Post mortem

[HawkerD]

A win is a win and in the NFL wins are not easy to come by. The Seahawks are 4-1 and have a game in hand to the division champ. Tons of Good stuff in the game. Russell is a super-stud, top 5 QB period, the end. Carson is a beast. LBs are dynamic.

Still good organizations have to look at where they can improve and this team really needs to look at the play calling at the end of half/game on both sides of the ball. Not going on 4th and short at the half and then letting the Rams drive down for a TD was terrible to watch. And at the end of the game the interception should have allowed them to close out. Not getting 1st down was bad enough (terrible 3rd down option play), the Rams get the ball with 1:38 left and 0 timeouts. Greg the Leg is their kicker and yet we let them walk down the field almost unimpeded.

In the end it worked out but the reality is that from a statistical standpoint it shouldn't have.

Thank goodness we have #3

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I've said it many times now, Pete is the worst situational playcaller and decision maker in the league.

Seriously, he just needs to let Schotty and Russell make those decisions..........or anyone. I don't care, just not him. He just can't ever get out of his own way. Overthinking? Overly emotional? Idk. But it's horrific.

 

[HawkRiderFan]

Specifically on that last completion to Everett, I was wondering why we wouldn't have been cheating to the sidelines more taking that throw away and forcing them to the middle of the field. It was 3rd down right? If they complete a pass in the middle they could not have clocked it. It might have been tough to get lined up and get a FG off. IMO, the D gave them the one pass in that situation that they couldn't.

 

[hugecanoli]

The secondary giving up chunk yardage at the end of halves and games is frustrating AF.

I'm watching them march down the field after we failed to get two yards for a game-clinching first down and I'm having heart palpitations because we cannot stop them at all. The soft zone allowing the underneath stuff was killing us as they got closer and closer into FG range.

Love the win, Love this team, but this secondary and OLine really need to improve if we want to move to the next level.

 

[Seahawk]

The secondary giving up chunk yardage at the end of halves and games is frustrating AF.

I'm watching them march down the field after we failed to get two yards for a game-clinching first down and I'm having heart palpitations because we cannot stop them at all. The soft zone allowing the underneath stuff was killing us as they got closer and closer into FG range.

Love the win, Love this team, but this secondary and OLine really need to improve if we want to move to the next level.

Totally agree. This happens too often. It wasn't just this game, the Hawks allow the other team the opportunity to win ALL... THE... TIME... and it is maddening.

NFL Football is a game of inches, and we were inches away from losing that game.

 

[justafan]

I can see the FG attempt. I wanted them to go for it but if we make the fg its a different game. If Wilson keeps the RO on 3rd down we have a 1st down. Its a different game.

Rams are one of the most talented offensive teams in the league, they make a lot of teams look bad but we made the plays to get a huge win. Thats all that matters

 

[Hawkpower]

A win is a win and in the NFL wins are not easy to come by. The Seahawks are 4-1 and have a game in hand to the division champ. Tons of Good stuff in the game. Russell is a super-stud, top 5 QB period, the end. Carson is a beast. LBs are dynamic.

Still good organizations have to look at where they can improve and this team really needs to look at the play calling at the end of half/game on both sides of the ball. Not going on 4th and short at the half and then letting the Rams drive down for a TD was terrible to watch. And at the end of the game the interception should have allowed them to close out. Not getting 1st down was bad enough (terrible 3rd down option play), the Rams get the ball with 1:38 left and 0 timeouts. Greg the Leg is their kicker and yet we let them walk down the field almost unimpeded.

In the end it worked out but the reality is that from a statistical standpoint it shouldn't have.

Thank goodness we have #3

Good post.

Curious why you are so against the decision to kick the field goal on the 4th and short?

Pete was crucified here a few weeks back for not taking the points in a similar situation. Its not his fault the kick was missed. At that point in the game, the Rams had been sputtering on offense, so 3 more points right before the half looked like a good proposition.

I would have been ok with either choice, but I think its always easy for us to criticize the result. Just wondering your take

 

[Hawkpower]

The secondary giving up chunk yardage at the end of halves and games is frustrating AF.

I'm watching them march down the field after we failed to get two yards for a game-clinching first down and I'm having heart palpitations because we cannot stop them at all. The soft zone allowing the underneath stuff was killing us as they got closer and closer into FG range.

Love the win, Love this team, but this secondary and OLine really need to improve if we want to move to the next level.

I think most fan bases have this same complaint. Its almost automatic these days that a team will be able to march down a field in a 2 minute drill. Defenses are so scared to get beat deep in that situation. You almost have to hope for a mistake, turnover or in our case, a missed field goal.

I was actually surprised we blitzed a bit on that final drive. Other than not closing off the sidelines early in the drive, I don't know that schematically it was all that bad. The Rams have great receivers.

 

[TwistedHusky]

You forgot the garbage defense.

Norton is so bad.

We literally allowed the opposing team to move 50 yards TWICE in 1 minute.

That was awful.

And defense like that is going to lose us games that matter this year.

Yes, Thompson made an amazing interception. That was huge.

But there is no excuse for the yardage we gave up. We played a coverage that allowed their best WR to consistently catch the ball and run out of bounds, not even taking any time off the clock.

There is no excuse for allowing a team to march the length of the field in 1 minute twice. None.

We won. But there should be warning signs flashing, because it shows we won't be winning games against the better offenses unless we score at least 28 in those games.

 

[Hawkpower]

You forgot the garbage defense.

Norton is so bad.

We literally allowed the opposing team to move 50 yards TWICE in 1 minute.

That was awful.

And defense like that is going to lose us games that matter this year.

Yes, Thompson made an amazing interception. That was huge.

But there is no excuse for the yardage we gave up. We played a coverage that allowed their best WR to consistently catch the ball and run out of bounds, not even taking any time off the clock.

There is no excuse for allowing a team to march the length of the field in 1 minute twice. None.

We won. But there should be warning signs flashing, because it shows we won't be winning games against the better offenses unless we score at least 28 in those games.

I share some of your concerns, obviously.

But the Rams have an elite offense. They are going to do that to teams. They DO do that to teams. Thats why they were in the Super Bowl last year.

The defense played well at times yesterday. I thought the DB's had some key pass break ups and the line pushed Goff off his spot just enough to force some key errant throws.

They need to be better, but to say they are garbage is a mischaracterization.

 

[justafan]

You forgot the garbage defense.

Norton is so bad.

We literally allowed the opposing team to move 50 yards TWICE in 1 minute.

That was awful.

And defense like that is going to lose us games that matter this year.

Yes, Thompson made an amazing interception. That was huge.

But there is no excuse for the yardage we gave up. We played a coverage that allowed their best WR to consistently catch the ball and run out of bounds, not even taking any time off the clock.

There is no excuse for allowing a team to march the length of the field in 1 minute twice. None.

We won. But there should be warning signs flashing, because it shows we won't be winning games against the better offenses unless we score at least 28 in those games.

I share some of your concerns, obviously.

But the Rams have an elite offense. They are going to do that to teams. They DO do that to teams. Thats why they were in the Super Bowl last year.

The defense played well at times yesterday. I thought the DB's had some key pass break ups and the line pushed Goff off his spot just enough to force some key errant throws.

They need to be better, but to say they are garbage is a mischaracterization.

Agreed.I dont expect much more out of these DBs right now. They will get better but the talent and pay gap is awfully large right now between their skilled positions and our DBs. The front seven need to do more to help these guys out.

 

[TwistedHusky]

That would make sense if Norton was good elsewhere. He wasn't.

 

[McGruff]

Specifically on that last completion to Everett, I was wondering why we wouldn't have been cheating to the sidelines more taking that throw away and forcing them to the middle of the field. It was 3rd down right? If they complete a pass in the middle they could not have clocked it. It might have been tough to get lined up and get a FG off. IMO, the D gave them the one pass in that situation that they couldn't.

That entire drive we gave them the sidelines.

It was infuriating.

Time is a commodity we gave to them, instead of forcing them to spend it.

 

[McGruff]

Specifically on that last completion to Everett, I was wondering why we wouldn't have been cheating to the sidelines more taking that throw away and forcing them to the middle of the field. It was 3rd down right? If they complete a pass in the middle they could not have clocked it. It might have been tough to get lined up and get a FG off. IMO, the D gave them the one pass in that situation that they couldn't.

That entire drive we gave them the sidelines.

It was infuriating.

Time is a commodity we gave to them, instead of forcing them to spend it.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The secondary giving up chunk yardage at the end of halves and games is frustrating AF.

I'm watching them march down the field after we failed to get two yards for a game-clinching first down and I'm having heart palpitations because we cannot stop them at all. The soft zone allowing the underneath stuff was killing us as they got closer and closer into FG range.

Unfortunately this isn't going away anytime soon as long as we stay in our base defense with three LB's on the field and not nickel or dime because we don't have four CB's Pete trusts.

It's the base defense that teams like the Rams take advantage of, as good as our LB's are they can't hang with speedy quick WR's like Kupp and even TE's sitting down in soft zones.

 

[McGruff]

The secondary giving up chunk yardage at the end of halves and games is frustrating AF.

I'm watching them march down the field after we failed to get two yards for a game-clinching first down and I'm having heart palpitations because we cannot stop them at all. The soft zone allowing the underneath stuff was killing us as they got closer and closer into FG range.

Unfortunately this isn't going away anytime soon as long as we stay in our base defense with three LB's on the field and not nickel or dime because we don't have four CB's Pete trusts.

It's the base defense that teams like the Rams take advantage of, as good as our LB's are they can't hang with speedy quick WR's like Kupp and even TE's sitting down in soft zones.

You are wrong.

Our base defense is why we held them to 29 points, despite giving them two easy drives.

 

[Anajimmc]

On the third down option play, I love Russel rolling out, I love the option, it was just the wrong option. Lockett should have put pressure on the Ram defense as a receiver, not a trailing back. 2 on 2 with Lockett as a receiver puts huge pressure on the defenders, 2 on 2 with Lockett as a back allows the defense to keep everything in front of them and slow things down to the point that they get inside help.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The secondary giving up chunk yardage at the end of halves and games is frustrating AF.

I'm watching them march down the field after we failed to get two yards for a game-clinching first down and I'm having heart palpitations because we cannot stop them at all. The soft zone allowing the underneath stuff was killing us as they got closer and closer into FG range.

Unfortunately this isn't going away anytime soon as long as we stay in our base defense with three LB's on the field and not nickel or dime because we don't have four CB's Pete trusts.

It's the base defense that teams like the Rams take advantage of, as good as our LB's are they can't hang with speedy quick WR's like Kupp and even TE's sitting down in soft zones.

You are wrong.

Our base defense is why we held them to 29 points, despite giving them two easy drives.

Not sure why you think giving up 29 pts is a good thing, especially when the Rams had at least 3-4 long drives that looked like a hot knife through butter on our base defense.

Any good team with a veteran QB is going to destroy base defenses, and I guarantee you Pete knows that, he just doesn't have any other options with our below average defensive backfield and options for nickel and dime corners.

 

[HawkRiderFan]

Weird thing was it wasn't a total passive defence as we brought pressure. But our coverage sat back vs taking away the shorts, particularly the sidelines.

 

[Mick063]

There is one glaring area that needs to be seriously addressed.

The Rams had a minute and change to get into field goal position, with no time outs. The defensive backs were not challenging the receivers at the line of scrimmage, giving too much buffer (corners 10+ yards off the line of scrimmage with the safeties deep), and consistently allowing ten yard outs to allow repeated clock stoppage. This might be ok if the score differential was greater than a three points, but not with a one point lead. I hated the defensive conservatism on that last Rams drive. The corners need to be in the receivers grill, challenging them at the line of scrimmage. Kupp needed their undivided attention. The sidelines needed to be protected to force passes inside. One could even argue that if Seattle gave up the long TD by playing tight coverage, there would have been enough time and time outs for Wilson to perform some magic.

The missed field goal was extremely fortunate. Otherwise we would all be talking about how easily the Rams moved the ball in that last minute. On the other hand, if Seattle gets the first down on third and one, the game is over. It looked like the Rams were totally on to that read option call with a speedy corner spying Wilson. Further, it was the Rams penalty that made for a longer field goal that was probably the difference in the game. We can thank the crowd noise for that one.