IF we hadn't signed Harvin...

[Red Beard]

Andy Levitre was one of the guys I wanted most in free agency. Surprised I didn't hear of any attempts by Seattle to lure him in. He was already a stud, but in Seattle's ZBS, I felt he could be elite and really beneficial to the growth of our offense. It is what it is though.

 

[Subzero717]

We are 3-0.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

By God, I almost want us to win a Lombardi trophy if, for no other reason, people will finally stop talking about how important offensive guards are to winning.

Tennessee picked up Levitre and spent a first round pick on Warmack. Do they scare? Hardly.

I honestly have a hard time naming any guards from the last 4 Super Bowl champs. Jahri Evans maybe. There just isn't even a weak correlation between expensive offensive guards and team success.

 

[kearly]

I'm totally fine with "woulda shoulda" posts, but I think it's annoying when people give woulda shouldas without specifics. Throwing 10 million at a "guard" to fix a problem is something bad GMs do. Just throwing money at the problem rarely fixes things. If we are going to say we should have signed a guard, then who, when and for how much?

Levitre? I'd Pass. There hasn't been a free agent guard worth coveting since Carl Nicks last year, and he's hardly played in Tampa because of injuries.

Secondly, I broke down the DVR for the first 6 games this year and I can tell you that it's not any one area on the OL that's hurting us. Unger is having a down year. Okung is injured. McQuistan was good in the preseason but a mixed bag in the regular season. Giacomini has been a mixed bag. Carp had a very rough start before looking better recently. Sweezy has been our best OL that's currently healthy, and he's had some issues with penalties and bull rushers.

So really, our OL is imperfect across the spectrum, but on the whole it's still not bad. I feel very confident in saying that if we had Michael Robinson at fullback, our run game would be just as good as last year's. Our pass protection would be roughly as good as last year's if not for the Okung injury.

Once Okung gets back and Unger is out of his slump, I expect the OL to improve. Additionally so if Seattle ends the Coleman experiment at LB.

Additionally, we've faced a pretty good slate of defensive lines in the early weeks, including next week against Houston. Seattle still manhandled SF and Jacksonville in the run game, though it was harder to see because of poor lead blocking by Coleman and some splash plays by Jacksonville.

Also, Wilson has made our line look worse than it is at times by holding the ball too long or running into sacks. I love how Wilson extends plays but a natural drawback to doing his 10 second Fran Tarkenton impression is that it leaves any OL more susceptible to holding calls.

But hey, Seattle is 3-0 with one of the NFL's top scoring offenses to go with it's #1 scoring defense. Rather than complain about it, I think it's really cool that the Seahawks are this awesome yet still have a ton of room for improvement.

 

[rjdriver]

We are 3-0.

This.

We are 3-0 against two quality teams. One of those teams is the defending NFC champs. The other is a 10AM east coast win against a very talented team. Our best pass rusher has been out, our starting CB has been out and our our speed rushing first round pick has been out.

At 3-0 we are looking at getting a playmaker in a month or so who was getting talk about being league MVP last year. LEAUGE MVP. I can't wait.

We are eating a five course meal and we are saving the steak for last. Just wait.

 

[fenderbender123]

By God, I almost want us to win a Lombardi trophy if, for no other reason, people will finally stop talking about how important offensive guards are to winning.

Tennessee picked up Levitre and spent a first round pick on Warmack. Do they scare? Hardly.

I honestly have a hard time naming any guards from the last 4 Super Bowl champs. Jahri Evans maybe. There just isn't even a weak correlation between expensive offensive guards and team success.

The lack of availability is definitely a good point. In fact, good points all around.

 

[Hawks46]

This O line is only going to get better as the season goes on. Coming down the stretch it's going to be a strength of this team.

What makes you say this exactly ? I don't see us getting much better. Giacommini is at his ceiling. Sweezy could still be getting better, but it's hard for me to tell. McQuistan is at his ceiling. Unger is either hurt or regressing, but for the sake of argument he can (and has) played better. Okung is out. We don't know for how long, or how he'll look coming back....he does seem to be the Master of the Nagging Injury and these things draw out with him. Overall I don't see it getting better.

I would've said fix the OL before getting Harvin, but the OL played better last year than it has so far this year. That's hindsight. Now that we can look ahead, if Harvin comes back healthy, he can alleviate a lot of the pressure and blitz issues. He's so explosive, he can get separation quick and get upfield. You don't want to overplay Harvin. With him in the fold, it's inadvisable to get too many guys too far upfield on Harvin and with Wilson's wheels. Quick hitters, slants, outlets into the flat, screens, all of this stuff can defeat pressure.

 

[The Dirty Truth]

Sweezy is the best run blocking OL we have. By far.

 

[Jazzhawk]

What makes you say this exactly ?

I don't see us getting much better. Giacommini is at his ceiling. Sweezy could still be getting better, but it's hard for me to tell. McQuistan is at his ceiling. Unger is either hurt or regressing, but for the sake of argument he can (and has) played better.

So, I'll turn the tables and ask, what empirical evidence other than your learned opinion do you have to back these statements up?

Breno, it turns out, is playing hurt. (http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/09/23/2800347/clemons-browner-return-for-hawks.html

Right tackle Breno Giacomini re-aggravated the knee that limited him in practice Wednesday before he fully participated in practice Thursday and Friday. Giacomini rode the on-field stationary bike much of the second half Sunday after he said the Seahawks shut him down for precautionary reasons.

) So, he may be 'at his ceiling', but that means squat because when healthy, he's pretty decent.

McQuistan is playing Left Tackle, and had already been slated for replacement at RG, so I'll give you that, but only by default because the plan was to have him be a backkup....which is exactly what he's doing. We already have a stud LT who was playing at a high level, who happens to be hurt now. Unger, ya, he has looked bad this season so far. Maybe there is a reason that we don't know about yet. Sweezy, by all account IS getting better.

 

[davidonmi]

our offense right before Jax is magnifying the shortcoming of our offense, no explosive plays. I questioned the trade when it was made, now I'm beginning to understand why they did it. And BTW there aren't very many top quality guards out there

 

[themunn]

When Harvin comes back we won't even need guards, Tate on one side, Harvin on the other, if Wilson senses pressure he can dump it off to one of the two most elusive players in the league.

Or just hand it off to Marshawn Lynch, who'll breeze through the front 7 as they can't afford to stack the box ever

 

[Dismas]

I'm kinda in themunn's camp here.

I think when Harvin comes in, it will take some pressure off the line, cause we WILL have that quick twitch, close to the line receiving threat to slow down the rush and keep the other team honest

 

[Zebulon Dak]

This O line is only going to get better as the season goes on. Coming down the stretch it's going to be a strength of this team.

What makes you say this exactly ? I don't see us getting much better. Giacommini is at his ceiling. Sweezy could still be getting better, but it's hard for me to tell. McQuistan is at his ceiling. Unger is either hurt or regressing, but for the sake of argument he can (and has) played better. Okung is out. We don't know for how long, or how he'll look coming back....he does seem to be the Master of the Nagging Injury and these things draw out with him. Overall I don't see it getting better.

Because they got better throughout the season last year. And at the end of the year last year they were better than they are now. And I don't believe they've gotten worse. And because I think our whole team is going to get better as the season goes on and that includes our O line. Because as the year goes on we'll figure out schemes and formations that play to our strengths and that will help to improve play at all positions. Because the closer we get to making our playoff push the more comfortable these guys get in the offense and as Coleman gets better and when we get Harvin in there and when DangeRuss catches fire and we're able to execute the entirety of our playbook almost flawlessly we'll have defenses on their heels and that gives our guys the advantage off the line. Because I think we're that good.

I can't see the future. Those are the things I think.

 

[Dismas]

I'm kinda in themunn's camp here.

I think when Harvin comes in, it will take some pressure off the line, cause we WILL have that quick twitch, close to the line receiving threat to slow down the rush and keep the other team honest

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

And instead spent the money on a top-quality guard...would that have been more beneficial to this team?

#1 If we hadn't signed Percy Harvin... he would be a 49er and someone very capable of carrying that team through its WR woes. That is ofcourse his hip injury was sunstained while he was with the Seahawks.

#2 James Carpenter and J.R. Sweezy are good prospects for guard.

Carpenter needs to get in shape back into the 320s and you will see his consistency play to play.

Sweezy just needs experience, people shouldn't forget how hard his transition was, most teams if they did this Sweezy would be starting year 4 not year 2. Also, I think Sweezy been the most consistent lineman thus far this season.

I think the biggest problem has been Max Unger as he has just been getting dominated and pancaked on a consistent basis. At first I thought it was just the quality of the D-Lines we played but he didn't get much better vs Jax', in my opinion.

 

[SouthSoundHawk]

Harvin is one of the best players on the field at any given moment. I think of Harvin as being a potential MVP at WR and HB. Not a lot of teams can say they have an MVP level talent playing for them, let alone two.

Good luck trying to find an O-Lineman in the draft that will even sniff being an MVP for the NFL. Good luck trying to get one that will be a Pro-Bowler right out the gate, these guys only come around by holding higher picks than the Twenty-fifth.

Percy can take some pressure off those lineman as well, simply by showing up on game day. More men are needed to contain him, therefore opposing defenses will have to commit less to the pass rush. No matter how it's sliced, this was a steal for Seattle and his return will be the perfect catalyst for a championship run come the second half (not the mention 5 of 8 games at C-Link and a bye, to finish the season).

All that said, I hope we find an MVP caliber lineman this year draft. :0190l:

Go Pete and John! YOU CAN DO IT!

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

For crying out loud!

It's not as easy as just going, "Right men, let's draft a top quality guard at #25." And then that person goes on to become a top quality guard and everyone has a Jack Daniels and a cigar.

We drafted a guard/tackle at #25 in 2011, remember? There seems to be this lazy opinion that any guard drafted in round one will go on to become the second coming of Steve Hutchinson.

And how about even throwing a name out there, a suggestion of this top quality player we missed out on? Otherwise it's just like the Jaguars fans saying, "Why didn't we draft an elite quarterback at #2?"

The guard play is not a deal breaker for this team. Percy Harvin could be.

 

[Happy]

Which top quality guard did you have in mind? We've been trying to get that taken care of since Hutch left.

A good point. I don't recall their being any top-quality guards available in the past off-season.

/end premise for topic.

This thing was dead in the water before it even got started. How did it get past one page?

 

[Carmon1274]

Sign Bennett to a long deal.

Then with the 1st round pick draft Patterson.


Seahawks are always terrible with overpaying a lot of $$ for Overated WR's.

Housh/Rice/Harvin

 

[fenderbender123]

Which top quality guard did you have in mind? We've been trying to get that taken care of since Hutch left.

A good point. I don't recall their being any top-quality guards available in the past off-season.

/end premise for topic.

This thing was dead in the water before it even got started. How did it get past one page?

I don't know, but yikes some people don't like this question! I just wanted to see what everyone thought so I can educate myself a bit better. I really don't have an opinion either way.