Random Thoughts™ on the Panthers game

kearly

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A win is a win. "There is no such thing as an ugly baby." That is the feeling I have after this one. But then again, should I feel that way?

The Seahawks destroyed time of possession (+11:32). They had more passing yards. They had more rushing yards. They had more first downs. Seattle's offense scored sixteen points and Carolina's offense scored just three. Cam Newton looked awful. He had just two completions at halftime, and finished 12/29. That looks even worse considering that he actually had plenty of time to throw most of the time. So why does this win feel a little lackluster?

Missed opportunities. Seattle is 3-2, which is kind of amazing because it feels like we've had two or three Superbowl XL games this year already. Seattle had "just" 7 penalties, but every single one of them seemed to come at the most painful times possible. Many of them were incredibly dubious too. Giacomini's "late hit." Okung's "hold." Obomanu's "hold." The non-call on Sherman for offensive PI. It was 100% total horseshit officiating. At least the Panthers got tagged for a bad call themselves when one of their deep pass attempts was not called for a deserving 50 yard DPI, but overall, it felt like the Seahawks were fighting the stripes in this game.

The other factor was more redzone ineptitude. I can't figure this out. My first instinct is to question Bevell's playcalling- but per Hawkblogger's research- Seattle actually had a very good red zone offense last year. And that offense was also ran by Darrell Bevell. Maybe our 2012 problems are just early season hiccups?

When Carolina got that pick-6, I said out loud "well, we just lost." Which I know was premature, because the Seahawks were dominating the game and were only down by 4, but it was just one of those games where the team was very good at finding ways not to score. Seattle had very few 3 and outs, but almost every drive seemed destined to result in a redzone field goal, a turnover, or a punt that was snapped 5 yards outside of field goal range. I won't lie, I was pretty testy by the start of the 4th quarter in this one. Enough with the bullshit, already.

Thank goodness the Seahawks actually won this game. I don't even want to imagine the meltdown here, and it would have been very much warranted this time.

But, they did win. And a lot of good things happened, too. So with all that negativity out of my system, here are some random thoughts on today's deceptively glorious victory.

Russell Wilson takes a step forward

Entering this game, I would have argued that none of Wilson's interceptions were really his fault. His first was an end of half hail mary that you pretty much expect a pick on. His second was a ball Doug Baldwin should have caught. His third was a tipped pass. His fourth was to an open McCoy who fell down.

That streak ended today. Wilson threw his first deserving interception, and unfortunately it went for six. He would later suffer a brutal fumble-ception on a pass to Marshawn Lynch that was as fluky as they come. That Lynch interception was also a poor pass, but Lynch had it reined in and then... wtf?

Rather than focus on the negative (Wilson now has more interceptions than touchdowns), I'd argue that Wilson- a rookie qb- only having one fully inexcusable interception in his first five games is actually pretty darn impressive.

Other than those two picks, Wilson looked great. He looked like a franchise QB. He posted an outstanding 8.84 YPA after entering this game at 5.7. He completed 76% of his passes. Seattle came into this game near dead last in 3rd down conversions, but today they were at 50%, and nearly all of them were on Wilson.

Did Wilson miss some open targets? Sure. But every QB misses open targets throughout a game. Even the elite ones do. Consider too that on a few of those occasions Wilson "missed" the opportunity because he was reacting to pressure and avoiding a sack.

Carolina does not have a good defense, but they did a good job of game planning Wilson. It seemed like almost every time Wilson bailed on the pocket to the outside, he had a defender on special assignment waiting for him. Wilson is at his best outside the pocket, and Carolina took that away. I really liked how Wilson responded to that by working within the pocket so well. Remember the Russell Wilson who used to flip out when a defender got within pool cue's reach? That version might just be dead and buried. The new version is fine with taking a sack if it means getting better looks. I like this new version.

Oh yes, and I liked the playcalling by Bevell today so much more than any of the previous weeks. He (with permission from Carroll) finally put a degree of trust on Wilson, and Wilson rewarded them for it. About time.

Finally, some smart in-game decisions by the Seahawks today

I loved the safety call late in the game, which 80's beard confirmed was a designed play despite the frighteningly high snap (the gunners did not advance downfield- indicating it was an intentional playcall). I loved the decision to run on 3rd down the play before, even though a completed pass for a first down would have won the game. I thought Pete read that situation just right. I also liked how the Seahawks game planned that goalline stand just right to keep Newton from running for a TD. I also really liked that Wilson roll out keeper late in the game. It didn't work, but it had the same clock killing result as a handoff to Lynch and could have caught the Panther's off guard for a huge 1st down.

Other random thoughts

-Carolina is now 2-5 in their last 7 home games. I felt pretty strongly that Seattle would win this game all week, but you should never take a road victory for granted. Seattle is now 3-2 with 6 home games remaining.

-All four teams in the NFC West sport a winning record. How often has that happened in any division after 5 weeks? The NFC West is a combined 14-6. Outside the division, the NFC West is 11-3. All four teams currently own top 10 defenses by almost any metric.

-Bruce Irvin barely played, and registered two more sacks, including the game winner. He's at 4.5 sacks through five games. I don't say this because of the numbers: I really like the progress Irvin is making right now. He's at a point right now where he might be even deadlier when he's stunting inside than when he edge rushes.

-Golden Tate had another good game. He had a pretty reception deep down the field wiped out by penalty, but later had a crucial catch on 3rd and long that ended up being the game winning score when Carolina forgot how to tackle.

-Sidney Rice and Zach Miller looked a lot harder to cut for salary reasons. I noticed Miller several times for his quality blocking and had nearly 20 yards per reception too. Rice looked terrific while catching 5 passes for 67 yards. That's pretty much the equivalent of a 100 yard game in this offense.

-Doug Baldwin had 3 catches! Even Braylon Edwards got a catch, and a key reception at that. The Panthers have a poor secondary, but I thought our receivers looked terrific today.

-Bobby Wagner had another very good game. Six tackles, 1.5 sacks. I must stress that Wagner has improved by leaps and bounds at attacking behind the LOS compared to college. In college, he had 1.5 sacks in 4 years that came from the 4-3 MLB spot (he played in a hybrid defense and most of his sacks came from playing a 3-4 OLB). He's already got more 4-3 MLB sacks in 5 NFL games than he had in 4 college seasons. Wagner was a very well rounded LB who's one weakness was attacking the LOS, and it now appears that weakness is becoming a strength. Not to overhype the guy, but you really have to take your hat off to this coaching staff and how they consistently get the most out of their young players.

-Carpenter looks very natural at left guard.

-I loved that Sherman forced fumble that took away a 1st down late in the game.

-How did Cam Newton throw no picks while Wilson threw two? Just the latest reminder that the universe is chaotic in nature.

The play of the game

After Alan Branch recovered Cam Newton's fumble to seal the game, my dad remarked that the play of the game was Browner's 3rd and goal stop at the 1 yard line. I thought he made an excellent point. When Louis Murphy caught that pass, he pretty much only had to fall backwards a yard to win the game. If you saw the Colts upset the Packers today, you know exactly how hard it is to defend a catch at the one yard line. I think 9 times out of 10, that catch ends up being a touchdown, but Browner arrived and delivered a huge hit, a hit that was just huge enough to prevent the score.

My brother disagreed, saying that Browner's forced fumble was the play of the game, because it shifted momentum and set up Seattle's game winning touchdown drive. Another good choice. I guess it goes without saying that Brandon Browner had a pretty good game today.

But to me, the play of the game was Marshawn Lynch's "wtf really?!" 1st down run on 3rd and 7. He got 11 yards up the middle on a play that everyone in the stadium should have expected a run on. That first down allowed Seattle to burn Carolina's remaining timeouts and milk the clock down to 49 seconds remaining. It's really hard to march down the field and score a TD with only 49 seconds and no timeouts. That run could have easily been the difference in the game. Without it, Carolina gets the ball back with almost 3 minutes left and a timeout.

Looking ahead:

Seattle plays two more games in the next 11 days, and they are probably the two toughest games remaining on Seattle's schedule (Patriots, @SF on 4 days rest). I don't know about you guys, but I'd be just fine with a 3-4 record so long as the Seahawks are competitive in both games. That said, they probably need a win in there somehow to feign contention. The NFC is crazy this year.
 

Scottemojo

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Funny, because after the pick 6, I thought we would still win the game. Even after Marshawn's juggling act, I thought we would win. Our D was just not going to lose today.
And, we were snakebit. Every penalty was a momentum killer.
 

The Radish

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The only real kick I had was their running Lynch on some slants rather than directly at the line.

The slants and the outside runs tried were as usual miserable failures. His forte is right at the line between the guard and the tackle on either side.

:les:

Oh, I saw on a replay that Obo clearly had a firm grip on the guys sleeve and was just a bit late letting go to escape the call.
 
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kearly

kearly

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I thought Obo's hold was technically correct, but so extremely ticky tack that you could call holding on every play by that standard.

Scottemojo":1zhwn8ya said:
Funny, because after the pick 6, I thought we would still win the game. Even after Marshawn's juggling act, I thought we would win. And, we were snakebit. Every penalty was a momentum killer.

I agree about the defense, but with about a minute left in the 3rd quarter the Seahawks offense was trailing and had scored more points for the other team.

Snakebit is right. Thankfully we were only snakebit for just shy of 3 quarters.
 

pehawk

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I'm on your side in seeing progress with RW and the offense. He made throws today, he missed the last 2 weeks (while facing Capers and Fisher respectively).

I think the announcers were looking for him to miss WR's, more than they would anyone else.
 

Happybelly

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kearly":31ppycvm said:
-How did Cam Newton throw no picks while Wilson threw two? Just the latest reminder that the universe is chaotic in nature.


Cam gift wrapped one to ET that he couldn't hang onto and Kam almost had another one he just missed diving for. Cam really looked terrible today, great job by the defense.

It's too bad that deep ball to Tate was wiped out by a penalty. That might have been Wilson's best throw to date.
 

Hawks46

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I would call the Browner forced fumble the play of the game, just because he negated any YAC, got to the reciever early, then ripped the ball out, then recovered it himself. I really like how well he is playing this year; opposing QBs are rarely targetting him at all.

Just to put it in perspective though, on the Wilson thing....you can say this is his first "earned" interception, but I've also counted 3 that were dropped that should've been picks (this season. 2 in the AZ game). Just because the defense dropped them, doesn't make them better passes.

I agree about the crap calling. I really feel like this game, the NFL was out to get us for the Monday Night "debacle." Seriously, it makes no sense and you would think the refs would be thanking us for getting them back on the field. Okung's holding call wasn't evense to a hold, by any angle. Even Perreria would have a hard time upholding that one....well maybe not. Obomanu's hold was marginal at best, and Steve Smith literall did what he wanted to with Sherman; grabbing him and throwing him down. Now, Browner got away with 2 of those with the replacement refs, but these refs were SO much better supposedly. Just goes to show you, they really aren't.

What does Red Bryant have to do to buy a holding call ? I've seen it in GB and here....guys behind him, with their arm looped around his arm in a half nelson, and pulling his jersey way out from behind...I see him lobbying the refs and he still gets nothing. PC should seriously put a highlight reel of Red Bryant non called holds together and send it to the league. He is so explosive this year, he has to be one of the most held players in the game.
 

ivotuk

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Nice work Kearly.

Agree on the holding against Red, what BS. Especially on the panter FG. Red would have blocked that had he not been held.

Maybe the oppo sing players look like little people hanging off of Gulliver?
 

CFraychineaud

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Kearly, you need to type the words "ugly baby" into google images, and re-examine your first couple of sentences...

There are in fact ugly babies.... and many of them...

but great post :D
 

AxisSports

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Hawks46":2itk2e1y said:
I would call the Browner forced fumble the play of the game, just because he negated any YAC, got to the reciever early, then ripped the ball out, then recovered it himself. I really like how well he is playing this year; opposing QBs are rarely targetting him at all.

Just to put it in perspective though, on the Wilson thing....you can say this is his first "earned" interception, but I've also counted 3 that were dropped that should've been picks (this season. 2 in the AZ game). Just because the defense dropped them, doesn't make them better passes.

I agree about the crap calling. I really feel like this game, the NFL was out to get us for the Monday Night "debacle." Seriously, it makes no sense and you would think the refs would be thanking us for getting them back on the field. Okung's holding call wasn't evense to a hold, by any angle. Even Perreria would have a hard time upholding that one....well maybe not. Obomanu's hold was marginal at best, and Steve Smith literall did what he wanted to with Sherman; grabbing him and throwing him down. Now, Browner got away with 2 of those with the replacement refs, but these refs were SO much better supposedly. Just goes to show you, they really aren't.

What does Red Bryant have to do to buy a holding call ? I've seen it in GB and here....guys behind him, with their arm looped around his arm in a half nelson, and pulling his jersey way out from behind...I see him lobbying the refs and he still gets nothing. PC should seriously put a highlight reel of Red Bryant non called holds together and send it to the league. He is so explosive this year, he has to be one of the most held players in the game.


him, and Clemons... they both wear offensive linemen as scarves dozens of times a game with no calls...
 

morgulon1

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One thing that people arent talking about is Golden Tate. He has kicked serious ass this year.
 

Dreo

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Thanks Kearly!

morgulon1":3i4pdu3h said:
One thing that people arent talking about is Golden Tate. He has kicked serious ass this year.

This, and Zach Miller as well. These are two players that I thought were done or at least were ghosts in this offense. Tate especially.

Good to see them being targeted and getting the job done as per their potential, or as per their talent has been advertised.

Funny how a change in the QB position can sometimes mean that underutilized WR/TEs can suddenly become crucial components of an offense.
 

morgulon1

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Absolutely. Zach Miller was signed I would assume for his solid pass catching and he has manned up and done what has been asked of him, classy dude and a underappreciated player. As far as Tate goes, people were on here (I don't whore around other sites haha) talking about him being a bust and possibly cut. He was a great player in college whom it appears took a little longer to start producing in the NFl. He is a dangerous WR who I think will get better right along side RW.
 

Seahawk Sailor

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Excellent thoughts as always. This game didn't feel nearly as "flukey" to me as it did to you, evidently. I thought we played extremely well, and would have absolutely dominated but for a few key plays and mistakes.

Wilson did finally throw a bad pick, but aside from that, he looked very, very good. At one point with something like 12 or 13 throws, his only incompletion was a throwaway out of bounds to avoid a sack. That's damned accurate by any standards. All his throws but that one pick were right on the money.

The Lynch "fumbleception" was a fluke play, but it was absolutely a great play by Wilson, regardless of the fact it ended up as an interception. Lynch should have caught it. It was right there in his breadbasket, a perfect pass. On that play, had Lynch caught it as he should have, Wilson would have salvaged a 7-yard gain from a play that was otherwise a sack. That was a very heads up play by Wilson, and he absolutely did not deserve the interception on it.

He also threw for 221 yards - and would have had about 50 more with that beautiful bomb that was called back for penalty. His fifth game, finally going over 200, incidentally lines up exactly with Flacco's progression, with the caveat that Wilson's fifth game was far better than Flacco's. There are still some areas of concern, especially in red zone scoring, but we saw marked improvement this week, something that will continue as the season does.

The Panthers were very lucky to be in this game at all. Newton should have easily thrown two interceptions. Both were gift-wrapped to our defense, and were dropped. They also got almost all the dubious calls and non-calls in the game. There was definitely some home cooking for the refs going on, and it showed.

Our defense is stout! Far stouter than the final score indicates.
 

sutz

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Meh, I've heard it said that it takes, on average, 3 years for a WR to really "get" it. Tate is right on schedule. ;)

But it is nice to see him play up to his promise.
 

AgentDib

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I don't understand the love fest for our offense. We played better than last week but our improvement was from terrible to bad.

Today our defense held Carolina to a single field goal despite three turnovers by our offense and special teams. They also contributed three points, with the strip fumble that gave our offense the ball in field goal position. Despite this complete dominance we won by a mere four points. How are so many people happy with that?
 

Dreo

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AgentDib":94lo1q1e said:
I don't understand the love fest for our offense. We played better than last week but our improvement was from terrible to bad.

Today our defense held Carolina to a single field goal despite three turnovers by our offense and special teams. They also contributed three points, with the strip fumble that gave our offense the ball in field goal position. Despite this complete dominance we won by a mere four points. How are so many people happy with that?

The "love fest" is a result of exactly that. We went from terrible to bad.

When you are sitting on a championship caliber defense being held back by a lame offense, any progress from said offense brings us closer to competing for a Super Bowl title. However, I agree in principle. Though, if you replaced the Panthers with the Patriots for this game we lose by 10 points.

--

Kearly, bringing this back to you and your (as usual) excellent summary, I thought the PF call on Breno was deserved; it was obvious and all cameras were trained on that hit. Also, you can't fix dumb. But PC can at least re-align 'dumb' by having a sideline "timeout" chat to get Breno's head back in the game and get him to play disciplined ball. Benching him to send and deliver a message was an excellent move.

And the penalty on Obo? Ticky tack for sure, and it reminded me of the 2005 Super Bowl and the OPI call on Jackson. However, it seems that certain "cheats" are the difference between the college and pro levels of play (read: in the NBA, players often are allowed three steps leading up to a dunk, aka the "Pro Shuffle"). Obo just got caught and called on it.
 

HawKnPeppa

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AgentDib":1cymw7m0 said:
I don't understand the love fest for our offense. We played better than last week but our improvement was from terrible to bad.

Today our defense held Carolina to a single field goal despite three turnovers by our offense and special teams. They also contributed three points, with the strip fumble that gave our offense the ball in field goal position. Despite this complete dominance we won by a mere four points. How are so many people happy with that?

"love fest?" Can the hyperbole get any worse? All I see is people liking whatever bright spot they saw. Yes, the performance wasn't very good overall, but going from 'terrible' to 'bad' is progression, is it not?

For a rookie QB in his fifth game who gets very few passing reps because of an ultra-conservative offense, this isn't all THAT bad. My theory is that posts of this nature are written while sucking on a lemon. :mrgreen: :stirthepot:
 

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