PFF stats in Seahawks loss: Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins have opposite results under pressure

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson had another big time fourth quarter, tossing two touchdowns in the final frame but falling just shy of leading his team to another fourth quarter comeback. Wilson, one of the top QBs in November in NFL history, unfortunately also had two interceptions, neither of which come with many excuses for Wilson.

Per PFF’s stats for the Seahawks 17-14 loss to Washington, Wilson was under pressure on 34% of his dropbacks, completing 4-of-15 passes in those situations with 51 yards and an interception. That gives Wilson a rating of 13.5 while under pressure on the day.

He had a rating of 100.1 when the pocket was clean, completing 20-of-30 attempts for 246 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.

On the other side of the ball, Seattle did a pretty great job of pressuring Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins, putting him under duress on 41% of his dropbacks. Unfortunately, that was not a problem for Cousins and the Washington offense: He was 7-of-9 in those situations for 100 yards and a rating of 113. When targeting Richard Sherman, Shaquill Griffin, and Justin Coleman, Cousins was 9-of-11 for 153 yards and a rating of 118.8.

While Bradley McDougald played as well as anyone could’ve hoped (allowed 1-of-3 targets to be caught for only 11 yards, five tackles), the absence of Earl Thomas and what he brings to a defense should not be totally ignored. Additionally, Kam Chancellor and Sherman both dropped interceptions that they should have caught and Cousins was very close to losing a fumble that would have been a touchdown on a sack by Dwight Freeney.

Speaking of which, Freeney had six pressures (two sacks, three hurries, one hit) in his second game with the Seahawks, proving to be an exceptional midseason signing.

Seattle’s loss comes down to a lot of things, and there’s no reason to point to any one player or moment, but for luck or for skill, the stats that these quarterbacks ended up with while under pressure is a major factor.

Some more stats via PFF. (A stat is completely different than a grade. If you make a comment about PFF grades and don’t mention this sentence, I can only assume you did not read the article.)

• Wilson attempted 13 deep throws, the most of any QB in the NFL this season. He completed two of them. Washington had 11 batted/deflected passes.
• Duane Brown gave up one hit and three hurries in pass protection on 54 such snaps. To be fair, that’s a lot of pass blocking snaps.
• Doug Baldwin (seven catches, 108 yards, one touchdown) caught a pass against five different Washington defenders.
• Bobby Wagner had one sack, one hurry, two run stops, one pass breakup, and allowed three catches for seven yards. He’s a legit DPOY candidate.
• Jarran Reed had four pressures and was stout against the run.