Did the Rams game bring up any cause for concern?

[hawk45]

My concern occurred before the Rams game and it was what do we do when teams adjust to our quick passing game when it took us years to figure out a quick passing game is how Russ survives?
Russ got knocked around vs Cleveland as well, and if I'm a DC I disrupt the routes at the LOS and force our protection to hold up, which it won't. That blueprint is available to anyone with a decent defense, not just the Rams.
The counter adjustment would be to burn them deep a few times, which I think Bevell may have been trying to do vs the Rams, but against them we are helpless.
So here's hoping it works a little better against other teams. Russ will still get beaten up but at least the offense will work.
But ultimately the weakness of the OL will be a factor. Just s question of whether we are able to hide it and guess right during the adjust/counteradjust chess match during games going forward.
A run game to provide another dimension sure would help, I do have hopes our line can manage that.

 

[Anthony!]

To me it seemed like the plays were what we were running early season. Long developing routes etc. Haven't seen all22 footage so that is just what it looked like while watching. I was really surprised at the lack of quick hitters.

It looked to me like the rams were playing the quick pass game quite well. Russell was looking to get rid of the ball quick, but he didn't pull the trigger.

LOL of course

If you disagree, I'd like to know what game you were watching. Easily seen even in the tv copy. Compare this game to the past three and have your stopwatch at the ready if you don't believe me.

You are right compare them and you will see different routes, Wr not getting open, and no passing lanes. At least that is what Huard, Millan, PC said and it is what I saw too. It had nothing to do with Russell not pulling the trigger oh and 6 drops did not help

 

[Mojambo]

You know who has trouble with the blitz? Both Wilson and our crappy line.

Simply not true. Wilson is probably the best QB in the league against the blitz.

I do think they will struggle against the Panthers 4 and 5 man rushes, but I think they'll destroy Arizona's blitzes.

 

[bloodkingg]

17 23, could've been 24 16 if not for Tukuafu's fumble. I think this game reminded us a couple of things: that's not give the ball to a DE that plays fullback, that Patrick Lewis needs to be extra careful snapping in the rain, think that we can use Christine Michael against elite lines, and rely on Bailey instead of Okung (more/less next year). It'll be fine.

Long story short, glorified pre-season game, not worried.


Edit: And even more to the point, if the game was extended infinitely we would've won by infinite points. We're better, they just got off to a good start. We'll hammer out the bugs by playoff time.

 

[bigskydoc]

You know who has trouble with the blitz? Both Wilson and our crappy line.

Simply not true. Wilson is probably the best QB in the league against the blitz.

I do think they will struggle against the Panthers 4 and 5 man rushes, but I think they'll destroy Arizona's blitzes.

This team does very well against the blitz when the defense shows blitz prior to the snap. The dichotomy of opinion on the Seahawks capability against the blitz comes because they do terrible with post-snap adjustments. When teams successfully disguise their blitz or show blitz but don't bring it, the Hawks struggle to make headway.

The best way to shut down Seattle's passing attack is to show blitz, bring 4 and use the other guys to clog up the short-mid passing routes and lanes. If Seattle's run game is clicking, we can usually defeat this with the play action keeping the defense a little more honest.

I haven't watched the Rams game yet as I have been traveling, but they really are one of the best teams at disguising their pressures. Zona has a potent blitz, but they rarely try to disguise it. Carolina also tends to be more up front with their pressure packages. They are the only NFC defenses that give me concern.

St Louis did little to change my opinion of our chances. We have a tough road ahead and we are neither as bad as we looked last weekend nor as dominant as we looked the prior four weeks (although we are closer to the prior four weeks than we are to last week.)

-bsd

 

[Anthony!]

You know who has trouble with the blitz? Both Wilson and our crappy line.

Simply not true. Wilson is probably the best QB in the league against the blitz.

I do think they will struggle against the Panthers 4 and 5 man rushes, but I think they'll destroy Arizona's blitzes.

its funny they said that same thing during the broadcast about Wilson being the best against the blitz.

 

[mrt144]

You know who has trouble with the blitz? Both Wilson and our crappy line.

Despite statistical evidence that says otherwise about Wilson.

 

[Rob12]

You know who has trouble with the blitz? Both Wilson and our crappy line.

No, not really, Twisted. He did have some issues with the blitz last week against the Rams. But throughout his career, his numbers have been very good against the blitz. So to say that he has trouble with it is something I'm not going to agree with.

Before the Rams game, Russell was completing 72.1 of his passes, with 9 TD's and 0 INT's in his previous five games when opposing defenses were throwing the kitchen sink at him.

Having a bit of a depleted and banged up WR corps didn't help. For whatever reason, the ball wasn't getting out like it had been over the past five weeks. But to say he has trouble with the blitz is nothing more than recency bias.

 

[Boom84]

Yes, definitely concerned about Aaron Donald and to a lesser extent Robert Quinn. It's those two players who will need to be the focus of some of the personnel moves Seattle makes in the offseason to limit their effectiveness over the coming season. There hasn't been any 'off days' for the team against the Rams and those two players, they are simply quite good and they have whipped the Seahawks offensive line in recent matchups.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

You know who has trouble with the blitz? Both Wilson and our crappy line.

No, not really, Twisted. He did have some issues with the blitz last week against the Rams. But throughout his career, his numbers have been very good against the blitz. So to say that he has trouble with it is something I'm not going to agree with.

Before the Rams game, Russell was completing 72.1 of his passes, with 9 TD's and 0 INT's in his previous five games when opposing defenses were throwing the kitchen sink at him.

Having a bit of a depleted and banged up WR corps didn't help. For whatever reason, the ball wasn't getting out like it had been over the past five weeks. But to say he has trouble with the blitz is nothing more than recency bias.

You have to remember that Twisted and Tical were two of the most vocal critics of signing Russ to a franchise QB level contract this past offseason so take their posts critical of him with a grain of salt much like I'm sure you do with Anthony! on the other end of the spectrum.

 

[rideaducati]

It should.

When we lost to the Rams the first time, the line was that it was the Rams and they are pretty good.

Then it turns out they suck.

And for all the great things they do well, nobody else seems to have that much trouble beating them.

But we do, because they have a a really good DL.

You know who else has a really good DL? The Panthers. A team that already beat us, at home.

Arizona doesn't have as good of a line, but they blitz a lot.

You know who has trouble with the blitz? Both Wilson and our crappy line.

So, as long as we are playing the Sisters of the Poor, we can score in bunches. But against even a very good DL, we are in trouble.

That should be cause for worry.

Now hopefully Kam will come back, Okung will at least get a little better, and Lynch can make a big push in the playoffs.

Even so, I think this season was somewhat turned around but that schedule and facing some depleted/fortuitously injured teams helped.

But yes, this team just got beat AT HOME with Case Keenum. Any SB aspirations have to go through that lens, because I don't think you can honestly tell me that a SB caliber team should struggle with a 15th string QB that isn't good enough to start for the Browns if they had him.

Is that a cause for concern? It depends on your expectations

Russell is among the best QBs in the league against the blitz and the cards don't have anyone along their defensive line that needs to be double teamed, so the cardinals blitzing will have much less impact than the rams front four did on their own.

The rams game was a wake up call for the defense and I bet they respond quite well. Richard Sherman was definitely surprised by the touchdown he let get by him last week...we all were. I can't remember the last time a rams QB was on target with a deep pass. Those passes from rams QBs are usually 5 yards short or 5 yards long. The Seahawks defense will show a lot more respect for the cards offense and should step up to the challenge.

No worries from the rams game at all. No team in the playoffs will be able to do what the rams can do defensively. The Seahawks defense plays best when it matters most and last week's game was the least meaningful game they have played outside of preseason.

 

[hawkfan68]

The Seahawks got swept by a team that most of the other teams in the NFL seem to be able to handle. Other teams are able to overcome Aaron Donald and the Rams defensive front. The Seahawks seem to have trouble with the Rams. For a team that's supposed to be as good as the Seahawks are, they should be able to adjust. That display last Sunday was disgusting. It reminded me of 2011 Seahawks, the one with TJ/Whitehurst as the starting QBs.

 

[rideaducati]

The Seahawks got swept by a team that most of the other teams in the NFL seem to be able to handle. Other teams are able to overcome Aaron Donald and the Rams defensive front. The Seahawks seem to have trouble with the Rams. For a team that's supposed to be as good as the Seahawks are, they should be able to adjust. That display last Sunday was disgusting. It reminded me of 2011 Seahawks, the one with TJ/Whitehurst as the starting QBs.

I think the Seahawks mailed it in last week. It definitely SEEMED that way. Another reason that I don't think that loss is a big deal.