NFL Replay One hell of a game@Detroit and a lot to build on

ivotuk

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If Matthew Stafford had missed that last 2 throws in Detroit, everyone would have been slapping the defense on the back for holding a top 4 offense to 3 points at the end. But it wasn't to be and a lot of credit for that goes to an elite QB and a young WR who decided to do a Victor Cruz impression. 24 seconds, just 24 for more stinking seconds and we would have won that game! On one down Stafford sprinted out to the right and Clemons was closing in for a game ending sack...Mathew got rid of the ball at the last second. Damn i hate that kid! And that was another very good catch by Titus with Browner right on top of him.

The lack of stops on 3rd downs were frustrating, but you have to admit that some of those catches made by Lion WRs were unreal. The one Pete threw the challenge flag on, how the hell did he catch that? And how did Stafford get it to him? And there were times they made a catch short of the first down, but the other receivers, backs and blockers made some phenomenal blocks to spring their guys for first down yardage.

Then there were the flubs, Richard Sherman caught with his eyes in the backfield on 3rd and long and he let's Young get past him for a long TD. Correct me if I'm wrong, but in those situations aren't you supposed to be deeper than anyone else, and watching the receiver, not the line of scrimmage? I'm sure Richard will use that as a learning experience and only improve on his phenomenal DB skillset.

My overall impression of the defense was that they got some great pressure here and there but were occasionally undisciplined and got out of their assigned area, which led to first down yardage. I think maybe they were a little over confident going in to this game, or maybe it was the long lay off, but they made some uncharacteristic errors.

I saw some nice pressures by Irvin, both by running completely around the RT and coming up behind the QB, and by cutting back in towards the middle while a DB (Trufant or Thomas) rushed from the edge. The only problem was, Stafford threw the ball right to the vacated area, just like any proficient QB would do.

Wow, how about that offense? The running game was decent, Turbin is one explosive SOB! The offensive line didn't open up much up the middle but got some great outside blocks and held one of the best lines in football to zero sacks. Zero sacks for Nick Fairley, Ndomakung Suh and Kyle Vanden Bosch. Oh, and they held off the sack master himself all game, LoJack.

And who was that guy playing QB? John Elway? Holy cow that must have been frustrating for those defensive linemen! "He's going to throw! No! He's going to rush left! No! He's going to rush right! No! He's going to throw! No! He's going to run..throw...handoff...I'm soo tired...I don't care what he does anymore...

Russell's pocket movement was excellent and his eyes were downfield, then short, then downfield, he made great decisions and threw some pretty balls. Wow. And the interception, that was sooo close, if only Rice would have thought about trying to defend that and the drive could have continued. There were several drives that could have been scoring drives but for miscues. And what the hell was that Tate getting a first down but not forward progress? He caught the ball past the line of scrimmage, bounced off a guy and got spun around and went backwards. That could have been a scoring drive! Then there was the almost deep catch over the middle by Rice, something that they will make connections on in the future. This adversity will make the connections between Russell, Sidney and Golden only that much tighter. Add in Zach and Anthony, and if Emo starts to get it and we have a formidable offense.

And what the hell was that field position mojo? Russell on his own 5 yard line? No big deal, just toss the ball downfield a couple of times and before you know it we'll be within striking distance. Whatever the Seahawks starting field position was, it wasn't very good on a couple of those possessions, but with Hasselbeck-like efficiency, Mr. Wilson matriculated his team out of the shadow of their own goal post and down the field. Ho Hum.

What I would have liked to seen, go for it on the first score and not settle for a field goal. We were playing against a good offense and sometimes you have to take those calculated risks to give your team a better chance of winning. I see Harbaugh doing it with his team because he knows his offense won't survive without it. Our O is better and improving, but that was an away game and you have to weigh the percentages.

And a run at the end of the half when they had already shown that they could make tackles for loss? Go for it damnit! Throw the ball! Don't get conservative, this isn't a high powered offense, like a baseball manager manufacturing runs, you have to manufacture those points!

And how about this, when teams are doing that dink and dunk, why don't we move Browner deep and Thomas in close to take advantage of his speed to nullify some of that? Let Browner play deep, he has the arms to reach halfway across the field anyway.

And I didn't see the kind of hitting I saw in the Dallas game, there were good hits here and there that had Megatron flinching, but someone should have laid Titus Young out, even if it got a penalty.

By the way, I thought i saw 3 sacks with Mebane getting 2?

Anyway, a very good game and despite the little errors, it showed a young team on the rise, that time warped in to playing the 2011 Detroit Lions and almost beat them in their house.

Oh, and did you all see Marshawn ripping the ball out of the guys hands after the INT? He was ferocious!
 

HawKnPeppa

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Nice write-up, thanks. Do ya think Russ and his injury-depleted motley crew will produce 30 more TD's by season's end? (Ref: Your sig. line)
 
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ivotuk

ivotuk

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HawKnPeppa":1af2j5ug said:
Nice write-up, thanks. Do ya think Russ and his injury-depleted motley crew will produce 30 more TD's by season's end? (Ref: Your sig. line)

Good point, I hadn't even thought of that :D I don't think so but I think they can come close with just under 3.0 TDs per game for the second half of the season. I think we are going to see a vastly improved QB for the rest of the season. I'm sure that Russell Wilson took advantage of every single minute of the 10 day layoff. He looked very good against a suspect secondary. But I believe that was a representation of what we will see from him against all secondaries from here on out.
 

jlwaters1

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In the end the Tate going backwards didn't hurt us. I nearly screamed at the TV when he went backwards instead of plowing forward and getting the first down. Only for 2nd down run to be stuffed and were looking at 3rd and 5. Luckily Wilson stood in the pocket and delivered a beauty for the first down. I'm pretty sure that was the last drive for the offense in which we went 80+ yards for what could have been a game winning TD>

Just think if the defense had held, the legend of Wilson would have grown immensely leading ANOTHER come from behind win the final minutes.
 

The Radish

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I still say my main bitch with Tate is his not going beyond the 1st down marker before he turns to catch the ball.

:roll:
 

Jerhawk

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Yeah, the Lions beat the Hawks straight up.

A little off topic, but on the point you brought up with Pete challenging the catch. Don't know if anyone else has said this, but that was a terrible challenge by coach. First of all, it was a catch. Second, even if they ruled it incomplete, there was a defensive holding on the play against Browner which would've been an automatic first down anyway. What gives coach?

Our defense played well, but obviously the third and long stuff needs to stop. It was a well played game by the Hawks, especially on the road at 10AM where they usually dont show up. Hopefully they get it back on track at the CLink against the Vikings. Go Hawks!
 

kidhawk

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Jerhawk":3lkwg89q said:
Yeah, the Lions beat the Hawks straight up.

A little off topic, but on the point you brought up with Pete challenging the catch. Don't know if anyone else has said this, but that was a terrible challenge by coach. First of all, it was a catch. Second, even if they ruled it incomplete, there was a defensive holding on the play against Browner which would've been an automatic first down anyway. What gives coach?

Our defense played well, but obviously the third and long stuff needs to stop. It was a well played game by the Hawks, especially on the road at 10AM where they usually dont show up. Hopefully they get it back on track at the CLink against the Vikings. Go Hawks!

Not to take away from your post, but I thought that since it's gone beyond the first page and you didn't see it, you might be interested in reading the thread on this very topic. Pete admits he screwed up on that one.... viewtopic.php?f=2&t=55351
 

hawker84

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good ensightful post, but i for one will not be patting the D on the back after this one, win or lose... blame it on scheme, perfromance, lack of adjustments , what ever... they looked horrible, especially on 3rd downs... they cannot play at that level and expect to be successful in the 2nd half of the season.. i'm way over that game now, but i'm still disappointed in our defense over the last couple games, especially in the run department and 3rd and longs... everyone needs to step it up, from players to the coaches and fix these little problems that's resulting in these long sustained drives for touchdowns...

having said that, i'm confident they will, let's face it our backs are against the wall now, we have to win at this point.. look for adjustments, a wide open playbook, differnet blitz packages. i think this is going to be a fun team to watch second half of the season, and it starts sunday against the vikes, peterson and harvin , stock up on ben gay, just a suggestion...
 
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ivotuk

ivotuk

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BlueTalons":2iialu9m said:
ivotuk":2iialu9m said:
24 seconds, just 24 for more stinking seconds and we would have won that game!
Not neccessarily...FG would have put the game into OT.

True, but I was thinking more along the lines of if we had sacked Stafford on 2nd and goal. 24 seconds, no time outs. Although they may have been able to get up to the line and spike it. But Big Red would have just blocked it anyway. :D
 

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