I am a Geno fanboy and one of the first, if not the first, to support him as our starting quarterback after Wilson was traded. So, speaking as a Geno fanboy, I think Geno is more mistake-prone this season. It could be a new system, the OL, etc., or he regressed some. I don't know which one—maybe all of them?
But I do think Geno is making business decisions more often than not about running the ball or taking that extra risk. He is a 35-year-old (or is it 34?) quarterback looking for his last long-term contract, and getting hurt is something to be avoided at all costs.
The problem with that hyothesis is that Geno is putting himself at far greater risk standing in the pocket or just backpedaling waiting for the open guy to be there and getting clobbered than if he would just escape left or right and either throw from the flat or pick up a few yards and run outbof bounds.
As far as regression- i think DKs reaction in the first game agausnt the 9ers where he basically cursed Grubb asking for more attacking plays was and is telling.
Grubb hasnt shown the ability to script a solid run game. And so, the pass game that looked to be explosive, is now trying to fabricate a run game by hitting underneath routes and shallow wrs and at best middle zone beating routes and outs.. Thats largely most of what it is now.
Likewise, Huff and Grubb are still struggling to get the linemen to grasp whatever blocking concept they require to run their scheme at this level. That protection isnt holding up enough to hit the explosive plays they have dialed up.
The result is that our passing game is bottled up between the LOS and abiut 15 yards deep. With team increasingky adspting to the bread and butter stuff we are running in tbose areas.
Ive watched some All 22 and focused specifically on sacks ( i think they have been far more damaging to our w/l probability than Geno's INTs) and the telling thing is that a good number of them come when the Offense is trying to force the deep ball as an alternate to the methodical, 5, 10 / 12 yard pass plays we have come to live off of over the last 6 weeks. Sometimes the blitz just gets to Geno and there's nowhere to go. But often you can see them pick the spot for the deep ball and go all in on it, only for the blocking to fail because we didnt anticipate a rush and the whole thing blows up.
I think the entire unit and Grubb are picking the wrong spots to hit the explosives - i am not talking about underneath screens that go 50, but passes that travel 30 or 40+ yards in the air.
Mabdonald admitted as much this week when he said theyve tried to hit some stuff to DK to get him involved and its nit worked.
And therein lies the frustration.
The playcalling doenst seem to follow a logic based on the flow of the game and setting up the defense, whether from run to pass or from shallow pass to deep. Its all very random.
We will pass on 4 straight downs and then its like we remember we need to run, so we send Charbs up the gut, left or Walker off tackle right. Or, we will be in 3rd and 3, remeber that Dk hasnt been involved and decide that THATS the moment to take the shot 50 yards down field and play ourselves into a sack.
Watxhing the seahaws offense is like watching ME play madden
What we dint know is whether Geno is selcting those shots from the options given or whether its Grubb.
I half wish they would put the kabash of Geno audibling to wide from the selcted play and see how much of the issue is Grubb being inexperienced vs Geno picking the wrong option from the plays he is given to select from.