Random Musings

[AROS]

Is there a better QB/WR duo in the league right now than Russell Wilson and Tyler Lockett? Nope.

This is a tale of opposites this year. An outstanding and devastating offense led by the soon-to-be 2019 MVP in Russell Wilson, and a defense that is shockingly under-performing. So much talent on defense, yet so little production. Game-after-game, the defense is the reason we are making shabby teams look good. The 2-6 Bucs shouldn't have even sniffed an OT game in Seattle but there ya have it. FIX IT.

The12's were just okay yesterday. Meh. Maybe a 7 on a scale of 1-12. It's weird how I can tell the difference between a 7 and a 8, 9 or 10. Maybe it's being a STH all these years you just develop the feel for the level of crowd noise. Volume 12 is usually reserved for playoff or NFC championship games. 10 is for a huge game with playoff implications. A 7, like yesterday is when fans are excited, but not overly so because, well, Bucs.

I was at Temple pregame yesterday and was chatting with Dom (old NET alumni) and he talked about something that struck a chord with me. And that is that while going to the games is terrific and fun, it's really meeting up with fellow 12's and old friends that makes the gameday experience so enriching. He's right. While being at the game and feeling all that energy and riding that roller coaster high is in and of itself a fun experience, it's meeting up with old friends that makes the day worthwhile, win or lose.

DK is better than advertised. I mean, this dude doesn't look, act or produce like a rookie. Wow what a draft pick.

Tyler Lockett - if he keeps this up - may be the best WR since Largent. I know Blades and Baldwin might have a say in that but this kid is ridiculously special. I am not sure we even realize how special he is.

How about Joey Hunt? Small man on the line? Doesn't matter. His Football IQ is perhaps the best on the team. What he lacks in size he makes up for in knowledge. That matters, especially being the QB of the OL.

What in the world is wrong with our defense? There's enough talent there that we should be WAAAAAY better than we are on that side of the ball. It's good that Bobby Wagner is saying each week that they should be and will be better but less talk and more action. Please!

Great day yesterday. Aaron and his Packers lost. Vikings lost. Tied for 3rd best record in the disgustingly tough NFC.

What a great Monday! GO HAWKS!

 

[Bobblehead]

Tyler Lockett - if he keeps this up - may be the best WR since Largent. I know Blades and Baldwin might have a say in that but this kid is ridiculously special. I am not sure we even realize how special he is.

Must be something said about receivers born in the same town on the same day.

Guess we know why Norton was so easily let go in Oakland.

 

[HawkGA]

I've suspected for a while that Tyler was better than Baldwin. His last two years have been amazing.

I have a feeling they are going to go through the entire season without ever figuring out how to get a pass rush.

 

[kidhawk]

I really love how RW has taken this team on his back and shown just how good our offense can be. I said it in the Gameday forum yesterday...When it comes to a game in the 4th quarter and the game is within one score, I'll take Russell Wilson every single time. There isn't a game on our schedule that I don't think Russell Wilson can carry us to a W.

With that said, our defense is a mess, especially our pass defense. This is probably my big surprise of the season. I always expect Pete to put together a solid set of DBs to get the job done. That's just not been the case this year. I don't feel the same doom and gloom I would feel though if the defense was playing well but the offense was sputtering. I have much more faith in Pete's ability to improve the back end of this defense at this point in the year than I do in him turning around any offensive woes. I would like to see what he's going to do with our DB's when we get a healthy Diggs in the lineup. All we need these guys to do is be halfway decent to win any game we play.

We also have a huge elephant in the room named Jason Myers. Honestly, I felt really comfortable with him going into the year, but he's just not been effective for us. We cannot count on him. Nothing states this more than my surprise at Pete deciding to run the ball with the last offensive play of the 4th quarter to set up a field goal. I had zero doubt in my mind that we were going to take one shot at the end zone. I thought for sure I wasn't the only one who knew we couldn't count on Myers in that situation and going for it all right there was the best move, then counting on Myers ONLY if that play didn't work. Keeping Myers may be our only real option, as I don't know if there's anyone out there that would make our situation better, but could it be much worse? I'm not sure. I do know that if he doesn't get his act together soon, I'll be the first on the bandwagon for drafting a kicker (and I've never jumped on that bandwagon before).

As of now, I feel like we can only count on our offense week in and week out. It's not a good feeling, but Russell Wilson is a clear MVP, and you can't ask for more than your MVP to put the team on his back and carry you through. Russell Wilson is that guy and he can carry us through any game. Of course he'll have an off game, like he did with Baltimore, but I think all in all, he'll carry us to the playoffs.

 

[AROS]

Yeah Myers is yet another train wreck. Ugh. Why is it so hard to find a solid kicker these days?!?

We need to find the Russell Wilson of kickers, lol.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

What in the world is wrong with our defense? There's enough talent there that we should be WAAAAAY better than we are on that side of the ball. It's good that Bobby Wagner is saying each week that they should be and will be better but less talk and more action. Please!!

Isn't even close to enough talent.

Wagner
Clowney
Griffin

That's it, every other player on that defense right now is mediocre to bad. I believe the term is JAG (just another guy).

Can't play cover three and press man to man cause Flowers and our safeties aren't good enough, and we saw that yesterday when we tried press cover, Flowers got toasted. So back to base and blitzing, and that didn't work either.

Other than Wagner's sack, we can't even get pressure blitzing, totally exposing our bad DB's to getting torched. So unfortunately there is no answer with the current defensive roster.

Maybe Diggs will give the defensive backfield some juice and physicality. Idk, grasping at straws right now.

 

[kf3339]

I agree that our defense just isn't playing well right now. You can say Norton, but it's also PC's defense.

On an individual player level, It's time to call the Ansah experiment a complete failure. We would be better off benching, or cutting him and seeing what Green can do at the spot. Perhaps even look to the FA market and see if anyone could be a better fit as a rotational DE for this season. I would not be surprised if that happened, and they cut Ansah. He just isn't a fit here at all, and costs too much to put on the bench.

I was a little annoyed that Reed didn't play better at Atlanta, and just figured he was rusty. I did see him more this game and he had some good plays. He's not at the level of last year, but maybe starting to come on. I sure hope so. It also would be great to get Jefferson back from injury and in the game going forward. He actually gets pressure up the middle and team him with Reed and you may have something. It can't be any worse.

Our DB's are not bad, but still young. Shaq is playing well and Blair is our future SS on this team. Flowers has more room to learn. Yesterday against Evans just wasn't a good measure of his ability. WR's like Evans are All Pro's for a reason. We need to see if Diggs can come in and lock down the FS spot. I think he can do it and this back end gets much better.

PC needs to devote all of his attention to this group where he is pretty much second to none in knowledge. He also needs to focus on the overall defense in-game and leave the offense to RW and Brian going forward and stay out of the way. He isn't an offensive oriented coach.

Our offense looks really good, and hope that Gordon is focused to prove the Pats wrong about him. He would be a great 3rd WR and make it even harder on opposing defenses. Hollister is sure earning his TE role and looks to be a very good trade decision for us.

Hunt played well and somewhat surprised some on this board are down on him. I thought he played really well and could be our future starting C for several years. I won't go into everything on offense as it is really clicking to me.

All in all we are 7-2 going into the Niner game. Who would have thought this at the start of this season. Not me!

 

[kidhawk]

All in all we are 7-2 going into the Niner game. Who would have thought this at the start of this season. Not me!

As surprised as many may be that we are 7-2 at this point, it's not that far from where I figured we'd be right now. The bigger surprise has been the 49ers and especially their defense this year. I'd never have thought they'd be 8-0 at the midpoint.

 

[AROS]

Nobody saw the 49ers at 8-0. Not even their diehard fans. They are SO ripe for a loss, the Cardinals almost handed it to them but fell short. I don't see why we can't be the first L for them. Our defense notwithstanding, with MVP Russ and crew, we should be able to give them their first loss of the year, pull within a half game...And let's not forget, it's a national game and we all know how we do on national TV.

 

[AubHawk71]

Yep, if the Chargers can do it to the Pats, then there is hope for us against San Fran. Staying undefeated is so mentally tough for any NFL team.

This may be oversimplifying, but how can you have a defense that doesn't pressure the QB AND can't keep eyeballs on wide open wide receivers? Yes, it helps the QB to take his sweet time since sacks and strips, heck ANY pressure, are rare for the Hawks this year, but shouldn't you have pressure one way or another? It feels like neither.

'Oh, were not going to blitz.'

'So you're going to have your defenders hang all over the receivers like a ratty old sweatshirt?'

'No, we're not going to do that either. Even against a team with ZERO run game. We'll just hope we can put up 40 pts in OT.'

Frustrating.

 

[chris98251]

Yep, if the Ravens can do it to the Pats, then there is hope for us against San Fran. Staying undefeated is so mentally tough for any NFL team.

This may be oversimplifying, but how can you have a defense that doesn't pressure the QB AND can't keep eyeballs on wide open wide receivers? Yes, it helps the QB to take his sweet time since sacks and strips, heck ANY pressure, are rare for the Hawks this year, but shouldn't you have pressure one way or another? It feels like neither.

'Oh, were not going to blitz.'

'So you're going to have your defenders hang all over the receivers like a ratty old sweatshirt?'

'No, we're not going to do that either. Even against a team with ZERO run game. We'll just hope we can put up 40 pts in OT.'

Frustrating.

Had to fix it for you, unless you meant Chargers to the Packers....

 

[Sgt. Largent]

This may be oversimplifying, but how can you have a defense that doesn't pressure the QB AND can't keep eyeballs on wide open wide receivers? Yes, it helps the QB to take his sweet time since sacks and strips, heck ANY pressure, are rare for the Hawks this year, but shouldn't you have pressure one way or another? It feels like neither..

Right, and the lack of both a pass rush and bad defensive back coverage skills has put Pete into a no win super frustrating situation, and why he and John have been scrambling to try to fix it.

They both knew this was coming, it's why both Collier and Blair were drafted so high, it's why two LB's were drafted looking at an old LB group, it's why Ansah was signed, it's why Clowney was traded for.......and it's why more draft capital was spend on bringing Diggs here.

So far only Blair is even close to looking like a good move, and Clowney is at least soaking up double and triple teams. So whatever that's worth, which right now isn't much.

There is no answer when your bad at the front and back end of your defense. You can try to scheme compensate for one or the other, but not both.

 

[hgwellz12]

What in the world is wrong with our defense? There's enough talent there that we should be WAAAAAY better than we are on that side of the ball. It's good that Bobby Wagner is saying each week that they should be and will be better but less talk and more action. Please!!

Isn't even close to enough talent.

Wagner
Clowney
Griffin

That's it, every other player on that defense right now is mediocre to bad. I believe the term is JAG (just another guy).

Can't play cover three and press man to man cause Flowers and our safeties aren't good enough, and we saw that yesterday when we tried press cover, Flowers got toasted. So back to base and blitzing, and that didn't work either.

Other than Wagner's sack, we can't even get pressure blitzing, totally exposing our bad DB's to getting torched. So unfortunately there is no answer with the current defensive roster.

Maybe Diggs will give the defensive backfield some juice and physicality. Idk, grasping at straws right now.

[youtube]439oIN2gdMw[/youtube]

Chris nails it. Start at about 10:35ish (But watch whole video, it's good)

 

[Mad Dog]

Defensive woes are 90% on the front seven IMO. Those guys are too experienced to not be able to figure out how to pressure the QB. The secondary is doing what they can in a league that penalizes you for coughing on a receiver, lets offenses get away with pick plays galore. You just aren't going to win with secondary play anymore. You need a front seven that creates misery for the QB.

Clowney is definitely giving the effort but I see no explosion from anyone else. It's like a DL full of Darryl Tapp's.

Anyway, they need to pick it up.

And if they don't Pete needs to realize that he may have to win in shootouts from here on out. Pete Ball will probably only work against SF where they will be using Kyle Ball in almost the same fashion. Everybody else can play O and struggles in pass D.