MontanaHawk05
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 1, 2009
- Messages
- 17,903
- Reaction score
- 432
1. The Seahawks once again found the most creatively coronary-inducting way to almost lose. I fully expect statistics on blood pressure and heart failure to show a significant climb when reviewed in the next few years. Mom texted me, "I hate this kind of game". I can't say that, but I understand the sentiment.
2. HOWEVER, for once, the almost losing did not actually seem planned. I didn't see anything fundamentally scary about the way the Seahawks went into this game. They had the right approach and good personnel. Instead, the team was sabotaged by a couple of glaringly bad performances that happened to come at crucial positions. It was "one of those games", and in the end, the Seahawks showed the resiliency and toughness they needed. That's how imperfect teams win games (and there are no perfect teams).
3. Credit Pete Carroll and Darell Bevell for walking into this game with the right gameplan. Quick-timing passes against a severely underrated DL, not forcing Wilson to hold onto the ball to make his meal - it was exactly the right medicine. For all the immediate complaints about playcalling from the past, the Week 1 Seahawks looked much closer to the late 2015 Seahawks than anything else. I could have used some more focus on the run. This looked more like a "pass to open up the run" thing. But Pete was smart enough not to try long-developing plays with an untried OL against a world-beater DL. Small praise, seemingly, but he's tried dumb stuff before.
4. Speaking of the run, Thomas Rawls and Christine Michael acquitted themselves well. It speaks volumes that the team turned to Michael on the final drive when needed, and Michael did not disappoint. I like the elusivity, vision, and burst he's developing. Rawls, for his part, was bruising as if he'd never been injured. That push to the first down marker on 2nd and 4 was truly, as Ian Eage put it, "Lynch-esque". It occurred to me: if these two backs continue on their current trajectory in their current style, it could end up being like both 2013 Marshawn Lynch and 2005 Shaun Alexander on the field at the same time. For a year. After which Michael will probably be gone.
5. Unexpected health was fun. Pete, typically so conservative with injuries, put both Rawls and Jimmy Graham out there without ill effects. It was fun to see. It's exciting how well they seem to have healed. In addition, Jarran Reed and Paul Richardson also made it out there. With so many health-related question marks out there, this was a breath of fresh air. (How does Graham get minimal catches yet they're always the ones crucial to the win?)
6. Jarran Reed, speaking of, was great. Immovable as advertised, and with a handy penchant for knocking down balls at the line of scrimmage. I've always felt he got a little undersold over the offseason, but if he can just be an immediately functional Brandon Mebane replacement, it's worth the second-rounder.
7. The defense is back. Tremendous individual efforts throughout. Reed we know. DeShawn Shead and Jeremy Lane made huge statement about their viability, and both may end up starting regularly if we stay in a 4-2-5 habit. Bobby Wagner seems to have heard Kearly complaining about his 2015 dropoff, because he was a terror to Adam Gase's plans all game long. Kam Chancellor also looks like a man possessed once again. Frank Clark, Michael Bennett, and Cliff Avril, all disruptive. The Rams fans are talking about our defense, and not in an excited way.
8. Cassius Marsh gets his own point because woooo, game-changing plays. Three of them. This game is a loss without him. That said, he also gets his own point because he, and not Earl Thomas, was responsible for Arian Foster's 50-yard run. He rushed the passer instead of dropping back to contain, and Arian took advantage. But who cares. STRAIGHT CASH.
9. Earl Thomas and Tyler Lockett. They'll never have a bad day like that again. Tackling, pursuit, reads, all bad for Earl. A better QB would have shredded him for 27 points, 6 of them at least to Kenny Stills. Lockett, for his part, killed two drives. Not really a fan of blaming Bevell for that.
10. Give credit to the Dolphins. Foster made people miss, their receiving weapons are underrated like crazy, and of course, their DL is a supernova of pain and shattered play designs. Rashad Jones made noise. Even Tannehill did fairly well, albeit in the Jeff-Fisher-with-bad-QBs-against-the-Seahawks kind of way. Adam Gase knows he's not Brady and deployed him in conservative fashion, keeping it going with the safe passes and trying simply to outlast the Legion. He wasn't counting on Lane and Shead's aggression, but still, it wasn't a bad plan. Joe Philbin would have handed us a blowout.
11. The Ankle. The most watched ankle in all of sports right now. Did anyone else think the fates had it out for that ankle on Sunday? Not only did Wilson break it, but Cameron Wake tried blatantly to grab them on his personal foul call, and then Glowinski fell on them. It's quite a statement that Wilson is walking around right now at all, much less without a boot.
12. It needs to be said: Wilson played a role in his own injury. The man just. will. not. throw. the. ball. away. He was at the top of his drop when Suh appeared and Wilson should have known better than to try and rabbit.
13. Wilson might have also played a bigger role in that interception of his than most have spotted. Whenever an unblocked rusher comes off the line, it's usually either a blown RB blocking assignment or a blown protection call. Could have been the RB, Britt, or Wilson who failed to account for him.
14. OL did just fine given the circumstances. Assorted penalties, of course, but generally Wilson had time to do his thing and the RBs found daylight. Bradley Sowell is probably going to remain a liability against better DE's.
15. Love that the final TD was an audible from Russ to Baldwin. Love it.
16. Bring Clint back.
17. Against the Rams, Seattle would be wise to deploy the same quick-passing stuff to keep their DL honest. Same situation as Miami - epic DL, not much else going on. I do think Rawls should be a bigger part of the equation, and now that he's proven his health, I think he will be. It'll be another low-scoring game; the team with the fewer dumb mistakes will win, and Fisher WILL be trying to be that guy. He's beaten us with Austin Davis before, just by having Austin play patient and smart while the defense kept it close. We have to play their game and play it better. All there is to it.
2. HOWEVER, for once, the almost losing did not actually seem planned. I didn't see anything fundamentally scary about the way the Seahawks went into this game. They had the right approach and good personnel. Instead, the team was sabotaged by a couple of glaringly bad performances that happened to come at crucial positions. It was "one of those games", and in the end, the Seahawks showed the resiliency and toughness they needed. That's how imperfect teams win games (and there are no perfect teams).
3. Credit Pete Carroll and Darell Bevell for walking into this game with the right gameplan. Quick-timing passes against a severely underrated DL, not forcing Wilson to hold onto the ball to make his meal - it was exactly the right medicine. For all the immediate complaints about playcalling from the past, the Week 1 Seahawks looked much closer to the late 2015 Seahawks than anything else. I could have used some more focus on the run. This looked more like a "pass to open up the run" thing. But Pete was smart enough not to try long-developing plays with an untried OL against a world-beater DL. Small praise, seemingly, but he's tried dumb stuff before.
4. Speaking of the run, Thomas Rawls and Christine Michael acquitted themselves well. It speaks volumes that the team turned to Michael on the final drive when needed, and Michael did not disappoint. I like the elusivity, vision, and burst he's developing. Rawls, for his part, was bruising as if he'd never been injured. That push to the first down marker on 2nd and 4 was truly, as Ian Eage put it, "Lynch-esque". It occurred to me: if these two backs continue on their current trajectory in their current style, it could end up being like both 2013 Marshawn Lynch and 2005 Shaun Alexander on the field at the same time. For a year. After which Michael will probably be gone.
5. Unexpected health was fun. Pete, typically so conservative with injuries, put both Rawls and Jimmy Graham out there without ill effects. It was fun to see. It's exciting how well they seem to have healed. In addition, Jarran Reed and Paul Richardson also made it out there. With so many health-related question marks out there, this was a breath of fresh air. (How does Graham get minimal catches yet they're always the ones crucial to the win?)
6. Jarran Reed, speaking of, was great. Immovable as advertised, and with a handy penchant for knocking down balls at the line of scrimmage. I've always felt he got a little undersold over the offseason, but if he can just be an immediately functional Brandon Mebane replacement, it's worth the second-rounder.
7. The defense is back. Tremendous individual efforts throughout. Reed we know. DeShawn Shead and Jeremy Lane made huge statement about their viability, and both may end up starting regularly if we stay in a 4-2-5 habit. Bobby Wagner seems to have heard Kearly complaining about his 2015 dropoff, because he was a terror to Adam Gase's plans all game long. Kam Chancellor also looks like a man possessed once again. Frank Clark, Michael Bennett, and Cliff Avril, all disruptive. The Rams fans are talking about our defense, and not in an excited way.
8. Cassius Marsh gets his own point because woooo, game-changing plays. Three of them. This game is a loss without him. That said, he also gets his own point because he, and not Earl Thomas, was responsible for Arian Foster's 50-yard run. He rushed the passer instead of dropping back to contain, and Arian took advantage. But who cares. STRAIGHT CASH.
9. Earl Thomas and Tyler Lockett. They'll never have a bad day like that again. Tackling, pursuit, reads, all bad for Earl. A better QB would have shredded him for 27 points, 6 of them at least to Kenny Stills. Lockett, for his part, killed two drives. Not really a fan of blaming Bevell for that.
10. Give credit to the Dolphins. Foster made people miss, their receiving weapons are underrated like crazy, and of course, their DL is a supernova of pain and shattered play designs. Rashad Jones made noise. Even Tannehill did fairly well, albeit in the Jeff-Fisher-with-bad-QBs-against-the-Seahawks kind of way. Adam Gase knows he's not Brady and deployed him in conservative fashion, keeping it going with the safe passes and trying simply to outlast the Legion. He wasn't counting on Lane and Shead's aggression, but still, it wasn't a bad plan. Joe Philbin would have handed us a blowout.
11. The Ankle. The most watched ankle in all of sports right now. Did anyone else think the fates had it out for that ankle on Sunday? Not only did Wilson break it, but Cameron Wake tried blatantly to grab them on his personal foul call, and then Glowinski fell on them. It's quite a statement that Wilson is walking around right now at all, much less without a boot.
12. It needs to be said: Wilson played a role in his own injury. The man just. will. not. throw. the. ball. away. He was at the top of his drop when Suh appeared and Wilson should have known better than to try and rabbit.
13. Wilson might have also played a bigger role in that interception of his than most have spotted. Whenever an unblocked rusher comes off the line, it's usually either a blown RB blocking assignment or a blown protection call. Could have been the RB, Britt, or Wilson who failed to account for him.
14. OL did just fine given the circumstances. Assorted penalties, of course, but generally Wilson had time to do his thing and the RBs found daylight. Bradley Sowell is probably going to remain a liability against better DE's.
15. Love that the final TD was an audible from Russ to Baldwin. Love it.
16. Bring Clint back.
17. Against the Rams, Seattle would be wise to deploy the same quick-passing stuff to keep their DL honest. Same situation as Miami - epic DL, not much else going on. I do think Rawls should be a bigger part of the equation, and now that he's proven his health, I think he will be. It'll be another low-scoring game; the team with the fewer dumb mistakes will win, and Fisher WILL be trying to be that guy. He's beaten us with Austin Davis before, just by having Austin play patient and smart while the defense kept it close. We have to play their game and play it better. All there is to it.
