Tag: Steven Ruiz

Is Kirk Cousins the quintessential system quarterback?

Is Kirk Cousins the quintessential system quarterback? Steven Ruiz believes so.

Kirk Cousins has always been seen as a system quarterback. For his entire 11-year career, the narrative has always been that Cousins can’t beat a defense without a solid system in place and can’t work outside the system.

According to The Ringer’s Steven Ruiz and his 2023 quarterback rankings, Cousins is the definition of a system quarterback.

Cousins isn’t just a system quarterback. He’s THE system quarterback. And I mean that as a compliment. yes, he still throws too many checkdowns at the worst possible time, and, sure, he is pretty much useless outside the pocket. But if you need a play executed with proper timing, Cousins is your guy. And as he ages, he seems more willing to make plays on his own. He’s throwing downfield more than ever before, and he’s doing it with pressure bearing down on him seemingly every other play. There’s still a clear ceiling on Cousins’s game. He doesn’t have the talent to go toe to toe with the league’s top passers without considerable help, but he won’t go down without throwing a few haymakers. That wasn’t always the case.

Ruiz goes on to describe Cousins’ best attribute being his timing in an offense.

Cousins is a coach’s dream. The ball always comes out on time, and it’s typically thrown to the right spot. When defenses can throw off his timing, though, the mistake-prone version of Cousins shows up.

Per Ruiz, Cousins’ biggest weakness is his creativity — or lack thereof.

To Cousins’s credit, he’s trying his hardest to become more of a playmaker. He’s just not very good at it.

Cousins was 14th in Ruiz’s ranking of all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks. He was seventh among NFC quarterbacks, behind Dak Prescott, Matthew Stafford, Jalen Hurts, Tom Brady, Kyler Murray and Geno Smith. For context on Brady, Ruiz is holding the spot “just in case.” On the bright side, that means Cousins is the top quarterback in the NFC North heading into the season, according to Ruiz.

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Seahawks QB Geno Smith gets highest ranking yet from the Ringer

A new ranking from Steven Ruiz at the Ringer has Smith as high as we’ve seen him so far.

Geno Smith is a radically different quarterback today than he was when he came into the NFL. His first two years as a starter for the Jets, Smith threw more interceptions (36) than touchdown passes (28). One viewing would explain why – Smith ran into a road block that many young quarterbacks in the league do. Still relying on his plus arm talent, he tested pro defenses down the field too much, resulting in a lot of reckless play and turnover-worthy throws.

These days Smith is a much more conservative passer – a point guard or game manager type of quarterback. He won’t throw bombs but he rarely makes mistakes with the ball and relies on his ability to read the defense and take what he’s being given.

While that strategy isn’t as exciting as rolling out, dancing around pass rushers for seven seconds and throwing 40 yards down the field it is a lot more sustainable – which is probably what Pete Carroll wants more than anything after 10 years of Russell Wilson’s unique brand of chaos. If nothing else, Smith’s approach should keep Seattle’s offense from falling into the gutter.

Most QB rankings this offseason have put Smith somewhere in the high 20’s – some places as low as No. 32 overall. Until today we had Smith ranked higher than anyone else – putting him at No. 25 in ours.

A new ranking from Steven Ruiz at the Ringer has Smith as high as we’ve seen him so far – at No. 22. That’s better than Tua Tagovailoa and several other up-and-comers at QB. Ruiz broke down the game of all 32 projected starters through a variety of metrics on a 100-point scale, gauging accuracy, arm talent, creativity, decision-making, pocket presense and pre-snap.

Smith earned decent ratings across the board in these categories, with no one area being any lower than 71. He also didn’t go any higher than a 79, which Smith earned in the arm talent category.

“Say what you want about Geno, there’s one thing you can’t deny: He throws dimes. He doesn’t have elite arm strength, but his poise in the pocket allows him to drive the ball on longer developing passes, whether it’s a deep dig route aimed between the numbers or an out-breaker to the sideline.”

Ruiz also identified the weakest part of Smith’s game as accuracy – especially on shorter throws his ball placement can be off. He also mentions Smith hanging onto the ball too long, which we found to be his Achilles’ heel last season – leading to 13 sacks taken in three starts. Especially against teams like Pittsburgh with a strong pass rush, Smith will be forced out of his comfort zone. In matchups like that the best line Seahawks fans can hope for is something like 200 yards and one touchdown. Smith is sharp enough to feast on dysfunctional defenses like he did against Jacksonville last year – he just won’t be able to lead a lot of comebacks.

Add it all up and you have a capable caretaker QB with a high basement but a low ceiling.

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Where Russell Wilson stands in FTW’s rank of NFL dorkiest quarterbacks

For the Win’s Steven Ruiz ranked all the NFL quarterbacks in the league from coolest to dorkiest – see where Seahawks Russell Wilson stands.

Well, For The Win’s Steven Ruiz’ clickbait worked because I wrote this piece, you are reading it and we are all viewing his original content, ha!

Here’s how he started his post ranking all the quarterbacks in the NFL from coolest to dorkiest based . . . on aesthetics. Aesthetics???

“Look, I’m not proud that I wrote this,” Ruiz wrote. “But you clicked on it, so obviously it’s something YOU are interested in, too, so let’s not pass any judgment here. Okay?”

Ruiz clearly had some time on his hands when he pitted the league’s signal-callers against each other based on his very odd metrics. Curious where Seahawks QB Russell Wilson landed on the list?

All the way down at No. 18.

“This is actually a decent look, but I think this is where Wilson’s height hurts him,” Ruiz writes. “It’s not just that he’s shorter than most starting quarterbacks; it’s that he’s also wider than most quarterbacks. I can’t get that picture of him in the Hawaiian shirt out of my head.”

Not sure whether or not Wilson’s height and width have much to do with his dorkiness level, however, if finds a way to take Seattle to the Super Bowl this year, that would make him the coolest quarterback in the league.

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