3 NFL Storylines to Watch in Week 2
Russell Wilson's Reprieve
The Seattle Seahawks have a quarterback who doesn't often sleep. But you can bet that when Russell Wilson does finally get a few hours of shut-eye, he has nightmares about his offensive line imploding.
Seahawks tackles combined to allow 7 total pressures in week 1, tied-9th most of all teams. Texans had the most (19 allowed).
— Louie Benjamin (@PFF_Louie) September 13, 2017
Last week on the road against the Green Bay Packers, Wilson was under constant duress and was sacked three times. Perhaps the result shouldn't have come as much of a surprise given his struggles against a pressure-cooker Packers defense that often has his number.
In Seattle's opener, Wilson -- who was limited for nearly all of last season with a knee injury suffered in Week 3 -- got away on a number of occasions, rushing twice for 40 yards. That's a mark he exceeded just once in the entire 2016 regular season and a positive sign of his health.
In their upcoming meeting with the San Francisco 49ers, the Seahawks offense will be taking on a rushing defense that was on an historically bad level a year ago. The raw passing numbers against the Niners weren't terrible from a yardage standpoint, but they were one of only eight squads to yield 30 or more passing touchdowns to opposing quarterbacks.
As for getting pressure on Wilson, that may not be as simple as it looked in the season opener. Last week against the Carolina Panthers, San Francisco was unable to record a sack of Cam Newton and hit him just twice, per NFL.com Stats.
Season-long owners that took a slight draft-day discount on Wilson shouldn't fear this matchup in the least, and can start him with confidence. Bettors don't see seem overly concerned with Seattle's Week 1 dud in which they only managed three field goals, given that the 'Hawks have the third-highest implied total (28.0 points) this weekend.
