DVR review - Offense

[SeaTown81]

Hmmm. Who do I side with? Kearly or ol' Beergoggles? That's a tough one.

I agree with those who say it's a bit much to call the bomb to Williams "overthrown". Yes, it wasn't pin point perfectly placed. And Williams had to stretch a tad. But for a throw of that distance, it was very catchable. Would've been a nice catch, and not one I'd get on Williams for not hauling in (as Tim Ryan felt the need), but I don't see how you really make much of it being overthrown. The main point on a long bomb like that is to make it so your guy is the only one with a shot at the ball. This is all splitting hairs, really. But that's the way I saw the play. Now the Kearse pass, that was indeed pin point perfect placement.

Nice job, Kip. Much appreciated.

 

[Perfundle]

Seattle had several good looking drives

I went and checked and Seattle actually had the 6th-highest yards per drive in the first week. It helped that Carolina didn't turn it over in their own end zone to leave a short field, but this is why looking only at total yardage is deceptive with teams that chew up a lot of game clock. Of course, the flip side is that Carolina was pretty decent themselves at 12th.

Seattle's last drive was their best one. They looked very much like themselves on that drive, which began at their own 7 yard line and ate up nearly 6 minutes of game clock.

I wonder why Seattle didn't do more of those fullback passes, earlier on. They worked extremely well last year.

 

[bestfightstory]

This is all splitting hairs, really.

Good post, Jordachian.

 

[Hawks46]

So I'm wondering, if Carp just missed a couple assigments, can this just be attributed to rust ? I've heard some say he's a poor fit for our offensive line schemes. He missed the entire offseason. It stands to reason there's rust there, but I'm wondering if there's upside of he's just done.

I agree on the run blocking assessment. Defensively, it really only takes one or two good individual plays to defeat that matchup. Once that happens, it makes everything look bad. Then again, if the defense keeps making those plays, it's an indictment on the offense. Our overall stat line, and inability to run the ball most of the day would lead me to believe we were below average.

You have to make plays in the NFL. We lost some turnovers, and like Wilson said, you have to be great on 3rd down. Him missing Turbin on that blitz has even bigger ramifications. If a blitzer gets home, confuses the QB, or makes him inaccurate, then the pressure is working. The defense will keep blitzing until you beat them with it. You don't blitz Peyton Manning a lot as he makes you pay for it. Wilson better start figuring out how to beat that blitz. SF is going to see this tape and pressure the hell out of Wilson. The Cardinals LOVE to pressure and stunt up the middle (although this was with Horton...it may have changed). STL might be the best in the division with getting pressure with 4 down linemen. You HAVE to be able to beat pressure, or be doomed to getting pressured on the majority of your plays the rest of the year.

Wilson's a smart guy; I'm sure he'll see the tape and improve on it. You can also run into a blitz, and run away from a blitz and usually do some real damage. We ran right into a ton of run blitzing last game and didn't audible out of it.

Does anyone know.....is Wilson allowed to audible out of run sets to pass sets, and visa versa ?

Speaking of making plays, Sherman dropped a sure INT. Once again, if we make those plays, the game isn't nearly as close. It IS nice to see us win a game where all the plays didn't go our way, and we still grunted it out.

 

[sam1313]

Thanks for the analysis Kearly, it is always much appreciated.

The first couple of drives it really seemed to me that RW had no time at all to pass. Was I mistaken?

And, curious as to your thoughts on the PFF ratings. Seem like crap to me...

 

[bestfightstory]

You have to make plays in the NFL.

Speaking of making plays, Sherman dropped a sure INT. Once again, if we make those plays, the game isn't nearly as close. It IS nice to see us win a game where all the plays didn't go our way, and we still grunted it out.

True, however Greg Olsen missed several plays that could have harmed us early. It goes both ways.

 

[ivotuk]

Thanks for the time put in Kearly. To be honest, this is about what I expected this game to look like, maybe even worse. Considering Carolina's already good front 3, with the addition of a monstrosity like Star Lotuleilei, and having Luke Kuechly in the middle, we had a tough assignment getting the running game going and keeping Russell's pocket clean.

Kudo's to the O-Line for their first game back against a great defense. Reminds me a lot of the Arizona game, except it wasn't 90 degrees and humid in AZ and we weren't facing Cam Newton.

I expect a lot of improvement this week going against an overconfident 49er team.

falcongoggles, not sure I would take PFFs first week analysis too seriously, it's too subjective with little to go on when comparing players against defenses. Later in the season they will have a better handle on who the good defenses are and will adjust accordingly. For example, watching nfl network today and they ranked the players with the most tackles, everyone of the highest ranked tacklers was on a losing team.

 

[Cartire]

Im confused Kearly. How can you call the sack that Breno let through a "blind side hit"? Wilson was on his 3rd read (Turbin) and about to throw when he got sacked and hit in the arm. But Wilson looked right first, then center, then left, then he was sacked. But even though Wilson looked left, doesnt make the hit from the blind side as Wilson is right handed and even looked right first before looking left.

Essentially, blind side is the left side for him. Only Vick can get blind-sided by a DE from the left.

 

[HawkWow]

Re-watching the game now. I'm even more miffed this time that Pete didn't use a TO with 58 seconds left in the half. 1st down on the 12, 2 TOs left. WTF?

Instead, the team has to run down the field (after Baldwin's catch), hurry to the line, then RW gets sacked and fumbles immediately thereafter.

I fully understand 2 TOs allows us to run the ball, but we were averaging like 2 yds a carry. No question if we were going to get in the endzone, we'd likely have to pass. Which means we didn't need both TOs and really didn't even need 1 (in that scenario), even if we had to settle for the FG. I love Pete...but it seems to me he tends to get a bit discombobulated, if not stupid, just before half time.

Edit: Just watched the 4th qtr drop by Williams. And I do mean...drop. It was a near perfect throw from RW. The general sentiment has been that it would have taken a "great catch" for Williams to bring it in. I now totally disagree. In fact, IF Williams stays in stride, it would've / should've been an easy catch. He is young and I'm certain understands his mistake. Still, he should to treat the entire team to acres of clams.

 

[oasis]

Thanks man. If Carpenter's pass block is solid, I'm sure it won't be long until he regains the unofficial run-blocking mauler status we gave him. Although I am concerned about the pull blocks and second level blocks. He might be too slow (in more ways than one?) to pull that off.

 

[kearly]

When you do a review of defense, I'd be curious to see what happened to Wagner.

I won't be.

How do you know that the LB WAS his assignment?

I wondered about that. There was only one LB in the area, but Carpenter seemed to be looking for someone else. Still, it looked pretty bad, and the LB he could have blocked but didn't had a minor impact on the outcome of the play. Being terrible at 2nd level blocks is nothing new for Carp, btw.

 

[FlyingGreg]

Thanks for the effort as always, Kip.

 

[HawkWow]

Thanks for the effort as always, Kip.

Seconded.

 

[kearly]

Regarding PFF, they had Rishaw Johnson down for a negative run blocking grade in our first preseason game. You know, the one where we were running on them for like 7 yards a carry with our backup line? Johnson has his issues to be sure, but he was our best run blocker that day.

How they gave Giacomini a +1.8 score in this game is a mystery to me. He allowed a sack, was called for holding, and was solid but not amazing in run blocking. That score reads like a typo. If he did that every game he'd finish with 16 sacks (worst in the NFL by a mile), 16 holds (probably also worst), and yet he'd have a higher PFF score than any lineman last season. So yeah, I am mystified by that score, big time. I like Giacomini, but he did not have a good game.

It's gotten to the point where I don't trust PFF for their OL grading anymore, good or bad. At least not right now I don't.

BTW, I do think if we are strictly grading on performance without context, then Seattle's OL definitely deserved a negative score on the whole. But that had an awful lot to do with factors beyond their control. Tom Cable was trying new stuff out and admitted he got too cute, and Carolina's fast front seven destroyed almost all of our developing rush attempts. The TEs at fullback spoiled good run blocking on a few occasions as well.

 

[C-Dub]

Amazing review!!!

-On the bomb to Williams, Williams appeared to be running full speed the whole way and seemed to be where he was supposed to be. Wilson over threw him.

Only problem I see is that a WR needs to catch the ball when he gets two hands on it. That was a beauty of a throw.

 

[kearly]

Regarding the two deep passes, the difference is that Williams had to go full extension horizontally, whereas Kearse caught the ball high but exactly where he should. The Kearse pass was PERFECT. Not even an inch too far or too close. The Williams pass would have been an easy TD if thrown 12-18 inches less.

I do agree that throwing deep is hard to do, and you never expect QBs to be perfect every time. I would equate it to kicking a 55 yard field goal. It wasn't a great throw, Williams had a chance to bail Wilson out and couldn't do it. These are humans not robots, so blame is kind of pointless. But for the record, it was Wilson making Williams' job harder, not Williams dropping a great "should catch" pass.

Only problem I see is that a WR needs to catch the ball when he gets two hands on it. That was a beauty of a throw.

I don't think it's realistic to expect a full extension catch two hands or not. It's 50/50 for most receivers in the NFL. We are spoiled rotten by Tate and Rice who always seem to catch those.

Basically, I'm not really blaming either party. 43 yard TD bombs are hard to do, and both Wilson and Williams came up just short. Not every QB can have the deep accuracy that Flacco and Andrew Luck have. And not every WR can haul in full extension catches at full speed every time.

 

[Scottemojo]

I thought Sweezy looked bad in the 2nd level too, whiffed a couple of times. I saw the Carp whiff, it was pretty unathletic looking. Overall I was very impressed with Carolina's front 4 plus Kuechly and one other linebacker, whose name I don't remember.

On PFF scores, they, just like Kearly, have to guess what assignments were. And just like any of us, they are assigning these grades from broadcast footage, not coach view. Which won't be out til Thursday, if Rewind is like last year. And if I recall correctly, PFF uses just one guy per team to assign those scores. Which makes it just as subjective as anything Kearly does. Besides, I am assuming you too have access to the same footage, Goggles, why don't you go through it and assign your own scores rather than rely on PFF? I know I don't rely on Kip, much as I respect what he does in his labor of obsessive love.

Also, to address Falcon goggles statement that the offense was awful, they scored on 3 of 8 drives, had another long drive that ended with the fumble in the 2nd quarter, and closed the game by eating 5:25 of clock on offense. I would not call that too bad, final score be damned.

I heard the Raiders coach today say that while he was happy that there was good effort from his guys, there are no moral victories, just wins and losses. Which made me wonder, why in a victory, are there so many talking about a moral loss? I don't mind criticism, but a lot of what I am hearing feels like pre niner angst and hand wringing more than real objectivity about defects.

 

[kearly]

Im confused Kearly. How can you call the sack that Breno let through a "blind side hit"? Wilson was on his 3rd read (Turbin) and about to throw when he got sacked and hit in the arm. But Wilson looked right first, then center, then left, then he was sacked. But even though Wilson looked left, doesnt make the hit from the blind side as Wilson is right handed and even looked right first before looking left.

Essentially, blind side is the left side for him. Only Vick can get blind-sided by a DE from the left.

He was hit in the back and didn't see it coming. "Blindsided" is not a reference to alignment.

 

[bigtrain21]

I thought Sweezy looked bad in the 2nd level too, whiffed a couple of times. I saw the Carp whiff, it was pretty unathletic looking.

The Carp whiff wasn't really unathletic looking. He simply made no attempt to block the only guy really available. He just ran right by him. Kuechly didn't factor in the tackle but it was more of a head scratcher than unathletic.

 

[Cartire]

Im confused Kearly. How can you call the sack that Breno let through a "blind side hit"? Wilson was on his 3rd read (Turbin) and about to throw when he got sacked and hit in the arm. But Wilson looked right first, then center, then left, then he was sacked. But even though Wilson looked left, doesnt make the hit from the blind side as Wilson is right handed and even looked right first before looking left.

Essentially, blind side is the left side for him. Only Vick can get blind-sided by a DE from the left.

He was hit in the back and didn't see it coming. "Blindsided" is not a reference to alignment.

My point was, he should have seen it, at least the timing, because he looked right first after the snap. Him looking to the left at that point, I dont consider blindsided, because he should have known that guys was coming. Im not saying its Wilsons fault on that one, as I think Breno could have stalled him a bit longer, but Wilson should have anticipated that hit, as he should have seen it coming.