so....i don't really feel this guy knows

"But one of the reasons Wilson hasn’t had a lot of passing yards is because the Seahawks haven’t had a decent offensive line in many years, and this year is no different. Worse, they just lost their best pass-blocking guard in DJ Fluker during the 49ers game last weekend, and he is unlikely to play against the Vikings on Monday. Russell Wilson, despite his Tarkenton-esque scrambling ability, has been sacked 37 times through 12 games - about 3 times a game. "




really what he is talking about.....take a look for yourself...it sounds like he is just pulling out rankings and not really seeing any of the seahawks game tape to make up his opinions....he keeps going under the assumption that the seahawks have been weak in the trenches..i mean everything I have been seeing and the talk I have seen here has painted a different picture. In regards to Fluker, I am pretty sure when he was out earlier in the year they didn't really miss a beat.

https://www.dailynorseman.com/2018/12/6 ... e-seahawks

There’s been noticeable improvement in the offensive line. I think it’s the best the line has played since 2014. Much better composure and technique under Solari. That’s what the eyeball test suggests when actually watching games.

On the other hand, PFF ranks the offensive line 18th in the NFL, overall. Football Outsiders has them ranked 16th in run blocking efficiency and 29th in sack percentage. 10.2% is actually the highest sack percentage of Wilson’s career. Part of that has been the adjustment to playing more in the pocket and learning from a new OC.

hawknation2018":1m5b30am said:

There’s been noticeable improvement in the offensive line. I think it’s the best the line has played since 2014. Much better composure and technique under Solari. That’s what the eyeball test suggests when actually watching games.

On the other hand, PFF ranks the offensive line 18th in the NFL, overall. Football Outsiders has them ranked 16th in run blocking efficiency and 29th in sack percentage. 10.9% is actually the highest sack percentage of Wilson’s career. Part of that has been the adjustment to playing more in the pocket and learning from a new OC.

Click to expand...

18th was a long climb from the 28th at the beginning of the season, so from 28th to 18th was not improvement?

hawknation2018":2utr3w2b said:

There’s been noticeable improvement in the offensive line. I think it’s the best the line has played since 2014. Much better composure and technique under Solari. That’s what the eyeball test suggests when actually watching games.

On the other hand, PFF ranks the offensive line 18th in the NFL, overall. Football Outsiders has them ranked 16th in run blocking efficiency and 29th in sack percentage. 10.9% is actually the highest sack percentage of Wilson’s career. Part of that has been the adjustment to playing more in the pocket and learning from a new OC.

Click to expand...

What I find to be a serious miscalculation on his part and an opinion that is way off base is placing a correlation between his low amount of passing yards per game this year with the o-line being bad. This writer is willfully ignorant about connecting the dots on how with the running game being so good that he is not required to toss up a large amount of yards and also that he is being super efficient with the ball with the opportunities he has to throw in the offense as it is this year.

Oline is getting pretty decent at run blocking, but still is poor at pass protection. When we run the ball it keeps the defense honest and they cannot pin their ears back and destroy Wilson like the first 2 weeks.

That is just another reason we HAVE TO run that ball to be effective as a team.

So no, he is not that far off.
No, we do NOT have a great oline (but "this year is no different is BS).
Yes, Cable is gone and he makes it seems we do, but reality is we are a little under average.

Wilson legs used to be our pass protection, now Schotty is taking that away and we will continue to have mixed results depending on the competition.

niveky":3ced4sg3 said:

hawknation2018":3ced4sg3 said:

There’s been noticeable improvement in the offensive line. I think it’s the best the line has played since 2014. Much better composure and technique under Solari. That’s what the eyeball test suggests when actually watching games.

On the other hand, PFF ranks the offensive line 18th in the NFL, overall. Football Outsiders has them ranked 16th in run blocking efficiency and 29th in sack percentage. 10.9% is actually the highest sack percentage of Wilson’s career. Part of that has been the adjustment to playing more in the pocket and learning from a new OC.

Click to expand...

What I find to be a serious miscalculation on his part and an opinion that is way off base is placing a correlation between his low amount of passing yards per game this year with the o-line being bad. This writer is willfully ignorant about connecting the dots on how with the running game being so good that he is not required to toss up a large amount of yards and also that he is being super efficient with the ball with the opportunities he has to throw in the offense as it is this year.

Click to expand...

He probably hasn’t watched very much Seahawks football this season. He’s just using PFF’s rankings to form his opinions.

toffee":2axw5suw said:

hawknation2018":2axw5suw said:

There’s been noticeable improvement in the offensive line. I think it’s the best the line has played since 2014. Much better composure and technique under Solari. That’s what the eyeball test suggests when actually watching games.

On the other hand, PFF ranks the offensive line 18th in the NFL, overall. Football Outsiders has them ranked 16th in run blocking efficiency and 29th in sack percentage. 10.9% is actually the highest sack percentage of Wilson’s career. Part of that has been the adjustment to playing more in the pocket and learning from a new OC.

Click to expand...

18th was a long climb from the 28th at the beginning of the season, so from 28th to 18th was not improvement?

Click to expand...

right??? and those first 2 games were an abberation on how this season has been and brought the ranking way down to start the season. I feel like if they had ran like they have all season the first 2 games that they could be pretty close to top 10 for the season.

toffee":1lwvv3xc said:

hawknation2018":1lwvv3xc said:

There’s been noticeable improvement in the offensive line. I think it’s the best the line has played since 2014. Much better composure and technique under Solari. That’s what the eyeball test suggests when actually watching games.

On the other hand, PFF ranks the offensive line 18th in the NFL, overall. Football Outsiders has them ranked 16th in run blocking efficiency and 29th in sack percentage. 10.9% is actually the highest sack percentage of Wilson’s career. Part of that has been the adjustment to playing more in the pocket and learning from a new OC.

Click to expand...

18th was a long climb from the 28th at the beginning of the season, so from 28th to 18th was not improvement?

Click to expand...

Definitely is an improvement, but they never should have been ranked 28th. PFF has consistently graded their run blocking poorly. As for pass blocking, they attribute most of the pressures to Wilson.

Seymour":1iadzvmv said:

Oline is getting pretty decent at run blocking, but still is poor at pass protection. When we run the ball it keeps the defense honest and they cannot pin their ears back and destroy Wilson like the first 2 weeks.

That is just another reason we HAVE TO run that ball to be effective as a team.

So no, he is not that far off.
No, we do NOT have a great oline (but "this year is no different is BS).
Yes, Cable is gone and he makes it seems we do, but reality is we are a little under average.

Wilson legs used to be our pass protection, now Schotty is taking that away and we will continue to have mixed results depending on the competition.

Click to expand...

Even so, especially lately, a lot of us has noticed him having a significant amount of time in the pocket and using it brilliantly for the most part. He still has one of those sacks here and there where we are all scratching our head but he is continually adapting to what he has with the o-line game after game. I feel like most of the pass protection issues this year have been from him having to see with his own eyes that he can trust his protection this year.

niveky":1jm1hcge said:

Seymour":1jm1hcge said:

Oline is getting pretty decent at run blocking, but still is poor at pass protection. When we run the ball it keeps the defense honest and they cannot pin their ears back and destroy Wilson like the first 2 weeks.

That is just another reason we HAVE TO run that ball to be effective as a team.

So no, he is not that far off.
No, we do NOT have a great oline (but "this year is no different is BS).
Yes, Cable is gone and he makes it seems we do, but reality is we are a little under average.

Wilson legs used to be our pass protection, now Schotty is taking that away and we will continue to have mixed results depending on the competition.

Click to expand...

Even so, especially lately, a lot of us has noticed him having a significant amount of time in the pocket and using it brilliantly for the most part. He still has one of those sacks here and there where we are all scratching our head but he is continually adapting to what he has with the o-line game after game. I feel like most of the pass protection issues this year have been from him having to see with his own eyes that he can trust his protection this year.

Click to expand...

Most of those very bad numbers came in the first 2 weeks. So, yes it has improved and at times Russell has plenty of time but some of that is because we are getting blitzed less, and some because run game and play action respect, and some is because we have far less missed assignments than the Fable era.

niveky":1195i919 said:

hawknation2018":1195i919 said:

There’s been noticeable improvement in the offensive line. I think it’s the best the line has played since 2014. Much better composure and technique under Solari. That’s what the eyeball test suggests when actually watching games.

On the other hand, PFF ranks the offensive line 18th in the NFL, overall. Football Outsiders has them ranked 16th in run blocking efficiency and 29th in sack percentage. 10.9% is actually the highest sack percentage of Wilson’s career. Part of that has been the adjustment to playing more in the pocket and learning from a new OC.

Click to expand...

What I find to be a serious miscalculation on his part and an opinion that is way off base is placing a correlation between his low amount of passing yards per game this year with the o-line being bad. This writer is willfully ignorant about connecting the dots on how with the running game being so good that he is not required to toss up a large amount of yards and also that he is being super efficient with the ball with the opportunities he has to throw in the offense as it is this year.

Click to expand...

I can think of a few reason for the lack of passing stats:

1. We are running the ball quite efficiently to the tune of 150 yards per game, therefore we attempted less passes in favor of rushing.
2. We didn't experience much games in catch up mode, which normally required the QB to throw a lot.
3. When we did throw the ball, Wilson's completion and TD/int ratio are respectable.
4. Our WR corp., in my opinion, was underwhelming although it's improving, our only 'star' WR Doug hasn't been 100% for the whole season.

It's important to remember that when we had to pass, Wilson has been effective.

toffee":3s88cb21 said:

niveky":3s88cb21 said:

hawknation2018":3s88cb21 said:

There’s been noticeable improvement in the offensive line. I think it’s the best the line has played since 2014. Much better composure and technique under Solari. That’s what the eyeball test suggests when actually watching games.

On the other hand, PFF ranks the offensive line 18th in the NFL, overall. Football Outsiders has them ranked 16th in run blocking efficiency and 29th in sack percentage. 10.9% is actually the highest sack percentage of Wilson’s career. Part of that has been the adjustment to playing more in the pocket and learning from a new OC.

Click to expand...

What I find to be a serious miscalculation on his part and an opinion that is way off base is placing a correlation between his low amount of passing yards per game this year with the o-line being bad. This writer is willfully ignorant about connecting the dots on how with the running game being so good that he is not required to toss up a large amount of yards and also that he is being super efficient with the ball with the opportunities he has to throw in the offense as it is this year.

Click to expand...

I can think of a few reason for the lack of passing stats:

1. We are running the ball quite efficiently to the tune of 150 yards per game, therefore we attempted less passes in favor of rushing.
2. We didn't experience much games in catch up mode, which normally required the QB to throw a lot.
3. When we did throw the ball, Wilson's completion and TD/int ratio are respectable.
4. Our WR corp., in my opinion, was underwhelming although it's improving, our only 'star' WR Doug hasn't been 100% for the whole season.

It's important to remember that when we had to pass, Wilson has been effective.

Click to expand...

All in line with the emphasis of my post in this quote, minus some of your specific examples. I think that we are only going to see further improvement while maintaining(mostly) lower passing attempts and yardage. I am happy with just how efficient Wilson has been this year.

Everyone with a blog is an expert.

Blogs are the new madden.

"But one of the reasons Wilson hasn’t had a lot of passing yards is because the Seahawks haven’t had a decent offensive line in many years, and this year is no different. Worse, they just lost their best pass-blocking guard in DJ Fluker during the 49ers game last weekend, and he is unlikely to play against the Vikings on Monday. Russell Wilson, despite his Tarkenton-esque scrambling ability, has been sacked 37 times through 12 games - about 3 times a game. "

Click to expand...

I wonder what he thinks about the Hawks having arguably the worst line in the league last year and Russ throwing for almost 4,000 yards.

Seems a little... contradictory.

Lead the league in rushing yet have the 18th ranked line to do it, something smells bad here, also if your leading the league in rushing your most likely are passing less since your controlling more of the clock.

It's cool if this is where this guy wants to go to get his 'assumptions' about how his team can win...
Problem being, the Vikings Oline is woeful, and their QB is a statue that makes Tom Brady look athletic!
The biggest difference in these two teams coming into this game is momentum, attitude, and it being prime time.
I've watched the Vikings play, they're soft as a team, they also have a QB who is notoriously bad in big time games...
While we have QB who has actually excelled his whole career under the bright shiny prime time lights!
Our Hawks are going to punch them in the mouth, get up on them, Flip will abandon the run...
And, I wouldn't be surprised to see he and the head coach rolling on around on the sideline in a fight, when they lose!
Go Hawks!

Using PFF is probably the dumbest way to predict the outcome of a game. Seattle's offensive line ranks poorly because teams know they are going to run it and they still run it. Think about it, the Panthers literally sold out to stop the run daring Seattle to pass. What happened? our running game got destroyed and Wilson had his best passing game of the season. Other teams like the Rams tried to contain Wilson in the pocket and take away the passing game and the Seahawks brutalized them running the ball. This inverted our running and passing grades, the Rams sacked Wilson 6 times, but they also gave up just under 500 yards rushing.

I honestly have no idea how PFF gets its data. They have us ranked #28 in run blocking. Yet we lead the league in rushing yards, rushing attempts, and we're 7th in YPC. If we factor out our first 2 games, we basically lead the league in every major rushing category except YPC and it's not even close. The thing is, we aren't running some gimmicky offense predicated on confusing the defense to get rushing yards, we literally line up and pound teams. Which makes the PFF rankings even odder.

So what conclusion can we draw from the ranking? Well, If we are really that bad at run blocking then we must also conclude that the Seahawks have the best running back trio in (maybe?) modern NFL history because all 3 backs are averaging at or over 4.5 YPC... or maybe the ranking is just meaningless.

As to the author's prediction on the game. On paper, the Vikings defense should be able to contain us to around 100 yards rushing. So the game should be close much like the Panthers game. If they can't hold us under 100 yards rushing we will blow the doors off them. I have a hard time buying into the Vikings, their best win is over the Eagles by 2. Every team with a winning record has beaten them by 7 or more and the offensive juggernaut known as "the Bills" beat them by 21.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/NFLMatchup/status/1069600665561939968[/tweet]

^^Wow, Big Ben is pathetic. Good lord.

Anyway my reaction was initially the same as OP. But I think the standard for the O-line by fans is low. That said, we’re definitely at least “solid.” At least

What I actually found most hilarious from reading through all the comments were the typical tropes.

-“Keep a spy on Wilson. Contain him, make him throw” (Major LOL. Yea, throw a bomb to Lockette for 50 yards because you’re too worried about Wilson’s legs, when he’s not running as much)

- “Bobby Wagner is their only great player on defense.” Apparently Clark and McDougald are scrubs

- “Vikings should win in the trenches.” Lol, so we can push around Donald, Suh, Demarcus Lawrence, Chandler Jones, etc. etc., but we’re going to struggle to run against the Vikes? If they put 9 in the box sure, but then Wilson will abuse them so bad move.

- “We should win with relative ease given our superior talent.” Yea because that’s what Carroll/Wilson do, they lose easily

It amazes me how much fans/media go off perception. Reminds me of Deion Sanders idiotically saying that the Seahawks offense is Russ running for his life, as if this is 2017

Well, on paper the Vikings should win easily. Luckily we play on turf.