For the second time this season, the Seahawks and Rams served up a heck of a game. Back and forth, highly competitive.
The Seahawks lost both but at least the memory of 2017’s 42-7 embarrassment is in the rear view mirror.
This was a free hit. Very little was expected of the Seahawks, especially missing several key players. It was a pleasant surprise that it proved to be as competitive as it was.
The Rams are better than Seattle. They’re better than most teams in the league. There’s no easy way to remedy this. Los Angeles are going to have a spell where they’ll be the team to beat in the NFC West.
The Seahawks have got to keep closing the gap, inch by inch.
So what worked today and what didn’t?
Defensively they were valiant. There were times where it was too easy for LA but that was mixed in with some sacks and some solid third down stops. The stop at the end of the game to give the offense one more chance was a big plus.
Dion Jordan and Frank Clark shared a sack. Quinton Jefferson also got a sack on a twist.
It feels like they need to keep adding speed to this group. The Rams are so creative and vary their play calling. You need to cover every blade of grass, be able to shed blocks and react. You also need to take advantage when they have Jared Goff drop back and try to create pressure.
Pass rush and speed still feels like a probable priority in the off-season. Especially if you want to compete with the dynamic offense in LA.
Offensively, there were some positives. They’ve clearly regained their running game and if nothing else that’s going to be a positive going forward. Not just for 2018. It was the off-season priority and they’ve finally achieved it. Even without Chris Carson they were a force today.
For weeks people have been criticising Rashaad Penny — unfairly. Carson and Mike Davis have been superb for this team. Penny was injured in camp. Pair the two things together and it’s no surprise he ended up #3 on the depth chart.
Then take into account Carson’s injury history (college & NFL), the way Seattle has struggled to run the ball and the clear strength of the draft in the #25-45 range being the running back position — the pick did make sense. You might not like it but it was at the very least logical.
Penny’s had to be patient. When he’s had playing time he’s shown flashes of quality. Here he showed why they took him in round one. It’s great for Penny and hopefully the increasingly critical fan base will give him and the Seahawks a break.
The offense started with vigour and scored yet again on their first possession. That had been an issue for far too long. Not any more.
Tyler Lockett looks like a star. He’s become a touchdown machine. The Seahawks get a lot of criticism for their whiffs in free agency and the draft. They don’t get enough praise when they succeed. Signing Lockett to an extension in pre-season was a masterstroke.
There were also some big negatives.
Despite all the success running the ball, the passing game didn’t function for long stretches. Russell Wilson again looked uncomfortable at times and relied on a late charge to get above 100 passing yards.
The biggest issue by far, however, was third down.
There were four poor third down attempts where a combination of bad pass-pro and Wilson holding onto the ball too long led to sacks. In a game where every drive and every point mattered — these were all crucial. Two led to three-and-outs, one prevented the Seahawks from re-taking the lead with 9:52 remaining (settling for a field goal) and the final one was a sack/fumble leading to the only turnover.
The Rams quickly turned it into a touchdown — the winning points.
The Seahawks were 2-9 officially on third down. Even a couple of extra conversions could’ve been the difference. Seattle has veered between exceptional and hopeless on third down this season. Today, they were terrible.
I’m not sure what the solution is. We’ve seen Wilson be efficient and dynamic in this offense. He was practically perfect against the Lions and his touchdown and passer rating numbers are very high this year.
But there are games like this too where he shoulders a fair portion of the blame. The Seahawks had the ball and an opportunity to win against Denver, Chicago, the Rams (twice) and the Chargers. The only win they’ve closed? Arizona.
It’s possible to critique Wilson without a.) discussing whether he should be traded or b.) not signed to a big extension. Simply put, he needs to do better in close games between now and the end of the season.
One turnover to the Rams (the sack/fumble), zero for the Seahawks. LA were 5-10 on third down. The Seahawks were 2-9.
There’s your ball game.
Pete Carroll talks about finishing. The Seahawks are now 1-5 this season in one-score games. The days when they’re off on third downs and lose the turnover battle? That’s your difference.
The margin between a winning record and 4-5 is paper thin. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign for the future or a frustrating thing for the present.
Either way, they need a win on Thursday against the Packers if they’re going to make a late playoff push.
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Yup we need pass rushing support, should we hope to tank to get a chance at drafting Polite?
No. It’s not worth tanking for anyone. I like Polite — but I’m not enduring a crap end of the season for him.
I’ve felt all along they’ll be a 7, 8 or 9 win team. Still feel that way. That likely puts them in the teens. They will be able to get a pass rusher they like in that range.
Just think early on many in the national media had the hawks as the worst team in football. Now we have some really good building blocks. The Earl Thomas injury really hurt the defense. We may be looking at a different defense if he was available.
I don’t think Earl would make too much difference. He’d make some difference, of course. But the pass rush is what it is.
And the run defense as well.
Picking at #15-#17 is what it’s looking like.
Who’s ready for the annual trade down?
With four total picks in the draft? Expect them trading down twice.
Might be some decent DL fallers again.
I suspect we stay in the first round to get our pick of the DL talent, much like last year when we had the opportunity to trade down again, but went with our favorite RB of the group instead
Yes, they love to trade down, but I am assuming they evaluate the entire draft and their board before doing so. If their guy is sitting there and they dont believe he will last, I think they will take him.
It will be very interesting to see what they do. I think most of us here agree we would rather get an instant contributor to the pass rush than a couple of guys that contribute in year 2 or 3 (ala R Green this season)
Penny looked much, much better. Wilson seems to have his legs back and the offense overall is much better than last year. You mentioned Russ holding the ball too long but on a couple of those the receivers looked covered with no where to go although we will have to wait for the all-22. It still feels like Pete handcuffs the offense at times. Overall though the running game is fixed and Wilson is ultra efficient and I expect him to get even more comfortable as the season goes on.
I said it was a combination of bad pass-pro and Wilson holding the ball too long. EG — the sack/fumble, Duane Brown was beat. On the first sack on third down, Wilson had a fairly straight forward (and open) check down to Mike Davis and took a sack.
It still feels like Pete handcuffs the offense at times.
This. More specifically, Russell Wilson. For whatever reason he uses him as a role player until it’s desperation time. That won’t work and obviously isn’t. He doesn’t appear to trust him. When he passes as little as he does every play becomes magnified and it’s more pressure on Russ. He’s now at the point where he’s gotta take chances.
I tend to agree with this. I think this feeds that Twitter narrative that the franchise is perhaps headed towards having to choose between the HC and QB (I still don’t totally buy that notion). Didn’t Hasselbeck once say how hard it is to QB for Pete, that he puts too much pressure on his QB to not throw INTs?
I’ve always wondered if part of Wilson’s hesitance is simply trying to take care of the ball, appeasing his HC.
PC’s contract only runs through next year. And with a new owner, if/when that happens, who knows… PC could be a lame duck coach next year if he stays. And with a decision looming about Wilson, I doubt any new owner wants to be labeled as the guy who let #3 go.
I think the close defeats are certainly frustrating in the present. However, it is slightly promising for the future in that we are competitive despite the obvious holes on the team. 1 score games can be defined by individuals, a wee bit more quality in all phases and that can be the difference. I think overall I am just tired of the serial negativity surrounding everything. We aren’t that good, so be it, that’s life in the nfl for everyone (except New England). It’s not doomsday though, look at the Giants, 49ers and Raiders. There is just so much analysis of every fine detail in the nfl today and it gets extremely tiresome (for me at least), let’s just take it game by game and enjoy the highs and lament the lows. We should be more appreciative of what we’ve got. Oversaturation in all forms of media is just killing the enjoyment of the actual 60 minutes of football. Thats why got to say thanks to Rob for not posting articles all the time because in reality there is no need to. Keep it high quality and relevant.
I want this place to be a compliment to the season, the college season and the build up to the draft. I hope people get something from that. I’m never going to break down a play or plays and act like I’m a 10-year coaching veteran. I’m not going to hang onto narratives in an attempt to be proven right. But I’ll say what I think I see and try to be fair.
Right now I think the Seahawks need a similar injection of talent to the one experienced in the 2011 off-season where they made a splash in free agency (Rice, Miller) and hit on some draft picks (spectacularly, as it turned out). I’m not saying they need another Sherman, K.J. Wright draft. But if they can get 4-5 contributors. That’s what is needed. So hit on a couple of the draft picks and bring in 2-3 key free agents. That seems to be necessary to take the next step.
Speaking of those key years. People have the opinion that Scot McCloughan was the key to those first few drafts, but a part of me wonders how much was JS, the former scout, having his input compared to now where it seems like Pete is controlling well… everything.
That’s not to say JS has no say and Pete was familiar with a lot of those guys due to his national brand at USC with his mini pipelines in Louisinia, Florida, Virginia, etc.
I think we analyse those years too much. I think it’s always been a collaboration. I’m not concerned about their ability to identify and coach up talent. I just wish they were a year on already, with a few more studs.
If anything I’d argue that Pete hasn’t gotten enough credit for his pet projects — Marshawn was a guy he wanted badly; Sherman was a guy that only Pete seemed to believe in; I doubt the Chris Clemons trade happens without his go-ahead; Chris Carson was a guy that Pete wouldn’t leave the draft without; David Moore is a guy that Pete seemed to take a special interest in. It’s not certain that he guided those moves as president, but reading between the lines in his commentary I think it’s reasonable to deduct.
Pete doesn’t get enough credit period.
We should be thinking about a fricking statue for him. Next to the Paul Allen one.
I agree 100% Rob – what Pete has done for the Seahawks is truly amazing! Being a fan since the beginning, I’ve lived through the dark years…now it’s so awesome to be a contending team every season!
Could you see us taking a shot on Tyler Eifert? Seems like he’ll be somewhat cheap given the injury history
I can’t see them going anywhere near Eifert. I think they’re set at TE. Vannett is playing well, Dissly will come back and Dickson is under contract. Besides, Eifert makes C.J. Prosise look like a pillar of health.
With respect to Tyler the best move for him is to take his millions and retire. His body is ravaged, there’s more to life than football.
Then maybe, just maybe, if the 2019 draft is going to be weak and thin, the Seahawks reverse their normal course and trade UP, giving them 2 or 3 draft choices they can spend on players they believe to be truly outstanding prospects.
The rest of the strategy would be to (a) retain all of their own free agents (if they want them) (b) bring in 2 or 3 targeted FA’s from other teams to fill specific needs, and (c) bring in as many rookie UDFA’s as possible in hopes of finding 1 or 2 that can help.
It’s hard to trade up with only four picks though.
I didn’t think Seattle was gonna be that good this year, but they’ve far exceeded my expectations.
To say they aren’t that good when 1 TO was the big difference against a team like the Rams is a little head scratching TBH.
This game was much more indicative of how I thought the season would be. Just not enough pieces on defense. I’m shocked some fans are bemoaning the offense.
It seems to me that the pass game issues are due to Scotty’s scheme. Time and again, they have played conservative run-run-run offense when trailing by 2 scores. I don’t think they willingly want to do this. Its likely the receivers aren’t getting open in the scheme. But then, whose job is it to get them open? Scotty needs a more creative passing game plan.
Here are a couple of articles I really like talking about the limitations of the current scheme –
Part 1 – https://www.fieldgulls.com/2018/11/2/18055222/seattle-seahawks-2018-offense-nutshell-russell-wilson-moore-davis-baldwin-carson
Part 2 – https://www.fieldgulls.com/2018/11/5/18063896/seattle-seahawks-schematic-mathchup-offense-cardinals-49ers-vikings-panthers-schottenheimer-wilson
It’s still Pete’s offense.
No single argument can point the finger solely at the OC. This is what Pete wants.
And I have to say, I don’t have a huge issue with it. Because they put 31 points on the Rams today with zero turnovers or quick changes. They simply did not execute on third down. If they go 5-10 like the Rams instead of 2-9, they probably win. It’s that simple, that fine in terms of a margin.
So it’s up to the offense — QB, WR, RB, OL, the lot — to execute better in those big moments.
The offense looks out of sorts when they are playing from behind. When our defense doesn’t allow many points, our offense wears out the opposing defense. When our defense cannot dominate, our offense seems incapable of scoring quickly.
I believe Pete wants to run the ball and play tough as a philosophy. But when playing from behind in the 4th qtr, I don’t think he is stupid enough to keep calling conservative playcalls that we have been running. In fact, after the Chicago game, he admitted that he pushed Scotty to throw the ball downfield. The scheme is Scotty’s even though the philosophy is Pete’s. I am fine with the philosophy since it worked before. The scheme, I am not convinced.
They really need to adjust. There is time since this is really only the first year. However, if the passing offense still stinks by the end of November, Pete needs to reevaluate.
To be honest they looked more out of sorts with a 14-10 lead than they did chasing the game at the end. Ditto the Chargers last week.
I think the offense is fine. They just need to execute and be more consistent on third down.
I was saying earlier this season that the offense looks almost the same as Bevell’s. the scheme is different, but its more the same play calling. the play selection seems terrible at times. I think its easy to notice because when the play calling is good and they execute, you see the Hawks get at least FG range. When its head scratching.. 3 and out or 1/2 first downs, then punt. I’m not an expert by any means, however when I watch the offense its feels backwards at times when they take a shot down the field as opposed to keep pounding the ball or creative short yardage plays. Which is some of the other losses this year has shown them in 3rd n short and they take a shot for 15+ yards down field and don’t convert.. Then have to punt.
I think they just need to be more consistent on third down. The offense put up 31 points against the Rams and has been scoring. The run game is flying. It’s all about third downs. They are great on third down and win, when they struggle on third down they lose. Execution.
Their total points is slightly padded with the late touchdowns, that are more desperation than executing on a consistent basis. They have to score those points and get the ball back with less than 2 minutes to even have a chance in some of the losses this season. Which i think is a good thing. when they need to get points on the board, they can do it. I agree with you 100%. 3rd down conversions need to be better. and it only helps with what pete wants. to control the clock and run physically to beat the other team, by being more physical.
Some good things and some bad, it’s just that the bad comes at critical times and proves more costly for the Seahawks than it does for most other teams. Regarding your “paper thin” comment; it’s both, if they can build on the good it promises well for the future, but it is also very frustrating for the now. It is tough to pin down, but they seem to play tentative more than balling out. A crude characterization is they play just well enough to lose. The end of the game is exemplary. They made it interesting, but when it mattered most they just fizzled. Might be thin talent, might be poor play calling and coaching, probably a deadly combo of both. It’s like they almost play to the level of the opponent, good or bad, but just to it, not ahead of it.
My feeling at the beginning of the year, without much visibility on both the Hawks and the competitors, was that they would finish 8-8. Up till last week I began to think (hope?) they could go at least 9-7. Now, looks to me like they might get three more wins this season to finish upside down on the split. With a lean number of picks and a not particularly overly promising looking draft the chances for an improvement leap don’t look too good.
Still, they should Ball for Paul.
There are some options in FA though. Some intriguing ones potentially too.
My opinion on that game was when hawks were leading 14-7 in 2nd qtr and defense had rams punt 2 or 3 possessions in a row and PETE sends Prosise into game. He is not even up to game speed. Play calls are predictable on 1st and 2nd down. Obvious passing downs on 3rd which led to sacks. He said “Penny needs to get more involved “!!!!! Don’t put Prosise in game when Penny has hot hand. Play calling got predictable when opportunity to catch Rams defense selling out to stop run on 1st and 2nd down. Big time play action passes were the play call to make. Coaching staff didn’t learn anything from Chargers game about being predictable on 1 and 2nd down. That 8 to 10 minutes of the game could have stretched the lead to 10 or 14 pts going into half. It also would have made Rams offense more predictable and made them throw the ball more.
I did think it was weird to try and get Prosise involved. Maybe they had some kind of plan or play in mind for him and didn’t want to go to it with CJ cold. And then after his bad drive they canned the idea. Who knows?
I don’t think we should exert energy complaining about 1st and 2nd down. Seattle ran all over the Rams. They created manageable third downs and made big gains on the ground. The problem was clear and simple. Third downs.
I was very miffed at inserting Prosise. Both Davis and Penny had played well, especially Penny, I thought his success on the second TD drive warranted more attempts. They went away from him, and the offense stagnated. When they went back to Penny, they moved the ball again.
I get the game plan, which was to run, and keep the ball away from Goff and Co. But I could have used a little more play to win, and not to lose in the first half, especially the 2 minute drill. 15:8 run pass mix isn’t balanced, and I wonder if there were some aggressive play action passes to be had as the Rams crowded the line.
Enjoyed hearing Tony Romo’s Perspective in the booth. Two things were most memorable: (1) He spoke highly of the Hawks, and (2) on the final drive, he wouldn’t have spiked it on 1st down but taken a shot deep, feeling the defense was on their heels.
Despite the loss, this is a fun, gritty team to watch.
At the time I thought Tony was spot on about not spiking it. Looking back now, I kind of don’t mind either way. They were well placed to take three shots. Just wish they had that one moment to win the thing.
We have also seen Russ and Co botch the go fast approach a few times in the past year, so I didn’t have a problem with the spike and huddle.
Thank you for a breathe of rationality (as usual), especially as regards Russell. It seems like there’s only allowed to be two camps in regards to our QB (which seems to reflect the divisive/extreme nature of modern society in general): either he’s the second coming or he’s a bum who should be traded yesterday. My take (and I get the impression that you’re seeing some of the same things) is that Wilson is the best QB this team has ever had. BUT. He seems to have regressed somewhat the last year or two (likely due to the lost OL years, though that doesn’t fully explain some of the reads/decision making). He is still a top flight QB, but for this team the margin for error is thinner than it has been in the past (despite a bright looking future), and he simply needs to play better/smarter for us to have success in the immediate time frame (not that he’s the only one, but football is not a positionally balanced sport… the QB carries significantly more weight than any other given position).
We’ve had opportunities this year. The Chargers game is the only one that I look at and say we definitely should have lost (even though we had a chance to come back and tie it at the end), but the other 4 losses (LARams x2, CHI, DEN) felt like they easily could have gone the other way if we had just executed a little bit better/things had fallen just a little bit differently.
It’s also good to see Penny get his first TD and first 100 yard game. Our top three RB have each had 100 yard games now this season, and that is incredibly encouraging. I was a big fan of Penny coming into the draft, and while I agree that he hasn’t looked quite as fast/explosive as he did at SDSt, I’m excited about the future with him and Carson (and Fluker in particular making holes… that’s another point: I was admittedly pessimistic going into this game when I heard that he was going to be out [moreso even than Carson], and while his absence was definitely felt, I was impressed with how well we were able to run it even without him in there flippin’ flapjacks. If anything, I felt it was the pass blocking which suffered more, which is not known to be his forte. Again… the future looks encouraging!).
On offense I feel like Moore has come back to earth pretty significantly. I still like him and am excited about his future, but the bauble balls he was catching in the early weeks are turning into drops and missed opportunities the last couple of weeks (though that nice catch down the sideline in the 4Q was just that… and even seemed to take him by surprise!), but Baldwin is looking like he’s getting more comfortable in more simpatico with Russell. Lockett continues to prove the front office prescient for the extension this off season. I was skeptical when it was announced, but man am I happy to be proven wrong. Duane Brown reminds me of Robbie Cano (to cross contaminate sports within the city) in that he is a master at his position if he has a chance to make a play, but if it’s unlikely that he’s going to be able to make a play he just kind of watches.
Defensively our biggest priority, as has been reiterated endlessly, needs to be in the pass rush. There’s talent there, but there needs to be more,and more depth. And speed. And what happened to the run defense? It looked so good early in the season, but the last two weeks we’ve seen (admittedly very talented) RB gash them seemingly at will. Wright in particular looks… let’s be generous and say rusty.
It really feels like the key to beating this Rams team is getting pressure on Goff. He’s looked really good this year, but he’s also had time to sit back and leisurely pick his options. When he’s been forced off his spot and had some pressure in his face is when things haven’t looked so smoothe (as with every QB). I just keep telling myself that Andrew Whitworth can only have so much more left in the tank… right? And sooner rather than later he’s going to hang them up and then hopefully we’ll see some vulnerability start to creep into the juggernaut.
I don’t know where I was going with all this other than
A: thank you Rob as always for all that you do for us fans
B: this season is as advertised: a retool with hope for the future without submitting to a full rebuild. It’s been frustrating at times to be sure, but ultimately there is excitement going forward.
and C: Sorry for the rambling, and Go Hawks!
I agree with a lot of this — and don’t worry about rambling! It was a good read.
My opinion this game was lost in 2nd qtr. hawks defense forced rams to punt 2 or 3 time and got personal foul on punt. Then send Prosise into game and get predictable on play calls. Run on 1st and 2nd down now it’s 3rd and long. Result = 2 sacks on 2 possessions. That was an opportunity to play action pass on 1st and 2nd down. Romo was asking Seattle to get away from predictability and take a shot. Hawks staff didn’t learn anything from last weeks game against Chargers when their defense was selling out on 1st and 2nd down to get hawks offense in predictable 3rd and long passing downs. On a positive note how bout Dickson’s 68 yes punt to flip field position.
They didn’t have many third and longs in this game. They had plenty of third and manageables. You’ve got to execute.
In three of those close games Russ has a forth quarter turnover. It’s hard to win tough games when you do that.
Just for fun, if I had a free agency wishlist for outside FAs only, it would be Kwon Alexander, Grady Jarrett, and Tyler Kroft. Ideally resign Clark, Coleman, Fant, Fluker, Sweezy and SeaBass. Then draft Brian Burns round 1. Another guy needed to bulk up coming out of college but had great speed, Cliff Avril.
Nice game review site:
https://www.nflfullhd.com/category/seattle-seahawks/
!!
Now wheres the cfb version 😂😂😂
Watching Penny run the ball today reminded me of watching Shaun Alexander’s first game in 2000 vs. the Vikings when he made one big run after another: I wonder what Penny could have done today with 20+ carries. Today was a very small sample size, but I think he showed us why Seattle liked him coming out of college. It sure is nice to have depth at RB.
Did anyone notice that the same running back was played for an entire series? They were in there a long time on some drives. It just seemed a bit odd to me – though nothing really wrong with that – except most coaches like to have fresh legs in there.
Fantastic job of rushing this game!
AlaskaHawk: They probably did that to prevent LA to rotate defensive players. But that’s just a guess
That cutback on the TD run was a thing of beauty. He caught anyone who might have had a chance of tackling him flat-footed. He could have walked into the end zone.
Some people might not like splitting off Penny’s carries like we did today, but I’m honestly okay with a 2-3 headed monster approach to the run. Jab and work the Defense’s body by smashing them with Carson/Davis, then go for the haymaker once they’re tired with Penny. It’ll be easier for Rashaad to break off his big runs if his legs are fresh and he’s not getting piled on every down.
I’m going to disagree this is LARs division for years. Something is ‘off’ there, particularly on D. The NFL adjusts, and ‘depending’ on winning 35-31 week-in, week-out is not a long term formula for success.
It definitely can go sideways on them defensively with all the high value guys they traded for or signed short contracts to. Like Rob has been saying, if the Hawks get a few FAs and draft some depth at Dline/Linebacker. Seahawks will be in a better situation next season to start out ahead, instead of fighting back at .500
The Rams are sort of an interesting ‘Reverse-Seahawks’ right now in that they have a very offensive-minded HC who is arguably the best offensive mind in the league, but seems to offload the defensive duties to his Co-ordinator whom he seems to trust a lot but is pretty underwhelming all things considered. So I think they’ll kind of follow a similar trajectory to us where they’ll have great seasons when their HC’s preferred side of the ball is clicking on all cylinders. But once the injuries and pay stacks up on that side, they’ll fall back somewhere in the middle.
Well I didn’t say ‘for years’. I said they’re going to have a spell where they are the team to beat. That could be no more than a year or two. It could be longer. But it’s the reality.
Or maybe their “spell” will only last until the playoffs. Our team is improving week by week. By the playoffs, we could be the better team …. much will depend on the injury situation for both teams.
I think the Rams will be the cream in this division until at least the end of next season. But that’s fine. San Francisco were the cream in 2011 and 2012. Seattle jumped them after that. They can jump the Rams too. But it takes time.
We’re getting there we need more time. It’s all good Go Hawks!
With almost 10 minutes to go in the game, and a deficit of only 2 points, what was with the on side kick? I will have to eat crow about Carroll and his first round pick if Penny keeps playing the way he did today.
I didn’t like the decision to kick the onside. Carroll said they’d mastered it in practise. So I don’t blame them for trying it even though I personally cringed when it happened. But they held LA to a field goal and considering it took them less time to kick it — it might’ve benefited Seattle actually. It gave them more time to try and score a TD.
The way I coped with it was that the Rams would likely go 35 yards in about 15 seconds anyway. We simply couldn’t cover the deep middle. Our best defense was played on a condensed field today.
Historically, I would be upset about it and say PC had another ST brain fart vs the Rams. But I think there was less downside to this move than appears.
The way the Rams offense was moving on the D, and not likely to turn over the ball, this game was going to come down to who scored last, and if the Hawks could ‘steal’ a possession, I was all for it. It seemed interesting, an admission that the defense wasn’t stopping them AND a shot of confidence in the defense, that in a tight game, if the attempt didn’t work, the defense would hold, and for the most part they did.
I feel like the third down conversions was way more of a factor when a few scoring drives were extended by Ram penalties. One good thing I like seeing from Russell was he stepped up and took off running most I think he has all season. I think one of the biggest problems hes had in this new offense is holding onto the ball too long and getting caught from behind, which also happened on the last play for the Hawks. The strength of this offense is getting into shorter 3rd down situations. I think Russell needs to make sure he is getting more positive yard plays instead of locking in down field. Something he should have down better at this point of his career.
I’m still mad at the empty set on 3rd down before the snap. It is horrid and is a detriment to our success at this point. Beyond that we are going to beat a a lot of teams running the ball like that. The progression of the you g and new guys continues to be a bright spot. I think it needs to be said that bringing in a new OC comes with some growing pains and on the whole we are probably par for the course execution wise up to this point. That being said, the pass game is really not built to win these late rally games in it’s current form. When defenses know we are going to pass our limitations really stick out. Long routes developing routes hurt when no one is buying the play action. Empty set gives away the fact that the ball is coming out quick and short. We don’t move the pocket consistently enough. We make no effort to exploit personnel matchups. Baldwin one on one with Peters on 2nd down on the last drive with 12 yards of cushion? Why not a slant or whip back to the sideline? Take the yardage and make 3rd down manageable. Carson, Procise and Mckissic are above average matchups on linebackers. I think that’s the next step for this season. The offense can be run smarter and more efficiently. For next season add talent to pass rush and front 7 as discussed.
There were multiple 3rd down empty backfield sets, and I think they all ended in a sack, including the last strip sack. I couldnt believe they kept going to back to it. That was my big frustration on offense. But I do agree with Rob too, the OL has to execute there, and the QB has to get rid of ball.
I predict that George Fant will take Germain Ifedi’s RT spot by midseason…. Oh wait…
The competitive fire, passion for the game, heart & toughness are seemingly back.
What’s left?
Add talent.
Yep
I thought Jordan Simmons was a bit of a revalation today at RG. To come in and play like that particularly in the run game was really encouraging. This is suddenly a deep and talented OL.
I just noticed that Simmons was playing right guard in the first half – I assume the entire game. I’m trying to remember anything about him.
So it was good to see Penny out there making a contribution. He certainly satisfied me with his running abilities. His cutbacks are sweet!
Worst call of the night was the onside kick from a kicker that hadn’t successfully made on in the last 25 tries. It didn’t even surprise the Rams.
The fact you can’t remember anything about him suggests he played well.
It boggles my mind people aren’t giddy about that the Hawks are doing on the field right now. After 9 games Russ has 21 TD’s which is 37 for a full season (this is a down year?). The Hawks are running the ball down teams’ throats consistently. The O-line is mauling people. Russ has mostly stopped running backwards into sacks and over the past few games is running effectively. We have 3 decent running backs. Tyler Lockett is a TD machine. After 2 years of putting everything on Wilson’s shoulders the offense is gelling into a unit that can both run and pass. Michael Dickson is doing great. I don’t recall any long kickoff or punt returns by our opponents. Frank Clark and Jarron Reed are excellent on the d-line. B-Wags is B-Wags. Tre Flowers, a rookie safety converted to Cb, is not a liability by any stretch (I don’t care what PFF says). If someone had told me this is where the Hawks would be after 9 games I’d be quite pleased.
The criticism of Schottenheimer originally was that he’d put out an offense that would run a lot and be ineffective, that is obviously incorrect as the Hawks are averaging 27 ppg over the last 5 weeks. The goalposts of his criticism have been essentially moved now to “We don’t win every week so it must be the OC’s fault”. What utter crap. On offense, the Seahawks are now the bullies and in the long run that’s going to turn into a lot of wins.
Now on the downside we get gashed in the running game too often. We have too many coverage busts in the defensive backfield. We don’t have enough quality pass rushers. Sea Bass is a little too unreliable on field goals. Our kick return game is anemic. But none of this was unexpected… we all knew this past offseason there would be growing pains this year that would only be solved after another drafts and some key free agent pickups next year. It’s frustrating when people say that either Russell or Pete need to go, that they’re the problem. No, those guys are part of the solution.
The last few years have seen some questionable decisions made to extend the championship window, decisions in hindsight that were obviously wrong. But my experience is that making a mistake is the best way to learn and I have no doubt PC and JS have done their share of learning… hence the purge last offseason. Could you imagine what a circus it would be if we still had Bennett and Sherm being Bennett and Sherm?
I’m actually really hopeful, maybe not for this season but definitely for next year. I love the direction the Hawks are taking, as soon as they learn how to win these close games again and add a few more pieces to the defense we’ll be taking the Rams apart.
I’m optimistic for the future. Perhaps not quite ‘giddy’…. but certainly optimistic.
Schotty is amazing if the team plays well and/or leading/not trailing by far.
He just can’t do 2 minutes drills and sketch up plays to eat up deficit quickly.
If the Hawks could keep every opponent under 17 points we would win all games. Or if we could score under 2 minutes regularly (at least as much as the league avg) we could be won much more games.
Maybe it just needs a bit more time, maybe it is a concept flaw. We’ll see
And still our record is worse than last year. Which at this point is down from a down year. I think, we have seen a lot of things directing into the right direction.
This was just another game, where the other team used its resources better. You have Penny marching, and switch to Prosise? Which completely stalled our offense. A coaching lapse, and a mistake that very likely isn’t Schottenheimers, but Carrolls. Nobody is perfect.
+10 The Penny we saw today, was the guy PC/JS were drafting….
In a press conference, PC talked about how Penny was being taught how to be a pro, since he is so young. He is still growing and still maturing as a football player. The potential is there….. just have to turn him loose. “He has to go get it” I think were the words uttered.
+1 Mike Davis played well, was very solid.
-1 The elephant in the RB room for me in this game was… Procise was active, but I don’t think he ever made it on the field. It must be a deep doghouse to be in to dress for the game, but not get a play (or more than a few) in said game.
Very encouraging loss today, IMO.
This team showed that it can hang with a Rams team that is vastly more talented. Again, they showed that they can be physical.
Fantastic day running the ball, and great to see Penny have that breakout. Very exciting.
IMO, this game showed what Seattle still needs to get back to being a dominating team. The Rams attacked them on the perimeter early and often. Seattle lacked containment. They need speed, and edge on the perimeter to match. KJ didn’t seem right. However, they battled.
As for Russell Wilson, the third downs were bothersome, especially after a game against the Chargers where he wasn’t sharp at home. I wouldn’t underestimate the value of what “Running Russell Wilson” brings moving forward, considering that a bulk of those runs came on pass plays. Defenses are going to have to consider that again, and it will be interesting to see how that opens things up.
I hate bringing up the whole Twitter narrative of trading Russell Wilson. Obviously there is some folks out there that have their followers and want to beat that drum to death, and they won’t stop, but perhaps they should. I think with the team now likely going up for sale soon, if a future owner has to choose between a 30 year old franchise QB, and a 67 year old defense guru of a head coach (no guarantees they that have to choose, but of sake of argument they do), the likelihood that they would choose Carroll over Wilson is probably considerably less than the reverse. Chances are probably much greater that Carroll goes packing and they bring in their own head coach, and since franchise QBs are hard to come by, they will probably continue building around Wilson. This is might be the single best reason for why the trade Russell talk should just settle down.
That said, I am still a Carroll believer, and my hunch is that Carroll and Wilson will be joined at the hip in Seattle for a few more years. I think this team is a few pieces away on the defense from being back in serious contention, and I bet Carroll and Wilson know that.
I don’t think they need to choose between Carroll or Wilson. I think we accept both are awesome and crack on.
They’re not flawless but the Seahawks are onto a good thing with both.
Absolutely. I don’t understand why this is even a thing.
Not the same duo, but the Saints went through some rebuilding years with Payton and Brees, I’m sure they’re glad they didn’t overreact during hard times.
Exactly.
Ditto the Pats really. How big a gap between their first three titles and the next two?
Agreed, C-Dog!
The Seahawks are showing that they’re good enough to play with the elites in this league but also that we don’t yet have enough talent to beat those elite teams. And that’s ok since we’re clearly re-building/re-loading.
I agree with Rob that with better execution on third downs that we probably would have won this game but I also think that if we need a nearly perfect game from the offense each time to win then (with the talent on the team now), we’re not going to win every game.
In years past, we had a dominant offense to help out whenever the offense stalled, which it did quite often even during the glory years. Our current defense is decent but nowhere near dominant. I think with another year or two of good drafting and/or free agent signings, the D will again be a force that can take over games and we’ll be back as legit SB contenders every year again. For now, I’m just enjoying seeing a limited but still better than expected Seahawks team play!
Gonna be another defense heavy draft for us again, I imagine.
Would love a new pass rusher, some corner depth, and more speed at linebacker, still. So realistically, all three levels of the defense could use another piece. I want someone to come in and actually push guys like Wagner, and Wright, who knows what we have in Kendricks, long-term and Shaquem Griffin can’t be the answer until he literally does it consistently. Mingo has inarguably been a good fit, but similarly he’s a pure stop-gap at this point in his career.
I hate not being in practice. The team could see an every down starter in Griffin during practice and we would have next to no clue until we see live snaps.
I like our RB corps, but if Prosise is moving on, maybe we do need another talented back to push the 3headed monster (should said cerberus be re-upped)
The emergence of David Moore as a legitinate NFL receiver is huge for us and means we can ultimately ignore a pretty thin WR class. I really like our depth at OL too with Joey Hunt and George Fant putting out good tape. Jordan Phillips could be an option to keep around. Jordan Roos has stuck around for a minute now might be something there. We havent seen much of workout warrior Jamarco Jones. And Pocic isn’t even starting either.
Just our backups; Fant-Pocic-Hunt-Roos/Phillips-Jones
That’s some shit Cable would field as starters y’all.
TL;DR
We should hope for a pass rusher and someone fast on defense with our first two picks. Usually after that I couldn’t care less.
We could lead the league in udfa fine by me.
@kennys “We should hope for a pass rusher and someone fast on defense with our first two picks”
I agree.
@kennys “We havent seen much of workout warrior Jamarco Jones.”
I recall his Combine numbers being less-than-warriorish. It will be interesting to see how he comes back from ankle surgery.
Nice post Kenny and I agree on all points. I think Pass Rush, speed at LB and secondary depth are a must in this draft and there should be some good options even if we only have 4 picks.
In a perfect world for me they take DL with the first pick. Speed LB in Rd 3 and then let Pete work his major on Day #3 finding another CB.
Yeah, i’m not longer concerned about the OL. Really just want to see them add to the defense. Get one legit edge rusher opposite Clark, add another inside rusher, and more impactful talent at LB, and I feel pretty good about this defense. Between the draft and FA, this shouldn’t be the difficult. The draft is poised to offer help here.
I loved yesterday’s game. Yes, we lost, and Yes, there are a lot of things to work on. I also see that we have a lot to work with and I see incredible progress from week one to now.
When you look at the defense knowing that it lost 6 proballers/Allpros in the past year (Bennett, Avril, Kam, Thomas, Sherman & Richardson), anything that does not place them at the bottom of the league is incredible. There are so many young/inexperienced players on this unit that will be much better next year (T2, Griffin, Flowers etc.) and others that have taken a big step forwards this year (Reed, Clark, Mcdougal) that the outlook for 2019 has shifted from “the 2nd year of a massive rebuild” to just missing a key player or two.
The offense that lost more than half of its TD catchers and started the year with our WR1 sidelined is another miracle. A new OC and OLC take time to learn their teams and it takes much longer for the team to adopt and execute a new game plan. With the little time for full PADs practice it is obvious that an offense needs to be built gradually. I assume the focus at training camp was more on the running game and the rest is being build on top it during the season. When you look at how this team runs the football right now after 9 games you must be smiling. Between the OL miracle and a stable of 100 yard a game RBs this group is ready to dominate. The rest is indeed being built around it week by week. More roll outs and play action passing, RW rushing plays, the rise of Moore and Vannett, Locketts great season etc.
If this unit keeps to the course, we already have the 2019 offense playing today.
So, if there are some fans out there that expected the Seahawks to be a contender this year, I can understand their frustration but it’s on them. For the rest that expected a Reset/rebuild/retool year – what we see happening has to be beyond our expectations.
Be honest – how many of you here truly expected the team to be as good or better this year?
I believe that we will end this year with 8-10 wins and will be in every game we play to the last minute. I believe this team shows us the mentally that was lost when money started flooding many bank accounts. I think their last two games (losses) were gutsy and showed this team will not give up no matter what.
Sorry, I just love what i see….
Same my man. Same. With one exception. The defense has to play better. No if ‘s, and ‘s, but’s about it.
Dear Vol,
Yes, the absolutely have to play better. No question about it.
However, considering how young they are, do you have any doubt that, under Pete Carroll, this defense will do much better next year?
I have no doubts at all.
They will need to do better and…THEY WILL.
I stand corrected. The Lockett extension was a brilliant one, even with that kind of money, it feels like a steal.
And Penny seems like has some value. I didn’t see any upside before. This 12 attempts, 100+ yards won’t be the default for him, he had huge holes, but he can cut, and has good vision, and can burst through holes. I still think that Carson is A+ and Penny currently a B- or C kind of player, but maybe if he hit the gym in the offseason, he can be stronger and quicker.
For me, the top priority would be LB. The second DT and the third DE. I think we need to move on from KJ and bring in a young playmaker WILL. Tbh I liked Kendricks a lot more the way he played than KJ (yeah KJ is injured, I know, but still). KJ is a really good and underrated WILL, but he’s not flashy. Does his job, but doesn’t deliver a lot of game-changing plays. So I’d try to get a great WILL. And a strong, run stuffer DT who might have some upside as a pass rusher. And a good, but rotational DE. Clark, Reed can be the base of the DL. Hopefully Green and Martin will also be good-great players. I still have faith for Naz Jones. Ford also can be a good DT. Jordan, Jackson, Jefferson, Stephen can be solid rotational players.
Clark – Reed – rookie – Martin/Green/rookie DL seems fine. Wagner + first rounder seems also nice (not sure about Kendricks jailtime, it’d be great if he could come back)
But we might also need something for the offense. This passing game is horrendous. No idea who to blame. Schotty, Wilson, Carroll, OL, WRs…
I feel like 50% of the issues are with Russ trying to go for the big gain, and sucks at reads. 20% is on Schotty because he just doesn’t seem to be able to draw up a 2-minute drill. 15% on PC, because he lets Schotty does this, 10% on the WRs cannot create enough separation or don’t win early in their routes and 5% on the OL doesn’t give RW enough time.
This issue needs to be fixed before this team can return to the SB. Defense will get better. A ton of young guys. But there are a lot of vets in the offense. So it’s not an experience issue (maybe only with the new system).
I like Russ, but if we try to run like 75% of the game, giving him a huge contract would kill this franchise.
I’d say give him 23-27 mil/year…or trade him.
If Schotty can implement some better passing concept, or at least give us some viable 2-minute drives I’m a fan…otherwise we need to think hard if we’d like to keep him for the long run
I agree that KJ is not right this year, but to say he does not make game changing plays is just wrong.
He has been more than steady for his previous 7 years, he was a difference maker.
whether or not he can do it anymore I think depends on his knees
Yeah, that’s probably true. But it was strange how different KJ and Kendricks looked like this year. Not just the plays they made, but their movement, how quick they reacted.
Not saying KJ is a bad player. But currently he seems like a good player, while Kendricks looked like an elite player
That was fun.
My only real comments about the game:
As a team you’re averaging 8 yards a rush in-game. I would have liked to see a couple of those third downs be run calls. You’re literally ramming it down their damn throats, and nothing says bully like power running on third down to move the chains. The play calls on 3rd were too obvious for me, and allowed Donald, Suh, Fowler to T off. I’d much rather get stuffed running on third and 2 or 3 than dropping back and taking a sack for -11.
Also- I would have liked to see more change of pace. I really like the way some teams (Rams) will change pace instantly. I think that’s something the Hawks could emulate better. Especially with teams like the Rams. When Donald and Suh aren’t on the field- no subs, pick up the pace, and punish them for it. At the very least, go no huddle and line up. Even if you don’t snap it right away. It happened a couple times and forced McVay to call at least 1 timeout. Sideout- McVay calls timeouts at some of the worst times, he’s consistently using his timeouts early. SOMEONE has to make him pay for those coaching decisions, it just hasn’t happened yet.
Where’s our Rub routes with ADB?? Those have been money in the past. Are we too concerned with Dougs health and Offensive PI? Those need to return IMO.
And totally unrelated: All other QB traits not-withstanding (ie accuracy and decision making); does anyone spin a better football than Marcus Mariota? Man he throws a pretty football.
The record may not show it, but these 2018 Seahawks are better than the 2017 version. In fact, they may be better than 2016 too. It’s all perspective, but every loss last year felt like a slow decay of the team I knew and loved. This year? I see growth and excitement even in the losses.
Let’s just look at the NFC. In my opinion, only 2 teams would consistently beat SEA…the Rams and Saints. A game against every other team would be either a toss-up or advantage SEA whether home or away. It’s weird to think about, but this team may actually be better on the road right now than at home. Pete said it himself, but their style of play will translate well on the road (and that has shown to be the case from week 3 onwards).
The fact is that SEA still has a chance, and they’ll be in every game for the rest of the season. They basically control their wild card destiny since they play GB, CAR, and MIN yet. The only game remaining against a clearly superior opponent is the one vs KC and they may have the #1 seed wrapped up by then. Now, SEA is young and inexperienced, so I certainly don’t expect them to win every game. The thing is, I believe they actually could this year, and will be in every game until the bitter end. This is a team on the rise as opposed to one on the decline and that’s got me feeling more hopeful than any time in the last 3 seasons.
I think this is very true, the NFC has two good teams and a big group in behind them, seattle included. I reckon 9-7 may even be enough to get a wildcard spot (not every 9-7 will make it though so it will depend on tie breakers.)
True. I posted I felt { as everyone I guess} the story of the season would be the four games after the Lion win. Their is still a chance to win 2 and go 6and 6, beat the 49ers and Card’s, and hopefully steal that game against the Chief’s. Can they do it ? ” hope springs eternal” as they say.
Not much more to add. But i would like to emphasise how elated i was to see Penny ball out today. A couple beautiful jump cuts, showed off his long speed and a bit of power too. Thats the kind of running back who’ll form a great tandem with Carson.
He’d been so harshly judged so far, so super pleased for him. Even Hawkblogger, who’s normally much more reasonable, said he’d trade him for a 4th. Ridiculous!
He was harshly judged because he wasn’t playing. I would judge him harshly again under the same circumstances. Lets not revise history = a first round pick didn’t contribute for the first 8 games. If he had, the Seahawks might have picked up a couple wins and be in the thick of the playoff hunt.
‘might have picked up a couple wins’ ??
Which two losses are you talking about AH? I don’t get that math at all.
Is it the first two losses, where Penny was coming off a broken finger and had missed a chunk of camp? When the Hawks coaches admitted they called too many pass plays and not enough run plays?
Or the next two, where they had 235 and 190 yard rushing days, just mostly with the other RBs?
Or was it yesterday where he averaged 9 yards a carry?
Did you listen to Pete last week? Said he was too tentative. Wanted him to finally start feeling frustrated with his lack of opportunities.
The most frustrating play of the day was the 3rd and 13 or 15? the defense gave up on the Rams last TD drive. Woods (I think?) was so wide open. That one really hurt.
Overall I do have optimism, they are scoring, and the D is making some plays. The Rams get that open against everyone. I also thought there some nice creative play calls on O, and lots of great cuts/runs by Davis/Penny
Go Hawks.
To reiterate myself and others from an earlier post, We are averaging 27 or so points per game with a new Offensive system and coaches. It usually takes a year to really grasp an offense and the fact that the output on the whole looks good is huge going forward. In my mind they are ahead of schedule offensively. To have someone like Simmons (Pocic who??) slide in and replace our best run blocking guard tells me that not only has the system taken hold, but an identity and standard as well. For the rest of the year i’d just like to see this identity kept in tact. As far as improvements, I think Schotty needs to exploit some matchups and adapt quicker to how defenses are adjusting. I hate to bring up Mcvay but, he is the best in the league right now at isolating a matchup. Look what he does with Woods in crunch time. We should have confidence in Doug as a 1 on 1 beater. Seahawks are playing good ball and are fun to watch. Lets all just enjoy that part.
Love/like relationship with Frank Clark continues.
Ability, skill, potential, youth, etc., but occasionally disappears or is neutralized. Everything is there, but would love to see more consistent disruption.
Is he worth $17.5mil Average? Confident the team will do everything to keep him, but should consider franchising/trading him, then addressing front 7 help & value in draft and free agency.
Will be interesting to see his next contract.
This is the huge issue with Frank. He could/should be unstoppable. At times he is. But he disappears.
I think they almost have to pay to keep him. The pass rush can’t afford to lose another body.
Agree and I would bet a $15mil average is already on the table. I think he asks for and gets more.
If I had to choose, I would draft his potential replacement, franchise him and see what shakes out, next year, similar to what Dallas did with Lawrence.
I could live with that mishima.
Could this be a product of a weak pass rush in general though? If defenses know that Clark is by far our best rusher, then it wouldn’t surprise me if they just simply plan around that. I don’t watch enough film to actually count how many times he gets doubled and such though so I could be wrong. But I’m curious if adding another good rusher on the line will truly unlock the monster in Clark. People seem to overlook that even the ‘Elite’ rushers in the league have a sidekick to help open things up for them; Mack/Hicks, Donald/Suh, Watt/Clowney etc.
Im surprised by this take… I thought he was pretty solid. Not his most dominant but he was still able to force good pressure against one of the league’s best tackles.
From memory only, i felt any time the seahawks were able to get Goff of his spot Clark had something to do with it. He’s obviously not as good as some of the other really elite ends in the league but he’s up there. And at just 25… pay the man.
It should be obvious by now that Frank isn’t in the truly elite class of pass rushers. That said, if Kalil Mack makes $23 million per year, yeah, Frank Clark is probably worth $17.5 if not more by the time he signs, unfortunately.
I think the last two games are the first real games that it showed that we missed Earl.
Both San Diego and the Rams were killing the Seahawks with in-breaking routes and chunk plays over the middle.
I feel like Tedric has done a nice, steady job, but he has to control the middle of the field or else teams will continue to exploit the middle of the field.
Deep overs just kill a zone defense.
I’m not sure Earl would’ve made much difference there. Rivers always carves us up… and the Rams weren’t throwing posts.
This running physical style offense is great, but if the design of it is to widdle away the game clock and get them to the 4th in a close game, it’s a bit disturbing how they operate during crunch time. They aren’t good at the situation they game plan to get themselves into.
They haven’t executed. I don’t think it’ll take much to get it right.
Rob,
I have a question for you about the Seahawk’s offensive scheme compared to the Rams. When I compare the two offenses, they seem quite similar in the sense that both teams want to run the ball down their opponents throats to set up devastating play-action passes for chunk yardage. The only differences I’ve noticed is that the Rams seem to spam play-action on every single passing down, and that McVay is an utter genius at scheming people open.
At the risk of sounding a bit petulant, why can’t the Seahawks do that? Our running game is just as good or even better than theirs, which would theoretically free up even more opportunities via play-action. In addition, it feels like Wilson would get a bit more time in the pocket when running play action since the defense would hesitate due to the potential of a run compared to a straight shotgun dropback. One could argue that the Rams WR’s are better than ours, but we don’t have slouches ourselves in Baldwin/Lockett/Moore.
I guess I’m just confused why we wouldn’t attempt to mimic or at least snag some play schemes from one of the most efficient offenses in the league when it seems like our personnel would be very well suited for how they play. Is there some personnel issue that I’m missing? A coaching pride one? The Rams ran for 150 yards, so its not like their offensive philosophy is diametrically opposed to the Pete Carroll one.
When our offense is on we are one of the most lethal teams in the league (i.e. the first 2 drives against the Rams), but it feels like we just lack the consistency (the last 3 drives of the first half being straight punts) to be in that upper tier right now.
Also wanted to add that there was a similar consistency issue in the Chargers game, where we started out hot with a TD, and then failed to generate basically any offense/points for the rest of the half (admittedly the missed field goal didn’t help).
The biggest difference that I can see is Todd Gurley. I like me some Carson, in fact I LOVE me some Carson, but I just can’t pretend he’s near the same tier as Gurley. Gurley when he gets going is damn near unstoppable. It’s like trying to stop a semi-truck going at full speed. He really makes the Rams a pick-your-posion offense. Either you stack up to try and bring down Gurley, thus opening up Woods/Cooks/Kupp, or you cover those guys knowing full well that Gurley is going to plow forward for at least 5+ yards and most likely more. McVay has done a great job playing to that strength and just maximizing a simple but effective concept while adding a few twists here and there to keep things less predictable.
So we don’t have Gurley, but I’m hoping we can assemble our own 2-3 headed beast to match. I was really stoked to see Penny breakout a bit last game. Having Penny be a home run threat should help open up our offense and make it easier to run stuff like play-action.
I suspect we will steal some of their concepts going forward. Most teams will. As for why we can’t do it too currently — I suppose we have to give the Rams and McVay the credit. They’ve created something special there. It’s not always easy to mimic what other teams do. After all, many tried to copy the LOB. Nobody pulled it off.
That game covered every emotion. Fun, frutstrating, inspiring, cringeworthy, etc.
Credit where it is due, Penny looked great. He looked like a different player. I thought he looked very, very different which leads me to believe that this was a mental thing all along, which is a really easy explanation. Instead of seeing things and going, he was thinking, which made him look slow. That changed yesterday.
Is anybody else, I’m not going to say worried, but perhaps less than enthused about the secondary, specifically Shaq Griffin and Tedric Thompson? Shaq has moments of brilliance but has way too many big time lapses. I’m not worried about him, but I’m also thinking that he and Flowers are both solid #2 types, which is not bad, but also not LOB 2.0. Tedric…I just don’t see it. He just doesn’t make plays. He’s on the receiving end of far too many errors.
OL looked great in the run game. I’m not going to kill them on Pass Pro when facing that DL. Still feeling great about their future. Simmons, in particular, looked great. We might have our RG formula moving forward (big mauler).
KJ Wright is still not healthy and/or has lost a step. I think this is his swan song unless he takes a lot less on his next contract.
I’m curious to see how David Moore bounces back. Another less than inspiring performance. I really hope that end of the game “no catch” doesn’t mentally undo him. You may laugh, but I do worry about young players coming up short in big moments. BTW, that was an insanely difficult catch to make.
Lockett is a revelation. Unbelievably good resigning.
Our Passing Concepts are terrible; at least compared to the Rams. There are hardly any easy completions. I don’t even think Goff is that good, but he’s got clean easy throws, all day long. We are certainly a running team, but I’d like to see us start to implement some more progressive concepts.
I’d love to see us lose every game, the rest of the season by one score. The seeds are in place. I’d love to see us get a top 10 pick and really jumpstart the 2019 and 2020 playoff run.
Lose every game the rest of the season??
Yeah. F that. I hate losing. I REALLY hate losing. Who on earth WANTS to lose? They have the NBA for that nonsense.
I’d like to spend the rest of the season celebrating the hawks running all over their foes. Absolutely pounding them to death until they fear playing the seahawks again, because they know that EVEN IF they win they are going to spend the whole week in the ice bath. I’d like see them run all over people again and again until they earn a play off spot, and fight their way through to get another crack at the Rams. And then I’d like to run all over them again too for good measure.
Lose the rest of the games by 1 score? That’s terrible.
Thanks for the reply. Yes, clearly I love losing and this has nothing to do with needing better draft capital so that we can actually become a legitimate super bowl contender.
I would 100% absolutely sacrifice this season (which we can’t win a Super Bowl) to put us in a significantly better place to win one in 2019 and 2020. If there was a way for us to win and not sacrifice draft capital, then yes, I’d go that route. Unfortunately, the reality is that teams with worse records get better draft stock. This team is in desperate need of upgrading talent. That comes via FA and the Draft.
My goal is to win a super bowl, not perpetually inhabit the purgatory that is 8-8.
A high draft pick doesn’t automatically get a team to a superbowl.
I would never sacrifice a season to get a higher draft pick. Not even if I needed a franchise QB.
A single higher draft pick does not put this team in a “significantly better place” to win a superbowl.
“I’d love to see us lose every game, the rest of the season by one score.”
Please stop. I’m begging you. Just. Stop.
I’m not too worried about T2 so much. I haven’t seen near as many errors from him as you make it seem to be. Has he let a couple plays get behind him? Yes. Has he missed a couple tackles? Yes. But if you noticed, the middle 3rd isn’t where the deep balls are, they’re on the sideline. I think he’s tremendously physical in run support and closes on the ball really well.
Remember, even ETIII in his first year starting almost got benched. T2 can play better, but for his first year of getting play time, I think he’s been solid. I think the overall lack of pressure makes out secondary look worse than they actually are at times.
It would be a thoroughly pointless exercise to hope to lose every remaining game.
It wouldn’t secure the #1 pick. And that’s the only pick worth that level of tanking for. If you’re not getting Bosa, don’t bother hoping for that. You shouldn’t be hoping for it anyway. Let’s win every game instead.
So I just finished the Jags/Indy game on my DVR. Why you ask? Well CB Jalen Ramsey was my favorite prospect in the 2016 draft, I’m a huge Leonard Fournette fan, and I wanted to see what all the hype was about regarding Indy’s 2018 rookie class.
It’s amazing. Reminiscent of last year’s Saints haul. Not sure if fans realize how hard it is to find 3 immediate rookie starters in one year, let alone building blocks.
OL Quenton Nelson and Braden Smith are both playing lights out. Along with recent FA addition Mark Glowinski.
LB Darius Leonard is incredible. Looks like the next great, slightly undersized, run and chase ‘backer. Gotta be a candidate for DROY.
EDGE Kemoko Turay looks very, very good. His future is bright.
So damn impressed by what they’ve done. Only a couple WRs and DBs away.
https://twitter.com/Colts/status/1061802262521991168
I SOUND MY BARBARIC YAWP OVER THE ROOFS OF THE WORLD
The Jaguars got caught up in their press clippings before the season…… complete mess now.
I think Bortles may not be the greatest problem on the team, but he sure is not the long term solution either. I think it is refreshing to see new coaching blood leading some of the NFL teams….. completely tired of seeing retreads get second third and fourth chances. I’m thinking of the Bears, Indy and 49ers as some of the examples. Even closer to home, it is funny how much the coaching has changed the outlook for the Seahawks leading into 2019. Perhaps Marone has worn out his welcome with the Jags… or the messaging is not connecting any longer with the team. This sort of happened with Seattle in 2016/2017 roughly, so major changes were needed. Jags may have to think long and hard about the leadership (HC on down).
Marvin Lewis just continues to live his best life. Every time something happens in Cincy, an assistant or coordinator gets fired while Marvin just keeps his job.
Hope the Hawks can resign Michael Kendricks.