A Few Things...

[AROS]

-- Rw's QB rating was sick. A lot higher than I would have expected to be honest. How concerned should I be with all those passes that are sailing high over the receiver?

-- Thurmond won't be taking Browner's job any time soon.

-- A guy I have been sitting next to for many years (fellow season ticket holder) made a comment tonight that had me thinking. He said that he thinks quite strongly in fact that coaches will call up each other and say something to the effect of "Hey, how about you keep your fellas off our QB and we will do the same?" Before you laugh, he's the son of a man who is very high up in the Seahawks organization and while I am not saying that means he must be right, it is awfully interesting and something I could easily see as being the case.

-- I know that teams are vanilla in their game planning for preseason but there comes a point that I want to still see a hint of a pass rush out of our first unit. I get that you are going against one of the best offenses in Manning and the Broncos, and certainly I understand we are short staffed, but still...Give me SOMETHING to believe we are a defense worthy of a Top 5 ranking in that regard.

-- We live in an era where my buddy that I took to the game jokingly said at the beginning..."They better score 40 points or this is a waste of my time." When we scored 40 he could only smile and say, "Wow...They really are that good."

I agree. Not without faults, but this team really is that good.

 

[redhawk253]

Russ was overthrowing... Thurmond comment is crazy... He is a beast and was projectd first rounder if werent for injury... He played great today and despite browners stellar play thurmonds coverage is tighter and he stops the ball from even getting to the receiver while browner makes great contact/plays after receptions.. Id rather have the prior.. Great problem to havr tho.. Each will accel in differeny matchups and pretty mich no oyher team has tgat luxury.

Stopped reading afyer you dismissed thurmonds stellar play because browner had a strip on a reception he allowed and he ran back a fumble someobe else caused......

 

[AgentDib]

I decided before the first game that I didn't need to see anything from Wilson this preseason and only care about him staying healthy. That being said, it's nice to see him making good decisions and I think the overthrows will decrease as he settles into the marathon of an NFL season. I haven't decided whether opening in Carolina will take some of the stress off or not. On one hand he spent four years at NC State and will probably have family driving from Virginia, but on the other hand I do think that Carolina's defense will need time to improve and will likely be towards the bottom of the league in week one.

I thought the lack of pass rush was understandable. We weren't loud (at all) given that it was preseason. The Broncos line was dominant in pass protection last year, with #1 and #2 rankings from PFF and FO respectively. You mentioned the vanilla scheme and absent players; both of those were no doubt factors as well.

Should we be concerned about a lack of pass rush to start the regular season? Not overly so. Carolina struggled mightily in pass protection last year and then we get to play the next two games at home with a (hopefully) very fired up crowd for the 49ers game. Unfortunately, @Houston in week 4 10 AM ET may be decidedly rough if Clemons does not look 100%.

 

[SharkHawk]

Thurmond had one tipped ball where he was totally out of position on his own man. He looked poor last night, but wasn't picked on like he was last week. Calling him a "beast" is flat out hilarious. He played as an extra DB in the 2nd quarter, and then did nothing but tip one pass when put into the 1/2 corner positions. He looked confused, a step slow, and was off of his guy, or had his back turned several times.

It was a better showing for Thurmond, but really... could it have been any worse than last week? That was abysmal.

 

[OreIdahawk]

-- How concerned should I be with all those passes that are sailing high over the receiver?

You shouldn't be concerned at all. The guy had 4 incompletions tonight. 67% completion percentage. 2 touchdowns.

I keep seeing people say this on here. That they might be concerned with Wilson overthrowing it. It's like these people didn't see him play last season.

I know its rare for Wilson to throw 4 incompletions but come on!

 

[AROS]

Id rather have the prior.. Great problem to havr tho.. Each will accel in differeny matchups and pretty mich no oyher team has tgat luxury. Stopped reading afyer you dismissed thurmonds stellar play because browner had a strip on a reception he allowed and he ran back a fumble someobe else caused......

I don't normally make a habit of calling people out for their spelling and grammar but come on man. Just a little effort is appreciated here.

 

[HansGruber]

-- A guy I have been sitting next to for many years (fellow season ticket holder) made a comment tonight that had me thinking. He said that he thinks quite strongly in fact that coaches will call up each other and say something to the effect of "Hey, how about you keep your fellas off our QB and we will do the same?" Before you laugh, he's the son of a man who is very high up in the Seahawks organization and while I am not saying that means he must be right, it is awfully interesting and something I could easily see as being the case.

A year or two ago, there was a big hubbub about some team (I think it was the Lions or Saints) aggressively blitzing in the preseason. PFT ran an article saying that it is an unwritten rule in the NFL that you DO NOT blitz the starting QB in the preseason. The head coach of the other team involved made some comment to the press along the lines that the blitzing coach had been way out of line. He said something about a phone call before the game, where they agreed not to blitz (I think?).

I'll see if I can find the article. It basically supports what you just said. IIRC, coaches understand if a defensive player gets a sack (gotta earn their spot), but it is a universal rule in the NFL to not scheme blitzes in the preseason.

 

[themunn]

Russ was overthrowing... Thurmond comment is crazy... He is a beast and was projectd first rounder if werent for injury... He played great today and despite browners stellar play thurmonds coverage is tighter and he stops the ball from even getting to the receiver while browner makes great contact/plays after receptions.. Id rather have the prior.. Great problem to havr tho.. Each will accel in differeny matchups and pretty mich no oyher team has tgat luxury.

Stopped reading afyer you dismissed thurmonds stellar play because browner had a strip on a reception he allowed and he ran back a fumble someobe else caused......

I guess you missed Browner forcing the incompletion on 3rd down by whacking the ball out yet again, then preventing another pass in the exact same position that Thurmond had his? Except Browner was up against 1s all night

 

[Sac]

I've said this before, but I really think Russ needs to adjust for the fact that he's not throwing against the LOB like he is in practice. Against Sherm and BB you have to put the balls high and away, not so for many other dbs

 

[ClumsyLurk]

-- A guy I have been sitting next to for many years (fellow season ticket holder) made a comment tonight that had me thinking. He said that he thinks quite strongly in fact that coaches will call up each other and say something to the effect of "Hey, how about you keep your fellas off our QB and we will do the same?" Before you laugh, he's the son of a man who is very high up in the Seahawks organization and while I am not saying that means he must be right, it is awfully interesting and something I could easily see as being the case.

A year or two ago, there was a big hubbub about some team (I think it was the Lions or Saints) aggressively blitzing in the preseason. PFT ran an article saying that it is an unwritten rule in the NFL that you DO NOT blitz the starting QB in the preseason. The head coach of the other team involved made some comment to the press along the lines that the blitzing coach had been way out of line. He said something about a phone call before the game, where they agreed not to blitz (I think?).

I'll see if I can find the article. It basically supports what you just said. IIRC, coaches understand if a defensive player gets a sack (gotta earn their spot), but it is a universal rule in the NFL to not scheme blitzes in the preseason.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/10/v-wireless/4175474/harbaugh-says-he-didnt-provoke.html
I remember the same thing - and thought Harbaugh would be involved. Turns out he was but it wasn't the Lions doing the blitzing but the Saints.

 

[brimsalabim]

It looked as if if Russell sailed a few way off but I don't know if he was throwing where the receiver was supposed to be going? Anyway if there is an adjustment that RW needs to make he will.

 

[HawkFan72]

Wilson was throwing high last preseason too. People forget about it because Edwards and others made some amazing catches, but Wilson was nowhere near as accurate last preseason as he was during the regular season. I thought he was going to throw a bunch of picks in the regular season last year because he was throwing so high in preseason. But then the high passes just disappeared. I think he just takes a few games to get into a groove. He'll be fine.

 

[NFSeahawks]

RW isn't perfect (almost) his long balls need work as he is usually off a step. I would like to see him work on getting those long balls more accurate like TJ has done this preseason that being said RW has shown he can throw the long ball (Patriots) just needs to work on consistency.

 

[Largent80]

Practice makes perfect, and that is all a preseason game is.

Todd, I am sceptical that we will get the pass rush we all want. However, it is way too early to worry about it IMO.

They are giving the youngsters a chance, and that is what they should be doing.

Scary to say that Wilson is going to be better this year with that first year under his belt, but his work ethic is legendary and that is how legends are made.

 

[volsunghawk]

I get that you are going against one of the best offenses in Manning and the Broncos, and certainly I understand we are short staffed, but still...Give me SOMETHING to believe we are a defense worthy of a Top 5 ranking in that regard.

Doesn't this sentence seem to contradict itself?

If you're still expecting some evidence on the field in preseason against Peyton Freakin' Manning that we've got a top 5 pass rush, then I'm not sure you DO understand what going against Manning with a vanilla defense means, especially without Bruce, Clemons, and Avril.

 

[Coug_Hawk08]

We need to extend BB. . .

 

[themunn]

I get that you are going against one of the best offenses in Manning and the Broncos, and certainly I understand we are short staffed, but still...Give me SOMETHING to believe we are a defense worthy of a Top 5 ranking in that regard.

I saw us concede just 7 points to Manning in a half, and that TD should have been negated by a penalty. This against a team that averaged more than 30 points a game last year. Despite our defensive "woes" we're still number 1 in points per game allowed in preseason.

If that's not demonstrating top 5 calibre, what is?

 

[Blitzer88]

Practice makes perfect, and that is all a preseason game is.

Todd, I am sceptical that we will get the pass rush we all want. However, it is way too early to worry about it IMO.

They are giving the youngsters a chance, and that is what they should be doing.

Scary to say that Wilson is going to be better this year with that first year under his belt, but his work ethic is legendary and that is how legends are made.

Like what you said there Largent. Still top early to tell on the pass rush, although i do still worry about Russells over throws.

 

[The Outfield]

RW overthrew... to Luke Willson. It's not all RW's fault. Luke hardly even tried to get that ball.

 

[SoCalHawkFan]

Regarding the overthrows... On one to I believe Luke Wilson, he had to throw it high or it would have been tipped and possibly picked off. i'm not saying he doesn't have a problem sometimes, but that one looked intentional to me.