lukerguy":gv53zmat said:
The Seattle Seahawks very easily could have lost Sunday's game against Carolina.
After extending their lead to 30-10 with 7 minutes left, the Sehawks found themselves on 3rd and 11 in their own territory with 2 minutes left. Does anyone have confidence that the defense would have stopped CAR after giving up 2 straight long TD drives in "prevent" defense? I sure don't.
-snip-
Anyways, this has been bothering me all week. Imagine if they hadn't converted 3rd and 11. We could easily be talking about 31-30 loss when up 30-10 with 7 min left. I know they came through, but it was too close for a team of their caliber ( and CAR).
Thank you for this awesome post!
I wonder what the success percentage calculation was on that 3rd and 11? 20%? Yes, it's Russell, but it sure felt like we were unbelievablly close to losing 31-30 before that conversion.
I understand and support Pete in playing the young guys, but damn! Scoring a TD in 70 seconds?
Such a horrible performance from basically a 2nd team defense? From Pete's point of view, this should be unacceptably close to a horrendous *miscalculation* on his part. The Carolina offense made it look like taking candy from a baby in that 4th quarter.
I don't know what Pete's scheme change plans are for this situation, but *something* has to change! I don't say this from the point of view of an "outraged fan", but from the viewpoint of a coach and a guy who likes to think I understand a lot of how Pete's mind works. I'd like to think Pete looks at this as a wake-up call, unacceptably close, but on this one, I really don't know. Did it get Pete's attention enough? Will he talk over with his coordinators adjustments to his "Prevent" (us from winning) defense scheme and adjustments on the offensive side to keep the pressure on, and snuff out rallies? Does Pete see all this as a non-issue, that he never really even felt threatened, that he felt he and the team could turn back on the juice at any moment needed?
Here's how I'd like to think Pete would approach it. Remember, Pete is still learning and refining himself as a coach. He learned from the Percy Harvin fiasco. He learned from the Malcolm McDowell fiasco. So... I DO think this truly caught Pete's attention. I think Pete is in a state of UTTER DISMAY at how poorly the JV defense played (nor sure what else to call that unit), and DISAPPOINTMENT in how the offense failed to burn clock and/or get another score. I also think Pete is nearly as disappointed with the OFFENSE, for failing to PROTECT the battered, now-JV defense. I do think Pete is taking this very seriously, after reflecting on it, of how to do a better job of keeping teams down. I believe Pete is really thinking this over, because the late-game sequence of events in Carolina is FUNDAMENTALLY INCOMPATIBLE with Pete's self-described IDENTITY as a COMPETITOR. The defense simply didn't COMPETE on those last two drives. So I'm pretty sure Pete is giving this serious thought and discussing this with the coordinators and other coaches, as well as the players.
What will Pete DO about this problem? I do believe he now considers it an actual problem. Obviously, he is talking it over with Norton and Schotty. Clearly, the film study and position group work this week is going to be looking a lot at key plays during the Panthers' comeback. I think a number of players will be challenged to do better than they did on specific plays, and the young guys will get things clearly pointed out to them, and now they'll be understanding and listening based on firsthand experience. The guys in on D didn't COMPETE. The problem could even be something as simple as misinterpreted communication from Pete. Maybe Pete said to Norton and Schotty after Diggs and Wagner went down, "Let's just get out of here healthy, that's our #1 priority right now." If Pete instead said something to Norton like, "We've got them down; they'll be mostly passing. Let's try out some of those blitz packages we've been working on, see if we can get pressure on that QB and give some of our young guys a chance to show us something".
It was like Pete STOPPED COMPETING after the score hit 30-10. The irony is it was the opposite of preseason Pete, where he is out there coaching as hard as he can, through the final seconds of the 4th quarter, trying to get the rookies and roster bubble guys to compete as hard as they can, make some plays and win the game. As a fan, we see the vets and roster locks cheering on the 3rd stringers, and truly cheering them on and being happy for their success. Why is this climate suddenly absent in the regular season? It's like the guys get the impression that they are just supposed to play soft D, don't get injured, and start thinking about that more than just playing Seahawk football.
As a youth soccer coach, I always LOVED it when, up a few goals, I'd put my second tier players into key roles, and see them fight hard and make plays, see them COMPETE HARD and show the learning and development that had been occurring in practice, and have my star players focus on setting up the second tier players rather than padding their own stats. Certainly not letting the opponent back into the game through indifferent, lackluster play. The same was true when down several goals against a superior opponent; there's plenty of learning and development that can occur in that situation.
I'm cautiously optimistic that Pete is working on this letdown-with-a-lead issue. We shall see... It could be almost as simple as him changing his messaging to the coordinators and assistants.
One more thing... WHERE THE HELL WAS L.J. COLLIER?? Did anyone even know he was on the field??!!
