I'm really enjoying the season a lot and I'm seriously impressed with the heart and tenacity of this team. There's also obviously a lot of skill and talent, and young players stepping up. What do you see as being our key areas of concern though?
What do you see as our key weakness ROS?
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SlickRick
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Just not used to seeing Seattle get gashed so much in the run game. McCaffrey is a beast but shouldn't have put up as many yards as he did against us. I'm glad hunt wont be playing us when we meet the chiefs. Def need some work in that department
DL for sure. We need another bad ass DT and DE. Gap control is everything and it's been missing a lot which explains these huge gashes we are seeing on the ground. The secondary is young but earning their stripes this season with all this experience. Upgrade the DL and the secondary will benefit exponentially.
KiwiHawk
New member
On defense, stopping the run. Most of our big opponents like to pass anyway, so running doesn't seem that important, but if we can get them to abandon the run, then they become one-dimensional and easier to beat.
On offense, the under-thrown deep passes. They haven't hurt us thus far, but as it becomes a "known" thing, DBs are going to anticipate it and sooner or later it will start to result in INTs, which will kill us.
On offense, the under-thrown deep passes. They haven't hurt us thus far, but as it becomes a "known" thing, DBs are going to anticipate it and sooner or later it will start to result in INTs, which will kill us.
SeaChat
Member
Another long one, this was a good topic that would allow me to point out some things that I've been contemplating over the course of the season, and have been wanting to speak my thoughts out loud. If you don't like long, I always try and respect that by suggesting you can move along to the next post and leave this one for those that like to get into the meat and potatoes of things. Either way I love this crazy forum and the time I spend here. There are a lot of great minds in here and a lot to be learned from others, if your hungry for that kind of stuff like I am.
A few things that keep cropping up each week that have concerned me, and that I think threaten our chances at getting a Super Bowl shot this year.
A. Shotty is calling this one play, where he has Tyler Lockett, come around in a Running Back type, end around running play, and while I like the play, Russell is doing a terrible job of selling it.
I watched Cam and the Panthers call almost and identical play in the series right after we did the first time last Sunday, only Cam turned and ran toward the hand off target, rahter than just stepping back and handing it off to Tyler on his way by like Russell did. Other teams know we like to call that play and are looking for it, if we are going to keep it in our playbook we need to fix it.
B. There are a couple of pass plays that Shotty is calling in and our opponents are lining up with an unblocked defender on one side or the other of the lineup. I don't know if Russell doesn't recognize whats coming before the snap, or if just thinks somehow someone will cover him before he is on top of Russell, but several times I've seen Russell stand there like a deer in the headlights, and get hit hard, sometimes causing a fumble, and what really worries me is that sooner or later, one of these big ass linemen are going to hurt him and we are so screwed if we loose Russell out of the game.
The solution to me is for him to recognize which side the undefended pursuit is going to come from and, if he can't find his target in two seconds, he needs to scramble in the opposite direction to buy a few more seconds, or run up the field our of the pocket and pick up whatever ground he can. Don't run backwards up the field because that almost always results in a sack and loss of yards, or a forced fumble when the lineman finally catches up and plows hin into the dirt.
That's it on our offense, I think we are playing so much better than we have in as long as I can remember this team ever playing, and that dates back to their very first preseason game.
Now on to the Defense. It's not as bad as some might think. There are some clear problems that we have had this season, a whole lot of it has had to do with so much new talent in the line up, which results in unavoidable rookie mistakes, and the x factor that only time on the field in live game time can resolve and that is synchronizing as a complete unit,
There has been clear and steady progress made in this regard this season, and every single game has demonstrated those improvements. We are right on the cusp of the reemergence of a real deal Legion of Boom defense.
A. Our Secondary is struggling with the pass defense. I want to qualify that statement by saying that they are showing steady growth and improvements with every passing game. BUT..... the one thing that I see, and I may not understand the whys or whats of it, but it seems to me that our receiver coverage needs to play man to man or if zone then position themselves on top of but in front of their assigned targets or lanes.
Too many times our opponents receivers are out in the open or our defenders are to far out of step to make a real play on the ball. Something Sherman did better than any other LB I can recall, he just played as though he were the receiver and was looking for the QB to throw the ball to him and let their receiver play LB on him instead.
Shaquill was getting that down at the weak side LB position last year, and is starting to get it back into his arsenal this year at the strong side LB position. It's not been as easy a transition as he or others thought it was going to be for him. Shaquill is a Super Star Stud and will acclimate and make it work, NO DOUBT.
B. Strong Safety and Free Safety positions, which have always been the real bread and butter of the LOB, are filled with young and special talents, Bradley and Ted are both phenomenal players and they can lay the law down as good as Earl and Kam did even in their prime.
There is a lot of seasoning and the much needed synchronization and cohesiveness that time on the field in live time provides, and there is very remarkable evidence that they are both benefiting from that by way of their steadily improving stats with each game they play.
The one thing I see, that I'm maybe not seeing as much of with this defense, was that in past seasons it always appeared that Earl and Kam, always played as a support for the LB's and or the Run Defenders, depending upon the play calls from our opponents.
I don't know if what I'm seeing is just misreads by whoever is calling or communicating the defensive strategy from play to play, or if there is a new strategy in play where Bradley and Ted or any other safeties that play, are being taught to play more independently and not so much in unison with their defensive counterparts to help strengthen the run or pass defenses called in by our opponents.
C.I almost think that C is almost no longer an issue, and that has to do with getting turnovers, forced fumbles, block kicks and punts, interceptions, and scoring. If you look at the history of the Seahawks, the points in history where we were top dog, were years where we could rely on our defense to score points for us in almost every game.
They would also give us the turnovers that we needed to get our offense on the field and keep our opponents off. I already spoke about the interception, and I think we are so close to being back in the saddle again in all these categories. We are finally getting the force fumbles with a certain regularity, but we have to recover in order for all their hard work getting it loose to pay off.
I think in summary, its pretty much what I've been saying about our defense all season, we have all the talent and skill we need to be the top defense in the NFL, The one and most important ingredient in our formula for success is the one that can only be gained through real time playing on the field against our opponents, with each game come greater cohesiveness, intuition, and synchronization as a complete unit.
This is due primarily to the fact that the majority of our Defensive cast are new in the NFL, either Rookies and or second or third year players. The real trick has been, can they grow together quickly enough to keep us in the playoff hunt, and they appear to have succeeded at that so far. Then can they grow together enough by the actual playoffs to get us past the big dogs in the league that we will have to face and defeat if we hope to get to the promised land this year.
Russell Wilson and our offense can put up points, their is no doubt about that, they are still a growing unit, but able to score against any defense in the NFL, on on the ground and in the air. BUT if our defense can't minimize our opponents ability to put up points against us in response, we are going to continuously find ourselves in these damn nail biting finishes where we try to put up another counter score to over come the one our defense was unable to stop.
In the formula that Pete Carroll has created with this current Seahawk team, our defense is able to effectively deny our opponents ability to score, and if they do allow them to score, to force them to rely upon field goals.
They have been able to this before and can again. We are so lucky to have Kenny Norton back in the house. Our Defense will also force fumbles and recover those fumbles, which significantly reduce our opponents time on the field and opportunities to score. Often times our defense can convert those fumbler recoveries or interceptions into points themselves or by giving our offense more opportunities to score, than they would have had otherwise.
I'm going to wrap up on our Special Teams, I have only a A for them.
A. Keep doing what your doing They are doing a great job in cooperation with Mike and Seabass, of making life rough for our opponents and in giving their teammates the positions on the field they need in order to give us the best chance of winning. If I see any one thing that I think needs improvement is when we are returning the kickoff or the punt, we need to improve on creating running lanes, we seem to have a lot of trouble this season giving Tyler or maybe even Rashaad their routes to "Take It All The Way", which we know they are both highly capable of.
Go Seahawks!
A few things that keep cropping up each week that have concerned me, and that I think threaten our chances at getting a Super Bowl shot this year.
A. Shotty is calling this one play, where he has Tyler Lockett, come around in a Running Back type, end around running play, and while I like the play, Russell is doing a terrible job of selling it.
I watched Cam and the Panthers call almost and identical play in the series right after we did the first time last Sunday, only Cam turned and ran toward the hand off target, rahter than just stepping back and handing it off to Tyler on his way by like Russell did. Other teams know we like to call that play and are looking for it, if we are going to keep it in our playbook we need to fix it.
B. There are a couple of pass plays that Shotty is calling in and our opponents are lining up with an unblocked defender on one side or the other of the lineup. I don't know if Russell doesn't recognize whats coming before the snap, or if just thinks somehow someone will cover him before he is on top of Russell, but several times I've seen Russell stand there like a deer in the headlights, and get hit hard, sometimes causing a fumble, and what really worries me is that sooner or later, one of these big ass linemen are going to hurt him and we are so screwed if we loose Russell out of the game.
The solution to me is for him to recognize which side the undefended pursuit is going to come from and, if he can't find his target in two seconds, he needs to scramble in the opposite direction to buy a few more seconds, or run up the field our of the pocket and pick up whatever ground he can. Don't run backwards up the field because that almost always results in a sack and loss of yards, or a forced fumble when the lineman finally catches up and plows hin into the dirt.
That's it on our offense, I think we are playing so much better than we have in as long as I can remember this team ever playing, and that dates back to their very first preseason game.
Now on to the Defense. It's not as bad as some might think. There are some clear problems that we have had this season, a whole lot of it has had to do with so much new talent in the line up, which results in unavoidable rookie mistakes, and the x factor that only time on the field in live game time can resolve and that is synchronizing as a complete unit,
There has been clear and steady progress made in this regard this season, and every single game has demonstrated those improvements. We are right on the cusp of the reemergence of a real deal Legion of Boom defense.
A. Our Secondary is struggling with the pass defense. I want to qualify that statement by saying that they are showing steady growth and improvements with every passing game. BUT..... the one thing that I see, and I may not understand the whys or whats of it, but it seems to me that our receiver coverage needs to play man to man or if zone then position themselves on top of but in front of their assigned targets or lanes.
Too many times our opponents receivers are out in the open or our defenders are to far out of step to make a real play on the ball. Something Sherman did better than any other LB I can recall, he just played as though he were the receiver and was looking for the QB to throw the ball to him and let their receiver play LB on him instead.
Shaquill was getting that down at the weak side LB position last year, and is starting to get it back into his arsenal this year at the strong side LB position. It's not been as easy a transition as he or others thought it was going to be for him. Shaquill is a Super Star Stud and will acclimate and make it work, NO DOUBT.
B. Strong Safety and Free Safety positions, which have always been the real bread and butter of the LOB, are filled with young and special talents, Bradley and Ted are both phenomenal players and they can lay the law down as good as Earl and Kam did even in their prime.
There is a lot of seasoning and the much needed synchronization and cohesiveness that time on the field in live time provides, and there is very remarkable evidence that they are both benefiting from that by way of their steadily improving stats with each game they play.
The one thing I see, that I'm maybe not seeing as much of with this defense, was that in past seasons it always appeared that Earl and Kam, always played as a support for the LB's and or the Run Defenders, depending upon the play calls from our opponents.
I don't know if what I'm seeing is just misreads by whoever is calling or communicating the defensive strategy from play to play, or if there is a new strategy in play where Bradley and Ted or any other safeties that play, are being taught to play more independently and not so much in unison with their defensive counterparts to help strengthen the run or pass defenses called in by our opponents.
C.I almost think that C is almost no longer an issue, and that has to do with getting turnovers, forced fumbles, block kicks and punts, interceptions, and scoring. If you look at the history of the Seahawks, the points in history where we were top dog, were years where we could rely on our defense to score points for us in almost every game.
They would also give us the turnovers that we needed to get our offense on the field and keep our opponents off. I already spoke about the interception, and I think we are so close to being back in the saddle again in all these categories. We are finally getting the force fumbles with a certain regularity, but we have to recover in order for all their hard work getting it loose to pay off.
I think in summary, its pretty much what I've been saying about our defense all season, we have all the talent and skill we need to be the top defense in the NFL, The one and most important ingredient in our formula for success is the one that can only be gained through real time playing on the field against our opponents, with each game come greater cohesiveness, intuition, and synchronization as a complete unit.
This is due primarily to the fact that the majority of our Defensive cast are new in the NFL, either Rookies and or second or third year players. The real trick has been, can they grow together quickly enough to keep us in the playoff hunt, and they appear to have succeeded at that so far. Then can they grow together enough by the actual playoffs to get us past the big dogs in the league that we will have to face and defeat if we hope to get to the promised land this year.
Russell Wilson and our offense can put up points, their is no doubt about that, they are still a growing unit, but able to score against any defense in the NFL, on on the ground and in the air. BUT if our defense can't minimize our opponents ability to put up points against us in response, we are going to continuously find ourselves in these damn nail biting finishes where we try to put up another counter score to over come the one our defense was unable to stop.
In the formula that Pete Carroll has created with this current Seahawk team, our defense is able to effectively deny our opponents ability to score, and if they do allow them to score, to force them to rely upon field goals.
They have been able to this before and can again. We are so lucky to have Kenny Norton back in the house. Our Defense will also force fumbles and recover those fumbles, which significantly reduce our opponents time on the field and opportunities to score. Often times our defense can convert those fumbler recoveries or interceptions into points themselves or by giving our offense more opportunities to score, than they would have had otherwise.
I'm going to wrap up on our Special Teams, I have only a A for them.
A. Keep doing what your doing They are doing a great job in cooperation with Mike and Seabass, of making life rough for our opponents and in giving their teammates the positions on the field they need in order to give us the best chance of winning. If I see any one thing that I think needs improvement is when we are returning the kickoff or the punt, we need to improve on creating running lanes, we seem to have a lot of trouble this season giving Tyler or maybe even Rashaad their routes to "Take It All The Way", which we know they are both highly capable of.
Go Seahawks!
Shaquill Griffin. I think our defense and offense is good enough to hang with anyone so long as we don't make dumb mistakes and hurt ourselves. Griffin seems prone to giving the offense at least one or two big plays a game. He more than likely cost us the first Rams game, he was awful in the Chargers game. His issues are certainly correctable and in no way damning of him as a player going forward but as of right now he's the only major concern I have with this team competing with the elite teams in the league.
hawxfreak
New member
When we get Kendricks back it's not only going to help the LBs but it will help the run game as well
Calitro is a good replacement but Kendrick's just has a nose for the football and we have seen that
I hope he signs hjere long term as I don't think He's up for jail time so we just need a little help on the Dline with an interior guy and a rushing DE
I wish I could say Frank was worth 15 to 18 mil a year but he just isn't so I see us going that way in the draft and FA in our off-season so at that point I think then we will have a defense to be reckoned with and 2 good to great pass rushers would put us over the top
We , if we keep our offense together and keep Our D intact with those additions will be definitely ready for another SB
Go Hawks
:irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers:
Calitro is a good replacement but Kendrick's just has a nose for the football and we have seen that
I hope he signs hjere long term as I don't think He's up for jail time so we just need a little help on the Dline with an interior guy and a rushing DE
I wish I could say Frank was worth 15 to 18 mil a year but he just isn't so I see us going that way in the draft and FA in our off-season so at that point I think then we will have a defense to be reckoned with and 2 good to great pass rushers would put us over the top
We , if we keep our offense together and keep Our D intact with those additions will be definitely ready for another SB
Go Hawks
:irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers: :irishdrinkers:
OrangeGravy
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knownone":ura4wkid said:
I think and hope that his main issue is trying to make too many big plays (INTs) instead of just making sure he's in the right spot. He's getting caught looking in the backfield too much it seems and losing contact with his guy. His comments about trying to make the next step and create more turnovers in a post game interview after he had a good game some time back lead me to believe this might be his problem. If not, he's definitely having a sophomore slump
chris98251
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Consistent pass rush threat, LB, and experience.
BoltonWanderer
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I'm hoping that KJ and Kendricks are resigned, I would love to see a season of them two and Wagner all firing at full cylinder, and I think if they are, it goes a long way to helping out the issue with opposing run games.
My choice would be to pick up either the best CB or DL in the draft and then with the money we'll have available, sign a free agent in the other position. It doesn't need to be an extortionate move for a big Mack name, just someone who is at a high level now and can come in and fill a gap, even if it's a short term deal like Cameron Wake.
The exciting thing is though, the areas we're struggling in most have youth on their side so you'd expect them all to keep on improving and be better next year.
My choice would be to pick up either the best CB or DL in the draft and then with the money we'll have available, sign a free agent in the other position. It doesn't need to be an extortionate move for a big Mack name, just someone who is at a high level now and can come in and fill a gap, even if it's a short term deal like Cameron Wake.
The exciting thing is though, the areas we're struggling in most have youth on their side so you'd expect them all to keep on improving and be better next year.
truehawksfan
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-Steady run stuffing DT. Always had one in the past. Branch, McDaniel, Rubin and Mebane.
-SLB. Really miss K.J. Kendricks will help big time when he’s back.
-Pass rushers. We were spoiled. Clemons, Avril, Clark, MB, Irvin. Resign Clark, continue to develop Raheem Green and Jacob Martin and draft a couple more.
-SLB. Really miss K.J. Kendricks will help big time when he’s back.
-Pass rushers. We were spoiled. Clemons, Avril, Clark, MB, Irvin. Resign Clark, continue to develop Raheem Green and Jacob Martin and draft a couple more.
Chawker
Well-known member
I'm not sure I'd call it a weakness, but improving on our front 7 is a need at this point. Getting our LBers back you'll see a improvement in our run too the play offs. We need just a little more nastiness to the front 7.
Cheers
Cheers
