LoneHawkFan":3vwulnzo said:
Hawks46":3vwulnzo said:
Right. Bevell is finally putting his players in position to make good plays.
Where was this before the bye ? We don't have the best deep speed in the league. We have Lockett, but he was under utilized in the 1st half of the season, and who is that on?
Our OL was crap. 3 games into the season, it wasn't a shock that our OL was crap to anybody. Why didn't we go away from the play action deep passes that take 3 seconds to develop when our OL wasn't giving Russ that amount of time ?
Now we're showcasing routes that let our smaller, quicker players shine. "Gasp!" Now it's working.
Also a lot of it is players. Russ is getting more time to go deeper into his progressions, and that's the OL giving him time. Wilson is also trusting his OL and WRs more, which is commendable because he took such a pounding earlier in the year.
I still blame Bevell for not adjusting more quickly. All those sacks Wilson took, all those hits.....no one here (that I remember seeing) has acknowledged how truly fortunate we've been that WIlson is still upright and hasn't missed a game.
We're looking at the 5th seed. If Wilson had gotten hurt and missed 3 games, where would we be ? Hell, many of us would be rooting for draft position at this point.
I'll give credit to Bevell. He's calling stellar game plans now. So, the first half of the season, he's been Jar Jar Binks. The 2nd half, a Sith Lord. Because he's been screwing with our minds the entire time.
I think this is a simplistic view.
OL was crap...but the coaching staff continued to make adjustments and allowed them to make mistakes- in order to learn.
And even though Russ is "getting more time to go through his progressions" he's actually releasing the ball quicker- not holding it longer. He's executing the plays better by letting the ball go. Better RB play has helped also.
It's definitely not only on Bevell to adjust- I trust what Carroll says when he says it's a unit between the three of them with Cable right in there as well. They're like the Holy Trinity.
It wasn't all on Bevell then nor is it all on Bevell now.
It's so much more complex than just "Bevell is finally putting his players in position to make good plays".
I think you missed my point, then kind of made it yourself.
I've been on record at the beginning of the year saying this was going to parallel the 2012 season; the OL needed time to season and adjust, and we'd get better offensively at the end of the season. Problem is, we were literally one of the worst teams in the league offensively but with good personnel. It's on the offensive staff to fix that, and not at the bye in the middle of the year. I don't blame Bevell (well, I have ,but for mostly situational play calling), Cable or Pete for having a bad OL. I get what they were trying to do and it didn't work.
So, your OL is crap. Did they just suddenly get better at pass pro ? No, they got better at run blocking for sure. We also had Rawls come on, who hit the hole faster and masked some issues. Run blocking can help your pass protection. BUT, if WE know the OL is crap, you bet the offensive coaches know they're struggling. So why not go to a quicker passing game earlier ? Hell, we had Graham, who is a perfect quick strike target, and we did almost nothing but send him 20 yards down field.
Knowing your OL is crap, our route trees and play calling didn't change a bit from last year. We weren't getting good pass protection at all, yet we still called vertical routes with play action; routes that take a long time to develop. We didn't utilize Tyler Lockett, who is also a quick strike target and gets the quickest separation outside of Baldwin on the team. These are things the coaches could've done NOW, and it could've saved us a game, maybe two.
I don't know who to put it on. It's about winning in this league, not sand bagging until the second half of the season. I'm not saying the Seahawks did that, but look at some of the posts here, saying our coaches treat the first half of the season like an extended preseason. I understand the analogy, but the inference is that we don't care about winning until the 2nd half of the season.
Look at the Patriots. I can't stand them, they cheat, it's on record, and I think Brady is a pompous ass. That said, those guys make lighting quick adjustments, and make them from game to game. I've seen them do everything from play a Vikings team (this is a few years ago) with the best DL in the league and the #1 rush defense by far, and the Pats spread them out 5 wide and passed the hell out of them, right off the bat. I've seen them pass all over teams, then play a Colts team that is weak against the run, and load up with Blount and ring up 250 yards rushing on them.
Comparatively, I'd like to see quicker adjustments. I don't understand why these game plans couldn't be installed 8 games ago. That's all I'm saying. Not everything is Bevell's or Cable's fault, but I think we could've made the same adjustments earlier. And saved Wilson some punishment. Because we played Russian roulette there.