Good Sheil article on Bevell and his play-calling goals

[McGruff]

Honestly, I don't have a problem with the bubble screens in and of themselves. They're the equivalent of a short hitch or out - take what the defense gives you. If the corners are six yards off the LOS, take the yards.

HOWEVER, I've seen too many bubble screens to guys who shouldn't be running them. Throwing them to Baldwin is defensible; throwing them to Kearse is not. The personnel involved in those screens (and in other plays) is what bothers me. I don't think that the surprise of throwing a bubble screen to Kearse is worth the fact that he sucks at running them unless I see more hard data that killing drives due to plays like bubble screens with sub-optimal personnel on the field is eventually linked to opening up a defense later in the game.

Agreed on the personel. I'd want Lockette, Richardson, McEvoy or Baldwin out there, in that order.

 

[Ambrose83]

Honestly, I don't have a problem with the bubble screens in and of themselves. They're the equivalent of a short hitch or out - take what the defense gives you. If the corners are six yards off the LOS, take the yards.

HOWEVER, I've seen too many bubble screens to guys who shouldn't be running them. Throwing them to Baldwin is defensible; throwing them to Kearse is not. The personnel involved in those screens (and in other plays) is what bothers me. I don't think that the surprise of throwing a bubble screen to Kearse is worth the fact that he sucks at running them unless I see more hard data that killing drives due to plays like bubble screens with sub-optimal personnel on the field is eventually linked to opening up a defense later in the game.

I don't like them thrown to Kearse either, but if you've noticed the past 5-6 weeks one of the first 5-6 plays every game has been a quick throw to Kearse out in the flat.

Me thinks Pete and Bevell have noticed a trend that Kearse's drops go down if he gets a quick throw to get his confidence going. Maybe he's got some issues with anxiety or the pressure of making a big catch later on in the game if he hasn't been involved early. That's when balls bounce off his hands.

So IMO it's more to get Kearse going, than something that's highly successful for yards.

Dudes been a receiver for how long now? If he needs a 4 yrd reception to get his confidence up then he has way more issues then what we all see. Maybe Russ shoukd just hold his hand ?

 

[RichNhansom]

Great article, thanks for posting Montana.

I like Sheil Kapadia, he's light-years better than what we had, and I think he's even slightly better than Sando, because he adds variety to his writing.

I LOVE the format of this particular article, and it actually reminds me of the breakdowns LaLoosh used to do, just not quite as good. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and they help bring words to life. especially words that are describing a football play. Just as important, what that picture is and at what point of the play that it's taken from. Sheil's got that down.

His only problem now is his deadpan, boring voice, but he's picked it up lately even with that. I've been impressed. He shows excitement instead of a Marvin-Like (the Paranoid Android), lackluster, depression laden, mechanical voice. At first he was that way, but now there's excitement in his voice. He likes what he's doing.

I'm sure ESPN thought they were dumping one of their worst "media men" on our doorstep. Haha! Jokes on them! When I look at other article by team associated writers, I see zero creativity. So thanks ESPN.

back to the article. This is what Pete, Darrell, and Cable have been trying to do all along, but it's impossible to call a game plan when your offensive line being shuffled around and is whiffing on their assignments, your QB is hobbled and is unable to play up to his abilities, and your running back is Christine Michael. Add to that, a recovering Graham, an injured Lockett, another injured tight end (Luke), and playing against some pretty good teams, and you have a recipe for disaster, that at first glance, looks like bad play calling.

But now that we're getting healthy, have Britt back and in his best position, and are actually staying on schedule on 1st and 2nd down, AND having success on 3rd down, the game plan looks much better.

So what it all comes down to, like Brock always says, it plays, players and execution. With 1 or 2 of those factors missing, our offense looks like garbage.

So glad to have our peeps back, and playing well. I think we go on a tear the rest of the year, and believe that we are easily the BEST team in the NFC, and maybe the NFL.

It seems pretty obvious any team would struggle without having at least a couple of important components. With a healthy RW, a good running game and even slightly above average O-line performance we are a very good offense but remove even one of those components and the offense will struggle. Not just ours, any offense will struggle behind a poor Oline or without the help of a running game.

Looking at us this year we have struggled mightily on the O-line while having no real running game and a QB with two bad legs. It's a recipe for disaster. Expecting an OC to compensate for all that is pretty ridiculous and bordering on self entitlement or maybe just pure hate.

 

[Ambrose83]

Great article, thanks for posting Montana.

I like Sheil Kapadia, he's light-years better than what we had, and I think he's even slightly better than Sando, because he adds variety to his writing.

I LOVE the format of this particular article, and it actually reminds me of the breakdowns LaLoosh used to do, just not quite as good. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and they help bring words to life. especially words that are describing a football play. Just as important, what that picture is and at what point of the play that it's taken from. Sheil's got that down.

His only problem now is his deadpan, boring voice, but he's picked it up lately even with that. I've been impressed. He shows excitement instead of a Marvin-Like (the Paranoid Android), lackluster, depression laden, mechanical voice. At first he was that way, but now there's excitement in his voice. He likes what he's doing.

I'm sure ESPN thought they were dumping one of their worst "media men" on our doorstep. Haha! Jokes on them! When I look at other article by team associated writers, I see zero creativity. So thanks ESPN.

back to the article. This is what Pete, Darrell, and Cable have been trying to do all along, but it's impossible to call a game plan when your offensive line being shuffled around and is whiffing on their assignments, your QB is hobbled and is unable to play up to his abilities, and your running back is Christine Michael. Add to that, a recovering Graham, an injured Lockett, another injured tight end (Luke), and playing against some pretty good teams, and you have a recipe for disaster, that at first glance, looks like bad play calling.

But now that we're getting healthy, have Britt back and in his best position, and are actually staying on schedule on 1st and 2nd down, AND having success on 3rd down, the game plan looks much better.

So what it all comes down to, like Brock always says, it plays, players and execution. With 1 or 2 of those factors missing, our offense looks like garbage.

So glad to have our peeps back, and playing well. I think we go on a tear the rest of the year, and believe that we are easily the BEST team in the NFC, and maybe the NFL.

It seems pretty obvious any team would struggle without having at least a couple of important components. With a healthy RW, a good running game and even slightly above average O-line performance we are a very good offense but remove even one of those components and the offense will struggle. Not just ours, any offense will struggle behind a poor Oline or without the help of a running game.

Looking at us this year we have struggled mightily on the O-line while having no real running game and a QB with two bad legs. It's a recipe for disaster. Expecting an OC to compensate for all that is pretty ridiculous and bordering on self entitlement or maybe just pure hate.

True.. but in Tampa the offense was healthy sans Britt and we scored 5 pts.... Show me any team not named the rams to have a game that bad this year....

 

[Year of The Hawk]

Great article, thanks for posting Montana.

I like Sheil Kapadia, he's light-years better than what we had, and I think he's even slightly better than Sando, because he adds variety to his writing.

I LOVE the format of this particular article, and it actually reminds me of the breakdowns LaLoosh used to do, just not quite as good. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and they help bring words to life. especially words that are describing a football play. Just as important, what that picture is and at what point of the play that it's taken from. Sheil's got that down.

His only problem now is his deadpan, boring voice, but he's picked it up lately even with that. I've been impressed. He shows excitement instead of a Marvin-Like (the Paranoid Android), lackluster, depression laden, mechanical voice. At first he was that way, but now there's excitement in his voice. He likes what he's doing.

I'm sure ESPN thought they were dumping one of their worst "media men" on our doorstep. Haha! Jokes on them! When I look at other article by team associated writers, I see zero creativity. So thanks ESPN.

back to the article. This is what Pete, Darrell, and Cable have been trying to do all along, but it's impossible to call a game plan when your offensive line being shuffled around and is whiffing on their assignments, your QB is hobbled and is unable to play up to his abilities, and your running back is Christine Michael. Add to that, a recovering Graham, an injured Lockett, another injured tight end (Luke), and playing against some pretty good teams, and you have a recipe for disaster, that at first glance, looks like bad play calling.

But now that we're getting healthy, have Britt back and in his best position, and are actually staying on schedule on 1st and 2nd down, AND having success on 3rd down, the game plan looks much better.

So what it all comes down to, like Brock always says, it plays, players and execution. With 1 or 2 of those factors missing, our offense looks like garbage.

So glad to have our peeps back, and playing well. I think we go on a tear the rest of the year, and believe that we are easily the BEST team in the NFC, and maybe the NFL.

It seems pretty obvious any team would struggle without having at least a couple of important components. With a healthy RW, a good running game and even slightly above average O-line performance we are a very good offense but remove even one of those components and the offense will struggle. Not just ours, any offense will struggle behind a poor Oline or without the help of a running game.

Looking at us this year we have struggled mightily on the O-line while having no real running game and a QB with two bad legs. It's a recipe for disaster. Expecting an OC to compensate for all that is pretty ridiculous and bordering on self entitlement or maybe just pure hate.

True.. but in Tampa the offense was healthy sans Britt and we scored 5 pts.... Show me any team not named the rams to have a game that bad this year....

Week 4 Pats against Bills in there own house. Pats lost 16-0. No Brady but backup was healthy as well as rest of team.

 

[idahohawk]

This is good insight. People go crazy and say "why did Bevell call a deep route when we only needed 1 yard" blah blah blah. This is why.

But the other side of the sword is, it's also lost us games. It lost us two or three games last year when all we needed to do was convert another third down to ice the game in the fourth quarter.

Correct. In fact, it lost us an Owl. I may not ever forgive that. In fact, that taints my view of everything Bevell does. I still can't believe that play call. The epitome of "out-cuting yourself"

 

[Year of The Hawk]

Correct. In fact, it lost us an Owl. I may not ever forgive that. In fact, that taints my view of everything Bevell does. I still can't believe that play call. The epitome of "out-cuting yourself"

If you listen to the coaches reasoning the play they called made sense and was not a bad call. The result is what sucked (and execution). Also the DB made a epic play on the ball. Some credit there as well. People still want to be pissed and blame someone.

I wonder if you polled all of the league current OC's how many would say it was a bad call. Maybe not what they might do but not a bad call given the situation.

 

[Siouxhawk]

This is good insight. People go crazy and say "why did Bevell call a deep route when we only needed 1 yard" blah blah blah. This is why.

But the other side of the sword is, it's also lost us games. It lost us two or three games last year when all we needed to do was convert another third down to ice the game in the fourth quarter.

Correct. In fact, it lost us an Owl. I may not ever forgive that. In fact, that taints my view of everything Bevell does. I still can't believe that play call. The epitome of "out-cuting yourself"

Well, that's your cross to bear. I look at it as a motivating moment, am still proud of the team for that year and am enjoying the most prosperous string of years in franchise history.

 

[Ambrose83]

Correct. In fact, it lost us an Owl. I may not ever forgive that. In fact, that taints my view of everything Bevell does. I still can't believe that play call. The epitome of "out-cuting yourself"

If you listen to the coaches reasoning the play they called made sense and was not a bad call. The result is what sucked (and execution). Also the DB made a epic play on the ball. Some credit there as well. People still want to be pissed and blame someone.

I wonder if you polled all of the league current OC's how many would say it was a bad call. Maybe not what they might do but not a bad call given the situation.

Literally every media talking head said it was the worst call ever... Ever in a SB.... Why in earth would you choose a 5th wideout with less then 30 catches in his career in that situation... Or call a play that was so predictable from tape study they literally knew what was coming... And for f sake.. why go empty when play action was killing it the second half..... So much stupid in one play it's astounding.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Literally every media talking head said it was the worst call ever..

I just heard Eric Mangini on Cowherd a month ago defending the pass. He said it was a great call, bad execution by Kearse and poor low snap by Unger that added another second to Russell getting the throw out on time.

I've also heard many people over the past two years defending the playcall. So literally every media member? Nope, not even close.

 

[Year of The Hawk]

Correct. In fact, it lost us an Owl. I may not ever forgive that. In fact, that taints my view of everything Bevell does. I still can't believe that play call. The epitome of "out-cuting yourself"

If you listen to the coaches reasoning the play they called made sense and was not a bad call. The result is what sucked (and execution). Also the DB made a epic play on the ball. Some credit there as well. People still want to be pissed and blame someone.

I wonder if you polled all of the league current OC's how many would say it was a bad call. Maybe not what they might do but not a bad call given the situation.

Literally every media talking head said it was the worst call ever... Ever in a SB.... Why in earth would you choose a 5th wideout with less then 30 catches in his career in that situation... Or call a play that was so predictable from tape study they literally knew what was coming... And for f sake.. why go empty when play action was killing it the second half..... So much stupid in one play it's astounding.

So was it unpredictable ("a 5th wideout with less then 30 catches in his career") or predictable ("so predictable from tape study they literally knew what was coming.") ? I am confused???

 

[cymatica]

Literally every media talking head said it was the worst call ever... Ever in a SB.... Why in earth would you choose a 5th wideout with less then 30 catches in his career in that situation... Or call a play that was so predictable from tape study they literally knew what was coming... And for f sake.. why go empty when play action was killing it the second half..... So much stupid in one play it's astounding.

Most media talking heads seem more like talking asses, they like to regurgitate talking points and it seems many don't take the time to do some hard analysis.

That being said, while the playcall may have worked, relying on lockette to execute perfectly in that confined space seemed pretty dumb. In other words: most important play, 1 yard, tight space, let's trust our st gunner/5th wr to run a perfect timing route and make a perfect play for the ball. Kearse completely gave up on when Browner jammed him as well, like he was hoping for a flag. Or, like you said, at least show run and make the defense think.

Right idea, questionable play, questionable personnel

 

[Sgt. Largent]

That being said, while the playcall may have worked, relying on lockette to execute perfectly in that confined space seemed pretty dumb.

Kearse is the one who messed up the play, not Lockette. All he had to do is get off the line and pick Butler......but he got manhandled by Browner and couldn't get off the block.

and for the 8,000th time, it was a joint decision by Bevell and Pete as to what play to run. So if you didn't like the play and blame Bevell, make sure to mention his co-conspirator Petey Carroll.

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

THIS IS REALLY ABOUT PETE'S LOVE FOR EXPLOSIVE PLAYS.

Seattle's offense in a nutshell.

Pete's offense.

 

[sdog1981]

Let's see what Bevell/Cable combo shows up this Sunday.

 

[cymatica]

That being said, while the playcall may have worked, relying on lockette to execute perfectly in that confined space seemed pretty dumb.

Kearse is the one who messed up the play, not Lockette. All he had to do is get off the line and pick Butler......but he got manhandled by Browner and couldn't get off the block.

and for the 8,000th time, it was a joint decision by Bevell and Pete as to what play to run. So if you didn't like the play and blame Bevell, make sure to mention his co-conspirator Petey Carroll.

I mentioned kearse's horrible execution. My point was that it was dumb to rely on lockette in that situation. Wilson did lead the throw too much, another receiver very well may have caught that ball or prevented butler from catching it. Even if lockette did everything right, should they have banked on it?

And you are assuming pete discussed the personel with that playcall. Is there evidence of that? The only thing I have read was pete wanting to throw it, maybe hinting at having something to do with the play. Did bevell and pete discuss throwing it to lockette?

 

[Siouxhawk]

That being said, while the playcall may have worked, relying on lockette to execute perfectly in that confined space seemed pretty dumb.

Kearse is the one who messed up the play, not Lockette. All he had to do is get off the line and pick Butler......but he got manhandled by Browner and couldn't get off the block.

and for the 8,000th time, it was a joint decision by Bevell and Pete as to what play to run. So if you didn't like the play and blame Bevell, make sure to mention his co-conspirator Petey Carroll.

I mentioned kearse's horrible execution. My point was that it was dumb to rely on lockette in that situation. Wilson did lead the throw too much, another receiver very well may have caught that ball or prevented butler from catching it. Even if lockette did everything right, should they have banked on it?

And you are assuming pete discussed the personel with that playcall. Is there evidence of that? The only thing I have read was pete wanting to throw it, maybe hinting at having something to do with the play. Did bevell and pete discuss throwing it to lockette?

That was likely the personnel package installed for that very play and practiced for 2 weeks leading up to the Super Bowl. Pete knew the personnel executing that play, which seemed logical to me anyhow. In any event, all people involved in that play have stored it in their respective memory banks and will grow from it as we surge ahead on another exciting playoff run.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

And you are assuming pete discussed the personel with that playcall. Is there evidence of that? The only thing I have read was pete wanting to throw it, maybe hinting at having something to do with the play. Did bevell and pete discuss throwing it to lockette?

How could Pete not know the exact play and personnel grouping of the most important play of the SB?

He even said in his post game presser, and numerous interviews after when he had to defend the call that they knew NE was going to go with their heavy goalline defense to stop Marshawn, thus the slant to Lockette was called.

Not a terrible call, and it's one that has worked for us and many other teams on the goalline forever......just horrific execution and a great play by Butler. Doesn't prove anything about Bevell, at all.

 

[Largent80]

Also, Browner who played for us knew exactly what was coming and told Butler to go to that spot, which he did.

Why lament it?....Let's make new, better memories.

 

[DavidSeven]

Seems like Kearse has gotten some decent yardage on screens, actually.

It's all about blocking, execution and match-ups. A lot of teams throw screens to their lumbering TEs. It's not like every receiver screen in the NFL goes to a scatback or jitterbug receiver. That's actually far from the case.