The power of believing and hanging tough!!!
Thank you #12s! You were on fire today!!
— Pete Carroll (@PeteCarroll) September 11, 2016
Where do you start?
I suppose it has to be the game winning drive, manufactured miraculously against the odds. Russell Wilson’s injured ankle basically shut down the offense. And without an experienced game-manager backup he was forced to stay in the game.
A 75-yard scoring drive in the final four minutes was improbable. Yet there was Wilson, virtually on one leg, leading the team down the field. Two converted fourth downs. One perfect fade for the touchdown.
A franchise quarterback performance.
Yet the game MVP goes to someone else. Cassius Marsh had three incredible plays on special teams including a (now crucial) blocked field goal. His sack/fumble at the end all but capped the win.
This had a bit of the 2013 Rams game about it. On that occasion the Seahawks couldn’t block a tackle dummy, couldn’t move the ball on offense and needed a dramatic stop as time expired to win the game.
The scenario’s are different here — but the inability to move the ball and the desperation late win against an underdog opponent are similar.
That game ended up being an anomaly. The hope has to be that this is the same. An off day due to Wilson’s injury and some ring-rust.
Yet there are legitimate concerns over the following:
— Seattle’s O-line struggled in pass pro, in particular Bradley Sowell who picked up multiple holding penalties. He did have a key run block on the 4th and inches play during the final drive.
— How serious is Wilson’s ankle injury? If you take away his mobility, it harms the offense to a great extent. He appeared to be moving more freely during the game winning drive. More on this in a moment.
— Why did the Seahawks throw the ball 26 times in the first half versus 11 runs? Are they needing to set up the run these days? Was it just a one-off game plan to try and set up the deep ball and test a rookie cornerback and Byron Maxwell?
— What on earth was Earl Thomas doing today?
— Too many bad long snaps. Again.
— What happened on the blown coverage that led to Kenny Still’s big drop and Arian Foster’s easy 50-yard catch-and-run?
The most important factor is Wilson. If he’s healthy that will do for now. It looked like a serious ankle sprain. The type that might not force him to miss any time but it could:
a.) easily be injured again in another game considering how often Wilson is hit
b.) linger enough to prevent him ever playing at his absolute best in 2016
Do they need to bring in an experienced backup this week just in case? Someone who can get them in and out of plays, handle the huddle and lead a conservative offense?
For now let’s enjoy the relief of a win and a 1-0 start.
Rob – been following this blog for a while! But oh my goodness, the Seattle D sure locked it down in their last stand. The O-line seemed hopelessly outmatched at times.
Very Seahawk-y way to open the season. Early thoughts..
Cheers: RW’s toughness, Marsh playing like a maniac in all aspects, the RB tandem bringing the fire & desire, pass rush
Jeers: DB communication on deep routes, Sowell’s penalties/play, the defensive play calling on the Miami TD drive seemed super-soft, seemed like more dropped passes than normal
Marsh is a beast. I’m thinking things have finally clicked for him.
The pass rush was great. 4 sacks. The defense looks to have their swagger back.
CB Jeremy Lane was a stud today.
Lockett’s 2 drops were uncharacteristic.
Penalties were rough, but what’s new?
Rowell is not the answer. Best of a bad situation?
Don’t care what anyone says this offense is missing another playmaker somewhere. Prosise is gonna be a bit player like P-Rich who I’m beginning to wonder if he’s not better off as a 5 and not a 4?
Would we draft another receiver when half our PS is WR’s? IDK.
Tough, gritty, game. Offense looked outta synch, but RW showed his toughness and how clutch he truly is.
PS, take the points Pete when your QB is hurt and struggling.
I thought Clark also had a solid game. Can you expound on your thoughts that we need another playmaker on offense?
Yeah Clark always plays well. At lead for me he does. Consistency is his big thing.
Shead balled out too man.
Doug was also fenominal
And Marsh was venominal!
“Don’t care what anyone says this offense is missing another playmaker somewhere.”
Richardson had his man beat deep and RW way overthrew him. If those two can get in synch that will fill a lot of that need.
He’s not a go to guy.
Outside of Baldwin and Lockett, who makes huge explosive plays? Who’s the go to guy outside off Baldwin?
Sort guys, we miss Marshawn Lynch. It was inevitable. Was never going to be like we wouldn’t miss his playmaking ability and reliability.
“playmaker” and “go to guy” are not mutually exclusive terms. A guy like Richardson can for sure be a playmaker without being a #1 or 2 receiver. But a regular, always-on-the-field guy? Not likely.
But if RW and PR get chemistry, he can be a 2-3x a game deep threat and that creates room for others to operate.
Lynch’s ability to create big plays will have to come from an amalgam of Richardson, Graham, Michael and Rawls.
I agree on P-Rich. But, if your only gonna use him 4-5 times a game, that’s a bit player. I’m a fan of P-Rich.
As I said, it could just be due to having the worst LT in the league. Gilliam, I’ll wait and see, but he might be better served as a swing tackle in the future.
And right now it’s too early to say if Rawls will stay healthy for a season, if P-Rich will, is Jimmy gonna be the same, will C-Mike remain consistent? Those questions will only be answered in time, so that plays a part in my reasoning.
Agree Vol about seeming to lack playmakers today. I think the hope is Graham will be even 70% of his old self and provide that big target and another weapon. I agree about P Rich . Love his speed but he is a situational player not a go to guy at least for now.
Think lack of explosive plays seemed to be more due to play-calling (in the first half) and Wilson’s injury in the second. Even though they came out throwing on the first drive, it was extremely conservative play-calling (slants, quick outs, etc) and two drives stalled on Lockett dropping easily catchable balls on 3rd down. There were absolutely no shots deep.
Then the one shot they took deep, it didn’t matter that RW and PRich werent on the same page because Sowell got called for holding on the play. And once Wilson got hurt, there was no chance for an explosive play because he could barely throw a wheel route to C-Mike 5 yards down the field.
V12, So all the deep passes Kearse has caught in the playoff and in overtime, not Baldwin, are not explosive plays? Doug was always reliable to be a third down guy then last year something clicked and he became more comfortable and agressive after the catch.
Last year Lynch was slow from the go, Rawls was twice as explosive and showed it behind the same line. Only way to tell if someone will be healthy for the year is if they don’t get injured for multiple games by the end of the year.
Today’s game had nothing today with lynch.
This offense and Wilson have always worked best under a high rhythm running style. Today Wilson and the O never (till the final drive) got into a rhythm and and we rarely loaded up the run game and pounded if at all. I’m going to give some credit to the ‘Fins D though. They have some players who make plays.
I Love seeing Doug get going early. Last year at this time he didn’t look as aggressive or sharpe. I am hoping P-rich has the speed to run some fly traps or plays that show up for the team.
I disagree, they came out in rhythm (which is very unusual) and were moving the ball well with quick hitters. The only reason why they stalled was because Lockett dropped two easy passes on third down.
I echo everything you said, Volume 12. Especially take the points!
Marsh was a flat out stud today. I give it he mvp to him, no question.
Graham is the answer to your question about another consitant explosive playmaker. Graham and Rawls were used sparingly today because of their injuries. Down the stretch this season…. These guys will make plays.
I hope so. Vannett is out too so there’s another guy.
The offense just seems to be lacking something, but that could be because our OT play, Sowell in particular is so bad.
Don’t you mean, “Sowell in particular is sowell bad”?
In interviews at end, both Marsh and Pete said the long gain by Foster was his mistake. Tried like crazy to make up for it (and did).
Marsh was responsible for Foster’s 50 yard catch and run. He was supposed to cover instead of blitz. So while he did ball out afterwards, and should be recognized for that, his day was not without a big mistake. And what was up with ET?!?! How many tackles did he flat out miss…
Marsh made some splash plays, and was a big part of the win. But he made mistakes as well, as others have noted. I hardly see him as game MVP. Bennett was far more consistent, and had three qb hits and a sack. He was the engine that drove this defense, and Cliff Avril was next with a sack and two hits and some serious pressure. Not to mention two batted passes by rookie Jarran Reed…
Goat of the day (and Im not talking Greatest Of All Time) was Earl Thomas on D and either Sowell or Glowinsky on offense. Thomas missed five tackles by my count, and was in the wrong spot on a couple huge occasions and nearly lost us the game. He needs to stop talking about being “Legendary” and just not let anyone behind him and wrap up on a tackle, like they teach you in Pee Wee leagues…sheesh. Glowinsky got blown up–either was trying to pass block on a run play or just got destroyed, on Wilsons fumble. Sowell looked lost…
Why was the last play of the game not a safety?
Was driven back into end zone, forward momentum.
Yeah forward progress was my thought.
I don’t think they got the play off in time
Didn’t get the snap off before the clock hit 0:00.
Earl Thomas easily just played the worst game of his career. So many missed tackles and assignments. Wonder if he’s injured and we just haven’t hear about it.
Almost unrecognizable he played so poorly.
Just bad angles. Too jacked up. He’s rusty, but yeah it was frustrating.
Yep, over amped, over pursued
Unfortunately, ET has seemed to regress going back the past year. Today was an anomaly in terms of how bad it was, but he really seemed to take a big step back last year. Hope he turns it around.
Gutsy performance by RW. True leadership right there.
Eh, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. Last opener in St Louis Bobby Wagner played like total shit, and he clearly turned that around if todat is any indication. Earl was recovering from a major shoulder injury last year, missing all of the preseason and adjusting to Kam’s holdout and Cary fucking Williams as well as Lane’s injury. Earl’s mistakes today were all mental, and therefore correctable.
He’s already a strong candidate for the HOF. Don’t let one game make you sound like an idiot.
Agree completely I would never have thought that was ET if he did not have the # on his back. I think he was jacked up and also might have picked up some bad tackling habits with the bum shoulder last year. Pete needs to reign him in a little and get him back to fundamentals. Knowing ETs passion he will be pissed about this game and bounce back in a big way.
I think Earl screwed up his shoulder while his arm was extended out, trying to wrap up a guy who ran through his arm. Not sure if he is now gun shy, but he seems to was just want to launch himself head first and arms tucked in. He was not good last year and is playing himself outside the ‘core’ of this team, core as in who you extend and who you don’t due to cap/production reasons.
Tackling has always been a problem for ET. He doesnt stick to the fundamentals, and also relies too much on instinct. THat can get you into trouble, like when he left WRight in single coverage on Gronk outside in the SB, choosing to cover the fourth string WR instead. The result was a TD. I still cant understand why you woulndt double Gronk if Wright is on him….asinine!
He also lets Kam be the leader insofar as lining guys up and audibling pre-snap. He needs to rely less on guesswork and study the damned film more.
Thomas has greater range than any player in the NFL, but he also makes dumb mistakes and takes himself out of plays by going too fast and trying to do others’ job for them. He needs to play within the system instead of trying to be a one-man Army.
If he can do that, he has a chance to be “Legendary”, like he’s always talking about. But if he cant, he’ll be just another loose cannon who could have been great.
A win.. I’ll take it!
Once again.. A frustrating offensive performance with some clutch miracles. The defense gave up some big plays. But a win is a win.
OLine is still awful. Now the League is on notice and I think we will see teams scheme to expose them in different ways. Was never a fan of Prosise or Richardson and see them as being small role players. I think Prosise is a lock to be 3rd down back. Just my opinion. I see all the WRs that we bring in and test out in TC- but look at the weapon we found in Lockett. Why don’t we invest some more high draft capital in another really good football player and put another difference maker on the field? Last but not least- I see the tide turning on FireBevell to become FireCable. And after all these years, I can’t say I blame them. It wasn’t like we were that great at run blocking today and our pass blocking almost got RW killed. We won, but we certainly can’t keep up this pace and hope to stay competitive throughout the season. When people say it is only week 1, I say- how many games have you seen Seattle play just like this one? This isn’t a week 1 thing, this is a Seahawk thing. I hope we make some adjustments in the off week
Oops- I meant to write that I don’t think Prosise is a lock to be the 3rd down back
Why not? And who would replace him?
Rawls, Michael… I see that they are more than capable of being weapons for 3rd down. And as for why, I just never saw anything special about him. Just what I think
Just glad you’re not on the coaching staff.
Snark comment that provides no debate. Classic! The old “you aren’t the coach blah blah” just undermines and devalues the opinion of any fan on this blog who happens to disagree with you. It’s reductive.
Procise had an amazing catch and run for a 1st down on 3rd and 12. I thought he showed well despite sparing use in his rookie debut game. He has a lor of potential!
Wow, really? I mean, it’s just the first game for a team which has the 2nd most rookies on its roster (correct me if I’m wrong on that) and struggled through its QBs greatest asset (mobility, improvisation) being taken away mid-game by injury.
We knew the OL was going to be overmatched by one of the top DL in the league, so no surprise there, especially with our 1st round pick suddenly unavailable on a couple days’ notice. (P.S. start preparing yourself for next week…)
I thought Prosise looked fine and he did have that nice 3rd down conversion. He is coming back from injury and getting up to speed with the offense. I can’t see what more you would be looking for talent wise in a rookie for that role.
The thing that concerns me about Prosise, is he’s already had 3-4 injuries? Had another one today.
If he’s never available it’s gonna stunt his development and comfort.
I see his potential no doubt, but I get jarhead’s concerns 100%.
Ok, you are right about injury concerns if that is what was meant.
But Jarhead’s comment, “I just never saw anything special about him” is what I can’t agree with. That size/speed combo, plus the added WR skills to create mismatches lining him up out wide I think could be very special.
I thought I was pretty clear when I said I would be fine with Rawls and Michael handling things. I didn’t see anything overly special or game changing about him in college or training camp. I think that taking 2 of our best players off the field for Prosise is unnecessary
Oh,got cha.
No, I like what I see from him. On the last thread, I pointed out the way they were lining him up. Outside as a WR, in the slot, backfield. And once they start to line him up at receiver and motion him into the backfield? Deadly.
Prosise could live off and be effective all year on one play.
It’s too easy to just resort to ‘fire a coach’ after a bad performance.
Is Cable really to blame when he’s handed Sowell and Webb as FA additions to replace a #6 overall tackle and a guard he spent the last four years developing from the D-line?
Is Bevell to blame when he’s handed a bad O-line and a QB on one leg?
Bevell and Cable are both doing good jobs and don’t ever get credit, just criticism.
I never said fire Bevell at any point. I pointed out that a lot of fans were shifting from saying Fire Bevell to Fire Cable. But I disagree that Cable is doing a “good” job. I feel that he is doing a pretty mediocre job. Cable was charged with sculpting and coaching players into talented lineman. And there were a lot of players who didn’t pan out that he likely hand picked that resulted in us having to settle for JAGs like Webb and Sowell. So he doesn’t get a free pass from me, and from a lot of other fans. So I never said anything about Bevell.
I simply made a general point about both coaches.
As for Cable — I’m not really sure what people expect. This is a guy that made a serviceable starting guard out of a defensive lineman. He was handed Nowak, Lewis and Jeanpierre at center last year and this year Britt, Lewis and a 6th round rookie. He’s given no-name tackles. He has a converted tight end to work with at tackle and has now been given an ex Basketball player as his latest project.
Today’s line consisted of:
LT – undrafted
LG — 4th round
C — 2nd round
RG — undrafted
RT — 7th round
I watched the Cowboys today fail to provide massive lanes for a #4 overall running back lining up three first rounders on their line.
It really is about time people just had faith in the coaches and after every bad performance didn’t immediately seek a scape goat. The Seahawks didn’t play a great game today. But they’ve been the team of the decade so far. Perspective.
He’s a great coach versus he can take JAGs, UDFAs, converted O-lineman, under sized O-lineman and turn them into starters and competent players in a short amount of time.
He doesn’t need 5 1st round or 5 top 100 prospects to make this thing work.
They need a LT now, but replacing Okung was always gonna be a challenge.
*because not versus
I want to reiterate a point that I heard for the first time on KJR a few years ago that I may have also seen mentioned a few times on this blog. Tom Cable is fantastic at two things: talent development and engineering a running game. That said, he seems to be awful at talent evaluation and getting his lines to pass block effectively. It seems as if one of his main problems when evaluating talent is that he is overly confident in his ability to get the best out of his players. This results in him drafting players with extremely high ceilings that are never able to reach them (i.e. James Carpenter, Russell Okung, etc.)
How do we know how much sway Cable has on the picks though?
I heard once that essentially Cable is given a list of acceptable prospects and then offers his input.
Whenever the hawks pick an olineman I hear tons of people going on about how their a kind of prospect that cable loves
Cable has stated what he likes in players so it’s fairly simple to connect the dots there. But Cable and Seahawks probably share very similar thoughts on what they look for.
And the Seahawks have dfinitely invested draft capitol in their offensive line. If nothing else they spent three firsts and a second their in Okung, Ifedi, Carpenter, and Britt
Good point Rob. I guess the question than becomes weather or not they plan on reevaluating what they look for.
I never said he was handed elite prospects. But we would be fools to say that he hasn’t had a hand selecting these projects in an attempt to make them NFL lineman. He has Bowie, Bailey, Poole, my man Soke, Gilliam and so on and has a rough track record. I get in to hyperbole after a loss- I just saw that many were and I honestly I don’t blame them for being so frustrated. That is all I am saying. I think that it is a big mistake by John, Pete AND Cable to think that this patchwork quilt could be enough to say “job done”. I didn’t like Ifedi, but he was a high pick on potential, Britt was a high pick on potential, Glowinski was at least a 4th. Getting a solid oline is hard in this league, but I think many fans frustration (including mine) comes directly from their willingness to bank on these wild projects becoming starters instead of have them compete with already solid prospects to find if they may be a diamond in the rough and shine like Kearse or Baldwin.
Honestly Rob, my whole main point was that we can’t keep up this pace all season and be competitive. I don’t think that is too farfecthed of an assessment
Gee whiz- I wanted to write “I don’t get in to hyperbole”. My typos are always contradicting me
“I never said he was handed elite prospects.”
— I never implied that you had Jarhead. I asserted that your criticism might be unfair considering what he’s had to work with.
“But we would be fools to say that he hasn’t had a hand selecting these projects in an attempt to make them NFL lineman”
Probably. But when he’s asked, ‘which late rounder or no-name free agent do you want us to sign?’ the point kind of still stands.
“Honestly Rob, my whole main point was that we can’t keep up this pace all season and be competitive. I don’t think that is too farfetched of an assessment”
Maybe. But I’ll also remind you that Paul McQuistan started eight games at left tackle during Seattle’s Super Bowl season — with a rookie Michael Bowie the book end at RT.
If anything we have paid more attention to playmakers and defense until this year. I also have notice that college guys for the most part can’t stay healthy their first year in the league. Too me that just tells me that the step up from college to pros is a lot haeder than we think. McQuistan and Breno were both excellent grabs from other teams as we scrabbled to replace injured Okung and Carpenter. Cable has done fine with the talent they’ve given him and if you want better results give him better talent to work with instead of the 4th to 7th round picks that he gets.
Odihambo is also clearly one of Cable’s guys. We spend a 3rd round pick on him, and even with Ifedi sitting because of injury Odihambo doesn’t suit up. Pretty disappointing.
I think it is farfetched. I think this years line is / will be better than last years. The first half of last year was just brutal to watch at times. So was today, but it was the first game of the season against Suh, Wake, and Williams. Barring injury, once this line gels we’ll be rolling.
The D looks on point regardless. One brainfart drive today mars an otherwise brilliant game. We could easily pitched more than one shut out this year- and in today’s NFL that is a feat and A half
Am I the only one who thought the OL played okay, better than expected? I was at the game so didn’t see the camera angles and replays, but I was expecting a lot worse I guess.
OL was rough in the middle of the game, and the holding penalties were killer. But (and maybe it was that a few of the Phins big dogs were out) when it mattered on the last drive, the OL was fantastic.
Lockett dropped two easy third-down catches that stopped drives that were moving. Clearly Lockett has proved himself as a valuable player but before you start throwing shade on Prich and Prosise, perhaps today isn’t the day that you use Lockett as the model of efficiency.
Hey man, one bad game from an All Pro and one of the top playmakers on the team shouldn’t hold him as being a poor example of a playmaker in regards to other high picks of which I was never a fan. Earl Thomas looked like a Jabroni out there and honestly cost us dearly in that game. Doesn’t mean I am going to stop thinking he is brilliant. I don’t “throw shade” on anyone. I have players I like and players I don’t. As every fan has opinions. I loved Sokoli and had high hopes for him, but he washed out of the league. I thought Michael was a joke but after a taste of reality in Dallas was born again hard and finally is acheiving his potential. The NFL is very fluid and always changing. I would rather see Rawls and Michael on the field in lieu of Prosise as I think he is a talent downgrade, Richardson was their first pick in 2014 and has been injured or a non factor really. That is just what I think. But Lockett is an amazing talent, one bad game in which he STILL made a bunch of other goods plays won’t negate that
Procise weighs 220 lbs, which is the same as Rawls and 10 lbs heavier than Michael. How did you make the determination that 220 is too small for RB?
I wrote small role players, players with small roles.
And… Let the bit****g and moaning commence.
As if 41-8 wins aren’t the same as 12-10, although it should a been 14-10. Why the hell wasn’t that Avril sack 2 points?
It’s not like later in the season or come playoff time we’re gonna sit back and say, ‘if only we had scored 2 more TD’s against Miami in week 1 it would a helped…?’ Nothing.
Offense really struggled, except when it mattered and in the 1st quarter, I’m just glad this defense appears to be back.
Miami had 11 1st downs and only 220 some odd yards?
Forward progress. Avril drove Tannehill back into the end zone.
Really? Looked like Tannehill was still moving back? Oh well. Great to see all 4 pass rushers get after it.
It’s why I’m beginning to see Rob’s point. We got those 4, Seattle always adds a stud O-lineman in FA, pass rusher could be pushed down the needs list. Give me a LEO style edge rusher like TCU’s Josh Carraway in round 3-4.
Time ran out before the ball was snapped. Clock restarted when the ball was placed. Dolphins didn’t know the rules. Let the clock expired. Ball game was over, whistles were blown but unheard. The play never happened. Game was over.
I hear what you’re saying Vol, but my concern is that this motley crew of linemen might get by against mediocre defensive fronts, but the chances of a deep playoff run are highly diminished with a liability like Sowell starting at LT. They hated him Arizona when he started 12 games there in 2013 because he was a turnstile. We got to see firsthand him getting tagged with holding penalties from getting beat.
We got to the SB in the past when we had one of the better left tackles in pass pro at least protecting Wilson’s blind side. We saw the results of facing a team with a real pass rush against our line last year. It seems like too crucial a position to have championship aspirations depend on whether Sowell gets beat when up against the best pass rushers, because he will. It’d be one thing if he was a rookie and had the potential to be far more competent at some point in the near future. But I’m not sure he’s got that type of ceiling. Even were he to reach his ceiling after riding pine the last few seasons I’m not he’s going to fare much better against an elite pass rush.
Yeah, he might not. He’s the weak link right now. Awful performance.
They don’t need to be great. Just good. LT is absolutely our biggest need.
There are much better defenses than Miami that we will still have to face as well. I really want to see Ifedi back in there and see if that settles things down a bit more. But you are correct Sowell looked very bad today.
Carraway R3, yes please.
He didn’t get the sack either. If you looked at the play clock, it expired by the time Tannehill got the ball snapped, so the play didn’t count.
Yes but Sills dropped a clear td. What would the final out come be if he had not?
“Offense really struggled.”
We had around 350 yds. on offense so I don’t think we struggled. It seemed to me that we were always starting drives deep in our side of the field. Does anyone have access to a chart that shows where our drives began?
Bevell’s playcalling always seems conservative to me until we reach midfield or until it’s the 4th qtr. and we are behind. I’m not criticizing him, just observing.
Glad to have you back Rob for another season.
Relieved. This game worried me from the start. Just glad for the win. Great interior defensive teams like Miami give us fits, and they did.
– This is not the 2013 seahawks and the comparisons I found annoying. This is a new team, new identity, and we don’t know what it is yet.
– Defense looked really consistent. 3 big plays were given up but the rest of the game they dominated.
– Jarran Reed is a man and a half
– RW has incredible guts. I thought he could have/should have thrown the ball away when Suh charged in on him, but he had guts to play hurt when the team needed him.
– If we didn’t win, I’d have given the oline an F. Because of the last drive, I’ll give them a D. No one stood out to me. Sowell is a disaster. Should have forked over an extra million to bribe Okung to stay. Gilliam is not much better to my eyes. I expected Webb to have a bad day playing Suh, and he actually might have been better than his other line mates. So I’d give Webb a pass considering he had the toughest job on the field. Jim Moore will have a field day this week.
– I’m sorry but that 4th and inches play was ridiculous. Even if Baldwin catches it he may not have a first down. If you are passing in that situation, and only throwing for inches, you might as well run it into the teeth of the defense. THe coaching staff need to seriously get their heads screwed on straight sometimes. The key short yardage run by Cmike on the last drive tells me they learned their lesson.
– I’ll be in the minority here because I know most love Boykin. But having a reliable backup qb is exactly why he should be on the PS. It’s probably too late to pick a vet up, but situations like RW are the exact reason you need someone reliable. I don’t care about potential in a second stringer.
– Despite the dropped td by miami, and the close score, it was pretty clear to me that seattle had the superior football team. The yards, the time of possession, the minus TO’s, and despite playing like crap, this team was clearly superior. Play mistake free, penalty free, and the score will reflect how good they can be.
Yeah, penalties really stunk. I think they said PC singled that out at halftime.
Eh, we’ve been trying to lessen the penalties for years. I just expect it now as a part of how Seattle plays.
Ugly game. It’s Seattle football. More games are gonna be like this.
How fun is RB Thomas Rawls? He loves to get hit man. Has that Lynch mentality that way.
Rawls is my favorite Hawk. But I also love Cmike. He now plays hard, runs hard, and gets after it. I’m sure he gets a starting gig next year somewhere, but I somehow hope he can stay.
Definetly. That could quickly become one of the best 1-2 punches in the league. C-Mike loves being a Hawk too. I could see him staying.
And yes that 4th down call was head scratching. Take the F’n points!
“I’m sorry but that 4th and inches play was ridiculous.”
Agree 100%. I don’t mind the call to go for it, but that play call was atrocious.
100% agree, don’t know what they are thinking there. Run for it, if you can’t get it you can’t get it. Don’t roll Wilson out on a bad ankle and try a perimeter pass when clearly Wilson can’t get anything on the ball at that point. What are they thinking.
Yeah – really painful to see Okung ball out on Thursday Night Football on a super cheap team friendly contract for the Broncos, when apparently we had last look and could have matched it but were to petty to give him the satisfaction so we move forward w Sowell instead?
I’m not overly convinced that was the situation David. One take at the time was Okung signed the deal with Denver almost to save face. If he just went back to Seattle on a bad deal his experiment with no agent is deemed a failure. It was anyway — but with the Broncos deal and the potential to earn $10-11m the earning potential was at least there. I doubt the Seahawks rejected a team friendly deal to keep their LT out of pettiness.
Last play was not a safety because the clock ran out before the snap. They did (eventually) run the clock after the sack fumble once the ball was ready for play.
Also, TannehI’ll was first hit outside the end zone, so it wouldn’t have been a safety anyway.
Did Miami even throw at Sherm today?
Once I think for 2 yards at the beginning of the game
Thanks man. I was curious.
I find it humorous that many teams will say, “we aren’t going to shy away from Richard Sherman”, but then end up hardly looking in his direction.
When Wilson came back in after hurting his ankle, I sarcastically said the offense might improve because they’d be forced to call quick passes to protect Wilson and Wilson would have to stop holding the ball way too long, in other words the very changes they made last season to deal with the terrible pass protection and that produced phenomenal offensive improvement. And then wilson leads em on their only sustained TD drive of the game. Coincidence or truth?
Yeah I agree Mike…I was thinking the same thing…that Russell would get rid of the ball. His running is not as effective anymore when the defense game plans for his scrambling. He’s a better pocket qb than a run and gun Randell Cunningham clone.
Good Lord… The defence was, with the exception of Earl, pretty damn outstanding. That was a totally bizarre game from him. He’s never been a good tackler, which I’ve always found strange, but that was utterly dreadful. He was the worst player out there today, and that’s saying quite a bit.
Agreed. Earl was a mess with those missed tackles and he was also the one badly burned on the deep pass that Stills dropped.
Seattle was lucky to escape with a victory, but a win is a win.
I’m very concerned about our offensive line. Aaron Donald should be grinning ear to ear when he watches the tape of this game. If Russell plays next week, he better add four layers of tape to that ankle cause they are going to be coming for him.
I’m not sure what’s on the waiver wire, but we need tackle help immediately. Call Cleveland and get Joe Thomas — seriously.
Seattle better sign another quarterback too or it could get very ugly if Wilson can’t play.
On defense, overall it was pretty strong.
But Earl Thomas’ performance was brutal. He looked out of it. Jeremy Lane was a bright spot, along with Marsh and Frank Clark.
Jarran Reed also deserves props. Was a beast stuffing the run in the middle and not one but TWO batted balls.
Reed was stout and active, very impressive. On Mike B’s sack, he was driving his man backwards into the QB.
Seattle was lucky but that last defensive stand where Miami lost yards on every play was a thing of beauty.
Contrast that with New England and Denver who won because the other team missed a field goal. Now that was luck!
Lots of thing need work, but there were enough bright spots for all of us to remember – we don’t need this team to peak in September or October or November. Several guys, who usually make plays had bad days – Lockett and Earl to name a few. It is a long season, let’s just hope that Russell is okay – that they can let him drink all of his own Recovery Water and heal up that ankle.
Every team was rusty today. Or at least the 6-7 games I was flipping back and forth from.
Great point. You don’t win championships in September.
What the hell is going on in Arizona?
Imagine how sweet it would be to start one game up on arizona.
Imagination no longer needed 🙂
Unfortunatly that will come back when we go to foxborrough in nov. The league bias against the Hawks continues as they gave the Patriots their bye just before the Hawk game. And isn’t it telling that the league enforced the brady suspension then turned around and gave them 3 home games in a row during the suspension?
Oh boo-hoo. C’mon man, this is war. Saddle up.
With how much we have struggled against receiving TEs I thought a big positive today was how Jordan Cameron was a non factor.
Also really hope Cmike gets more carries in the 1H next week. He and Rawls both ran hard today. Great 1-2 punch.
The goal in Sept. is to win, survive without any major injuries and work out the kinks. Today was ugly but the Hawks accomplished the main goal a W and no major injuries. Have to say the thought of this offense without a mobile Russ is scary. Hope the injury heals well.
Final note Russell Wilson maybe hookie with some of the stuff he does but that is one tough SOB and anyone who doubts it is a fool. I hope I never hear the question about whether or not he is an elite QB again. He is Elite with a capital E.
Worried about Russ going forward. Ankle injuries don’t heal overnight – Ifedi and Vannett are still out with presumably run-of-the-mill ankle sprains. Even though he was able to make plays at the end when it was needed – there was not threat of a big play for most of the time he was hurt and the Dolphins were just selling out on the run because they knew they didn’t need to protect deep. And Wilson clearly could not get what he needed to on passes for the most part (thinking about the 3rd down wheel route to CMike). So while he was able to get it done at that end miraculously, he was not nearly the Russell Wilson after he was hurt (and I’m not even talking about running) and if this persists, this could be a much bigger problem over the next few weeks, not to mention if he aggravates it worse. With these things, while the adrenaline is flowing, he was able to keep going, but tomorrow I bet he can’t even walk…
No one is talking about Shead. I thought he was outstanding today, breaking up two passes and making an excellent tackle to snuff out a screen pass.
Lane also had some nice pass defences and break-ups.. and the tackling was improved overall.
Yeah that #2 corner position everyone was worried about looked great.
It does look great.
Let’s see what teams are willing to offer for Shead if he keeps playing like he did yesterday.
That interests me more than anything else come FA. We know PC loves Shead, and I’m fairly certain they’d place a 2nd round tender on him. But, with his length, size, versatility, ST’s ability, and still has upside, teams might be willing to give up that 2nd rounder.
So then it becomes, would they slap a 1st round tender on Shead if it came to that?
Folks are understandably concerned about the offensive line. Concern is understandable. Disappointment is a wee bit delusional. Miami will get after some good defenses.
Anyone who legitimately expected more than around 5 ypp against this front seven hasn’t been looking at this team closely. (We got 4.5.) In truth, this was a game where you had to bank on three yards and a cloud of dust, a few big plays, and field position. Got the first, not much of the second until late, and very little of the third.
My fear is that likely to get lost in hand-wringing over the OL are: (1) Numerous dropped passes, (2) RW’s two horrible turnovers, where once again he tried to force things when he had NO business, (3) Skill position players failing to make tacklers miss. I’m inclined to give MIA most of the credit for #3.
This line is gonna be hit and miss against top front 7s all year. The reality is outside of Big D, everybody is living that life. So when you get a not unreasonable performance from them, WRs and RBs can’t drop “good enough” throws, and they have to win consistently in 1-v-1 situations. Those didn’t happen nearly enough. The offense left enough plays on the field that they deserve some calling out, apart from the line.
It would be better for people’s confidence if this line at least didn’t get so many drives into 2nd and 20 type of situations where the offense has to go off kilter just to get into manageable 3rd and long situations.
Getting outmanned is one thing, but then adding penalty after penalty is a double whammy. At least with seattle’s sb team, it beat people up, as well as getting lots of penalties, but at least they held their own.
*Miami will get after some good offenses…
19 Game winning drives for Wilson.
He would have to be a chance of knocking Brady’s record off.(Brady has 48)
Sorry, Peyton has record, brady leader among active players.
As bad as the offensive line was, I thought it looked better than the lineup of Okung, britt, nowak, sweezy and gilliam looked against the rams week 1 last year.
Hopefully. Sowell definitely struggled. The OL just looked out of sync. There was at least a couple of plays where Sowell completely missed his assignment, as though he thought there was another lineman or a TE were on his left. And Webb was getting stood up at times against the pass and the run. I can’t help but think that Gilliam not being able to take over the LT job was a big disappointment for the coaching staff. You get what you pay for, I guess.
Not to mention Glow getting straight pushed back off the snap and stepping on Russ’ injured ankle.
Looked to me like Glow was backpedaling for a pass play. He may have got the playcall wrong, it happens. That was a horrid play regardless. Wilson has to learn to just eat the ball when something like that happens, rather than risk a turnover. That was some Dave Krieg stuff right there…
I too thought Seattle’s line was much better than last years Game One line. That said, they made a bunch of mistakes. Everyone struggled at times, even Britt, but I thought overall Britt and Glowinsky played well, Webb is going to get better, and Sowell and Gilliam arent doing well at all. The line lacked consistency, but if they get that cleaned up, and quit the stupid penalties and play in sync, they will instantly be far better than Seattle’s line last season, at least the Game One-Seven bunch…
That game got exciting in a hurry. Grateful for the win. The defense played lights out aside from ET. Tell the truth Monday will be interesting.
I wonder if we will bring Tukuafu or someone else in to play FB this week. I still miss what M Rob did for the running game. We could use a good one.
Cracks me up when they’d shift Will Tukuafu wide and the defense would put a man out on him.
Does anyone know whether there’s any analytics on ‘sack effectiveness’ for lack of a better term?
I have a bit of a theory that some of our sacks come on early downs and don’t kill the drive.
Today all of them killed the drive within that set of downs.(One resulted in a field goal attempt)
I went back and had a look at the Carolina game and the Cincinnati game last year, both games we sacked the QB, but on one of the sacks, the offence recovered and scored a TD(effectively the difference in both games)
Very interesting point. When they sacked Romo early in the downs and he pulled a third and long out of his ass was similar. Last season 3rd and long was converted against them at an unusual rate. Think it improved some when Lane came back and Shead took over for Cary. Pass rush looks a bit better this year, curious if run d is more stout with Reed and Clark/Marsh than Bruce and Bane. Great thoughts.
I wasn’t real impressed with the offense, but they did enough. Hopefully Ifedi gives the line a boost when he gets back.
Thought they did show some guts though, especially Russ and Alpha Doug.
The defense, however, looked the part. I noticed a lot more blitzes then usual, and loved Wagner shooting the A gap. Felt like Miami’s only positives came from when we were more conservative. I hope we terrorize Goff with pressure next week.
Doubt we will get Goff since he currently sits 3rd on the depth chart. More likely we get Case Keenum.
I have a few thought’s and I haven’t had a chance to read everyone’s comments so if I repeat something already stated I apologize.
First, what is our identity on offense? Wilson threw more today than any other game in his pro career. When we ran the ball today most of the time it was out of a spread formation with fifty fifty results. No fullback no power formation. That’s what I saw anyway. On a team with weak pass blocking skills running the ball then building off of play-action or going to screens. Disappointing after hearing Russell talk.
Second this has to have been Earl’s worst game as a pro. Looking forward to see him rebound next week.
Aside from that i think the Wr’s had a solid day, D was solid to damn good.
The last time they tried to run out of the power formation, Glowinski got pushed back on the snap and stepped on Russ’ injured ankle and he fumbled the ball. They went strictly to shotgun and pistol after that as Wilson was clearly having mobility issues and was having problems even taking the snap and handing the ball off. He was much slower after he was hurt and that was allowing the play to blow up in the backfield. Although after they went to shotgun/pistol they still tried some power formations in pistol with the FB next to Wilson and the HB behind. Similar to what GB was doing when Rodgers had the injured ankle.
Also, Seattle was throwing short passes to help the line out. This led to more offensive plays than usual, as did their ineffective run blocking. They ran the ball 32 times in that game, which is plenty. They just ran more plays than is their wont.
So they are still a running team. They need to get Wilson healthy and get the line to play in sync. They do that, they can do anything. And short passing to set up the run usually works really well for them–its what some of us have been hollering for Seattle to do early in games, rather than slam Lynch or another back into an 8-man front all through the first half for little gain the way they’ve done in past years…
Bobby Wagner looked sharp and was getting home on the blitzes better than I’ve seen him do yet. Kam looked more like himself than last year at least for one game. Let’s hope for a return to form because his previous presence affected both teams in previous years and in playoffs (except last year) was arguably a defensive map.
Nice write up Rob, per usual. I agree that if Hawks play a cleaner game they look superior. When they allow teams confidence, teams that should be out of their depth, theiy play more brazenly. Minus two turnovers and less penalties–yeah right–and they would have had more manageable down and distances and more ball control. There were more than a few good runs brought back in first half especially. If they’d counted field position would’ve been more advantageous on both sides of ball and likely a few more points. With just a bit less rust and mistakes, they would have imposed their will and the narrative would be much more positive
. Even so, this injury and Russell’s grit and determination surely will help establish his leadership even more. Perhaps even if he misses time, trust in Russ and appreciation of him as a teammate could pay dividends later in the season and years to come. Tavaris playing hurt earned him respect that continued even as a backup.
I like how Wags looked also. He was getting after it. Didnt look soft.
Wilson showed something today with his grit I agree.
It seemed like after RW got injured, the energy level of the offense and defense picked up
Defense looked great.
Not a lot of deep shots from the offense. Dink and dunk city.
Hopefuly we see more screens to the backs and counters also.
No reason to show the whole playbook week #1
Can someone Compare and contrast Rams Defense and Miami please?
Dolphins have Suh, Williams and Wake.
Rams have Donald and Quinn plus better linebackers.
Donald better interior rusher than Suh — Suh better vs run.
Rams are dirtier. They will be head-hunting Russell.
Possibly ankle hunting as well.
Given the choice… Would you take the Dolphins DL or Rams DL for one game right now?
I am in a discussion with someone saying the Rams DL is head and shoulders better than the Dolphins and I just don’t see it. I think the Hawks go run heavy next weekend, then play action opens up shots to Kearse and Lockett deep.
Dolphins have better safeties (Reshad Jones) Rams might have better corners (Joyner, Gaines
Johnson)
Miami has a better O-line too.
After a quick re-watch of the game I thought Sherman was quietly dominant. The one time they targeted him in the first half was a quick pass to Caroo for a very short gain. And Sherman is just so good in run support.
Good luck on trying to run up the middle against our defense. I thought Reed had an under the radar sort of very good game.
I admit I didn’t agree with all the hype that Frank Clark was getting on this blog before we drafted him. I’m more than happy to admit how wrong I was. His quickness and explosion on several plays was undeniable.
Seems like they were trying to ease Graham back into things by having him out there for several running plays instead of putting him in there on obvious passing downs. While I completely understand the reasoning for that, I hope that we don’t try to force him to be an inline TE as much this year. He’s at his best when lined up outside, or in the slot. Just throw the ball to him or Baldwin (who was great, as usual) until the defense proves they can stop it.
I think that experiment–using Graham to block in-line–is over. They wont totally abandon it, but with Williams and Vannett, they can have them be in-line TE while Graham is onfield in the slot or out wide. Plus, Graham mentioned his jumping and landing on that knee at the weight he was at last year (270) probably wasnt a good idea, and that he’s a good bit lighter this year (260?), so it seems clear he bulked up a bit for Bevell, but after they injury they agreed he should drop some weight and play lighter. To me, that also implies they will use him less as a blocker and more as God intended, as a receiving TE.
Time will tell though.
Now I really want to see Ifedi at RG. If he was playing, I’m more than convinced this game would have been very different along the OL. Hopefully, he will be able to go week #2…. the Seahawks can show the RAMS up close and personal what the retooled / upgraded OL looks like in the flesh.
I have 2 questions about Wilson’s ankle injury:
1) How bad is it?
2) If Wilson plays with it, can it more or less heal w/o taking games off.
David Chao MD on Twitter said he thinks it looks like a mild ankle sprain. Should be able to go next week with maybe limitations.
I was actually surprised Miami didn’t blitz up the middle on RW but I think Fisher will give him a heavy dose of it on sunday.
A win is a win. I’ll take that no matter how ugly it was.
The good:
Angry Doug, caught everything thrown his way, minus a 4th down play that was defended great.
Cassius Marsh, didn’t hold the edge on 1 play, but was stellar on special teams, and had a nice strip sack.
O-line, I feel like Russell could have gotten rid of balls sooner to avoid sacks, and the run game was pretty damn good!!! Not sure why they didn’t pound the rock more.
Russ, showed toughness and executed another 4th quarter comeback.
The pass rush, 4-5 sacks…nice
KJ Wright, was all over the place
The bad:
Tyler Lockett, 2 drops? Although he looked great in the return game, but use your hands kid!!!
Bradley Sowell, 2? holding penalties, he played ok, but the penalties are killer
The ugly:
Earl Thomas, WTF, he looked like he was trying to miss tackles, “Tell the truth Monday” is gonna be rough on him
Looked like he held out and didn’t bother to tell anybody, worse game of his career, hopefully just a 1 game thing.
Yes, the final heroics were, well heroic. Kudos to the late stuff from one legged Russ, Angry Doug, Jimmy G, Rawls, CMike etc.
Overall, however, it was ugly. It was ugly even before Russ got hurt. How much does a healthy Ifedi improve this bunch? Sowell, Webb, ugh. Doing their best, but they were not blowing up the very good Dolphins D-line for the running game. Lockett’s drops, ugly.
The D bend and in too many cases, broke. Earl was bad. And the pass rush did not get to Tannehill anywhere near enough.
This is the kind of too typical “lousy” Seahawks: weak first half, sputtering offense, and (fortunately) enough at the end. It is a pattern, and it needs not to be.
It felt like the game got bogged down with CJ Procise went out with an injury. I didn’t even know he was injured util late in the game. I kept thinking, where is he.. he is EXACTLY what they need in these situations.
Defense: They had 8 QB hits and 3 sacks and unknown number of hurries. That is plenty of pressure. The interior got some push with the DL and when they knew it was a passing down late in the game, absolutely destroyed the #Finsup OL. The play vs the TE and slot WR was overall quite good. I thought Lane stood out in his CB play. Landry got a few wiggle catches and the most glaring and only real bust in my book was the swing route to Foster out of the back field that got totally misplayed by multiple defenders. (Since the Fish didn’t complete or overthrew a couple of WRs, I’m not counting them as busts per sai) After the game, they talked about Foster being one of the elusive backs to tackle in the NFL, so the player might have made a very good defense look bad. When you give up 10 points, I’m thinking that is fine day in the modern NFL… even when the fish got a turnover in Seahawks territory, they had to work to get points.
The ST were also quite good. A couple of missed tackles, but nothing crazy. Marsh made some nice ST plays… the only real concern is the LS Frese…. he had a poor game. Almost got the punter killed and almost short hoped the ball on one of the FG kicks. I would be shocked if they do not make a change.
I agree, I’m not sure what kind of pressure some folks are expecting from this defense, but 5 sacks and 9 QB hits is as good as it’s going to get in this league. We aren’t going to get pressure on every single passing play, Denver is probably the best pass rushing team in football and they don’t get anywhere close to that either. People forget that in 2013 the pass rush stalled at times as well.
Agreed. Mistakes happen man. It’s football.
Sometimes I don’t think fans realize how hard it is to play and succeed in the game of football.
Seahawks and ‘pretty’ or the imaginative word ‘flawless’ don’t co-exist.
Tannehill was pressured on 48% of his dropbacks. Highest percentage in the league for week 1.
thats interesting because Andy Dalton was sacked 7 times
I agree. Prosise was in early, looked really good to me, then disappeared. Looks like he hurt his shoulder AND broke a bone in his wrist. He will try to play through it, but how much can we count on him a) catching well with a broken wrist and b) to stay healthy?
“This is the kind of too typical “lousy” Seahawks: weak first half, sputtering offense, and (fortunately) enough at the end. It is a pattern, and it needs not to be.”
This is a core complaint from fans. I think after a few seasons of seeing this, we should be resigned to the fact that this is going to frequently happen. It’s frustrating but in the long run it yields much success.
Lets face it the Hawks were really lucky. If Sills catches that pass { as he should have} the final score would have been 17 – 13
Why do i keep seeing people say russles ankle is the reason he looked bad when he looked bad the first fully healthy? I’m pretty sure his stats were better with a hurt ankle.
I wanted to think it over before posting my initial reactions to the game (which were not good). I think overall it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Seattle out gained Miami significantly in yards. I’ll get to this point in a second. The defense looked nasty minus a few horrible blown coverages. The #2 and #3 CB’s were real assets and the pass rush was a force, things that were huge problems last year. Miami’s offensive line is good, really underrated in fact. Seattle manhandled them pretty much all game.
The disappointing thing to me was our offensive coaching as a whole. The usual execution mistakes and penalties stalled otherwise promising drives where we were moving the ball at will. Why are these still issues going into year 5 of our offense with Wilson? I don’t think there is a unit that shoots itself in the foot more than the Seahawk offense.
The gameplan on offense was a disaster. I’m not a Bevell hater but this was one of his worst called games, right up there with the Cowboys game in 2014. I didn’t agree with the horizontal passing attack against a team with a young, poor secondary and a run defense that couldn’t stop a fly last year. Is our offensive line that bad where we have to setup our rushing attack with bubble screens? I’m hoping Ifedi is back next week.
One last thing, Wilson is still struggling with presnap reads. Miami did what most teams have done against us since the beginning of the Wilson era – stack the box and overload the line. On a few occasions, Reshad Jones overloaded the line and destroyed the inside zone run, one was a 4 yard loss in fact. Those plays cannot happen when the defense shows that formation.
I will say that Wilson has almost mastered the short passing game. He looked fantastic most of the game, minus the turnovers. That will help going immensely with the next few weeks.
Disagree about his pre-snap reads.
That TD to Baldwin? Pre-snap read into a play he never audibled into before.
His issue is forcing things.
Great point, however I’m still slightly annoyed by running the ball into defensive formations that seem to doom the play from the start. Could it simply be “we are going to run it and we think you can’t stop us no matter what you do”?
Does anybody but me think that this business of ” what to do about the National Anthem” took it’s toll on their preparation and concentration?
Not me.
We worried about it a lot more than They did I’m sure
I think if it effected anyone I would point to Earl Thomas. He seems like the kind of person to waver if his beliefs or rituals are interrupted
Hate to dwell on the past
But that play call for the game winning TD is exactly the play that should ave been called vs NE instead of the slant on the Super Bowl final play. It was low risk and Baldwin is clutch.
Russ has shown growth because he audibles to that play yesterday.
This is exactly what was going through my head as the seahawks lined up on the 2 yard line with under a minute left in the game.
Seattle called a good play, just with the wrong personnel in key spots. Lockette should never have been on the damned field. And they shouldnt have expected Kearse to jam BB.
The real problem was that play had been run out of a similar formation in a similar situation by Seattle before, and the Pats practiced against it and recognized it a mile away. This is a Darrell Bevell thing, to use a play until it fails repeatedly.
Remember vs Atlanta in the playoffs? Fourth down and short, needing a TD desperately before the half…in similar situations that season, Seattle had used Mike Rob the FB in a FB Dive up the gut 8 times and got the first down every time…so Bevell dialed it up, the Falcons saw it coming a mile away, and smashed the play.
In big games, in must-succeed situations, you cant use a play you’ve used before. Certainly not one youve used enough for the opposing team to be practicing for. Yet Bevell was unapologetic both times, and says he would call those plays in that situation again.
The introduction of TEF & wTEF has made me think about the Seahawks, and every other NFL teams O-line, in a different light. It seems like the majority of athleticism, within the trenches, is found on the defensive side of the ball, so I’m not as surprised to see the OL pushed around, to the horror of Seahawks fans, when the OL is going up against an athletically superior DL. I’m not stating this as a fact, because I don’t have that evidence. I’m basing my claim of Rob’s article from April, where he wrote, “Six offensive linemen reached Seattle’s ideal explosive score of 3.00 using TEF. Twenty-six defensive linemen scored 3.00 or higher. Twenty-six.” If this is a historical trend then that would help to explain why most OL’s in the league struggle against dominant DL’s. This doesn’t mean that I’m okay with this happening to our offense, but it does lessen the sting.
Rob’s article: https://seahawksdraftblog.com/introducing-the-trench-explosion-formula-tef
This might be the most aggressive I’ve seen our Defense since maybe 2013.
Was it a poor offensive opponent? Maybe. Were there a few breakdowns? Yes, and likely always be. But seemed like we were finally playing downhill again and attacking the play. Even threw in a few more (and effective) blitzes than usual. CBs/LBs eating up the soft underneath cushion and playing the ball instead of conceding a completion in front and reacting. Players swarming for group tackles. Attacking forward instead of prevent.
Could be a one-game anomaly or maybe just in my head, but did the aggressiveness feel difference to anyone else?
I thought Richard called a fantastic game. The two big blown coverages were individual player mistakes, and going prevent on the Dolphins TD drive was strange, but overall it was just really awesome to watch live. The big keys were Lane and Shead. It was a dominating performance between the two.
I was never a huge Shead fan, but he seems like a completely different player this year. Gone are the soft zones and stiff hips, and taking their place are aggressive bursts to the pass catchers and the size to break up passes easily. I said that Lane was the off season key resigning and I stand by that. He is one of the best hybrid outside/nickel corners in football and could be the best by the end of the season.
Richard has always dialed up pretty unique blitz packages, and now we finally get to see them come to fruition as Tannehill had to hold the ball a few extra seconds due to stellar coverage.
And FYI, Miami isn’t a scrub offense. They have a good O line, receiving threats, and an elusive running back. Gase has a clever offensive mind and he was definitely trying his hardest to beat Seattle.
I misstated…I probably should have termed Miami an average O, but you get my drift I think . Just seemed like we were attacking more (on D) than I remember in awhile.
Yeah for sure. Loved watching them not give up the easy dink and dunks.
I’ll add my 5 cents here:
Game 1 of a new season is pretty close to pre season games for me. The only thing that matters is the W at the end. Last year, the best scoring defense in the NFL allowed one of the worst offenses in the NFL to score over 30 points. The Seahawks rely heavily on smart students of the game benefiting from countless hours in the film room. It is part of the reason they get better as the season progresses and more tape is available to study how teams play this year. Playing a team under a new coach, running a new playbook with a new roster on week one negates most of that advantage.
The defense did look ready to roll as defenses traditionally start seasons ahead of the offense. Earl had a terrible day, he won’t have another. The only aspect of the defense that leaves me with some concern is the sudden single drive meltdown in the 4th quarter while protecting a fragile lead. It was too much like the start of the 2015 season. Most members of the defense are a known and reliable elements. The 3 players that are not showed up big today – Reed showed he belongs, Clark started fulfilling the promise and Marsh was incredible. They held Miami to 10 points and enabled the Seahawks to win after scoring just 12 points. We started 2013 with a win after scoring just 12 points….
The Seahawks decided to go with Boykin because they wanted the skill set that can play a RW playbook. There were many discussions here about the need for an experienced QB that can hand of the ball and manage the game even if he doesn’t have RW’s mobility. I think we have just found one – The injured RW does just that and wins.
The biggest news from this first week has gone almost unnoticed. CAR failed to win against DEN with a QB playing his first NFL game ever. ARI managed to lose to NE without Brady, Gronk, Nokovich and Jones. This week may prove crucial to the final NFC seeding.
Man, Rams look like shit in Santa Clara tonight!
Aaron Donald ejected after several personal fouls culminated in a grabbing the ref call.
He looks much much thicker than he has to my eye before.
Gurley’s being outplayed by Hyde
Gabbert has been clean in the pocket for most plays as well.
This 49ers OL may not be what it once was, but they can still get the job done. Garnett has looked solid despite my concerns in his tape coming out.
Quinton Patton looks like a Doug Baldwin lite
After that embarrassing performance b y the rams, you can expect an extremely tough game this week in LA. It also looks like the 49ers will not be the push overs they have been the past two years.
Tharold Simon waved, picked up by—-Cards. Dammit, those sneaky %*@#. But besides giving the playbook to the Cards coaching staff, let’s hope Simon doesn’t suddenly remain healthy and become a difference maker for them.
Meanwhile, is Neiko Thorpe an upgrade or a downgrade. He didn’t make it with the Raiders or Colts (with their not great secondary).