The Seahawks vs the Packers. An underrated rivalry.
Tonight, it provided another chapter.
The game ebbed and flowed throughout. Seattle started poorly, fumbling on the first offensive snap to set the tone for a sloppy opening quarter. Russell Wilson was off, Aaron Rodgers was on. Green Bay raced to a 14-3 lead.
The Seahawks roared back, scoring two touchdowns to take the lead before half time — only for Rodgers to again majestically lead Green Bay to a quick-fire score.
21-17 at half time.
Seattle needed some resistance on defense. They haven’t turned the ball over for three games. They weren’t getting close tonight.
Pressure and stops were needed to compensate. Wilson had to play better.
Both happened.
The Seahawks conceded only three points in the second half. Three — courtesy of a sublime Rodgers downfield bomb to Davante Adams for 57-yards on third down (the longest play Seattle has conceded all season). Green Bay still had to settle for a field goal.
This young defense gives up some plays. Yet despite major turnover in the off-season and the loss of several key players to injury (Earl Thomas, K.J. Wright, Dion Jordan) or suspension (Mychal Kendricks) — they continue to play their hearts out. Just as they did against the Rams and Chargers, they hung on just enough to give the offense a shot.
This time, they took it.
The Seahawks were 1-5 in one-score games going into tonight. Wilson and the offense stalled in the final quarter against Denver, Chicago, the Rams (twice) and the Chargers. Tonight, they had two vital drives to win the game.
Firstly — the long scoring drive ending in an Ed Dickson touchdown. Wilson detected the blitz, called for the snap early and executed. Seattle takes the lead 27-24 with four minutes to go.
Then the defense needed a stop. They forced a three-and-out (with a bit of help from Rodgers who picked a bad time for a sulk — at least that’s what his body language suggested).
Now it was time for the Seahawks to finish. Run to win. They did.
Run, run, run, run, run.
Two first downs, no resistance.
Game over.
The Seahawks ended the game with 225 passing yards and 173 rushing yards. Green Bay had 332 passing yards and 48 rushing.
Seattle won featuring the run against a one-dimensional passing opponent.
Not every team can play this way. The Seahawks can. It’s their style. It suits them.
And it doesn’t half help mask some lingering issues.
Wilson hasn’t looked anywhere close to his best in the last three games. Yet statistically he has sensational numbers. Tonight he finished with a 110.3 passer rating. He scored twice and didn’t turn the ball over.
For me, this is the impact of the run. For the last couple of years Seattle’s offense was Russell Wilson. It was all on him. Now, they can live through some iffy stretches because they can always rely on the run.
The three-pronged attack of Chris Carson, Rashaad Penny and Mike Davis is perfectly enjoyable. Who cares about who was picked where? Let’s embrace the success they’re having. Seattle has the best running game in the league. Celebrate it. Enjoy it.
On defense, players continue to emerge and develop even if there are kinks to iron out. Frank Clark now has 10 sacks. Jarran Reed has 5.5. Both are due contract extensions in the off-season (possibly sooner in Clark’s case).
The rookie class continues to contribute — especially Jacob Martin, Rasheem Green and Michael Dickson this evening.
And overall this team is just becoming more enjoyable to watch. There are going to be some frustrating moments like the Chargers loss. It’s a reset year. But this 2018 campaign is a lot more palatable than last years. Or the year before.
They’re not the finished article. They need another off-season to reach an attainable higher level.
Despite all of this — they’re 5-5 and facing a stretch of games they can win.
Next stop, Carolina.
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Nice win. Jacob Martin might be good.
Agreed. The effective pass rush was THE difference in the game imo. Pleasant surprise, and Martin really showed up (amongst others).
Wildly frustrating at times on offense as multiple big plays were left on the field, especially early (Thursday night blues???)
Run game. Amazing. I want 200 yards every game. More Penny please.
A really exciting game. We really need to start off games better, though. Our offensive strategy is touch and go when playing from behind, but when we get in front, god, it’s tough to stop our running game.
Not having KJ Wright really showed today. WILL linebacker is a serious need, even if we resign KJ.
Nice to see Rasheem Green get his first sack. Jacob Martin’s development is encouraging to see too—against Bakhtiari no less! I wonder if he can be a contributor for the next few years…
We’re really in a good place for the long run. I don’t expect to beat CAR next week, but at the very least, we’ll be in it. This team is on the right trajectory (as is Penny!).
I actually like Calitro and think he’s solid, encouraging he could develop more. Even though he gave up that TD, I think KJ probably would there also.
Calitro is doing a good job. He finished 3rd in tackles with 5 tied with Colman. He also is credied with.05 sack. Was a step late on the TD but almost ripped the ball out when they hit the ground.
Rob,
I like the outlook of this team. They are playing complementary football that has been part of the early success in Pete’s tenure. With the offense looking fairly “settled” and the defense being the strength of the draft, is it safe to say Seahawks take priority over a position that is not as full of depth? The 2016 draft was also known as being full of great DL, but we did not see that many other position groups going higher. While most DL that went high were very deserving, there were also some DL that slipped to round 2 simply because of the depth of the class (Jarran Reed, A’shawn Robinson, Emmanual Ogbah, Kevin Dodd, etc that were all considered first round talents).
I’m asking because this could possibly be solved in free agency. Dee Ford has the speed of the edge, measurables, and intangibles Seahawks are looking for and Kansas City has a salary cap issue. Perhaps they would add him to beef up a pass rush with a DT from the draft? I’d love for them to take Deionte Thompson since he is such a special talent. I forget if it was Pete or John that said Alabama players always come in so prepared to play. Thompson is such a special talent and a true center fielder. https://youtu.be/QmNofUB2b6A . Seahawks would be able to take him while also taking advantage of the depth of this DL class in later rounds as well as making a play for some pass rush in free agency. What are your thoughts?
Hi Milton. I don’t agree with this — and I don’t think the Seahawks will do either.
They have consistently tapped into the strength of a class and found the right range to select a player. Spending huge money on a pass rusher in free agency in order to avoid drafting a cheap, young, quality pass rusher would be an odd move. Especially to draft someone like Deionte Thompson who is becoming a bit overrated I sense because he plays for Alabama. He’s a long, tall safety who ran a 4.71 at SPARQ. We’re not talking about a lightning quick Earl replacement. He’s not Grant Delpit. Not close.
I fully expect them to draft a front seven defender with their first pick. It’s 100% where the draft is in 2019. It’d be an error not to go DL early. The depth is in the first round at DL, it won’t necessarily be there in R3 when they pick again. An early pick might be complimented by another addition in FA too to the front seven. We’ll see. But that’s how you win in this league. The value at safety is shot. Plus they’ve plugged guys into their scheme at DB. I don’t expect them to ever draft a safety early unless Eric Berry or Earl Thomas types are sitting there. They aren’t, not in 2019.
Rob,
His tape does not appear to be 4.7. Plus those numbers were from high school and I believe he has most likely improved from that. It has to be better than what is currently on the backend now. Walterfootball has his 40 time as 4.47. http://walterfootball.com/draft2019S.php . While I totally agree with getting a younger DT early, Pete has shown that he prefers experience at the position (the only reason why Shamar Stephen is even on the roster).
Walterfootball has guessed on his 40 time.
He may well run faster than he did at SPARQ but you don’t often have guys running a 4.7 at SPARQ and then running a 4.4 at the combine. I can’t recall that happening.
Listen, he’s not a bad player. He’s decent. For me he’s a solid R2-3 type player. I’ve watched Alabama lots this year and nothing really stands out with him. I can’t imagine Pete and John looking at him and saying… we need this guy.
Give me EDGE D’Andre Walker, LB Devin Bush, and S Darnell Savage. Those guys are all Seahawky type players and they would provide solid depth.
Frank Clark is going to sign a huge deal or get franchised. I don’t see them signing a big money DE to pair with Clark. A draft pick DE, DT, or LB? Yes. Young and cheaper. The only way I see a non-front seven guy drafted in the first round is if they trade down and get a big WR, but I really don’t see that. They’re going to add some speed/talent to the front seven (not MLB).
Kyler Fackrell is pretty good once he has a defensive coordinator who isn’t a box of rocks and actually plays a player to his strengths. Asking Fackrell to play ILB is like asking Frank Clark to switch to SS or something stupid. Good to see Fackrell do what we knew he could/would do.
Two sacks from rookies…
I would.be so.happy.if Rasheem and Penny become pro.bowl.calibre players…
2nd half difense…Pete is defensive guru and magician…
Clark and Reed with BWagz are cornerstones of this defense…
JS need to pay them as soon as possible…
And know Locket is on cheap contract, right? : D
Go Hawks!
Defense got crucial sacks and fought thru the holding non calls
Really missing that sideline to sideline safety. If S Deionte Thompson is available at our pick I’d pull the trigger instantly if the top edge guys are gone.
Deionte Thompson isn’t that guy. He’s not lightning quick. Not that type of safety.
He’s big (6-2) and ran a 4.71 at the SPARQ combine.
If you want sideline-to-sideline, that isn’t Deionte Thompson.
He has Seattle CB size however, maybe covert to CB at next level 😉
He may not be lightning quick, but he has excellent instincts, great against the run, and a high character guy. From the tape I’ve watched, he plays way faster than that 40 time would suggest. He’s clearly the best safety in the 2019 draft in my opinion and I’ll stand by that.
Not knocking Thompson, but the same things were said about the Thompson already on the roster: great instincts, plays faster than his speed. I think if the Seahawks were going to go S round 1 it needs to be someone like Earl with both instincts and innate speed.
ET3 was often out of position the few couple years. Pete was always correcting him when he came off the field. Similarly, TT’s instincts are being honed by Pete!
Great win considering that Russ really struggled for 3Q.
The defense bouncing back in the 2nd half to hold the Packers to 3 pts was awesome. They did the same thing last week against Rivers and the he Chargers.
Closing out the game by just running it down their throats was a thing of beauty and not giving Rogers another chance.
Also loved the performances by Carson, Lockett, M Dickson, Clark, Reed. Seeing the two rookies Martin and Green get their 1st sacks was awesome too.
Great bounce back win against a great QB and now they get 10 days off before a big home game against Carolina.
I don’t know how many people saw the article on Field Gulls about the Hawks’ performance on 4th quarter comebacks this season. The conclusion reached in the article was that they were bad (which is true) but if you looked at the stats you could see vast improvement on these 4th quarter drives throughout the season, leading me to believe they were coming together. Tonight was awesome, they not only put together a brilliant 4th quarter drive to take the lead but then chewed out the final 4 minutes on the ground.
Just perfect.
I was only able to catch the last 1/3 of the game, but what I saw was the type of offensive determination on the ground that is reforming the identity of this team as well as a focused and hungry defense. This is starting to feel so much like the 2012 season, and though I know i should be more cautious with such comparisons, Its a feeling that I just can’t shake. This team still needs a few more steps forward to be a Superbowl contender again, this is the kind of season that leaves me assured that this ship is heading in the right direction in almost every way. Given the turmoil and doubts that lurked very early in the season and in the off season with all the departures and embarrassing loss to the Bears, it is an absolutely remarkable testament to this team that they have been able to rebound mentally, and Carroll deserves virtually all the credit for it. He and JS needed to hit the reset button and refocus and they have done a fantastic job in not getting stuck in tunnel vision. Shaking things up on the staff and roster has given this team an energy that we have not seen in several years. These young players are laying it all on the field, and they want a taste of being great.
Resign Russ, Fluker, Clark, etc., make a nice FA splash and have a smart draft will get this team back to the SB sooner than any of us would have expected.
Obvious observation is the running team beat the passing team and I hope this ends the criticism of the run game! I think a lot of young players stood out on both teams which is good news for both teams. Also Rodgers missed easy passes which in a way settles the Russell Wilson debate at least for me it does. Penny is getting there. Madden made his block for the TD. Our TE’s are good players. It’s looks like we needed 3 safety’s for this game but we didn’t have them for this game.
Great effort and performance. I’m focused on how the rookies have been playing. Jacob Martin looks good, really want to see how he improves in the off season in the weight room. Rasheem Green showed up on the stats. Haven’t seen enough to put weight on it, but I get the feeling his dev. trajectory will be similar to Clark’s.
Penny is starting to get comfortable. Felt he has always hesitated cause he’s a rookie and that’s what (most) do. I still have high expectations for him, and he can probably get there. Next season will be interesting for that reason and to see how the duo of him + Carson forms. Will it be specialized like Kamara/Ingram or more of a rest rotation ground and pound?
Great performance by Wilson. Now do it week in and week out, otherwise it won’t sit well shelling out the money RW wants. He needs more weapons around him. The “type” is hard to put my finger on.
Rob, what in your opinion do the Seahawks need to move to an elite level offense? Sure they have a lot of good pieces, but it feels like there is some physicality missing from the WR and maybe RB in blocking. Creating separation seems to stick out the most though. I know this isn’t the year for going offense, just wondering.
Glad to see so much progress in a “turn” year!
I don’t think they need to add anything on offense. I think they can execute better. But all the pieces are there.
They keep praising Darboh so they probably will give him another chance to be the big guy next week.
Hopefully Will Dissly makes a full recovery. That really would add more muscle to the offense next year. That would give them 3 solid TEs. 2 great WRs, plus 2 developing. Loaded at RB. And, finally, pretty set at OL.
So unless:
A) Gardner Minshew somehow falls (possible if WSU gets blown out again in the Apple Cup?),
or:
B) There is some sleeper Australian kicker who’s perfect on everything under 75 yards,
next draft should be all defense. Adding to the pass rush we saw against Green Bay would be really something.
I think this will be a fun off-season. Lots of options and intrigue. The key needs to be though — help the defense reach the next level. It’s achievable. And that would make 2019 VERY interesting.
This team is showing a crucial championship element: mental resilience. For each mistake, they bounce back and keep fighting. This win was the kind that affirms it all for the young player, keeps them believing. Couldn’t have come at a better time.
Very happy for the W. Didn’t have to be that hard d but I think that’s just how this season is going to go.
What a pleasure to be able to willfully run again. Not sure if I enjoyed shoving the ball down the Packers throats in the 4th quarter more or seeing Aaron Rodgers’ pained expression while on his ass.
They survived early sloppy play, and got two Mcarthy gifts: being too weak-willed to challenge Tyler’s catch-no catch and lacking the stones to go for it in fourth down.
Love watching the next running back come out and do something special. And Baldwin looks twitchy again.
Good, hard fought, frustrating win. Some teams just have people’s number. Green Bay is that to Russ. He didn’t start well, missed a few open guys, and forgot how to throw the ball away. But you have to give GB credit. They always game plan him and Seattle well. They brought overload pressure and brought the safety a few times. Forced the ball to come out quick or sack. Their depleted DB core also took away a lot of the deep stuff and double moves to force short completions and a coverage sack or 2. Losing Kenny Clark and Mike Daniels in the second half definitely helped the offense.
Nice to see Penny keep momentum and Carson be Carson. Doug looked healthy and Lockett keeps making plays. Line run blocked well but the penalties we’re awful. You can see the air go out if the game plan when it becomes 2nd and 14. Duane Brown beat for a sack (or 2?) again by a backup in Fackrell wasn’t good. Griffin continues to be a bit stagnant in his growth this year. Tre learning some hard lessons too. Teams seem to be running right at Frank taking advantage of his agressivness. But it was great to see the pass rush show up tonight. As always, a lot to improve on but that’s what makes this young team exciting to watch. Good work all.
Good:
– Pay Clark $18M+ this Monday
– See if Reed is interested in an extension this spring
– Love the depth QJeff brings
– Martin quickly becoming a nice rotational piece
– Bobby is a fine wine
– Secondary is doing just enough (to be continued)
– Really solid RB rotation they’ve found
– That OL…
– If Doug is healthy, dude looks like he has enough for one more contract
– Tyler 🥰
– Russ’ deep ball 🥰
– Vannett is a starting NFL TE
TBD…
– Secondary needs to grow up if this team is going win another SB
– Can they keep this OL together?
– Moore can be good, but he’s got some growing to do
The bad
– Do not offer KJ anything beyond ‘just above’ a vet minimum deal. Don’t insult him, but don’t pay him, either.
– Russ needs to follow the RBs/OL lead and get going quicker
– Get Tyler off KOs, and do not let him do anything but fair catch punts
Favorite play of the game, Baldwin putting the triple move on the CB, totally turning him around 2x
“Can they keep this OL together?”
Not, if they
“Pay Clark $18M+ this Monday”
They can keep the OL together and pay Clark. They lots of cap space next year.
I’m not sure they need to keep JR, seems they have some good young depth, Simmons played some at LG last night.
They can do both.
What they decide on KJ will be determined by what they know about his knees. We can only guess.
Love to see Penny rounding into form. Watched his 30 yd scamper several times; kid can really shift his feet and hips in a hurry. That was one almost-broken tackle away from going to the house.
Carson, Penny, Davis…a real weapon when you can sub three backs without much drop-off. Keeps them fresh and allows them to run angry each carry
PC went to podium and talked about the first half and some busted assignments leading to explosive plays by the defense. He was tickled pink that Ken Norton then made some corrections at half time and more or less shut the Packers totally down in the second half. He also said they made some changes along the DL that got more pressure on AR and shut down the run more efficiently.
Naz Jones had a very nice play. Frank Clark had multiple nice plays. Interior rush from Reed was also outstanding most of the game.
(Was it my imagination or did the Packers run at Clark most of the time?)
Long story short: Seattle needs to stack some pass rushers and 1 more OLB type….. likely draft targets. DT might be a FA acquisition, than a draft pick.
oh yeah, the Seahawks crew on the radio said Seattle now has the third longest streak of 150 yard + rushing games in a row (7) since 1965 I think……. wowza.
“Firstly — the long scoring drive ending in an Ed Dickson touchdown. Wilson detected the blitz, called for the snap early and executed.” According to PC, the play was designed for a blitz, but the Packers actually bailed out of it… and RW threaded the needle to Dickson, because Dickson saw the look they had prepared for during the week. The look was actually a blitz look, but the coverage LB failed to get deep enough to undercut the throw. It was a hell of a catch as well. Talk about a frozen rope.
A team that couldn’t run the ball would likely have had to punt it back to Rodgers with the game on the line. Running matters.
Enjoy Your reviews Rob, great job.
I thought Wilson was too hyped early, a little less caffeine?
Penny sprain should have been out of game, later carries were poor.
“Best running game in the league”
Who thought this was a realistic goal at the end of last season or even after week 2? Great job by the organization and I am really enjoying watching our team again.
The last four minutes showed why they were so determined to fix the run. Even I got seduced a little by the high tech motion passing offenses, but when you need to run out 4 minutes, I’d MUCH rather be able to tell the defense “We’re going to run. Try to stop us.” And in the harsh conditions of playoff football, a sustainable running game is going to be more consistently successful than a gimmicky passing offenses.
I can’t wait to knock the Rams out of the playoffs.
Rob:
The Hawks can make the playoffs, but they have some hard work to get there. They will need to go 5 -1 down the stretch, and they will have played many of the rival playoff teams by season’s end. Carolina may be the toughest test down the stretch at 10AM, but if they beat Carolina then they control their own destiny.
I was impressed with the defense in the second half. If they keep that up, 10 – 6 is doable.
I don’t wanna hate on Schotty, but imagine this kind of offense with some more crazier offensive mind like McVay (not as HC but as an offense-guy), or Shanahan (again, as an OC, not HC).
I really want to see a lot of 2 back sets.
Imagine Carson and Penny line up on the two sides of Russ. Rest of the 3 O guys could be either 2 “TEs” (Dissly + Vannett or Fant + TE), and Lockett, or Lockett + Baldwin + TE, Fant + Vannett + Dickson/Dissly.
They could identify the best 3 guys and use them with our two backs. And they could mix up like crazy from these sets.
Penny outside run. Carson inside run, Penny or Lockett jet sweep, Lockett post/go route (with both backs helping with passpro or one of them as a dump off option), maybe even a couple of times fake to back, run deep routes with TE + Lockett, let through the rushers and dump off to Fant 😀 Fake to Carson, fake to Penny, run with Russell (outside, Penny as lead blocker). If they’d do this well, it would be nearly impossible to defend against. If the safeties creep up near LOS they could call for a deeper pass for Lockett/TE and also send out Penny on a route. If the safeties, LB, the secondary would respect the quickness and speed of Lockett and maybe Penny (and possibly a new fast WR?) then just run at their throats. Maybe I played too much Madden, but a simple personnel group with a ton of options and mix-and-match with these foundations we have could be really strong.
Penny seems like a natural outside runner while Carson an inside guy.
I would use Penny on first downs mostly because currently he’s mostly hit and miss (break out 15+ yards or get buried behind or close to the LOS) and use Carson mostly on second and third (short yardage < 5yards). Penny is nowhere near in production to a first round back, but if he can stay healthy and continue to develop, his ceiling is crazy high.
As for the game: it was ugly and sloppy. Penalties were stupid, Russ was bad until the 4th quarter, OL was mehh until the 4th quarter, defense really struggled until maybe the 3rd quarter. But when they get their sh.t together they dominated in most times.
Question marks:
– Is Russ worth a top 3 contract? I would hate a bottom 10-12th QB on the team, but I think with great scheming and with this identity, we'd be fine with a good-mediocre one (between the 10th-16th ranked). I'd love to keep him, but I'm afraid what a huge contract would mean to this team
– Pass D#. Do we have at least one really good CB? Or we have OK CBs, but not elite/pro bowler/top 10-15. Do we need/want one? (OK, not a priority, but should we check out FA/draft options for 2019 or 2020)
– Safeties. McDougald is good/great (I'm OK with this TD…sometimes happens). Not sure about T2. He isn't awful, but I doubt he is good/great. Maybe needs a bit more experience, but can't put him in either column (good/bad)
– Pass rush. GB OL is not a bad one. We had 5 sacks. We have Clark and Reed as our anchor in the DL. We have Green and Martin as young up and comers. We also have Naz Jones, Jefferson, Stephen, Ford, Jordan. Not the best unit, but still young, and not sure if it's the biggest liability on the team. I think we either need a future pro bowler or just some 4th-5th round guys. We already have some quality depth, so I'd rather see we get some different position if we cannot get an absolute monster for our DL
– LBs. BWagz is great. KJ seems to get old and injury prone. I'd love us to get a young baller here. One who can rush, decent in passpro and awesome against the run. Or if they sold on KJ, at least some really quality depth. Yeah, we have Calitro and Griffin, but they're more like 3rd-4th stringers than good backups. I think we need a guy at least in the third round for OLB.
– Hopefully, Doug will be more heavily utilized in the pass offense from now on. He's clearly OK at least. Lockett is great, but imagine having Doug also there. It would help Russ a lot. And if he won't get more touches I fear he'll quickly become Angry Doug 🙂
– TBH I wouldn't mind if PCJS would either draft or get another RB in FA. As I wrote before I'd like more 2 back sets. If we utilize Carson and Penny heavily, we need quality backups. Davis is good, but I don't trust Prosise and McKissic is only an OK option. A bigger back would be nice, who can get the hard 2-3 yards (if – hopefully won't need – Carson would be out)
For next year these are the positions I'd try to fill:
OLB (to play WILL)
DE (to either play opposite of Clark or if not possible to get a high-quality player than a rotational guy to play opposite of Clark splitting reps with Green and Martin)
speedster WR (Lockett is more quick than fast…yeah fast also, but I'm talking about more like a Taylor Gabriel kinda dude)
OL (just one guy for depth. If Simmons is good and Pocic will be solid than I'd try to aim for LT. It's OK if he's really rough, I'd try to get a high ceiling development project who might be able to be great after 3 years of PS/backing up)
Bigger back (not Lacy kind, but Carson-like. He can be even a bit bigger and it's OK if not blazing fast, would use him if we need the toughest 1-2-3 yards and Carson not available)
If have the CAP for it/able to steal somewhere in the draft then a good or high ceiling safety (either FS or SS, first one is preferred, but both can work because McDougald can switch if needed). Sorry, I really wanted, but have little faith in T2 to be good/great/elite. To me it seems like his ceiling is a good backup and not suck, but seems like he won't be top 6-7 FS anytime.
1. I’m not remotely concerned about this offense not being like McVay’s. They’re the #1 running team in the league. That’ll do for me
2. Give Tedric Thompson some time. I didn’t notice anything particularly bad either in this latest game. Sometimes I wonder if he suffers in the eyes of fans simply because he isn’t Earl.
I agree with your take on Tedric. People see all of these explosive plays we’re giving up downfield and assume its because of him. They don’t notice that they aren’t in the middle 3rd, which is his responsibility, they’re on the sidelines, where the CB is responsible for that 3rd. One thing that also helped Earl, was that he didn’t have to help Sherman, so he could shade more to the other side of the field.
People also forget the growing pains Earl had his first two years, nearly getting benched.
One thing I have noticed about Tedric, is that he reads plays very well, especially underneath, closes fast due to his read/react skills, especially on underneath routes. He’s also surprisingly much more psychical that I expected out of him.
On the other hand, McDougald had a rough game, I wonder if his knee still isn’t 100%
My thoughts, as well. Tedric seems very smart in interviews. Pete is installing the “instincts” just like he did for ET3!
I hope T2 will be amazing, I rooted for him since the draft. Maybe I’m just impatient and need to give him a bit more time
One thing I really like about TT is he keeps fighting and doesn’t seem to get down on himself. Multiple times this season he’s made mistakes and then makes a big play. That play he made late in the game to take away the deep ball up the middle seam was perfect, and may have saved the game.
OL was not meh for 3/4 of the game. They had over 100 yds rushing in the first half, and the pass pro was good enough if Russ would have been quicker and more decisive.
Pre snap penalties were annoying, but supposedly the Pack was getting away with simulating the snap. Also, those types of mistakes are extremely common each Thursday night. I’ll gve them a pass.
Thinking about this game made me realize what a great draft class 2018 could turn out to be:
1.27 Rashaad Penny – Starting to break out. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a 900-1,000 yard season next year.
3.79 Rasheem Green – Got his first sack. Looks like he could be a great pair with Clark.
4.120 Will Dissly – Was killing it before the unfortunate injury. I believe in the comeback though.
5.141 Shaquem Griffin – Finding his groove as a special teamer. Could maybe carve out some other roles.
5.146 Tre Flowers – Thrown right into a starting role and acing it so far for a rookie.
5.149 Michael Dickson – Might as well start carving his bust for Canton
5.168 Jemarco Jones – Also doing solid before injury. I think he’ll be good depth once he comes back.
6.186 Jacob Martin – First sack and has been disruptive previously. Looking like another late round gem.
7.220 Alex McGough – Practice Squad but a late round project anyways. Could make a solid backup.
PCJS has taken some flack for the past couple of drafts so it’s nice to see that they’ve still got their mojo. Another good draft and we’re right back in the trophy hunt.
Great win for a Seahawks team that is playing with a young defense. A lot of talk has been about the quarterbacks that they will be facing during this stretch of games, and in the other wins, they hadn’t played and beaten any of the premier ones. Well they just beat the best quarterback in the NFL. That is great for the likes of Flowers, Thompson, Griffin and the other young pups tasked with having to step in and step up. Better believe it Carroll is telling them that if they hang in and play assignment sound ball, that they will be fine.
Great halftime adjustments by Carroll and company for that young defense. That felt like old Pete Carroll Seahawk ball.
Happy to see the rookies Green and Martin get their first sacks, but vets Clark, Reed and Jefferson were balling out. Clark and Reed must get re-upped.
The team needed Russell Wilson to be on top of it in the fourth quarter and he was. There’s been chatter this week from Mike Salk and sorts that Russell hasn’t been strong in the fourth quarter home stretch of games and tonight he was. That might have been the best thing to come out of this game.
If Seattle manages to beat Carolina next week, December is going to be a really interesting month of football.
best QB in the NFC
fify
In my opinion, the best quarterback on the planet.
Gotta say it-Kyler Fackerell really impressed for GBs D. I recall him as a blog favorite back in pre-draft days. Just sayin-good track record on the part of Rob and the regulars!
I agree, I was thinking the same exact thing. 2016 draft looks like it had a lot of players take some time before they start to bloom.
Absolutely. Was thinking that all game long.
Notice though how he has taken 3 years of development to really break out. The Hawks are a team who is willing to find value in the draft on guys like that and have the patience to coach them up to meet the potential of their athletic abilities.
Let’s take a lesson from that and remember not be to quick to label our guys as busts early on in their careers. Rasheem Green comes to mind.
I think more than anything, I find myself wondering exactly when is Duane Brown going to look like the player for whom they traded all those picks? He was being abused by Fackrell, and honestly, this happens more than it should for a former pro bowl left tackle. Wondering if he doesn’t see an extension when the time comes. He’s fine. He’s not special. I know someone will come in with “this is the best the line has played in the Carroll era”. It’s not our biggest concern, I realize. I was impressed with the way Flowers fought. He was on an island with a star receiver and didn’t back down. He’s getting some valuable snaps against quality opponents this year. Never played corner until the NFL? Not too shabby.
Brown had a rough game against a player on top form. For the most part though, he has held down that left side and provided stability and leadership. Which has been vital.
Tha’ts correct, Fackrell has been tearing a lot of O-Linemen up. I’m personally happy that we have a serviceable LT.
we just extended Brown 3 year this off season
We finally got a win in a close game, and a win at home! Great stuff. The defence has been excellent at second half adjustments lately, Rodgers, who was on it last night, went from having his way with them in the first, to getting nothing despite great field position on several drives. Pass rush in particular stepped it up in a big way after the break, Packers Oline can be tough to deal with, with that “hug technique”.
Biggest highlight for me was seeing Rasheem Green get some extra work and performing well. After a great preseason he has been so unlucky with the injuries, but i played attention to him whenever i noticed him on the field and the kid is talented, generated plenty of pressures and obviously got his first sack. For sure one to look out for. Extend Clark, draft another stud and count on the continuing development of Green and Martin and our pass rush could be in great shape for 2019.
Can we stop for a moment and give thanks that we escaped a Thurs game with no career or season ending injuries? Don’t think I noticed any major injuries after Penny limped off early.
I really like this Defense. My one concern with it is the feast or famine type feel they give me. Either its 3 and out with a huge sack (or two), or a 50 yd bomb TD to a 4th string TE. Its completely anecdotal, but it feels like they are never on the field for long drives. Big plays leading to quick scores or quick shut outs. I’d love to see a little more consistency, but that is very likely the product of a very young Defense.
A couple observations:
Even though he’s made progress, Russell still doesn’t step up into the pocket consistently, and takes some of the most frustrating sacks from not throwing the ball away. I love the guy, but man, you would think he would learn at some point?
Calitro looked very active. Long ways to go but looks promising.
Suprisied in GBs play calling, hardly ran the ball at all. The outside sweeps are concerning, we’re not setting the edge, makes me nervous against Carolina w/ McCaffrey.
Some of the worst penalties, 5 pre-snap penalties at home, with some before the 1st play of the series.
What happened to all of the turnovers? Seems like it’s been what, 4-5 games since the the D got one?
Also Penny – dude’s vision and how he patiently sets up his blockers is unreal, throw that in with his ability to change direction and break tackles is what you get on that 30 yard run he had last night.
Turnovers are a little flukey at times, there is a luck factor (defensive guys having them bounce off their hands or lucky bounces on fumbles).
The part the D can really control is the pass rush, which is a clear weakness. They have also just played a string of QBs who rarely turn the ball over to anyone. If the trio of NFC West games against young QBs don’t result in turnovers, then we should be more concerned.
I’m more worried about our offense having a streak of three straight games with an avoidable turnover.
Do you really Think the carson TO was avoidable? The tackler put his helmet right where he had the ball in his bread basket.
It wasn’t a bad fumble, but pretty sure he only had one hand on the ball. I’m not putting it in the same category as the two Russ had recently.
The turn around in the Hawks run game and OL is one of the single biggest one year transformations I can remember in pro sports. Think about it Russ was the leading rusher on the team last year.
The OL is flat out nasty and they have 3 RB who all different types of runners but run hard and tough. Think about it they put up 450 yds running in two games against a DL with Suh and Donald. Who would have ever dreamed that last year.
It should give Hawks fans great comfort to know that when PC/JS commit to fixing something they can get the job done. Pete was very clear his goal this offseason was to fix the run game and reset the culture. So far I give him an A+ grade on both counts.
I think Rob is dead on they will focus on DL and front 7 this off season and I have no doubt this will be an elite D next year with an improved pass rush and better secondary play as that young unit develops under Pete’s master tutelage.
They are still inconsistent (Russ in particular) and the pre snap penalties are annoying but the arrow is definitely pointing up for this team.
The pre-snap stuff is absolutely maddening.
It looks like packs got away mimicking snap count causing OL offsides.
You realize this happens to every team, every week, right? Lets not pretend, “woe is me.”
You can’t ‘fix’ what doesn’t exist. They focused and really ‘built’ a running game from the ground up. How long have we watched an OL that effectively sank an otherwise championship caliber team? To see it go from abysmal to the new identity of the team is such a breath of fresh air. I can’t state how happy I am to see our RB punch it in for a TD from the 1 standing up or be able to watch a 3rd or 4th and short running play without breaking into a cold sweat. I love this kind of football. An added bonus is that it travels well.
Is A-A-ron the biggest body language whiner in the NFL? Absolutely love beating that guy and watching his arms go up and facial expressions every time something goes astray. He has competition from Newton but Cam is more of a sideline or press conference sulker.
Andy reid Vs Carroll for coach of the year?
Sean Peyton? Sean McVay?
This team is both fun and frustrating to watch!
The running game is a thing of beauty. I love a balanced offense that can control the time of possession. In the first half, even though Russ was struggling, the offense managed to control the ball for 17 mins in the first half. Granted Green Bay had the quick score to open the game, but last year with Russ struggling, the offense would have had the ball for 6-8 mins in the first half, leaving the defense on the field for 20 mins or more.
I love how the defense bowed up in the second half. I would love to see a couple more players on the front 7.
Other than Frank, the other pass rushers are young or oft injured (Dion Jordan). It would be nice to get another pass rusher on the team. I like Q Jeff, he had a couple of nice inside pressures in the second half. Hopefully he can get more consistent with it or else a pass rushing interior lineman is a need as well. Too bad the team released Tom Johnson.
LB’s – The team loves Mingo, but i was surprised that they had Calitro play alongside Wagz last night instead of Mingo. Can’t wait to have Kendricks back. Would love for the team to re-sign him in the off season, but who knows how much he will command and if the team decides to bring KJ back. Would love for the team to grab Drew Lewis in the draft.
WR’s – I still think the team needs a big WR. Jaron Brown is JAG. It was cool to see Equinamous St Brown make that stretching catch, which made me with Seattle had a similar guy.
It’s frustrating to see the defense give up so many passing yards, but they have played 3 top level QB in a row so it’s understandable. I like the development of Tre. Hopefully this offseason he can hook up with someone who can help him refine his technique and get him to the next level. Shaq didn’t really see too much action from what I can remember yesterday besides the Adams catch.
Outside of a couple big plays, the defense played pretty well. They only gave up 14 first downs to the Hawks 23, and held Rogers to 3 of 11 on 3rd down, that is damn good. As bad as the offense was in the first qtr, the final score is not indictive of the actual game. We gifted them a 7pt lead, and still won the rushing yards, TOP big time, total plays, and first downs and managed 6 of 15 third down conversions. I am looking at it as a 27 to 17 convincing win.
Great write up Rob.
Speaking of defense…what would your thoughts be about Devin Bush Jr, LB (MICH) in R1 (after a trade down)?
He reminds me of Lavonte David. Smaller guy with great instincts and can really run. Spend some $ on pass rush and draft a guy like him. I think he could be the heir apparent to Bobby Wagner while being able to play elsewhere, in the meantime.
I haven’t focused on Devin Bush yet — but I’m going to re-watch my saved Michigan games today.
Cool. I am excited to get your take. I think he’s a 3 down player at LB. I think I’d prefer the LB route over a one dimensional pass rusher (like Dremont Jones).
After our exchange on your mock draft…I’ve changed my tune a bit on Jones (thanks to your insight). I think I like him in high R2 but am a bit nervous about him in R1. He really does seem like a pass rush only guy, which has value. I’d much prefer Walker, Bush, etc…I think LB is a really underrated need on this team and one that we need to prep the future for. LB is also a safer pick…which I hate that term but honestly – if we can grab a guy who will play in R1…I think we go that route and aim for upside in R3 with an interior pass rusher. There always seem to be several guys available.
1. Hip hip hooray for the league’s #1 rushing game getting it done. I really like the strategy of Carson + Penny for 3 quarters and then bring on a fresh Mike Davis in Q4. He looked amazing vs. a gassed defense. Would like to see a couple packages for Prosise looking for mismatches vs. LBs in the passing game. (gotta have something up our sleeves for late season, I guess…)
2. I can respect the no-challenge on the Lockett catch, but not going for it on 4th and 2 with 4 min. and one timeout left, and your 2 starting DTs out hurt? Still can’t quite believe they chose to punt. Oh well, we’ll take it! Glad PC didn’t call a timeout and let him think it over again… 😉
3. Been mentioned already above, but tip of the hat to BobbyK and Rob for highlighting Fackrell a couple years ago. LB, along with CB, might be the position we have nailed down the best as far as what the Seahawks look for.
https://seahawksdraftblog.com/guest-post-bob-kaupang-on-kyler-fackrells-fit-in-seattle
Now gimme please some R3-5 names for a potential KJ replacement in this year’s draft. (of course we should wait for combine numbers to make it easier) Or with another off-season training Mingo at WILL are we perhaps already covered for the next few years?
4. Extend Frank Clark (duh).
5. Hopefully we are rested up and ready to make Cam and the Panthers one-dimensional as well. Go Hawks!
I love it when the pundits refer to the Hawks as ” old school”. Makes my day.
We just beat a dysfunctional Packer team. This thread is like going to a Spam football party while your team ends up winning, then hearing everyone say they actually liked creamed Spam on crackers.
Rob you nailed it. This team more than anything is fun to watch again too.