Why Seattle's offensive line may not be as bad as you think.

[Tical21]

I've been thinking about this one all day. I don't think I've ever seen this stance before, and there is certainly something to it. But the common belief that the run action is supposed to cause the defense to react to the run, and thus buy extra time for the QB. Play action teams should get more time to pass, not less. But I can't say that your premise doesn't make sense.

I wouldn't guess many teams are coached to ignore our rushing game and instead concentrate on rushing the passer. If they were, you're right, there is a huge opportunity to blow up the passing game and gets tons of early pressure. I would beg teams to do that. My reply would be that if teams are going to do that, we should be running all over them.

I do know that there are a bunch of times where we have a naked called and when Russell turns his back, he turns right into an OLB that didn't buy the fake. It certainly happens.

When I think Wilson has the most problems with the pass rush though is when we're in a passing situation, don't have a play-action called, and the opposition is showing a six man rush. The whole world knows they're blitzing. Russell will see they're blitzing pre-snap, go signal to his linemen, maybe change the play, and then still not get rid of the ball and eat a sack. You see six guys, you know they're coming, you have to hit something hot. You've got 1 on 1 matchups. Find one. That is not the time to hold onto the ball and get cute.

 

[Anthony!]

Reasons Why The O-Line Will Be Better. .

1. Health- Are we going have the same exact injury issues? Its possible yet no one can gaurantee that.

2. Continuity- If the starters stay healthy together, they'll build familarity and chemistry that will make them better.

3. Experience- The collective experience is better than it was a year ago and it will make a huge difference in terms of depth and consistency.

4. Progression- Players will continue to get better each practice, each game especially the youngest.

5. Lord Have Mercy Its Percy- Harvin is a Pressure Killer, Teams that want to stack the box and go all out will get burnt and burnt often.

6. Russell Wilson- He's going into his 3rd year, and he already knows what its like to be David Carr. And that makes him mighty. The O-Line can't get any worse than it was a year ago at times, and we know Russell Wilson was capable of surviving that. So whether the line is good or not we know Wilson will be good. And if the line steps up and does its job, we'll see an even better Russell Wilson.

7. NFC West- The Seahawks O-Line plays 6 games against 3 of the best D-Lines/Front 7s in the game. Add the third year in a row that'll we will play the Panthers that 7 games against the best. And while those games might be difficult, it makes it that much easier against teams with weaker.

For instance playing Saints x2, SFO x2, Cards, and Rams in the Seahawks last 8 games or so before the Superbowl made it that much easier to handle the Broncos Front 7. A front 7 that pretty much shutdown two of the most highly prolific offenses in the NFL last year in the Chargers and Patriots that had better O-Lines than the one the Seahawks had.

Excellent post I to think they will be better, for all the reasons you mention.

 

[Anthony!]

I've been thinking about this one all day. I don't think I've ever seen this stance before, and there is certainly something to it. But the common belief that the run action is supposed to cause the defense to react to the run, and thus buy extra time for the QB. Play action teams should get more time to pass, not less. But I can't say that your premise doesn't make sense.

I wouldn't guess many teams are coached to ignore our rushing game and instead concentrate on rushing the passer. If they were, you're right, there is a huge opportunity to blow up the passing game and gets tons of early pressure. I would beg teams to do that. My reply would be that if teams are going to do that, we should be running all over them.

I do know that there are a bunch of times where we have a naked called and when Russell turns his back, he turns right into an OLB that didn't buy the fake. It certainly happens.

When I think Wilson has the most problems with the pass rush though is when we're in a passing situation, don't have a play-action called, and the opposition is showing a six man rush. The whole world knows they're blitzing. Russell will see they're blitzing pre-snap, go signal to his linemen, maybe change the play, and then still not get rid of the ball and eat a sack. You see six guys, you know they're coming, you have to hit something hot. You've got 1 on 1 matchups. Find one. That is not the time to hold onto the ball and get cute.

I agree with most but you are presuming there is someone open, I have heard the announcers say a lot that there was no one open, hence why there are coverage sacks, and if it is 3rd down and you need a first down or punt throwing it away gives you zero chance, trying to make a play gives you a chance.

 

[MarylandHawk]

The Oline is great at run blocking. They suck in pass protection. Those who want to blame the QB who spent half of last season running for his life need to get a clue. I remember plays last year where the defenders almost got to the QB faster than the ball did. Your big idea is get rid of the friggin ball faster? Geesh.

 

[Scottemojo]

I've been thinking about this one all day. I don't think I've ever seen this stance before, and there is certainly something to it. But the common belief that the run action is supposed to cause the defense to react to the run, and thus buy extra time for the QB. Play action teams should get more time to pass, not less. But I can't say that your premise doesn't make sense.

I wouldn't guess many teams are coached to ignore our rushing game and instead concentrate on rushing the passer. If they were, you're right, there is a huge opportunity to blow up the passing game and gets tons of early pressure. I would beg teams to do that. My reply would be that if teams are going to do that, we should be running all over them.

I do know that there are a bunch of times where we have a naked called and when Russell turns his back, he turns right into an OLB that didn't buy the fake. It certainly happens.

When I think Wilson has the most problems with the pass rush though is when we're in a passing situation, don't have a play-action called, and the opposition is showing a six man rush. The whole world knows they're blitzing. Russell will see they're blitzing pre-snap, go signal to his linemen, maybe change the play, and then still not get rid of the ball and eat a sack. You see six guys, you know they're coming, you have to hit something hot. You've got 1 on 1 matchups. Find one. That is not the time to hold onto the ball and get cute.

I know the premise of play action is to buy time. And there are plenty of games where it worked very well. It was in division that I noted defenses guessing play action. Rams would assign a LB spy, and if they suspected play action they go after Russ. It worked well. I actually first noted this tendency of the Rams in game 17 of the 2012 season. The Niners do the same with their OLBs, who are pass rushers anyway, they send them wide in case of bootlegs, getting after him is secondary to containment.

The cardinals are a different beast. They will send extra guys up the run gaps and dare Seattle to use the middle of the field passing. In the home loss, they pressed the outside receivers and play action just gave them extra time to get after Russ. I thought it was pretty plain that outside of obvious run situations they didn't care about play action.

What I need to do, and will, is a breakdown of how many sacks came on play action.

 

[Scottemojo]

The Oline is great at run blocking. They suck in pass protection. Those who want to blame the QB who spent half of last season running for his life need to get a clue. I remember plays last year where the defenders almost got to the QB faster than the ball did. Your big idea is get rid of the friggin ball faster? Geesh.

The O-line is league average at run blocking, and in fact were one of the worst in the NFL in short yardage rushing. And who says Russ needs to get rid of the ball faster? 10 of his TDs came on extended plays. As did most of his sacks. Double edge on that sword.

 

[kjreid]

On the point that Wilson holds the ball to long, that last video you have up on the play action roll out, if Russell would have planted at the hash marks there were two recievers with separation but he kept his rollout going. if he picks up the reactions from the outside back (who he should have been reading on the initial rollout (imo) he would have seen the 1st steps of recovery and adjusted to the 10 yard cross. As last season went on it appeared Russell was holding the ball longer and longer almost as if he didn't trust the 1st option at all.