kearly
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As a right brain dominant person, I'm more comfortable with analogies than technical analysis. But after a game like this, I'm at a loss for any previous Seahawks game that truly compares. I guess you could look at it this way, this game was the first half of the Falcons playoff game combined with the second half of the Chicago regular season game from last season. Like the Atlanta game, our pass defense and run defense were completely inept in the first half. We trailed Atlanta 20-0, and trailed Houston 20-3 in those games respectively by halftime. In the Chicago game, Seattle turned the game around with a 97 yard drive late in the 4th quarter. In the Houston game, Seattle turned the game around with a 98 yard drive midway through the 4th quarter. Seattle battled and won a fistfight in overtime in both games, albeit in prettier fashion vs. Chicago.
However, there is one aspect where this game differs from those two. In those games, Seattle won the yardage battle. In this game, Seattle lost the yardage battle. And not by a yard or two. The lost the yardage battle by about 200 yards. The last time Seattle won any game with a yardage deficit like that was San Diego at home in 2010, and they needed two kick returns for touchdowns from Leon to pull it off. And that game was at home against a middling team. It wasn't on the road at 10am against a team that can look like a world-beater when their offense is clicking.
There are plenty of negatives to take out of this game. But for me, there was one glaring positive: Our pass rush is now operable away from home, even at 10am Pacific time. Before Bennett left the game, Schaub rarely had enough time to check a 2nd read. Seattle's pass rush initially took a step back in the second half, you could sense Bennett's absense. But for most of the 4th quarter and overtime, Seattle's pass rush was getting the job done. Most of Schaub's sacks taken were in the 4th quarter or overtime, and that was without Bennett on the field.
Before leaving the game, Bennett once again saw most of his reps come at LEO. The fact that Bennett is taking reps away from Clemons and Avril speaks volumes both for what the team thinks of Bennett as a pure pass rusher and also of what they think of the remainder of Seattle's defensive tackle group. And before leaving the game, Bennett was once again a force. Both inside and outside.
Cliff Avril had a somewhat quiet game overall but still registered a few notable plays. Late in the game McDonald and McDaniel chased Matt Schaub out of the pocket when he was promptly CRUSHED by Cliff Avril for a sack. Schaub lost his helmet from the hit, and I half expected his head to still be in it. Avril would contribute a few hurries as well, and also had a pair of batted passes. Seattle had at least five tipped passes that I counted in this game, six if you count the Sherman interception.
Chris Clemons appears to have lost a step athletically. He reminds me of 2008 Patrick Kerney. And yet, Clemons is still producing regardless. He had a sack in this game and nearly had two more. After Bennett left the game, Clemons was our most consistent pressure creator. Clemons has always been a guy that relies on technique, intelligence, and slipperiness to create pressure. He's never been a guy who produces through his athleticism. That makes me wonder just how much longer he can continue to produce even as he's declining physically. If Clemons continues to play like this, Seattle will have a very interesting decision to make with Clemon's 2014 contract. I think most of us assumed he'd be gone next year. Maybe not.
McDaniel is one of our most consistent performers. He may not rack up stats, but he pushes guys around and helps collapse the pocket in the pass rush. McDaniel did get a sack in this game and destroyed Schaub on a near-sack during the final meaningful play of regulation. Seattle caught a huge break on that play, as McDaniel struck Schaub's facemask with his hands/arms, and was not called. It would have wiped out a crucial 3rd down stop and given the Texans a first down around our 25 yard line with mere seconds to go in a tie game. Thankfully for us, the refs either didn't see it, or were unsure enough not to call it.
Brandon Mebane is better than ever. I was amazed how many times in this game he broke into the backfield vs. the run.
It's only been 3 games since he came back, but Clinton McDonald is not who he used to be. He is a force in the pass rush and is more than capable in run defense. When Hill returns and is able to play, I would not want him taking reps away from McDonald right now. McDonald had a sack and was very close on a few other occasions. In three games McDonald has 2.5 sacks, which is terrific. And yet, having watching him closely, I feel like he probably should have twice that many. He's been playing on a very high level since coming back.
Other than the 3rd quarter, Seattle pass rush was bringing it. So how did Matt Schaub throw for 350+ on us? Basically, our coverage just sucked, especially LB coverage.
Sherman had an off game, up until his pick 6 at least. Sherman looked ill. He needed oxygen after his TD, which isn't alarming per se, but he had his hands on his hips pretty much all game and just looked like he had a bug to me. It could have been the heat, but only Sherman was showing signs of it. Sherman gave up a lot of catches and struggled with open field tackles. He did get the pick six though, and nearly had another interception earlier in the game.
Browner was decent, other than his PI, which I thought was debatable (minor contact + uncatchable pass).
Other than missing a couple of open field tackles, I thought Earl and Kam both looked good.
But for whatever reason, Texans targets were getting separation with ease, both in zones and in man coverage. Playing zone against a team like the Texans is stupid, but I can't say this is the only reason our coverage failed. There were plenty of meltdowns in man-to-man as well.
What was truly distressing was watching the game the second time and noticing that Schaub was just about never going to a second read. Either his pre-snap reads are the stuff of legend, or Seattle had a very poor game plan for the first half. I lean toward the latter. Schaub would often stare down receivers and still complete the pass to them, wide open, in under 3 seconds. You'd probably have to go back to 2010 to find coverage as bad as it was in the first half vs. Houston.
Our linebackers played badly enough to earn a benching, or at least Wright and Smith did. Wright had a miserable game that not only highlighted his lack of speed, but made him look like he was completely foreign to the concept of taking angles or tackling in the open field. I would guess that at least 50 of Foster's yards came as a direct result of poor play from Wright. Wright also failed to cover a RB on the Texan's 2nd touchdown. Wright's only positive play came late in the game when he had a tipped pass that fell incomplete.
Smith was just as bad, though most of his issues came in coverage. He completely whiffed on covering the TE on numerous occasions, one of them being a long TD pass that looked laughably easy. He also struggled in run support. There was a bright spot for Smith though, and it was a big one. He chased down Ben Tate from behind and forced a fumble that was recovered on the sideline (just barely) by Bobby Wagner. That turnover netted Seattle a FG, and was the first points of their 20-0 run to win the game.
Our linebacker group struggled as a whole with filling gaps in the run game. It was pretty shocking seeing the Texans just gouging us up the middle like the did, especially given how well our DTs were playing.
After the game was over, I read some Texans fans blaming the loss on the officiating. I thought that was rich, given that at least 3 points, and maybe as many as 10 points, swung on a totally ridiculous 3rd down PI call on Chancellor late in the first half (not to mention the ensuing injury to Michael Bennett later in that drive). It wouldn't be the last time officials would bite Seattle with a damaging PI call, either.
But when I watched the game again, I saw what they were mad about. On the Texans' final drive of regulation, Schaub is hammered by McDaniel as he throws incomplete, forcing a punt. On that play, McDaniel goes hands to the face on Schaub, and with more than a little violence. This wasn't like Earl Thomas laying a few fingers on Ryan Tannehill's facemask. Had the penalty been called, it's essentially game over for Seattle, unless the Texans kicker had decided to do a Jay Feely impression. Later in the game, a Texan's defender body slams Doug Baldwin after the play, and gives Seattle a 1st down in long FG range instead of having 3rd and 5 from mid-field. It was essentially a game losing penalty, and you could always argue that he couldn't hear the whistle as the crowd was pretty loud during that moment. I think it was the correct call, but I empathize with Texans fans. The officials went 1/2 on game breaking penalties, and choose the one that helped us over the one that would have helped them.
On that note, there is some serious "magic" to Doug Baldwin, isn't there? Not only is he clutch, but he seems to always be involved in random moments that turn a game around. He may not create a ton of production, but when he's playing, he's like RW the WR. Not only did Baldwin get bodyslammed* for what amounted to a game-winning penalty, but he caught that ridiculous sideline pass on 3rd and 7 in the fourth quarter, a pass thrown from around the goal line on a 98 yard TD drive. I've seen catches where a guy didn't even have a blade of grass between him and the chalk, but that might be the first catch I've seen where both feet, on the tips of the toes no less, didn't have a blade of grass. What an amazing catch that was.
*Baldwin's the same guy that got us a big "bodyslam" type penalty vs. SF in 2012.
On offense, Wilson was asked to do the impossible, and I think played a far better game than his final statline would indicate. At the very least, I think this was the most impressive game I've seen from Wilson yet as a scrambler. At least 3 times I thought he was dead meat, but did some kind of spinning or leaping magic and somehow picked up the first down or critical yardage, one of those moments being an absolutely crucial 4th down conversion where he looked to be completely screwed.
On that note, Wilson is now 17th in the NFL in QBR, with a 95.3 passer rating.
The backup line got killed in pass protection, other than Jeanpierre, who seemed pretty solid, though often worked double teams. It wasn't really about which lineman screwed up though. It was more about where JJ Watt was on a given play, where Whitney Mercilus was on a given play, where Brian Cushing was on a given play. Wherever those guys were, bad protection materialized.
I thought Bowie looked exactly like he did in the preseason. Powerful in the run game, flawed in protection. He's not a finished product yet. I was happy with how he did given the circumstances.
The big surprise on offense was how well the run blocking did. That backup line can move bodies, and Derrick Coleman had his best game yet as a Seahawk. He actually had two lead blocks that were legitimate full back quality, including one that helped spring Lynch through a hole for an extra 15 yards or so. I still think he's a problem, you know, the kind you have to live with? But as long as we are enduring Coleman, there's no reason to not hope he improves. And this week, he improved.
Other random thoughts:
Foster and Johnson aren't terribly field fast, but they outran our back seven all game long. What was that all about?
Evan Moore: Drops; Kellen Davis: Penalties?
On the game breaking pick 6, it reminded me of the Red Bryant pick six vs. Chicago in 2011. Seattle blitzed the bootleg, the QB throws to his checkdown on instinct, and Seattle attacks the checkdown before the throw. Everyone's blaming Schaub, and to be sure, it was a bad pass and a poor decision, but a lot of QBs force that pass in that situation. Carroll just simply outcoached Kubiak on that play. Kubiak ate the blame for that play after the game, and some might think he was just protecting his QB, and sure, that's part of his calculus. But I thought he was correct in taking responsibility there. It was a risky play call in a risk-averse game situation. Actually, I kind of lost my way making this point. It wasn't really Schaub's fault. It wasn't really Kubiak's fault. It was more a case of PC/Quinn making a brilliant defensive playcall.
The first play of Seattle's epic 98 yard drive was a botched snap.
Beast Mode's monstrous first half run shouldn't be forgotten. Neither should the five times tipped diving interception by ET.
Kearse committed a legit OPI, and it hurt Seattle. But that was an awesome TD catch. Not only did he high point perfectly, but the defender got a hand in there and gave a good shove to jar the ball out, and it didn't even budge. Kearse has some ridiculously strong hands.
As Sherman raced to the endzone with a celebrating Seahawks escort in tow, Chris Meiers' real time call of the play: "Richard Sherman has followers, and not just on Twitter!" I thought that was pretty cool.
During overtime, Houston punted the ball and it was caught at Seattle's 7 yard line. A penalty on the kicking team resulted in a re-kick. Perhaps going for the touchback, the second attempt was actually caught in the endzone by Tate, who probably shouldn't have caught it at all. He had enough room to take a knee, but ended up bringing the kick out anyway. He ended up at the 31 yard line giving Seattle a critical 24 yard swing in field position compared to the previous punt.
I am in awe of Marshawn Lynch right now. I know the stats don't show it, but he is playing the best football of his life right now. His vision has never been better, he looks strong as ever, and he looks as quick as ever. He's a rock in pass protection and is turning into a weapon as a receiver. His numbers are being hurt due to factors beyond his control, but when things get right... look. out.
What a huge win this was. The Texans gave us their best shot and we still won. The first half of this game may very well have been the best half of football in Texans' history. I am so damn proud of this team and our QB. This was the kind of win that Super Bowl teams get.
However, there is one aspect where this game differs from those two. In those games, Seattle won the yardage battle. In this game, Seattle lost the yardage battle. And not by a yard or two. The lost the yardage battle by about 200 yards. The last time Seattle won any game with a yardage deficit like that was San Diego at home in 2010, and they needed two kick returns for touchdowns from Leon to pull it off. And that game was at home against a middling team. It wasn't on the road at 10am against a team that can look like a world-beater when their offense is clicking.
There are plenty of negatives to take out of this game. But for me, there was one glaring positive: Our pass rush is now operable away from home, even at 10am Pacific time. Before Bennett left the game, Schaub rarely had enough time to check a 2nd read. Seattle's pass rush initially took a step back in the second half, you could sense Bennett's absense. But for most of the 4th quarter and overtime, Seattle's pass rush was getting the job done. Most of Schaub's sacks taken were in the 4th quarter or overtime, and that was without Bennett on the field.
Before leaving the game, Bennett once again saw most of his reps come at LEO. The fact that Bennett is taking reps away from Clemons and Avril speaks volumes both for what the team thinks of Bennett as a pure pass rusher and also of what they think of the remainder of Seattle's defensive tackle group. And before leaving the game, Bennett was once again a force. Both inside and outside.
Cliff Avril had a somewhat quiet game overall but still registered a few notable plays. Late in the game McDonald and McDaniel chased Matt Schaub out of the pocket when he was promptly CRUSHED by Cliff Avril for a sack. Schaub lost his helmet from the hit, and I half expected his head to still be in it. Avril would contribute a few hurries as well, and also had a pair of batted passes. Seattle had at least five tipped passes that I counted in this game, six if you count the Sherman interception.
Chris Clemons appears to have lost a step athletically. He reminds me of 2008 Patrick Kerney. And yet, Clemons is still producing regardless. He had a sack in this game and nearly had two more. After Bennett left the game, Clemons was our most consistent pressure creator. Clemons has always been a guy that relies on technique, intelligence, and slipperiness to create pressure. He's never been a guy who produces through his athleticism. That makes me wonder just how much longer he can continue to produce even as he's declining physically. If Clemons continues to play like this, Seattle will have a very interesting decision to make with Clemon's 2014 contract. I think most of us assumed he'd be gone next year. Maybe not.
McDaniel is one of our most consistent performers. He may not rack up stats, but he pushes guys around and helps collapse the pocket in the pass rush. McDaniel did get a sack in this game and destroyed Schaub on a near-sack during the final meaningful play of regulation. Seattle caught a huge break on that play, as McDaniel struck Schaub's facemask with his hands/arms, and was not called. It would have wiped out a crucial 3rd down stop and given the Texans a first down around our 25 yard line with mere seconds to go in a tie game. Thankfully for us, the refs either didn't see it, or were unsure enough not to call it.
Brandon Mebane is better than ever. I was amazed how many times in this game he broke into the backfield vs. the run.
It's only been 3 games since he came back, but Clinton McDonald is not who he used to be. He is a force in the pass rush and is more than capable in run defense. When Hill returns and is able to play, I would not want him taking reps away from McDonald right now. McDonald had a sack and was very close on a few other occasions. In three games McDonald has 2.5 sacks, which is terrific. And yet, having watching him closely, I feel like he probably should have twice that many. He's been playing on a very high level since coming back.
Other than the 3rd quarter, Seattle pass rush was bringing it. So how did Matt Schaub throw for 350+ on us? Basically, our coverage just sucked, especially LB coverage.
Sherman had an off game, up until his pick 6 at least. Sherman looked ill. He needed oxygen after his TD, which isn't alarming per se, but he had his hands on his hips pretty much all game and just looked like he had a bug to me. It could have been the heat, but only Sherman was showing signs of it. Sherman gave up a lot of catches and struggled with open field tackles. He did get the pick six though, and nearly had another interception earlier in the game.
Browner was decent, other than his PI, which I thought was debatable (minor contact + uncatchable pass).
Other than missing a couple of open field tackles, I thought Earl and Kam both looked good.
But for whatever reason, Texans targets were getting separation with ease, both in zones and in man coverage. Playing zone against a team like the Texans is stupid, but I can't say this is the only reason our coverage failed. There were plenty of meltdowns in man-to-man as well.
What was truly distressing was watching the game the second time and noticing that Schaub was just about never going to a second read. Either his pre-snap reads are the stuff of legend, or Seattle had a very poor game plan for the first half. I lean toward the latter. Schaub would often stare down receivers and still complete the pass to them, wide open, in under 3 seconds. You'd probably have to go back to 2010 to find coverage as bad as it was in the first half vs. Houston.
Our linebackers played badly enough to earn a benching, or at least Wright and Smith did. Wright had a miserable game that not only highlighted his lack of speed, but made him look like he was completely foreign to the concept of taking angles or tackling in the open field. I would guess that at least 50 of Foster's yards came as a direct result of poor play from Wright. Wright also failed to cover a RB on the Texan's 2nd touchdown. Wright's only positive play came late in the game when he had a tipped pass that fell incomplete.
Smith was just as bad, though most of his issues came in coverage. He completely whiffed on covering the TE on numerous occasions, one of them being a long TD pass that looked laughably easy. He also struggled in run support. There was a bright spot for Smith though, and it was a big one. He chased down Ben Tate from behind and forced a fumble that was recovered on the sideline (just barely) by Bobby Wagner. That turnover netted Seattle a FG, and was the first points of their 20-0 run to win the game.
Our linebacker group struggled as a whole with filling gaps in the run game. It was pretty shocking seeing the Texans just gouging us up the middle like the did, especially given how well our DTs were playing.
After the game was over, I read some Texans fans blaming the loss on the officiating. I thought that was rich, given that at least 3 points, and maybe as many as 10 points, swung on a totally ridiculous 3rd down PI call on Chancellor late in the first half (not to mention the ensuing injury to Michael Bennett later in that drive). It wouldn't be the last time officials would bite Seattle with a damaging PI call, either.
But when I watched the game again, I saw what they were mad about. On the Texans' final drive of regulation, Schaub is hammered by McDaniel as he throws incomplete, forcing a punt. On that play, McDaniel goes hands to the face on Schaub, and with more than a little violence. This wasn't like Earl Thomas laying a few fingers on Ryan Tannehill's facemask. Had the penalty been called, it's essentially game over for Seattle, unless the Texans kicker had decided to do a Jay Feely impression. Later in the game, a Texan's defender body slams Doug Baldwin after the play, and gives Seattle a 1st down in long FG range instead of having 3rd and 5 from mid-field. It was essentially a game losing penalty, and you could always argue that he couldn't hear the whistle as the crowd was pretty loud during that moment. I think it was the correct call, but I empathize with Texans fans. The officials went 1/2 on game breaking penalties, and choose the one that helped us over the one that would have helped them.
On that note, there is some serious "magic" to Doug Baldwin, isn't there? Not only is he clutch, but he seems to always be involved in random moments that turn a game around. He may not create a ton of production, but when he's playing, he's like RW the WR. Not only did Baldwin get bodyslammed* for what amounted to a game-winning penalty, but he caught that ridiculous sideline pass on 3rd and 7 in the fourth quarter, a pass thrown from around the goal line on a 98 yard TD drive. I've seen catches where a guy didn't even have a blade of grass between him and the chalk, but that might be the first catch I've seen where both feet, on the tips of the toes no less, didn't have a blade of grass. What an amazing catch that was.
*Baldwin's the same guy that got us a big "bodyslam" type penalty vs. SF in 2012.
On offense, Wilson was asked to do the impossible, and I think played a far better game than his final statline would indicate. At the very least, I think this was the most impressive game I've seen from Wilson yet as a scrambler. At least 3 times I thought he was dead meat, but did some kind of spinning or leaping magic and somehow picked up the first down or critical yardage, one of those moments being an absolutely crucial 4th down conversion where he looked to be completely screwed.
On that note, Wilson is now 17th in the NFL in QBR, with a 95.3 passer rating.
The backup line got killed in pass protection, other than Jeanpierre, who seemed pretty solid, though often worked double teams. It wasn't really about which lineman screwed up though. It was more about where JJ Watt was on a given play, where Whitney Mercilus was on a given play, where Brian Cushing was on a given play. Wherever those guys were, bad protection materialized.
I thought Bowie looked exactly like he did in the preseason. Powerful in the run game, flawed in protection. He's not a finished product yet. I was happy with how he did given the circumstances.
The big surprise on offense was how well the run blocking did. That backup line can move bodies, and Derrick Coleman had his best game yet as a Seahawk. He actually had two lead blocks that were legitimate full back quality, including one that helped spring Lynch through a hole for an extra 15 yards or so. I still think he's a problem, you know, the kind you have to live with? But as long as we are enduring Coleman, there's no reason to not hope he improves. And this week, he improved.
Other random thoughts:
Foster and Johnson aren't terribly field fast, but they outran our back seven all game long. What was that all about?
Evan Moore: Drops; Kellen Davis: Penalties?
On the game breaking pick 6, it reminded me of the Red Bryant pick six vs. Chicago in 2011. Seattle blitzed the bootleg, the QB throws to his checkdown on instinct, and Seattle attacks the checkdown before the throw. Everyone's blaming Schaub, and to be sure, it was a bad pass and a poor decision, but a lot of QBs force that pass in that situation. Carroll just simply outcoached Kubiak on that play. Kubiak ate the blame for that play after the game, and some might think he was just protecting his QB, and sure, that's part of his calculus. But I thought he was correct in taking responsibility there. It was a risky play call in a risk-averse game situation. Actually, I kind of lost my way making this point. It wasn't really Schaub's fault. It wasn't really Kubiak's fault. It was more a case of PC/Quinn making a brilliant defensive playcall.
The first play of Seattle's epic 98 yard drive was a botched snap.
Beast Mode's monstrous first half run shouldn't be forgotten. Neither should the five times tipped diving interception by ET.
Kearse committed a legit OPI, and it hurt Seattle. But that was an awesome TD catch. Not only did he high point perfectly, but the defender got a hand in there and gave a good shove to jar the ball out, and it didn't even budge. Kearse has some ridiculously strong hands.
As Sherman raced to the endzone with a celebrating Seahawks escort in tow, Chris Meiers' real time call of the play: "Richard Sherman has followers, and not just on Twitter!" I thought that was pretty cool.
During overtime, Houston punted the ball and it was caught at Seattle's 7 yard line. A penalty on the kicking team resulted in a re-kick. Perhaps going for the touchback, the second attempt was actually caught in the endzone by Tate, who probably shouldn't have caught it at all. He had enough room to take a knee, but ended up bringing the kick out anyway. He ended up at the 31 yard line giving Seattle a critical 24 yard swing in field position compared to the previous punt.
I am in awe of Marshawn Lynch right now. I know the stats don't show it, but he is playing the best football of his life right now. His vision has never been better, he looks strong as ever, and he looks as quick as ever. He's a rock in pass protection and is turning into a weapon as a receiver. His numbers are being hurt due to factors beyond his control, but when things get right... look. out.
What a huge win this was. The Texans gave us their best shot and we still won. The first half of this game may very well have been the best half of football in Texans' history. I am so damn proud of this team and our QB. This was the kind of win that Super Bowl teams get.
