Missing Piece

[Seattle Person]

This Seahawks team is legit. So many reasons to be excited.

1. The coaches on both sides are innovative and run great schematic systems. It's all about the presentation pre-snap and something different post-snap.
2. The passing game is explosive on all 3 tiers. With the addition of Shaheed, this passing game can now stretch you vertically as well as horizontally. You have to defend every bit of grass with the weapons we have.
3. The defense is effective on 3rd downs. They are in the top 12 in the NFL. Holding opponents to about a 37% 3rd down conversion rate with a 32% rate the last 3 games. They know how to get off the field. This will be very important in the playoffs. The Hawks keep a rotation for their D-linemen and hopefully this keeps them fresh and healthy. This will be tested with Matthew Stafford even though he's not mobile.

So what gives? What's the rub? What's the hold-up? Our run game leaves meat on the bones:

• I think if the team unlocks the running game, this will truly separate the Hawks from the Rams. Seattle isn't horrible running the ball but it's not good enough to be a juggernaut. Fix this and the team turns into the Death Star.
• Against the Cardinals, the run game was leaned on to gash the Cardinals and to finish the game. The team finished with over 190 yards on the ground. The Hawks had a whopping 20 runs over 5 yards+.
• Breakdowns:
  • Walker: 7 runs over 5 yards.
  • Charbonnet: 6 runs over 5 yards.
  • Holani: 5 runs over 5 yards.
  • Shaheed: 2 runs over 10 yards.
• Hopefully, this is the start to something that sparks the run game. The Rams are stout against the run. However, their D-line is undersized. I wouldn't say their secondary is suffocating. Their pass rush is deadly. The Hawks need to unlock the run game to win the division.

 

[Frank12]

The layout on this post deserves a my god this would take me 3 days...

 

[Shane Falco]

IMO, outside of the inconsistent running game, this team has that piece that all the really good teams have, they are brothers and playing for each other. That's a hard piece to achieve. 2013 team had it and this team has it. It's a beautiful thing to see.

 

[Trackhawk]

Second worst yards per carry in the league, while sporting the highest percentage of offensive plays that are dedicated to the run.

There’s a lot room for improvement.

We finally saw some improvement vs the Cards

I’m worried that a good coach, like McVay, will realize how bad our YPA is.

I’m hopeful that we’ve unlocked the secret to success in this part of the game.

 

[Seattle Person]

Second worst yards per carry in the league, while sporting the highest percentage of offensive plays that are dedicated to the run.

There’s a lot room for improvement.

We finally saw some improvement vs the Cards

I’m worried that a good coach, like McVay, will realize how bad our YPA is.

I’m hopeful that we’ve unlocked the secret to success in this part of the game.

I'm not sure it will be unlocked against the Rams. We'll see.

Poona Ford is their NT and clog in the middle to stop the run. They also rotate a few dudes in the interior. Nate Landman is also a key in stopping the run.

What does give me hope is that the Rams secondary is leaky. In addition, the Rams haven't really been tested with good RBs. They shut down Shaquon Barkley but Jonathan Taylor had a pretty good game against them. They shut down CMC twice but the 49ers can't run the ball this season...

I think on paper, the Seahawks defense is better and more talented. Should be a really fun game.

 

[keasley45]

What's missing in my opinion is better utilization of the TEs. We have 2 great targets but seldom use them and we are currently 29th in the league in TE targets. One would think that for a team trying to establish a hard nosed identity, TE would be a critical part of the equation. However, to date, Kubiak seems intent on pushing the ball upfield to move the chains and I assume loosen up the box. I mean, if it ain't broke... Right?

But at some point, I have to think that unless we can expand the offense to force teams to defend more than just our RBs and Jax at some point we are going to run into a wall.

Hoping that doesn't happen.

 

[Seahwkgal]

Turnovers Turnovers Turnovers………have to STOP. We have to stop giving the ball away. Our Achilles.

 

[Trackhawk]

Turnovers Turnovers Turnovers………have to STOP. We have to stop giving the ball away. Our Achilles.

To be fair, we typically protect the ball when it matters, and we have played 5 of the top 11 teams in turnover margin (in a couple of weeks it will be 7 of the top 11).

Many of the turnovers have come due to mental lapses either during garbage time, or by getting cute when the game was still close, and there was no need to get cute.

We have had 9 turnovers when the game was still up for grabs, two of which were "cute plays," and one of which was the Bryant fumble when he was running back his interception. We had 7 turnovers when the game was well in hand.

Cut out the cute plays, and ignore the fumble on the interception return, and it's 3 interceptions, and 3 fumbles, while the game was still close.

We do need to clean that up, but as long as we don't get cute, I think we are good.


Interceptions
Pit up 7-3 in 1st quarter
Pit up 7-6 in 2nd quarter
Tampa tied 35-35 in the 4th quarter
Houston up 14-0 in the 2nd quarter (got cute with Kupp)
Houston up 27-12 in the 4th quarter
Washington up 31-7 in the 4th quarter
Arizona up 38-7 in the 3rd (cute pass out of end zone)



Fumbles Lost
Niners up 10-7 in the 4th quarter
Niners down 17-13 in the 4th quarter
Saints up 44-13 in 4th quarter
Cardinals tied 0-0 in the 1st (intercepted Murray, and fumbled on the return)
Tampa down 6-0 in the 1st quarter (got cute with Milroe)
Houston up 17-12 in the 3rd quarter
Houston up 27-12 in the 4th quarter
Arizona up 35-0 in the 2nd
Arizona up 38-15 in the 3rd quarter

 

[sutz]

To be fair, we typically protect the ball when it matters, and we have played 5 of the top 11 teams in turnover margin (in a couple of weeks it will be 7 of the top 11).

Many of the turnovers have come due to mental lapses either during garbage time, or by getting cute when the game was still close, and there was no need to get cute.

We have had 9 turnovers when the game was still up for grabs, two of which were "cute plays," and one of which was the Bryant fumble when he was running back his interception. We had 7 turnovers when the game was well in hand.

Cut out the cute plays, and ignore the fumble on the interception return, and it's 3 interceptions, and 3 fumbles, while the game was still close.

We do need to clean that up, but as long as we don't get cute, I think we are good.


Interceptions
Pit up 7-3 in 1st quarter
Pit up 7-6 in 2nd quarter
Tampa tied 35-35 in the 4th quarter
Houston up 14-0 in the 2nd quarter (got cute with Kupp)
Houston up 27-12 in the 4th quarter
Washington up 31-7 in the 4th quarter
Arizona up 38-7 in the 3rd (cute pass out of end zone)



Fumbles Lost
Niners up 10-7 in the 4th quarter
Niners down 17-13 in the 4th quarter
Saints up 44-13 in 4th quarter
Cardinals tied 0-0 in the 1st (intercepted Murray, and fumbled on the return)
Tampa down 6-0 in the 1st quarter (got cute with Milroe)
Houston up 17-12 in the 3rd quarter
Houston up 27-12 in the 4th quarter
Arizona up 35-0 in the 2nd
Arizona up 38-15 in the 3rd quarter

Was gonna mention that myself, but you have drawn a good picture. Getting cute with trick plays and non-offensive players carrying the ball result in several of our TOs. MM I know will be emphasizing this. No HC likes TOs.

 

[Ostatehawk]

Second worst yards per carry in the league, while sporting the highest percentage of offensive plays that are dedicated to the run.

There’s a lot room for improvement.

We finally saw some improvement vs the Cards

I’m worried that a good coach, like McVay, will realize how bad our YPA is.

I’m hopeful that we’ve unlocked the secret to success in this part of the game.

even if only marginally effective they still have to defend it - which is why we don't abandon the run. It is just good enough (what 3.7 yd/play?) that it requires defending.

 

[Trackhawk]

even if only marginally effective they still have to defend it - which is why we don't abandon the run. It is just good enough (what 3.7 yd/play?) that it requires defending.

Absolutely. What concerns me, though, is McVay realizing he doesn’t need to put his heavy package (like every other team has) in to stop our run out of heavy personnel sets.

Then again, it’s entirely possible that he tried matching our heavy sets with his preferred dime package (to stop JSN and Shaheed explosive plays) and we all get surprised by how effective our run game suddenly becomes.

That’s something that makes this game so intriguing.

And, as long as we are using the run to successfully set up the explosive pass, you are correct, there is no need to abandon it, no matter how ineffective it is.

 

[Ostatehawk]

if you can get 3.4 yards per play - that moves the chains. It isn't sexy - but you still have to defend against it. And that does indeed open things up for the rest of the O.

I cannot wait to see how this plays out!

RUN THE DAMN BALL!

Then throw it to JSN for 6.

 

[Seattle Person]

Absolutely. What concerns me, though, is McVay realizing he doesn’t need to put his heavy package (like every other team has) in to stop our run out of heavy personnel sets.

Then again, it’s entirely possible that he tried matching our heavy sets with his preferred dime package (to stop JSN and Shaheed explosive plays) and we all get surprised by how effective our run game suddenly becomes.

That’s something that makes this game so intriguing.

And, as long as we are using the run to successfully set up the explosive pass, you are correct, there is no need to abandon it, no matter how ineffective it is.

This is what I'm interested to see.

The Rams do prefer a big nickel or dime defense. I don't think that we do well in Seattle's bigger personnel .

 

[Double Tribble]

Here's the missing piece: