The Seahawks made hard work of this game but the end result is all that matters. They’re 2-0 and off to their best start since 2013.
And they have their quarterback to thank.
Chris Carson fumbled twice (he has three in two games), the defense struggled to contain backup quarterback Mason Rudolph, the offensive line played poorly in the first half and they gave away 10 penalties (twice as many as Pittsburgh).
Seattle won because Russell Wilson was practically flawless. This is why they made him the highest paid player in the league. To win games like this.
If you want to be a contender you can’t drop a game where the opposing quarterback leaves at half time with an injury. Not when the backup is facing his first NFL action in his second year in the league (he was inactive for every game in 2018). A good team led by a quality quarterback gets the job done.
Wilson delivered the win.
He finished the game with 300 passing yards (29/35), 22 rushing yards, three touchdowns and a passer rating of 131. He created rhythm for the offense in the second half and carved open Pittsburgh’s defense. He diluted the pass rush, he made sensible decisions. He never came close to turning the ball over and every throw was laser sharp.
His good work was almost undone by a safe defensive scheme that allowed Rudolph a surprisingly long, energy-sapping touchdown drive and a Carson fumble that turned what should’ve been a saunter into a nerve-wracking ending.
No problem. Wilson stepped up to the mark and delivered a game-winning drive to run out the clock.
Credit must also go to Pete Carroll. His challenge on the pass interference call just before D.K. Metcalf’s touchdown was a game-changer. His decision to go for it on fourth and one at the end was bold and finished the game. Carson, along with some solid blocking, kind of made amends for the fumbles.
This is a team with some holes for sure. The pass rush was tepid again and it’s been uncomfortable to watch Andy Dalton and Mason Rudolph have success the last two weeks (especially given what the Niners did to Dalton today). Carson’s three fumbles are worrying. He’s a dynamic, potentially game-winning running back. Yet with the Seahawks playing things so close all the time — you can’t keep turning it over. Notably all three fumbles have come deep in Seattle’s territory too.
Yet with Wilson in this type of form the Seahawks will be tough to beat. This had the makings of a rough day. Seattle are not a good road team in September. The Steelers were hurting after an embarrassing loss last week in New England.
You expected a reaction.
Clearly Roethlisberger leaving the game had an impact but it’s not like Rudolph didn’t move the ball in his place. I’m not sure that had a massive impact. Wilson did and the Seahawks will host the Saints next week with a huge opportunity to make a NFC statement.
Some other notes…
— In back-to-back weeks Jadeveon Clowney has started well and faded. It could be conditioning. The promising thing is when he flashes he looks great. Now he needs help (Ziggy Ansah) and to get close to 100% game health.
— They have to clean things up. There were too many errors today and it almost cost them the game. The turnovers, the penalties, the O-line play. They don’t want to lose a winnable game due to things like this. Let Wilson win you games, not rescue you from bad losses.
— How big are errors, turnovers and penalties? Seattle had 426 yards compared to Pittsburgh’s 261. They had eight more first downs. They dominated time of possession (35:46 vs 24:14). This shouldn’t have been a two-point game.
— Rashaad Penny’s touchdown was an excellent play and he finished with 62 yards on 10 carries. Carson’s fumbles could lead to more snaps in the future. He’s been written off way too early by some.
— Kudos to Malik Turner and Will Dissly for coming up big in the passing game. D.K. Metcalf isn’t playing like a rookie either — he looks extremely comfortable out there. The great thing is he’s making the plays he’s expected to make. There’s another level to come given his athletic qualities. It’ll be fun to watch his development.
— Bradley McDougald is vital to this team. Lano Hill seemingly had a good performance next to him. Jamar Taylor was sound in the nickel. People wanted to see a better performance from the secondary and I think we did today. Let’s just hope they’re prepared for next weeks fleaflicker.
— The next three games are enormous NFC encounters. The Saints at home is clearly a difficult game. The Cardinals look better than expected to start the season led by the excellent Kyler Murray. That one won’t be easy at all in Arizona. Then it’s the Rams at home on a Thursday night. What a run and what an opportunity — starting next Sunday.
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Any which way.
Wow, first thought is I am really dissapointed in Carson’s fumbles. He did sort of redeem himself with the first down but that is dissapointing.
Rob, to one of the points you made, the Hawks had to identify a counterpunch if their offense did not work. And they did! They really incorporated their short passing game very well, and Dissly really showed up this game showcasing what he can do.
2-0 with a chance to go 3-0 against a legit team, and we did all of this without Ansah and without Reed, will be really exciting when our Dline gets full strength because they sort of dissapeared after the 1st/2nd quarter.
They finally got multiple passes into the TEs. They really killed the Steelers in the middle of the field.
No kidding. 5 catches by Dissly, I think? And the catch by Vannett on the play before Dissly’s second TD was huge. He got drilled on that play, but hung on.
Receiving game spot on and efficient.
What a huge win for these rebuilding Hawks! It was ugly at times but they got it done. A win against the Steelers is always a cause for celebration. Go Hawks!!! On to home and another huge matchup against the Saints.
Brees hurt his throwing hand yesterday. I wonder if he is a go or do we see Bridgewater?
Sounds like he’s missing our game for sure.
Word I just saw was about 6 weeks out. That is going to hurt them badly.
Ugly win, but you know what they say….
if you win by 1 point, 2 points or 30 points… you still win!
Another gritty win. RW was a baller. Biggest take-away, the offense looks like it is starting to get into gear. And if last season is any indication, watch out NFL. Slow start to season, then got hot after that.
A win’s a win!
Wow gutty win.
I LOVE giving Carson the ball on the 4th and 1 play.
Don’t bench players who make mistakes, that will just mess with their heads.
Got to clean things up and Ziggy will help out the pass rush which struggled today.
Collier didn’t really appear to be much of a factor.
I hate if a player fumbles, drops a ball, don’t block a blitzer, etc most of the time the very next play they go for them. It’s so predictable. But I also loved that they went with Carson. They benched him for a couple of snaps maybe even 1-2 drive. He needed to know that that was a big issue. But at the end they showed him that they still trust him. No way Carson being denied on that 4&1
this team definitely looks like it could one of the most underrated teams in the lg we are not perfect but without 2 of our best dlineman it shall be interesting if we stay winning in the early part of the season sense the 2nd half has always been good under Pete carrol
If they want to be considered a contender they need to cut out the errors, stop the bad starts for the O-line and the pass rush needs to improve.
Pats put up how many points on the Steelers? 49ers just put up 40+ on the Bengals.
We need to improve and improve quickly to capitalize on these two wins
Take out 2 fumbles which gave short field and 14 points. I think Seattle did very good. They will improve as season progresses.
Two clunky mistake ridden games to start last season, 0-2. Two clunky mistake ridden games to start this season, 2-0. I’ll take it.
Fumbles and mistakes apart… good game. Russ and Pete all dialed-in
Pete’s big time challenge worked out and may well be the difference in the end..
Wow! Fun game to be at, except for those fumbles. Closer than it should have been. I keep reminding myself that we started last season with two tough loses. So I’ll take two tough wins. Go Hawks!!
Tell me about it! Those two TD’s I scored were the best of my career! Just like DK’s! Best of his career too!
Welcome to SDB! 😂
On grass.
At 10 a.m.
In Pittsburgh.
A delicious win indeed! Great game by Wilson, nice first TD for DK, Dissly beasting out making the most of his opportunities. Good pressure by the D early especially. Gutsy calls by Pete both on the PI and to go for it on 4th down at the end.
Still lots to work on, but this was a very good win!
The refs were horrible!
Yeah they were. More than the first game. But not as bad as our 1st SB loss.
Steelers suck. I rock. Go Hawks!
Ugly but huge win! Love it. Was hoping for 3 and 1 after the first 4 games and that looks realistic now. This team should only get better and improve as the year goes on.
Absolute fantastic win today. 2-0 with a point differential of 3 but we will take it. Your right though as it was very sloppy. Some of those penalties weren’t just penalties as they took away big gains. Right now Ifedi is an absolute disaster. I wonder if they would consider putting Fant in there or just keep it as is. The Carson fumbles are for sure concerning even though the last one wasnt his fault. Your right as we could see a more even work load and they may even throw Prosise some more carries as well. Either way we won and we can get a early lead in the NFC with a win next week against the Saints.
+1 on Ifedi. Between the penalties and the whiff blocks he was definitely a liability today. I would like to see what Fant looks like at RT.
Humidity for sure caused our guys to be light headed!
Gotta jump in – while the penalties are a subject to address, none of the sacks were on Ifedi. On the other hand, all 3 of the first three sacks were on Fluker, along with a comparable amount of penalties to rival Ifedi. Rough, rough day for Fluker today.
If anyone was in any doubt whether Ifedi remains a scapegoat for fans… today eliminates all doubt.
Fluker was awful and has received barely any criticism. Ifedi was absolutely hammered.
Neither player played well in the first half. Thankfully the second was better.
Certianly agree that Ifedi is scapegoated–especially on that first sack which was clearly Fluker not reading the stunt properly. Ifedi’s three penalties were very hard to stomach. He’s got a real issue with drawing flags and setting the offense on the back foot.
At least the left side of the line played good.
This. A million times this.
And can we all just breathe a collective sigh of relief that RW escaped unscathed from that nasty looking leg-plant slide and then an un-penalized (though I’m sure he will be fined) shot to the ear hole? Either one of those could have taken him out of the game or worse.
Big balls Pete and RW getting it done their way. Happy 68th, Pete!
I’m with you, Sea Mode. Thank God RW didn’t get hurt on that slide. Just now getting home from work and watching the highlights. He looked like he was grimacing from twisting his knee or ankle when he got caught in the grass creating that huge divot, and took a few seconds and a couple tries to steady himself on that leg to get up. The next long run he had just before Carson’s 4th down game-sealing run, he slid more on his side than his butt to avoid taking a chance of getting hurt again. What a fantastic day passing by Wilson! 83%, 300 yds. 3 TDs, and perfectly placed passes to Dissly twice on the 1st half TDs and DK on the last one, with some dimes to Lockett, Turner and the RBs as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWF33BFRUCA
I can’t believe there are still fields with real grass with the advent of Field Turf for well over a decade now. And there and Chicago are both by water. Terrible towel??? TERRIBLE field.
🚨Brees injured and on the sidelines.🚨
Got hit on throwing hand by Donald.
Massively impacts next week if he misses the game. Will be fascinating to see how serious the thumb injury is.
Also good to see the Rams having to battle a bit despite Brees being out. Not for next week — but for the fact they aren’t just walking away with it.
Yup, that’s huge if Brees is out. Some people on Twitter are speculating “skier’s thumb”, which would be 4-6 weeks recovery, but of course for now that is just pure speculation.
I noticed Sheldon Rankins was inactive for them today still coming back for them from last year’s achilles injury. That could be one less problem for our suspect interior OL to worry about.
And I absolutely love how “America’s Game of the Week” (such a dumb thing IMO) is a big dud so far.
I think we should all revel in how crap the Saints vs Rams game has been.
Brees has a huge wrap on his throwing hand. Even if he plays next week he’s going to be impacted.
Bring it on.
Season setting up perfectly for the Hawks we know our right side is gonna have bad games but we also know they are capable of rising above it. We have 3 players who can play RT and a practice squad stuffed with guards. Haynes could also factor or we could trade for a G or tackle. I thought the DL did a good job Green wasn’t special and he ruined a possible sack for Mone when he dropped back & didn’t cover his man that scored that TD. It looked like Mone got his hands up in the QB’s face to cause that interception by Hill. 8 different receivers that’s getting it done! We got lots of speed at WR it should be a nightmare for the Saints. Pete making the call for his 100th win on his birthday fun plane ride home.
“Skier’s thumb” also known as a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of the thumb, can be immobilized for as little as 4-6 weeks yes, but its one of those injuries where to be 100% you should really miss more like 3-4 months, because of the re-injury threat.
Even after healing, he’s going to be dealing with that all season.
That last fumble was credited to Wilson, but that was a team screwup with most of the blame on Carson.
Carson already said he takes the blame fwiw:
https://twitter.com/bcondotta/status/1173340297092354049
Second fumble is on Vannett. The defender got there for the QB-RB exchange. Carson just trying to be humble. First one and the previous one is on him though
When you make a mistake like that along with other mistakes & you get a win without any major injuries you know things are going your way. There is lot to be said about Mojo in football and magic in team sports.
A win no injuries it’s all good! We’ve been in this situation with OL again & again we know we can play better and we will. Hot humid early road game for Seattle boys is a tuff task but Pete kept them fighting & believing. Happy Birthday Pete!
on the flip side, NFC W turned out to be extremely competitive. may well be 3-3 for all teams
SF got torched by Bengals WR’s and their LT broke his leg, costly win.
Plus the 49ers already knew the Bengals game plan, the Seahawks did not. I felt the Hawks also took a big step forward with their playcalling this game, I’m excited to see what the future brings.
I didn’t see the entire game, but i thought the offensive playcalling was excellent.
They went to quicker more up tempo passes in the 2nd half, and the mix of Dissly shots in the middle was just the right amount.
For as much grief Schott gets from fans, I thought he deserves serious kudos for the plan and in game adjustments.
Loved the up-tempo stuff. Wondered why they didn’t go to it sooner, but glad they did. Take the underneath stuff if that’s why they give you and let your guys make plays.
Our DL rotation was hindered & vulnerable to getting gassed. Clowney missed practice all summer.
Schotty deserves some serious kudos for this one. His in game adjustments are a serious underrated strength.
Is that what we were supposedly holding back on doing in week 1 and in the 1st half today?
This offence is starting to look how I hoped it would. Some things to clean up, but we could be looking at Russ’ best unit here. DK Metcalf falling as far as he did is gonna be a major head scratcher in retrospect. Griffin is really stepping up this year.
Beat the Saints next week and we’ll really be in business. Pumped for this win.
Griffin has been very good so far. Thought Tre Flowers had himself a big bounce back game
Wow. Well-done.
Hey, Vol, ya boi Hardman!
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000001055194/Can-t-Miss-Play-Hardman-s-first-NFL-TD-is-42-YARD-dime-from-Mahomes
Mahomes will make it easy for him and elevate his play, but with Tyreek Hill out Hardman has to step up. Nice to hear that he’s getting his feet wet so to speak. He fits that offense like a glove.
The speed of their skill players from top to bottom is insane.
I just want more Mahomes!!!!!! Filth of the highest order
He is truly astounding.
A genius.
He’s just toying with everyone out there enjoying himself like a kid.
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Pete Carroll said they decided late in the week that Ziggy Ansah would be held one more week.
1:44 PM – 15 Sep 2019
It was a very strange Carroll press conference. Lasted about 2-3 mins. He paid tribute to a family friend then just left.
You must have just caught the end of the live feed, because it’s up on YT and lasts 8 min. 30 sec.
Head Coach Pete Carroll Postgame Press Conference at Steelers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cshYSx0OBHg
(And honestly I think his brisk exit may very well have had to do with the fact that he was soaking wet!)
Thanks 👍🏻
Nfc West may be on it’s way to being the toughest division in football again. Is that a good thing, or bad? Also I lost my bet laying 3.5 against the Hawks, but you can’t account for the starting qb being knocked out of the game. Although I doubt Roslisberger could have played much better than Rudolph. The Steelers may have found their qb of the future. With Brees injured, things are breaking good for the Hawks.
It’s a bad thing. The Pats have an annual coast to a playoff bye because they play in the AFC East. The Carroll Seahawks have always been in a competitive division and that’s just rank bad luck.
I just meant their was a time the NFC West was laughingly referred to as the NFC worst.
Uh…there’s another way to look at that. Those other three AFC East teams have been stuck in a division with the New England Patriots for the past 18+ years. Seattle has faced nothing of the sort.
Newsflash: The NFC West is not viewed as murderers row anywhere else except here.
It truly baffles me how a dolphins fan thinks he can talk smack about a division that is notorious for playing tough defense.
The NFC West has sent how many teams to the Super Bowl over the last 10 years?
Nobody is calling the NFC West ‘murderers row’ on here. People have simply acknowledged that three teams are 2-0 and the Cardinals don’t look anywhere near as bad as people thought they would be.
And even if someone did consider the NFC West murderers row… it wouldn’t be as much of a leap as suggesting the presence of New England in the AFC East is an excuse for the other three teams being a hot steaming pile of trash year after year.
Treacherous territory for all teams you gotta have deep O Lines, tuff RB’s and lots and lots of prayer.
It’s awful….why can’t we just have a fix 4 wins/season because 2 teams in the division is so bad that it’s a by default win? Even when the Rams sucked they were always had our number.
And now they’re unfortunately pretty good. ADonald is like a cheat code and they have really good defensive players. And Gurley and Cooks, Cooper all playmakers. Not unbeatable but have some highly skilled players and McVay is a really good coach.
For the niners their defense is loaded, and while Garoppolo is overhyped, and can be hot and cold too, he’s a solid QB. They have some good skill players on offense too.
Cardinals who should at least suck have a young star at QB, they have Fitz and Kirk for WRs and David Johnson. Their defense is also pretty solid.
I doubt any team beside the Rams will be better than 9-7, but I also doubt they’ll be much worse.
Will Dissly… 5 targets, 5 catches, 2 touchdowns. Nice performance for a guy we got for his blocking.
With the 31st pick in the 2020 NFL draft the Seattle Seahawks select… Trey Smith, OG, Tennessee.
Following is my reasoning:
If we resign Clowney and Reed and and Collier develops we should have a productive defensive line.
I’m starting to believe that we need to again invest a first and/or second round pick on the offensive line. I don’t think Ifedi will be back because he hasn’t grown in his game awareness. Brown is great but aging, Fluker is younger but injury prone, Iupati looks like a one year rental, and even Britt who is 28 may price himself out of Seattle. I see Fant as a viable right tackle until Brown retires when Fant becomes our left tackle. Phil Haynes looked good but we really don’t know what we have there and Pocic is developing into a valuable lineman who could be a great center. Looking down the road a couple of years the guys who will still be around are Pocic, Fant, Haynes, and maybe Fluker. That leaves us at least two high quality offensive linemen short and especially at the very important position of power left guard.
No doubt this draft could be good for the right side and if we could take a risk & draft Trey Smith due to our tackle depth but I really think Smith will drop to round 4 or 5
Anyone who thinks a rookie will provide a cure all on the OL is in for a shock I’m afraid.
Don’t know where you got the idea I was looking for a cure all. I explicitly mentioned two years in the future and the lack of quality depth to replace our starters. If Phil Haynes is the real deal and Pocic replaces Britt who is the offensive line quality depth? Who’s the guy that pushes the starters for playing time?
Looking ahead to the 2021 draft No way we can afford to sign Britt to a 3rd contract with Pocic & Hunt on the roster. All 3 will be FA’s in 2021 we should make a move at center next year trade Britt or Pocic.
Good comment. Keep Pocic because he’s younger and I don’t think Hunt is a starter.
I’m baffled that we have 3 centers and I know something is gonna happen at that position next year. Hunt is great for special teams and he might be on our roster because our Guards are to slow for special teams and he can pass protect as a center. My question is can Hunt hold down the C position for an entire season? If Hunt plays C can we run the ball? I definitely don’t want to return to the days of being thin at C and I’m excited to replace 1 of our 3 centers.
I wouldn’t worry too much about our O-line depth down the line.
Who’d heard of Phil Haynes a year ago?
Other players will emerge.
Smith is currently rated as the number one guard.
Smith has potential to be the best player in the draft but he has reoccurring blog clots in the lungs. As soon as they see them they scratch him for the year. I highly doubt we take that burden on.
I have been critical of Wilson many times in the Past, but I have to give him his due. He is playing greatI have to admire his ” never say die ” attitude, and will to win applaudable. He is probably the most durable of the top 5 QBs in the league. The head to head hit he took late in the game would have sent many a QB to the sideline. Should have been a penalty called.
Who’s ready to start 4-0? Brees cant even pick up a football.
I could see a 6-0 start or even better honestly. If we beat the Rams and Ravens we may hugo undefeated through the bye week.
We were without Poona, Reed, Ansah, Moore, Dickson. We have rookies who could make a real push for a starting job this season too in Marquis Blair, Ugo Amadi and Collier.
DK and Dissly’s connections with Russ are just starting. Prosise is healthy. Penny is coming into his own. Lockett isnt disappointing.
Weve come so far since a couple years ago when we had no identity, RW contract want guaranteed, and no visible path to rebuilding a contending roster. Look at us now. I’m so glad we have the front office we do. These are truly the golden years.
I think after scraping past a bad Bengals team and nearly blowing this game today I’d chill talking about 4-0 and 6-0.
I think it’s very possible. Especially if Brees doesnt play.
The way I look at it is, we always start slow, but we look way better this September. 2-0. Young roster will feed off of this, the whole team will pick up, and we will get players back + young players will improve.
This feels like 2012 to me. But now we have Wilson, which keeps us in every game. I would not be surprised by 13-3 or 12-4 at all.
I’m going to stay with the 1-0 mentality. One game at a time.
I have not seen a 12/13 win team the first two weeks.
Let’s enjoy the win without getting carried away.
Did we see a superbowl champion team the first 2 weeks of 2013?
No. And I’d say we look better than that.
19-0!!! For the love of coffee, let’s slow the extra non fat whip here. 2-0 is great but….they just about coughed up a game the 9ers probably win by 24 today. If Seattle does beat the Saints, I wouldn’t even count the Cards game as a victory. One game at a time slaw!
If we stay healthy and continue to grow we’ll be unstoppable in December.
In the first two weeks of the 2013 season they beat…
— A 12-4 Carolina Panthers team on the road
— A 12-4 San Francisco 49ers team at home
Furthermore, they battered the Niners — leading to Marshawn’s famous sideline comment that the Seahawks were destined for the Super Bowl.
Yes — the Seahawks did look like a potential Super Bowl champion in the first two weeks of 2013. They were considered the big Super Bowl favourites at the time.
That 49er DL scares me wondering how good our DL will be at full power.
Kyle Shanahan worries me.
He’s just as good as McVay when it comes to offensive scheming. Look how Atlanta have performed since he left after the Super Bowl. Not good overall.
The guy can coach. And the Niners will be a tough out with him in charge.
SF’s numerous 1st round Dline selections look like they’re going to be a challenge for any Oline. With Staely hurt, their Oline took a big hit.
They lost their LT for a long time and he’s old. That should slow down his WR’s and they lost their RB. We should beat them what I’m worried about is the 49ers defense injuring our players.
Pump the brakes there. Let’s focus on the next game at home versus the Saints. Brees could be ready to play. He may be sidelined today and they’ll eat this L, but if he plays it’s gonna be a hard game.
Wow, I like the optimism….but the Saints will be really tough even without Brees.
Amazing run D and a solid passrush. It’ll be a long game.
Cardinals game will also have some difficulties. They have solid D and Murray seems good. If they put Fitz or Kirk on one of our LBs they can make issues for our D
Rams struggle a bit imo, but they seem much better right now than us.
Browns might be beatable and might be the easiest game (although they have a fight with the Card for that)
And as of now I highly doubt we can beat the Ravens. Their defense is just too good. Jackson plays surprisingly well as a passer and the added might run element is deadly. And they also have competent RBs, good TEs and Hollywood seems like the real deal
RW looked like Joe Montana in his 49er prime today. He was surgically carving up the Steeler defense, especially in the 2nd half. I felt like, given just enough time, he was going to complete every pass he threw today. Totally confident in that way today as a fan. Big props to RW today.
Also, props to the offensive strategy/play calling today. I was hoping they would come out swinging from the get-go on offense today, and they did. If RW had had a little more time in the first half, if we didn’t give up costly penalties, this game might not have been close. My way of thinking about the offense is that I’m mostly fine with the conservative ground-and-pound approach at home and against weaker teams on the road. But when we play quality opponents on the road, I think we need to put the game more in the hands of RW. Meaning, somewhat significantly up his pass attempts in such games. Like we did today.
Ifedi, Ifedi, Ifedi…is it time for someone else? We have to be thinking in such terms for next year. He’s had enough time to clean up his play.
And yes, Carson’s fumble-itis is a cause for concern, and has been in the past. I mean…the ONLY thing you didn’t want to happen was for us to put the ball on the ground that second-to-last series. And we did, or Carson did. We went from a 95+% chance of winning down to about a 65% chance of winning on that one almost unforgivable play.
Props to Penny. Stepped up today. That TD run was huge. Good for him.
And knock on wood, but DKM looks like the real thing if he continues to learn and keeps wanting to get better.
But most importantly…huge, huge, HUGE! win for us this morning. Think about it. If we can start 4-0, then we only have to go 7-5 the rest of the way for an 11-5 season. And it’s possible if we beat NO at home next week.
What a fun game to watch, even with the fumbles it just seemed inevitable the entire game sans the first quarter that our offense was going to be able to get the job done when it was needed. Tuitt was an absolute monster for the Steelers 2.5 sacks and Watts sack was only because Wilson had to dodge Tuitt. The Oline looked pretty bad for the first quarter, but came together nicely for the rest of the game. Looks like Big Ben and Eli are both hitting the stage of their careers that they should be considering retirement, but seems like both teams have their QBs of the future ready to go. I wasn’t much of a fan of the Metcalf selection, or the amount of hype he got during the build up to this season, but happily being proven wrong. I particularly enjoy the way he bullies the defenders and helps set the tone that we are the more physical team. Loved Carroll letting Carson get his confidence back, with a game sealing short yardage conversions. A less confident coach would have never had the moxie for a move like that.
I think the defense played much better than Rob gives them credit. Conner, 11 rushes for 33 yards. Ben was 8-15 for 75 yards when he was playing. Rudolph had 112 yards and 45 of that was on the flea flicker. Otherwise, the Steelers had him throw short passes to get the ball out fast. 261 total yards is a good day. The reason why the game was as close as it was is because of mistakes by the offense, especially the two fumbles that gifted Pittsburgh 14 points.
what resistance did they put up in the second half though? I think the scheme was overly cautious vs Rudolph but still.
Pittsburgh is still an NFL team with a lot of pride. The Seahawk defense was fine with giving up short passes. That was the plan. They gave up one passing play over 20 yards, the flea flicker. That is 67 yards in the second half for Rudolph not counting the trick play. The Seahawks outscored Pittsburgh 21-16 in the second half and again, 7 of that was on a three yard drive.
Whether it was a vanilla scheme or something else, I still expected more resistance against a team missing their starting QB (with no experienced backup) and their starting RB. And their inability to create any pressure without blitzing is also a concern.
We’re missing 3 of our starting 4 DL today… Ford, Reed, Ansah.
We’ll be just fine.
Yeah… again… I’d chill on that.
Why? You’re overreacting.
You always have praised Pittsburgh but now you want to be down on the Hawks without acknowledging that maybe the Steelers have a good backup QB or at least knew how to use him?
As for their RB, Conner hasnt been very impressive, they’ve already been using Samuels a lot. It’s hardly a downgrade. Especially against us where Conners pounding style stands no match to our front 7.
Pouncy is hurt that’s why I kept saying all week Ben was going to get knocked out of this game if he throws too much!
There’s a big difference between ‘being down on the Hawks’ and being sceptical that after two narrow, unspectacular wins they are destined to go 6-0.
Rob, you’re kind of a contrarian all the time lolol. I think this dude is getting way ahead of himself of as well, but man. You seem to reject ideas that you, yourself have not come up with. Come to my grandmas house, come get a plate. It’s all love lol
Agree, Rob generally tries to be the innovator of Seahawks theory on this board. And a lot of times he has great ideas..but I think he doesn’t do a good job of acknowledging good ideas that don’t fit into his bubble/narrative.
I don’t think it’s fair to suggest me challenging the possibility of a 4-0 or 6-0 start is me being unwilling to consider ‘good ideas outside of my narrative/bubble’.
They beat a Bengals team that just got destroyed by the Niners by a single point and were very lucky to win and followed it up by nearly throwing away what should’ve been a fairly routine win against Pittsburgh on reflection.
I’m very happy they’re 2-0 but let’s not get carried away here.
I’m struggling to see how rejecting the idea this team is destined to be 6-0 after two unspectacular can be considered contrarian.
I’m happy the Seahawks are 2-0. I’m not going to ignore some glaring issues that need fixing just because they won a couple of games against Andy Dalton and Mason Rudolph (for one half) by the narrowest or margins.
In Rob’s defense, not that he needs my help, he has not said much more than pump the brakes on the 6-0 talk which totally seems reasonable after these 2 W’s that were really narrowly escaped L’s mostly because of self-inflicted wounds. As for general other contrarian statements from the past by Rob, they almost always are grounded in sound logic even if sometimes proven wrong. Either way, the best part about his ideas, contrarian or not, is that they drive the debate even further which is a good thing no matter how you cut it in my opinion.
And I have to say, comparing him to a “know it all” is rather dickish. He runs the best damn sports blog anyone could have hoped for, for FREE, and it just so happens to be on the topic of our beloved Seahawks. Be happy, be humble, and enjoy the wonderful content and commentary both Rob and this awesome community provide.
They battled today in tuff conditions and won, Pete’s smart he’s gonna use it as teachable moments players will grow from the experience. Everybody has to raise their game because there are a million ways to screw it up.
Yes, their defensive strategy changed in the 2nd half with Mason R in there. They blitzed less. Their QB rushes were more centered upon containment. They just got less aggressive about putting pressure on the QB with Ben out, and that was true about the defensive secondary, too. They were playing that bend-but-don’t-break style of secondary play, giving the short stuff up more, keeping the play in front of them. That flea flicker was an aberration, or that’s how I took it. They called it, and worked. Good on them, though I don’t think it would have worked on ET.
But props to Mason R. He played very well given the circumstance and how little game experience he had. He made some difficult throws under pressure today. I was impressed.
Good to see Malik Turner have some good production today. He seems to create open space in his routes.
BTW…
Taysom Hill >>>>> Teddy Bridgwater
Shhhh!! Don’t tell !
Possibly, but I’m not convinced of this with the small sample size Hill has put out there. Coming in for a few different series of plays designed for you is a different animal than leading the offense an entire game, or more.
He is a very good athlete with a mixed set of skills, but he also had a significant injury history at BYU. Don’t think he’d last a full season with his hard nosed running style.
A win is a win. I was so happy they threw late to let Wilson win the game. I know running the ball is the way this teams wants to end games (and they did with the 4th down call at the end), but when you have a well paid QB like Wilson – there’s a reason you paid him.
The Carson fumbles are worrisome. I remember thinking the same thing (ball security) at the end of the Bengals game last week, as in how/why is he running so dangerously loose with that ball?
This defense could end up being good when Clowney gets into better shape, Ziggy actually plays, and our starting DTs get back. All these guys getting experience now (or reps) will be better off for it when they get back. Sucks that they’re still going to be without Reed for 4 more games – but it’s easier to swallow when they’ve started 2-0.
DK is so raw – it’s crazy. The penalties each week show how raw he is. However, after two weeks – it’s clear this guy isn’t going to be a 2nd round bust either.
Will Dissly is a good/great player. Already.
Can’t say bad calls on penalties are so raw. The media use the buzzword of raw during the draft process as filler. The kids is from a NFL family and has been around the game his whole life. He is plenty ready, it is reflective I’m the results up to now.
4 penalties in 2 games… and that’s not part of being inexperienced (i.e. “raw”)?
Yeah, Dissly seems for real. Looking back, Chris Petersen making a TE out of him was one of the best things that ever happened to him as a football prospect.
Agreed. Peterson is a football guy though, he knows how to get the most out of his players.
I’m going to effuse one more time. Yes, there’s a lot to clean up on the team. Bad penalties, OL play, solidifying our secondary…but I’m very bullish on this team this year. We’re 2-0 now, and I don’t think our DL (incredible potential) is going to start coming into its season’s prime until week 9 or 10. I’ll leave it up to the coaching staff and GM to get our secondary unit together enough to make this defense one of the best in the league by season’s end.
I think so much boils down to our OL play as the season progresses. We’ve got the RB power we need. We’ve got some real potential at the WR position. But most importantly, RW is even getting better. He’s becoming so good now, he’s making his receiving targets look better than the vast majority of QB’s in the league would. When you have a QB this good, they elevate their receiving corp beyond what you might have thought possible.
Also, and lastly, out special teams are quietly near the top of the league.
Few things on the game:
The Hawks are playing down to their opponents. Which is both good and bad. Good because there are things we can fix, bad because bad teams are influencing us enough to play to them.
Our D linemen have zero clue on how to disengage while playing their assignments. Hopefully that’s corrected but we’ve yet to see Pete’s staff coach up a younger player on this so holding my breath.
That first PI Pete challenge was uncatchable in bounds (for the short player who was targeted) and the Hawks for whatever reason are still on the short stick on PIs on both sides on the ball and Pete shouldn’t have had to use many of his challenges if the other teams aren’t, both home and away.
Wilson still for all his high level of play can not read a blitz off the end (and struggles diagnosing them pre snap). Once these were addressed at halftime we had the TD pass to Dissly, swing passes, runs.
The staff needs to know what’s going on. Wilson ducks the ball first sign of any breakdown in the pocket still unless he is looking to tuck it and run.
Shaquill Griffin’s play has been much better than last year.
Clowney is crazy good standing up. I hope the staff gets crazy and starts to throw in plays with him, and the LB’s mixing up blitzes and drops.
Hoping the Oline shake off the hangover from these games and play through the bad plays. The staff needs to find new screens, ones to TEs, guys coming in motion, etc. get the other teams blitz’s off balance pre-snap. Help Wilson and that struggling line.
AS EXPECTED:
-RW is amazing. Laser accuracy and those late scrambles are the stuff of MVPs
-DL depth is a concern. Seemed to wear down in the 4th quarter, getting pressure with just 4 was a tall order
-Dissly is a great seam threat for the offense, and fights for yards
-DB group has room to grow
-RBs can spring for chunks of yards
UNEXPECTED:
-DK’s impact this quickly. He’s not a third WR one-route type weapon. 2 games in, he’s the legit #2 and seems to have a lot of RW’s confidence.
-OL definitely not a team strength at this point. Penalties hurting drives, sacks given up. Needs improvement.
-Run defense has been effective. Time will tell if they can sustain it.
-Jaron Brown. No targets in 2 games and 2 bad penalties today. Shape up or hit the bench.
My feelings about Jaron Brown as well. He had a tough day. I’d rather see Ursua on the field
There were two throws to Metcalf where the whole field behihd the LBs was emptied. Ursua is the single missing piece to carve up such defenses.
The rush defense will only get better, when we “witness the full power of this fully operational battle….”… oh wait, they have all the DL available to play week #7. Their ability to clamp down will be even more impressive than it already has been…
The LBs played very solid today. Some very nice open field tackles / coverage plays behind the currently constructed DL. This might be the most exciting aspect of the team, we haven’t even seen them fully loaded with the players they have; due to injury, suspension and 46 active players on gameday.
Disagree on DL depth. Our supposed to be depth players are the only ones that making some noise so far.
Not Ansah (hurt), not Reed (suspended), not Collier (just back), not even Clowney really.
But Woods, Mone (not huge numbers but effectively controls and pushes the pocket), Jackson and Jefferson.
I don’t need depth, I need a true playmaker. Like Avril, Aaron Donald, Cam Jordan, etc.
Give me a DT like that and a DE like that and we’re golden and have amazing rotation
Also, run defense is expected to be stellar imo. With KJ+BWagz+Kendricks and putting in huge guys in the middle (Woods, Mone) and getting Clowney it’s supposed to be good.
JBrown is a major slap on the face. Everyone hyped him up and so far he was only a liability
Agree on the DL depth, which appears to be much better than most people think. So nice to see guys like Woods, Jefferson, Jackson making plays.
And we should only get better on the DL as the season goes forward. Clowney will get in better football shape and be a wrecking ball for full games, and Reed has proven he can be a top DT and a pass rushing force. Ansah is a question mark to me, not sure what we’ll get really, but if he can return to form it will be a major addition to the team.
I sure hope you’re right on run D. They were middle of the pack last year and currently sit at #4. And they intentionally keyed on stopping the run game Week 1 at the expense of the passing game. Like I said, time will tell if they can keep it going.
The lack of pass rush is very concerning, but we only dressed three DTs, one of whom is kind of a hybrid DT/DE (QJ). With Ford hurt and Reed suspended this is purely survival mode, and thus far that mode is 2-0. I dont think Ansah was ever going to play these first few weeks, that was just Pete hoping to add some mystery to the opposing game plan. Pitt also has a really good OL.
Im not going to panic on the pass rush until we see Ziggy play, and we Clowney get his legs under him. Collier is basically in the same boat as he just started practicing again too.
The right side of the OL was awful, that, and especially Ifedi’s 3 penalties are waaaay more concerning to me than anything else. Fluker was really bad too. Oof.
Given the strong earlier skepticism about this game, a win in any fashion deserves high marks.
Building confidence among a young team is important. I have to think the young offensive players are developing quickly with games like this. Penny, Turner, DK, Dissly will be key weapons next couple years. Even with the O-Line challenges, Hawks won’t have trouble scoring this year.
I’m actually feeling good about the Defense too. The fumbles gave points with short field, but yards allowed was minimal. Getting Reed and Poona back will be helpful. I could care less about Ansah and Collier at this point. Taylor and Hill played well enough to deserve another start. Also thought KJ did KJ things and quietly had an impressive game locking up his side of the field.
The first half was basically a repeat of the Bengals game. I was seriously considering doing yard work and sitting out the 2nd. Glad I stuck it out because Russell was pure magic. Clowney’s post game interview was a tree topper when he said half the reason he came to Seattle was to play with Wilson.
Clip: https://twitter.com/A_Jude/status/1173354793932382208
With Ifedi’s upcoming contract and Duane Brown’s age, I think this community is going to be spending a lot of time analyzing tackle play this draft season! Look forward to it. Rob, you have a great eye for that position.
No way Carroll can stomach 49ers having a better DL than us I’m leaning OL too
Agreed…not sure it’ll come from the draft, but this team needs to push resources into OL again.
Brown might have 3-4 more years in him, but Ifedi doesn’t warrant a 2nd contract. Fluker has some injury history/concerns, Iupati probably a 1 year stopgap. Not sure if Britt should get another big contract in the future…
We have Fant, Jones, Haynes, Pocic. We will need an RT, and at least one OG. If they’ll keep Fluker and Britt we might have our future starters (Brown-Pocic-Britt-Fluker-Fant/Jones) for the next 2-3 years, but if we want a future-proof plan we need to draft OL now so they can be ready in the future
Did you see Brown pull from LT to the right on one of Carson’s early big runs!? He was coming in HOT. He’s definitely still got gas in the tank. He’s an athletic big man. If he avoids major injuries he’s got a true shot at playing high quality for 4 more years imo.
Yeah, he was injury free while he was a Seahawks player and he still plays at a really high level. Nothing shows slowing down, but not sure how many LTs can play long….although it’s a “friendlier” position in that regard compared to RB or TE, CB
Options at RT?? Is there any chance that Fant could be worse than Ifedi at RT? I, for one, would like to see that experiment happen. Ifedi regularly gets beat and is forced to hold. Anyone else seeing this?
Absolutely. I still wonder if he’d make a better OG. But his penalties and mistakes keep showing me that he’s a slow learner with a low football IQ. Maybe give him a shot at LG next season. But no more RT. Give that to Fant or someone else and draft there. Just MHO.
So far Ifedi is a better RT than Fant, Fant has not achieved as much as Ifedi. It was Fluker who messed up the most not Ifedi. No way we can afford to keep both of them unless we trade Britt. We could let Vannett, Fant & Hunt walk next year then draft a Pass Blocking TE & 2 OL. Ifedi won’t be too expensive to keep next year bet you anything we get him for less than 10 million.
OL will probably be a high priority. OG/OT…I think they’re okay with C for now with Britt, Hunt, Pocic. Ifedi is still a liability. Even if Fant replaces him, we’ll need more depth there. Iupati is a one or two year stopgap. OG/OT and, of course, a lock down cover guy (who doesn’t want that?) on the defense. PCJS will always be enamored with a DLman in the early rounds, but protecting RW with his incredible skills has to be a top priority. He’s not getting younger, and he won’t be the artful dodger that he was, and amazingly so, earlier in his career.
But it’s soooo early for this kind of thing…
Jordan Roos is on the practice squad for the third year. Is that a sign the team has little faith in him, or that he needs time and is being groomed.
We got Simmons & that huge G from Ohio state coming back next year. With Haynes thats 3 big nasty guys to play guard that will be in NFL shape. Also we got something brewing on our practice squad among our OL not sure which guy but 1 should emerge to challenge for a roster spot in 2020.
I tend to think the plan with Ifedi is to let him test the market and resign him. Yes he can be a little mistake prone in pass protection but he is a beast when all you are asking him to do is explode into the Dline and get a push. I’m not sure why he’s the whipping boy quite so often, he excels at what the Hawks value most, and has shown constant improvement year in and year out. If he isn’t back next year, it will have more to do with the market over paying for right tackles, than not wanting him back. Brown hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, I’d expect him around for a few more years. It’s interesting each of our positions on the Oline are locked in, with players that have starting potential backing up every position Jones, Simmons, Pocic, Haynes, Fant. To me Jones has the least potential, but the one constant and concerning theme is guys that struggle to be available on game day. So far Pocic and Fant have been the only back ups to have been consistently available, so maybe it’s worth drafting a tackle even while retaining Ifedi.
I respect your opinion, and don’t want such a discussion to get bent out of shape. I’m just DONE with Ifedi, at least as a tackle option. He’s probably going to be vying for the most penalized OLman in the league. Again. He’s too slow, not good enough on his feet to be a pass blocking tackle. We’ll probably have to keep him there this year regardless, but that’s it for me. He was pretty much a bust for a first round pick as an OLman. He’s playing like a rehab guy picked off the scrap heap to me. Again, at least at the tackle position.
Ifedi will bank on the FA market. Even a sub-par tackle would be an upgrade for several teams, and some arrogant coaching staff will think they can fix him. He’ll definitely get paid and Seattle won’t match.
There’s a very good reason why we didn’t extend Ifedi this off-season. He’s overpaid now as an OLman being the first round draft pick that he was. But you go with what you’ve got unless you can find someone better. He did okay as a run blocker last year. Yes, I’ll give him that. But no one is ever going to nick name him “twinkle-toes” as a pass blocking OT, unless sarcastically so.
He got called for two holding calls and a false start today. And if you watched the replays of the sacks of RW you saw him get beat badly on a few of them. Par for the course for him.
I don’t like dumping on a guy for sport’s sake. He’s just not that good. But I’m okay with my stance on him because he’s already made more money than 99.5% of the people in the world with four year’s worth of first round money.
He’s way overpaid now. It’s pretty obvious.
And no mention of Fluker’s performance…
Fluker sucked….but he’s mostly OK/mediocre as a pass blocker and pretty good in the run blocking.
Ifedi is a mediocre pass blocker and hot or cold run blocker.
He doesn’t let Russ to get sacked as much anymore, but because he holds defenders too much.
I won’t be mad if they keep him for a relatively cheap contract. He’s not awful, just mediocre. But I’d rather see them getting a good RT. Even if that’d mean a 15m avg contract for the new guy. Or I would rather give a 13-15m avg to a really good, excellent RT than 8-10m to Ifedi. And I’d be fine giving a 11m contract to an elite RG/LG.
If your QB makes 35m/year it’s bad practice to let him get sacked 3-4 times by mediocre passrushers. What will happen versus good front7s? Ravens will get 7 sacks? Rams 6? Saints 6?
Brown was a good addition. Now add some quality big name RT/OG and draft another lineman high (if we’re lucky he can start early if not he can be groomed to start in 1-2 years).
This team depends on Russ. Ifedi can be a stopgap before getting a really good guy but he’s not the final answer (neither is Fluker… I love his size, but gimme an OG who’s a huge mauler but also able to passblock)
“gimme an OG who’s a huge mauler but also able to passblock”
No problem. I’ll just run down to the grocery store and pick one up for you.
The Hawks are paying $2m for Fluker this year. What you’re describing costs $8m-10m or a very high draft pick. I doubt the Hawks will go down that road soon.
Yeah, those guys don’t grow on trees 🙂 But I’d happily sacrifice a 1st round or 8-10-11m to get one. Russ needs a clean inside pocket (if iOL pushed back because of his height he cannot throw middle, or he needs to roll out) and we really like inside runs, so I think that’s a really-really-really important position. I also doubt they’d go there, but I think the lines can make or break a season.
Give a mediocre QB all the time and he’ll be OK. Give an OK RB big lanes and he’ll look awesome (if Penny would get big holes everytime, he’d average over 10 yards in my opinion). Give a spotty secondary awesome passrush and they’ll shine. Put a really good RB against a top3 DL and he’ll have a long and hard game.
Rob: Why are you so hard on the Seahawks? When I read your comments (if I had not watched the game) you make it sound like we lost both games.
I think Rob’s given, as always, his even-handed assessment.
One, be very happy with the 2-0 start. We were fortunate to win the Bengals game. We deserved to win the Steelers game, but we still have flaws that need to be addressed.
Namely, the DL & OL need to play better. However, I think there’s room for optimism on both fronts. The OL was great last yr – no reason to think with essentially same personnel that it can’t be again. The DL is down three of its best players (Reed, Ford and Andah), with Clowney not fully in football shape either.
Plenty of reason for optimism, but Rob is correct to point out areas that need to improve if Seattle wants to achieve its goals this season.
Because I’m not a cheerleader who is getting carried away after two unspectacular wins.
It is possible to both be happy to be 2-0 and be constructively critical of the way the team has performed why also analysing areas where they need to improve.
I visit Rob’s site daily because he doesn’t overlook the obvious to push the tidal wave of irrational fanatical comments when through a partial shit show(offensive 1st half and the 2nd half defensive cautiousness), the Seahawks somehow pull out a W.
Pittsburgh is not a good team, yet it took a 4th and 1 run to seal the game at the end. I understand the teams MO in September so any W before October hits is a good W, but after wins there is way too much overlooking the issues and ‘we are awesome’ takes throughout Seattle fan message boards.
Right on, Edgar! This site is the best. It’s a serious analysis of the strengths and weaknesses. I think Rob has immense respect for PC/JS which, in my view, makes him sometimes biased in their favor. If you want a Seahawks cheerleader, you can listen to Dave Mahler from 3-6 every afternoon. You’ll get Husky cheers also.
I believe it is called ” reality”
I wouldn’t write off the OL or certain parts of it just yet. I think Seattle will be looking to add at LG and RT in the draft. I also expect them to grab some type of C/OG flexible player.
What other positions might be of interest in the 2020 draft??
I keep circling back to TE and possibly RB. Even with Dissly playing well so far this season, they need a 3rd wheel… since I do not think Vannett will be around next season. Nothing against him, he has been solid. This is one of the reasons I keep connecting the dots with the UofW TEs Hunter Bryant (2020 draft class) and Cade Otton (for 2021/2022 draft class).
I think a speed rusher is high on the list, too. For me, I’d say:
RT
DE
LG/C
CB
Fieldgulls has a piece on the ingame adjustments made by RW and Schott.
They changed to a quick passing offense, and while this wasn’t amling OL play better, it lowered the impact.
And y’know what… exactly this quick pass offense is the secret behind the Pats offense.
If they finally put Ursua on the field to leverage open fields, mixing rum game, quick passing and the occasional second read bomb, we will have a very good offense.
The OL can be fixed next offseason. Draft a 2nd rd RT, and add a veteran. And then we develop like the Eagles and Saints. If and when Brown is done, Jamarco Jones will be ready. If not, we can always add a veteran.
Our first pick will be another DE. Ansahs injury record will almost dictate that.
Amling = making
I’m just curious if they’re going to give Fant a go at the starting OT position again before too long? He can’t be worse than Ifedi, can he? Do they think Fant is potentially a starting OT or not? I don’t know. It seemed they were high on him in the past in this way. But, then again, our OL was in shambles not too long ago.
Who is a seriously viable candidate for our OL beyond Pocic or Fant? I don’t know.
I understand the right side of our OL was poor in pass pro, but has anyone also taken notice that all of our big runs last night went to the right side? Hard to call this a coincidence.
Yup that’s how I see it too, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water! Let Fant walk, let Schneider work on Ifedi then draft a RT in round 2 so we have tuff competition at RT. Then let one of our 3 centers walk and then fill that spot with a swing tackle in round 3 thru 7. Then use 1st & 2nd round on SS, RB, WR, TE
So turns out he can do this…!
Thanks for posting this Sea Mode. Be curious what it was in first half versus second? They played 6 quarters of long ball with a struggling offense. It seemed at halftime yesterday they accepted the fact their line couldn’t sustain pass blocking. Coaching 101, put your players in a position to succeed. Can’t sustain pass blocks, go to quick throws so they don’t have to. That’s when the offense started clicking.
Hopefully stick with it.
It has to be week by week though. They won plenty of games last season by dominating with the run. Football is a game of adjustments and they masterfully adjusted in Pittsburgh. But New Orleans will have that tape now. So next week you be you and if you have to adjust again, you find a way.
Agreed on week to week. It should be in the arsenal of a balanced offense. It’s in conjunction with taking what the defense gives you. My only gripe with the first two games is why did they wait 6 quarters to pull out the short game when the offensive was struggling. Quality run game and quick passing can neutralize a defensive line. See San Diego versus Seattle a couple times.
But it’s early in season and they are still figuring it out. Nice to be 2-0
Further on the week to week comment. When I think week to week it’s the Patriots. They game plan for their opponents weaknesses like no other. To me Seattle is the opposite, base defense and run play action offense. They want to impose their will on opponent.
I made a comment early in preseason that I would be curious to see what Ursua could do in New England as I didn’t see our offense catering to his quick skill set. But the second half of yesterday’s game has me hopeful
I agree with the week to week part of it. If you throw quick passes like that all the time eventually the DB’s will start to jump the routes which opens up pick sixes. Its great to use it but you cant do it all the time.
Perfect when they start jumping routes, that’s when you burn them deep. And Rus’s great at that
Sorry, I just can not help myself….
I had them winning 11 as a floor and at least 12 if they go 3-0…so here goes:
Rob, I think you underestimate the offensive performance we saw yesterday. PC teams run the ball and look for the play action deep pass. We saw the hawks do that every game and RW’s slow release has been part of it. Teams had that tape and knew that an all in attack by the DL on every play is the perfect remedy for it. Penetration kills running plays and sacks do wonders against deep passes. The Seahawks OL was never stellar and having to pass protect longer had its effects.
Yes, we did see quick passing plays to Baldwin from time to time, mostly on 3rd and 4-6. We also saw TEs attacking the seem here and there but even the great Jimmy G did not have a huge success outside the red zone.
Now, NO gets to see this game tape.
There is a running game that needs the beef to counter. (See CIN game plan)
There is RW’s deadly deep ball off the play action.
They attack the middle of the field (Dissly 5 for 5 and 2 TDs) so the needs to be accounted for.
And, they show a full offensive plan based on quick and decisive passing game with the ball out in less than 2 seconds???
At a certain point, defensive strategies contradict with each other. You cant play everything at once. When facing a truly balanced offense that can do everything effectively, they will always attack where you cant protect.
NE did it for years but coping them was easier said than done.
What I saw yesterday, on game 2 of the season, was an offense that can pick apart any defense they face as long as the right calls are being made.They have all the tools to execute anything the want to call.
As the Season roles on Schotty will have the tapes on what defenses do better/worse and all the tools to take them apart. I cant promise you that he will but if he does…this offense will execute it perfectly.
So, I am sorry that I so bullish after just 2 wins over poor opponents but I’m not going to step back till they show me they are not that good.
What’s the fun in that???
I think it’s a bit unfair to say I underestimate the offense. In this article I called Wilson’s performance practically flawless, praised the young receivers and my only quibble was two fumbles and the first half pass-protection (which are perfectly fair complaints).
There’s nothing wrong with being bullish. You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone happier than me that the Seahawks are 2-0. But I’m not going to paper over the cracks when I’m writing the article simply in the name of what might be more fun or positive. These two wins haven’t changed my outlook at all. I said 10-6 before the season and stand by it. If they keep playing games like this, they’ll drop an avoidable one sooner rather than later. I don’t have faith that this team is good enough, or at least capable of staying out of its own way long enough, to avoid losing at least a couple of frustrating ones. It’s nice that they dodged two bullets in the first two weeks but they need to be a lot cleaner in many ways. We’ll see if the likes of the Rams (x2), Eagles, Ravens, Vikings, Browns and 49ers (x2) are unable to take advantage of some sloppy moments like Cincy and Pittsburgh.
Highlighting the issues, while also highlighting the positives, is what I’ve always done here.
It doesn’t mean I’m down on the team or being negative. Predicting 10-6 isn’t exactly ‘negative’.
Glad they are taking the free money. The seams have been open for 2 games now for Lock and Dissly. The hitch is always too for DK. A big difference for me is quick passes to the RBs on 1st down. Carson in space will always make the first guy miss and almost always put them in 2nd and 5 which opens up the playbook. Both pass and run are still on the table in this down and distance making them more unpredictable. Slows down the rush a bit too. I cant help thinking that as they expand this area of the offense you might see more Prosise. He is a mismatch and the motioned the RB out to empty a few time yesterday. Anxious to see how this goes.
Was down on RW last week saying he needed to step up and play like he’s paid.
He really did in a big way. Great production, efficiency, safe and effective which can be seen in his stats & QBR
He made the difference
Pete Carroll Birthday Postgame Locker Room Celebration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm5ZrSDRqRc
Positives:
This was a much better game than last week.
Special kudos to Schotty and Wilson. Schotty made amazing tweaks mid-game and a good gameplan and Russ executed.
WRs looked good. Lockett was effective, DK had some nice grabs, he’s worth the hype. Turner played well.
TEs were really good catching the ball. Dissly was unstoppable, Vannett took a huge hit like a man.
Running game was OK, sometimes amazing.
Secondary played well
Negative/questionable things:
OL sucks. Last weak it was pretty much all of them, now it’s the right side. Ifedi falls back to being a weak RT.
Penny played much better, his TD run was awesome. But he still needs to prove himself. One good run and apart from that he’s averaged like 2,5 yards/carry or something along that line. But not hating on him, this was his best game
CC fumbling…why?
Jaron Brown needs to be a healthy scratch, he’s currently just hurting the team
Needs a lot more pressure up front. Opponents dominating our OL while the other QB has all the time in the world to throw won’t work against better teams
STOP using 3 LBs all the time. KJ and Kendricks gets burned almost always by quality WRs. This is getting ridiculous. Taylor played well, Amadi is solid, or if you don’t trust them, throw a 1st round for Fitzpatrick. The Pats or Rams will/would massacre this defense with matchups
10…ten…TEN penalties, smh…why??
Rudolph actually played better than Big Ben imo, so this was not an easier win because of Ben’s injury
So, all in all great game, apart from some stupid mistakes, I was happy about it.
Things to do to be have a shot at SB or deep PO run:
1, fix that damn OL somehow (move it, or more max protection, or chip more, etc)
2, Generate more pressure with the front7 (depending on the situation: pray for Ansah’s return, Collier’s quick learning or Reed’s return and hopefully impact from week 6)
3, Good gameplans and adjusts like in this game
4, Forget base defense, use more nickel (Kendricks can spy or used when suspect run or screen, not to cover WRs)
5, Fix stupid penalties (keep penalty-count under 6)
6, Fix turnovers and sacks (emphasize ball security, practice a lot more WR blocking, chipping, TE blocking)
These are absolutely doable, and I’m sure PC will enforce these. If this is a regular Hawks season, and this will only get better then the future is bright
Fluker, Ifedi and Carson put up a stinker. To be fair, I thought both teams would shut down each other’s run game. Clowney has to be kept mostly at the wide 9 at the moment. It allows him to disrupt the running lane by using his length. Clowney’s time for pass rush will come when Reed and Ansah comes back. Clowney is best used at wide 9 and in stunts.
-We did make some nice throws to dissly, they played a fair amount of cover 4 and it vacated some space.
-I was surprised we didn’t use Prosise more, I expected him to trotted out. There were a couple opportunities that I would like to have seen taken with his wheel route.
-Fluker and Ifedi need to get some things cleaned up, neither are top 15 pass blockers but for the cap space not too bad.
-Carson has had some exchange troubles. A little worrisome, he was benched back in juco for it.
Disagree about Clowney. You move him around, shoot gaps, and tell him to be a bull in a China shop. No doubt he can come off the edge, but it’s not his greatest asset.
We replaced Frank Clark with him. So we’ll use Frank as an example.
Is he better than Frank Clark? Yes. Is he more valuable to/can elevate a defense more than Frank Clark? Yes. Would I take Clowney over Clark on 3rd & long coming off the edge? Absolutely not.
I LOVED seeing some of the run game adjustments. Love seeing them spread out the D then run. The quick swing passes to get Carson in space, getting the RBs off the edge and around the corner, it just seemed to mesh much better.
Now to get the O line in shape and part of an actual functioning unit…
Looks like Brees will be out 6 weeks. Saints are still a very good team, but this news helps even the odds a little now.
It certainly does because to be honest, Teddy Bridgewater has not been good when he’s had to play for New Orleans. Either as a spot starter or in pre-season. Taysom Hill, for me, would be a greater threat.
Big opportunity to go 3-0 now. Got to take opportunities like that to have a special season.
Wow. I predicted 11-5 and with some bounces maybe 12-4. This looks like one of those bounces.
Not chalking this up as a win before the game is even played but not having Brees tips the odds in the Hawks’ favor.
Speaking of odds, I read Hawks are 15-0 at Home in September since 2010 and 12-3 ATS. Very strong chance at 3-0.
Hawks seem to have a way of making a replacement (or replacement level) starter of looking like an All-Pro and having a career day. I can’t count the number of times over the the last few years a “backup” has played the Hawks and ripped the D to shreds.
At this point nothing is guaranteed and I”ll be happy to escape the weekend with a win.
Our zone D relies on the DL to create a closing pocket on the QB and it relies on our linebackers to really hammer the RB’s, TE’s, and WR’s. When your in man to man it’s hard to “put the hit” on the defender but in zone you can knock the crap out of the ball carrier. Our DL focuses on the formation of the pocket vs individual stats. Like New England Seahawks will give yards in the middle of the field and focus on the end zone and short yardage plays. We have an advantage in the kicking game we should be comfortable playing field position and giving up field goals.
Good to see progress from Malik Turner. John U was active was step up, hopefully they will carve out role from him in future games. Once David Moore is healthy, I see Jaron Brown out from team when they make room for J Reed.
Roethlisberger to have surgery on his elbow and is done for the season.
Pittsburg would be wise to trade Big Ben because Ben is done with Pitt.
I don’t think there would be much of a trade market for a player at the back end of his career who is done for the current season.
Patriots! They love old QB’s and Ben would have another 5+ years in NE. Probably get him for a case of chowder!!
That’s chowDAH! Say it right Frenchie!
Come back here! I’m not done demeaning you!
My bad!! Ben for some chowDAH and lobSTAH!! I think McZ is probably right on, Ben is probably done with football. Not sure he’ll have the motivation to come back next year.
Ben is done with football.
Don’t know if it was mentioned earlier, and i haven’t checked grades anywhere, but I thought Iupati had a good game. He was matched up against Cam Heyward most of the day and he was quiet. Also when Tuitt was on his side he was neutralized which was a stark contrast to Fluker. They also ran right behind him and Brown with the game on the line. The pass pro from the left looked good most of the day. He left briefly and was replaced by Pocic but if he can stay in there i think he is off to a good start.
Oh also wanted to shout out to Old man Duane Brown getting out on a tackle trap! He is still pretty spry. Sprung Carson for a big gain.
I’m pissed at Hawkblogger for writing this in his game notes – because I was talking about it last night –
Will Dissly is Jason Witten. What a pro. He will never put up insane stats but he is going to be one of the most valuable offensive pieces this team will have. It’s VERY early, but he’s looking like Zach Miller in this offense. Don’t underestimate how critically important his role will be moving forward.
I’m just loving the fact we have 2 young pass catchers that seemingly have RW’s total trust (DK and Dissly).
A general comment – love the vibe of this team. Really a close knit group that is still in it’s infancy when it comes to cohesion. Going to be an exciting year.
I don’t think of Witten when watching Dissly to be honest. I think Witten is actually an often overlooked, vastly underrated receiving weapon at tight end (or at least was in his younger years). To me Dissly is more akin to Zach Miller as you mentioned — although I think Miller was a bit more athletic.
Certainly though Dissly is a very useful player and the offense is better with him.
The Witten comp for me is exclusively about watching a guy who doesn’t move all that well seemingly being open a lot and catching everything. Obviously Witten was in an offense that fed him a lot. Again, just more of the “I don’t understand how this guy is always *kinda* open” despite the athletic limitations.
Zach Miller is the right comp – to your point. I just think people are vastly underrating what he means to this team. Schotty’s quote a few weeks back about “just feeling more comfortable when Dissly is out there,” really is illuminating after a few weeks of watching this team.
Fluker STUNK. So did Ifedi. Ifedi’s 5th year, yet he still does ridiculous penalties that should be long gone by now. Glad they didn’t do the 5th year option on him.
I would offer (at this point) a vet minimum for him going forward. He has proven that he can’t learn and sustain said learning while having one of the best o-line coaches in the NFL…..Time to move on.
Fluker should be a perennial 1 year signing.
Draft or trade for a competent RT. Whats up with Jamarco Jones? Give this guy some snaps and put Ifedi on the bench for a few plays/series.
DJ Fluker? More like DJ FLUNKER! Amirite guys? Guys?
I’ll see myself out.
A vet minimum? Let’s be realistic here.
Not a good game for Fluker or Ifedi and improvement is needed. But let’s not go OTT after two games.
Rob, when will you anounce big news? 😁
Soon
Can someone give me a read on what’s going on with Taco Charlton?
He just tweeted he wants to be ‘freed’ from Dallas.
What is his best position and why is Dallas not playing him?
Taco found his calling……https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG3PnQ3tgzY
I threw his name out as a trade target before the season started. He’s buried on their depth chart (DE) is my understanding. He hasn’t really lived up to the hype (1st rounder) and isn’t playing much (at all?). I think he’s been inactive.
Cowboy fans don’t seem too distraught over the thought of losing him. Most calling him a bust, for what that’s worth.
Pete, the master motivator…
Thrilled to be 2-0 and excited about the Ansah, Ford, Reed (Polite?) rollout over the next few weeks. Hunt, Haynes and Dickson are on the mend too.
Happy to see Griffin, Flowers, Hill and McDougald playing well and looking forward to seeing more Ugo in the slot.
Just clean up the OL play (sacks and penalties). I’ll turn my cheek on the fumbles, for now.
Hard pass on Minkah and Taco. Looking forward to our 2020 draft capital.
R1: LEO
R2: DT
R2: OL
R3: DB
R4: DB
R4: TE
R5: RB
Go Hawks!
After game 8 each day Polite is on the practice squad odds increase dramatically that another team goes after him.
Ha, we get friggin Bridgewater and not Brees. It’s not a guaranteed victory but is very significant.
Contain Kamara and this is 3-0.
It definitely helps our chances, Brees is tough to replace. I’d say we still need to contain Thomas in addition to Kamara! He can be a beast, even with an average QB!
Saints are a game where I’m glad we can trot out our 3 LBs, shut down their run game, and dare Teddy to have a go at beating us with his arm.
Slightly worried about KJ having to match up with Kamara in the passing game, but I’m sure we’ll game plan to give him some help.
Hill had a pretty good game. Our LB’s are awesome. Kendricks is so athletic. And Wright was stout. Did you see his vicious tackle?
I have only one minor concern here and that’s when they often sell out to take away the run, they tend to play vanilla in terms of coverage and pass rush and opposing QB’s who are not that good have often had terrific days (Andy Dalton last week, Blake Bortles 2017).
I’d like to see them get after Bridgewater a little and force errors, rather than daring him to beat them.
Terrible spot for the Saints it’s the type of game where your back up QB gets knocked out & your star RB ends up on IR. We have so many FA’s in 2020 and they all know this game is the game to put up stats. Jackson could make it 3 games with 3 sacks, Clowney & Ansah must have monster games.
After watching the game replay, it’s clear that the weak link on the OL yesterday was Fluker, NOT Ifedi. On the first sack by TJ Watt, Fluker got beat badly off the snap by the DT (Heyward?), who pushed past Fluker upfield to the outside (towards Ifedi). To make matters worse, instead of handing off the DT to Ifedi as he should have (and shifting to Watt), Fluker ran himself and the DT into Ifedi. This took Ifedi out of the play completely, rendering him unable to help Fluker with the DT, as well as preventing Fluker from picking up Watt, who stunted behind the DT for the sack. Fluker was also solely responsible for Wilson’s 2nd sack when Heyward just steamrolled him back into Wilson. BTW, Fluker repeatedly got beat off the snap yesterday, allowing the DT to push into and past him before the play even got going numerous times.
IMO Ifedi is already a decent RT who can become better. He excels in the power run game. Point him at a defender and he’ll bulldoze the man out of the way. What he doesn’t do well is adapt or adjust on the fly, especially in pass pro. It looks like he gets confused easily, misses stunt pick ups, loses his assignment and commits frustrating penalties. Speaking of penalties, I’m mostly talking about the offsides calls; I don’t fault him too much for the holds because (1) at least he’s trying, and (2) some of the holding calls he gets are legit ticky tacky. The other limitation Ifedi has is that he’s not (yet) good enough to compensate when the guy next to him blows his assignment. He’s only as good as the OL next to him. Hate to break it to Hawks nation, but that’s the case with all but a handful of RTs around the League.
Anyway, I think Ifedi is already a decent RT who has the ability to improve significantly. He’s got elite size and athleticism. He just needs more experience to put it all together. I’m not advocating throwing stupid money at him next year to keep, but I do think things could be a lot worse if they let him go. Just sayin.
I thought Iupati had a solid game, especially for his first outing. I still don’t think he’s a long term answer at LG simply because of his age and injury issues. But I do think he’s better than Pocic. Having said that, I also think that right now Pocic is better than Fluker. Pocic is far more athletic and didn’t get beat off the snap when he spelled for Fluker yesterday. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point this season the starting OL is Brown-Iupati-Britt-Pocic-Ifedi.
Carson’s recent spate of fumbles is concerning. The game shouldn’t have even been close, but for his (2nd?) turnover that led to a PIT TD. Fortunately Penny is starting to come into his own. Some people knock him because he’s not putting up gaudy stats, but why would anyone expect him to when he’s the second RB? I think if he was the feature back he’d be putting up 100 yard games regularly. He’s similar to Lynch in that the later in the game, the better he gets. He wears down a defense, not just with power, but also with change up. He’s not quite the tap dancer that Prosise is, but he’s surprisingly nimble for a big, bruising back. He’s also more cerebral than I gave him credit for early on. He runs with a game plan — not just carry to carry — but overall within a game, he’ll set up a defense to expect one thing, then make them pay when they overcommit to that expectation. There is no better RB group in the NFL than SEA’s.
I was critical of some of the play calling in the first half, especially at the end of the 2nd quarter. Fortunately, they were able to change up the plan in the second half to exploit the weaknesses in PIT’s defense. It’s gratifying and reassuring to see them utilize Wilson’s strengths so efficiently. Dissly is the best SEA TE since Miller. I know Vannett had a clutch reception to extend a drive, and I give him props for holding onto the ball despite a jarring hit. But he’s as bad at blocking as JG, and I think SEA could do much better. I expect they’ll try to upgrade him next offseason.
It’s only been 2 games, but so far DK is progressing into the team’s #1 WR. I think he will be the X post bye week. That’s taking nothing away from Lockett, just more of a recognition of their relative strengths. DK is a number one receiver, whereas Lockett is more slot/Z. Also, to me, Turner > Brown. And I would like to see Jennings get some targets.
On the DL, Collier had no impact, though I wasn’t expecting much for his first pro game. Green was quiet too, but I get the feeling he’s knocking on the door a lot more lately, and I think his presence will start to be felt deeper into the season. Al Woods is the best interior DL on the team right now. He’s been fantastic thus far.
One criticism I have about yesterday is that there were several plays (both offense and defense) where some of the Seahawks on the field stopped playing and became spectators just watching the action. I get that not every player will be involved in every play. But they should at least try. It wasn’t a good look.
The Brees injury is a boon for us. This team is likely 3-0 next week. That’s a fantastic start, regardless of the details of how we got there.
There is a lot to be said optimistically, from many observers of the Hawk’s prospects for the season, and rightfully so. But the true measure of their prospects for the season lies in that locker room, and that locker room is jumping right now.
The celebration was great to see. They seem to be having a lot of fun again. But, it’s good to pay close intention to the leadership that is formulating before our very eyes. Notice how everyone is buying in to the direction that this leadership is giving. JD’s a prime example of how the direction is affecting this team, and as to where it is heading. He’s having fun out there on the field, and on the sidelines. He is “all in” on Russ’ leadership.
Are they going to go 16-0 heading into the playoffs? No, at least that would be the perspective from most, that it is not going to happen. But, opinions of those in the that locker room are probably the few that really matters.
Will they go 12-4, 10-6, 13-3, or 9-7, we shall see. This team is building something special. It’s going to be fun to watch the outcome.
https://static.clubs.nfl.com/image/private/t_new_photo_album/f_auto/seahawks/bcliapapatuyaliwwjnu.jpg
I gotta defend Rob for a minute. He hasnt been closed minded with me here. He just has his opinion and hes probably right in not being too excited.
Just differing opinions. No big deal. 4-0 may be quite realistic. 6-0 is admittedly going to be hard to do, and odds are it wont happen. It’s not a bad thing to acknowledge flaws, and it’s not bad to be overly optimistic. These discussions are where we learn.
Let’s not get carried away with each other. Rob is the best, no need to have a problem with any thing he said.
I will also defend you Coleslaw. There’s nothing wrong with being excited about the team and optimistically predicting a 4-0 or 6-0 start. I disagreed and think we should chill on getting a little ahead of ourselves — but I equally don’t wish to diminish anyone’s enthusiasm for their football team.
I totally see where you’re coming from. Just my outlook and yours. I totally respect your opinion and will always take it to heart. 6-0 is a gamble, it could go either way.
Just dont want to see anyone say anything they’ll regret. It’s all love here. Differing opinions is what makes this blog great. Just thought it was necessary to stop the nonsense. Not that anything said by anyone was really bad anyway. You aren’t contrarian (most of the time 😉) and certainly weren’t in this thread.
Hawks are 2-0 let’s be happy and enjoy it and this blog. No need for any criticism. I dont think it was a real big deal but just wanted to nip it in the bud.
The Seahawks’ defensive snap counts from Sunday: Jamar Taylor handled the majority of the nickelback duties, replacing Ugo Amadi, and played only 19 of 57 snaps as Seattle again went with a lot of base defense. That was also the case in the opener. For comparison, Justin Coleman played about 68% of the Seahawks’ defensive snaps last year as their nickelback. ~ Henderson / ESPN
This topic has been discussed previously, but here is the official numbers. They pretty much go nickle ~33 percent of the time, which is 180 degree from 2018 which was ~66 percent. The rush defense has improved greatly (so far), but the trade off with yards yielded through the air is concerning.
I think it can be attributed to our opponents.
First off we want to stop the run and make them pass. We want to make them 1 dimensional and making them pass has a better chance of creating turnovers and stopping offenses. That’s simple.
With Cincy, we couldve went to a nickel base after Mixon went out, but it was week 1 and we learned a lot.
Stopping the run vs Pitt was a lot more important, they have a much better OL and even once Ben went out it was just more reason to force them to pass.
The secondary is the weak spot, but after the first 2 games, we haven’t been challenged enough to see what they’ll do. Probably a good thing. Our bane this year will likely be high powered passing offenses who dont need a running game. Luckily for us there aren’t many teams who can do that.
Jalen Ramsay requested a trade from the jags via his agent.
I know he blew up at his coach yesterday, and showed up in a brinks truck to camp. I also know that he’s one of, if not the best CB in the NFL.
Considering PCJS pride themselves on being “in” on every deal, I wonder what fair comp would be and if we’d pay it.
So you’d have a small cap hit in 2019, a $13m cap hit in 2020, and either sign him to a massive extension or net a 2021 3rd round comp pick.
I would guess he’s looking for something in the range of $17-20m a year in his extension.
*2022 comp pick
Well I know in the past weve liked CBs in our scheme. In that realm of think its not likely at all.
Weve kind of shifted our defense, though. I’d like to know if anyone has any thoughts on if Ramsey might be a fit in Tampa 2 more than the bump and run cover 3 weve always ran?
My .02
Let someone else pay to deal with that headache.