Pleasant Surprises post Week 1 ?

[keasley45]

Just curious what others thought about the bright spots / silver linings coming out of week 1 that may have been unexpected.

For me, it was the play of the inside linebackers. I thought they were all over the field on sunday. Going into the season, i figured ILB was the unit with the biggest ? mark in terms of ability and availability, but man, they were making plays everywhere. Fast, violent, and anticipating plays. Constantly. Not to mention how well Dodson seemed to be getting everyone settled and aligned properly.

Whether in coverage, sliding over to stop a pass to the flat, or filling gaps, Dodson and Baker just killed it, IMO. One of the commentators even remarked at some point that the pair looked like Smith and Queen running Mac's scheme.

Granted, its one game, but nothing about the way in which they went about their business leads me to believe things will change next week.

Credit to John and Mac for identifying the guys that fit the scheme and to Mac for coaching them up.

Great to see play like that after the last few years watching an 'over the hill' Wagz + Brooks + Barton' playing seemingly on their heels most of the time.

Prayers to the Lord Almighty that they stay healthy and on the field together for all of 24.

 

[cymatica]

Meyers made all his kicks

 

[bileever]

Dodson and Baker in coverage! We haven't seen linebacker play like that in a while. They are fast and versatile.

I was also happy to see the way Rayshawn Jenkins and K'von Wallace played. They covered well and hit hard.

 

[hox]

Bright spot for me was the tackling. There was maybe one missed tackle the entire game. They tackled with intent, effort, technique, and for loss of yardage. They were swarming. The run defense looked good.

Despite being the first game of the season, they understood Payton's tendencies. They sat on routes and there were no yards after catch. This speaks to the scheme and coaching. MacDonald said his players are bought in. He's going to be a great coach for this team.

 

[Nosferatu]

* Linebacker play
* Coaching adjustments
* Running to the right in the second half
* Fan noise, especially with all the freakin' Broncos' fans in the lower bowl

 

[Ozzy]

Again I hate this because I know people will feel like I'm taking shots at Pete but I'm not.....It was awesome watching a well-coached defense who look prepared, made adjustments, tackled well, no one looked lost, no miscommunication issues etc and it was week 1 with an entirely new system. Now there will be games where they may struggle, make mistakes etc but I feel confident that they are being coached to be the best unit their talent level allows and I haven't felt that way in a long time.

The linebacker play was shockingly better than I had anticipated.

Grubb: The wheels fell off early but he regrouped, made adjustments and just overall finished the game very well considering his two guards where terrible yesterday. I never thought Waldron was as bad as many on here felt but Grubb really impressed me.

 

[AROS]

Halftime adjustments. Something that has been missing for years.

 

[Nv_Hawks]

Tackling. So tired of seeing players try to knock someone down with their shoulder ala Adams, instead of wrapping them up.

 

[RadiatorHawk]

I agree with all the above points.

I’ll say K9’s explosiveness. He’s always been quick and agile, with occasional toughness sprinkled in, but yesterday when he got a head of steam he was like a bolt of lightning. He looked faster than the last couple years, really doing a great job allowing his blocks to develop and then punishing defenders in his way.

 

[Ostatehawk]

Halftime adjustments. Something that has been missing for years.

Can someone address specifically what adjustments were made on the OL at half? It was obvious things improved - but I didn't see any specific adjustments made - I am sure there were - I'm just not very football smart.

 

[AROS]

Can someone address specifically what adjustments were made on the OL at half? It was obvious things improved - but I didn't see any specific adjustments made - I am sure there were - I'm just not very football smart.

Don't worry, I'm not either.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Can someone address specifically what adjustments were made on the OL at half? It was obvious things improved - but I didn't see any specific adjustments made - I am sure there were - I'm just not very football smart.

Mostly they just switched to the run.

 

[Boycie]

The D was fantastic. Guys were flying all over the place and actually making tackles.

 

[RadiatorHawk]

Can someone address specifically what adjustments were made on the OL at half? It was obvious things improved - but I didn't see any specific adjustments made - I am sure there were - I'm just not very football smart.

I could be wrong here so others can feel free to correct me, but what I saw was they basically constricted the offense.

In the 2nd half, Grubb started calling far fewer longer developing routes, got K9 on some counters and traps to utilize the Broncos D line aggressiveness against them. Essentially just trying to get the ball out of Geno’s hands faster and allowing K9 to do his work. When the O line started moving downhill on runs rather than backpedaling in pass protection that seemed to make a ton of difference.

 

[sutz]

The defense overall. Getting backed up in the red zone and only giving up FGs really set the tone of the game and prevented it getting out of hand early.

Halftime adjustments, especially on offense, were amazing. I remember one of the announcers saying they changed the line splits. Maybe that helped. But the basically changed the entire game plan, going from attempting to pass to open up the run to the complete opposite. The 3rd quarter focus on running the ball really flipped the script.

 

[CostaRicaHawk]

MSN​

​

LB Jerome Baker​

The second level of Seattle's defense was also on point. While middle linebacker Tyrel Dodson finished with 10 tackles and a 75.1 overall grade, weakside linebacker Jerome Baker earned an even better 80.0 grade from PFF. Baker had five tackles (one for a loss), a fumble recovery and 85.3 grade in coverage.

One of the nicer surprises was seeing the ILB group start out better than I anticipated. Especially Baker, Stoked

My new adopt a rookie:

Tyrice Knight​

 

[Nosferatu]

Changing the OL splits was easier to see at the stadium from our corner views in the 300 levels than I bet it was on tv. It was a huge change between slower developing plays to the left to quicker handoffs to the right. And less Guard/Tackle pulls which take longer to run (but potentially have bigger results). The left side pulls weren't working in the first half and they really switched it up.

 

[cymatica]

Can someone address specifically what adjustments were made on the OL at half? It was obvious things improved - but I didn't see any specific adjustments made - I am sure there were - I'm just not very football smart.

The announcer mentioned the oline tightened their splits but it's hard to tell on the TV angle

 

[HawkRiderFan]

This is an incident in the game that was a pleasant surprise and not specifically a player. I like how the refs went to the video review and quickly over-turned the potential roughing the passer call. That could have given the Broncos first and 10 around midfield. Instead that either ended in a punt or the Riq int. I don't know if that's new that they can review that determine no foul.

 

[sutz]

This is an incident in the game that was a pleasant surprise and not specifically a player. I like how the refs went to the video review and quickly over-turned the potential roughing the passer call. That could have given the Broncos first and 10 around midfield. Instead that either ended in a punt or the Riq int. I don't know if that's new that they can review that determine no foul.

The announcers on TV said that was a new rule they use. You're right, that was a bogus flag and I'm glad the new rules let them pick it up.