulware is the player Russell replaced. It's important to look at these stats together. For instance, if a player's target number is high, he may simply be making up for the failings of others, something important to consider when looking at his Stop Rates and Average Yardage rankings. If his Stop Rate is good, but his average yardage bad, that might indicate his team was able to force their opponent into long yardage situations. Remember, allowing a 17 yard completion on 3 and 20 is a success. And if a player's stop rate is middling or poor, but their total yards allowed rate is poor or worse, it might be a good indication that that player is not only allowing a lot of successful plays, but big yardage plays. That's Boulware. Of course when a player is bad in all categories...

Brian Russell:

Target: 9.6% (estimated)

Pass Stop: 18%

Pass Yards: 13.4

Run Stop: 29%

Run Yards: 11.7

That's staggering. Russell must be one of, if not the worst safety in football in all four ratings. When we gripe about opponents converting long third downs, the poor use of zones, and uninspired blitz packages, we might be missing the forest for the tree. A full 21% of Russell's tackles are 20+ yards downfield. Russell is consistently playing so soft, so conservatively, that he's accomplishing little more than preventing the homerun. None of this should be terribly surprising. Russell is a journeyman FS who's been let go by some iffy pass defenses. With two other viable free safeties on roster, it's time Russell's job security is a least questioned.

11/25/07

Here's Brian Russell's charted stats for the half: Blown Tackle, Blown Assignment, Blown Tackle, Blown Assignment, Blown Tackle.

12/2/07

Shaun Alexander is a once great running back. His play is inextricably linked to the Hawks' Super Bowl run of 2005-2006. He, therefore, deserves some tolerance, some mercy. Brian Russell deserves to be catapulted into the sun. I broke down the Kevin Curtis touchdown for my fiancée and just before the reception paused the game and pointed at Brian Russell, she asked "What's he doing?" My answer was pretty easy "Nothing," or more accurately getting faked out of his shoes on Curtis' double move.

The Hawks are in base formation. The Eagles have two receivers left, Reggie Brown and the aforementioned Curtis. At the snap Brown slants right and into Deon Grant's zone. Grant covers him. Jennings, in man coverage, runs stride for stride with Curtis. Curtis enters Russell's zone and is double covered, briefly. Curtis runs a double move, false step in, slant out, slant in. On the second move, the slant in, he completely sheds Russell. It's now one on one deep. Jennings is a step behind, Feeley finds his man open, and for a second before Curtis hauls in the catch, you can see Russell all alone deep left, covering no one, doing nothing. This is the shot that prompted Alanya to ask the question every informed Seahawks fan has been asking for weeks. Were Jennings better, he still could have stopped the catch, but when a player runs deep left, it's the job of the free safety to pick him up and apply the double cover. In fact, since Russell provides nothing in the way of run support and plays so deep as to rarely be involved in all but the deepest passes, helping out in deep cover is about all Russell is asked to do.

Oh Jesus, do we have to revisit Russell? As long as he's on the field I suppose yes. 4th play, first Eagles drive of the 3rd quarter. Philly's offensive line creates a nice "^" shaped seam for Westbrook to rush through. Given the blocking and Westbrook's ability, this run was destined for at least 10 yards. That's because the only unblocked Hawks are members of the secondary, and one doesn't even come close to Weapon X until he's 10+ yards downfield. That "one" is free safety Brian Russell. Russell's job is to figure out, on the fly, where he can meet Westbrook head on, hopefully tackling him and preventing the score. Because Russell is to the right of Westbrook and because Westbrook is faster than Russell, Russell's vector of pursuit should be flat. That is, he should attempt to use his cushion to meet Westbrook where he'll be. Instead, for what, the third straight week?, Russell takes the wrong angle, pursues where Westbrook was, moves from five yards ahead of the rusher to a half a yard behind and to the side, and attempts a tackle that puts the hopeless in futile. If Russell can't cover deep, can't prevent long rushes from turning into scores, can't pick the ball or prevent long first downs, what is it that he can do?

1/5/08

Finally, further proof that Brian Russell rots. It's 4th and 1, the Skins are on the Hawks 27, a stop for Seattle gives them the ball and a 13 point lead with about 16:00 minutes left in regulation. Important, yousay? The Hawks D is in a base formation, the Skins run a PA out of a heavy package. Russell reads the PA, at the line of scrimmage assumes man coverage on Sellers, and then is Cajun cooked by Washington's 32 y/o, 284 pound fullback. That Russell had to interfere with Sellers to prevent a touchdown reception is, is, - Jesus, Russell, it's just pathetic. Russell pitches a fit to the official, but on replay you can see Russell grabbing Sellers' leg with his right arm. A real "heady" move by a player that would make a better coach.

Outlook

"Russell is the reactionary fling following Ken Hamlin"

That was predictable. The oodles of shit-tastic, phantom safety play by Brian Russell, that is. I was on to Russell August 6th, but the Pale Rider continued to give good quote, "lead", jog to and fro pre-snap, and otherwise appear just in time to catalog the carnage the entire season. No, nothing could stop him. Not his criminal lack of athleticism, his evident poor decision making, his inexplicable angles in run pursuit or the Bouncing Betty I buried in his front lawn. And unless something fortunate happens between now and season's start, Russell will return as the Seahawks’ starting free safety.

Joy.