Post mortem

[TwistedHusky]

Giving up 29 points with this defense is completely reasonable.

But giving up the sidelines and allowing teams to march up the field because we are so scared to give up anything long that we give massive cushions and complete access to the sidelines? No excuse.

It wasn't like they were marching up the field in 1 minute on every drive. But end of half and end of game, we conceded way too much - I would rather give up the long TD, honestly. At least the % chance of the opponent being successful on those plays is far lower.

We gave them the sidelines and almost lost this game because of it.

Even a great offense should not regularly march 50 yards down the field in a minute. That is on the DC, I don't think you can spin it any other way.

 

[Seahawk_Dan]

Giving up 29 points with this defense is completely reasonable.

But giving up the sidelines and allowing teams to march up the field because we are so scared to give up anything long that we give massive cushions and complete access to the sidelines? No excuse.

It wasn't like they were marching up the field in 1 minute on every drive. But end of half and end of game, we conceded way too much - I would rather give up the long TD, honestly. At least the % chance of the opponent being successful on those plays is far lower.

We gave them the sidelines and almost lost this game because of it.

Even a great offense should not regularly march 50 yards down the field in a minute. That is on the DC, I don't think you can spin it any other way.

Slow down on the criticism there Husky. You get in trouble and told to fall back in line if you don't just accept the win.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Giving up 29 points with this defense is completely reasonable.

But giving up the sidelines and allowing teams to march up the field because we are so scared to give up anything long that we give massive cushions and complete access to the sidelines? No excuse.

It wasn't like they were marching up the field in 1 minute on every drive. But end of half and end of game, we conceded way too much - I would rather give up the long TD, honestly. At least the % chance of the opponent being successful on those plays is far lower.

We gave them the sidelines and almost lost this game because of it.

Even a great offense should not regularly march 50 yards down the field in a minute. That is on the DC, I don't think you can spin it any other way.

We just have to face that our defense just isn't that good.

It's not like we weren't sending blitzers to try to get to Goff, they just weren't getting home in time for him to throw the 10 yard outs and crosses for what seemed like the entire game.

So our issues are connected and two fold;

1. No consistent pass rush. Sure Clowney and others flash, but it's just not consistent enough pressure for us to not have to risk sending blitzers.

2. Defensive backfield is average to below average. So it's compounding the fact that Pete doesn't trust the back end in anything other than base for most of the time, which means you've got mismatches with our LB's having to follow faster receivers and TE's for too long because of #1 above.

What's the fix? Idk. There really isn't other than we have to hope the group as a whole continues to improve.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Amazing game last night. Couldn't sleep at all when I got home from the stadium.
Great battle between two evenly matched teams. Shouldn't have come down to that kick, but hey BOTH kickers missed one.
Not going for it on 4th and 1 was ridiculous, 10 point turnaround (possibly 14) right there.
And the play call on 3rd and 2 when you have around 170 yards rushing, weak.

Oh well, they finally sent that message. And complaining about a win is just a waste of energy. Couldn't care less how it looks, no style points in the NFL. There will always be a few head scratchers, especially with some of the decision making. But...... HUGE win.

 

[Hawkpower]

Evreryone makes good points (giving up the sideline, playing too soft) but this is not a Seahawk specific/Norton issue.

Nearly every College and NFL football team plays defense this way in the final 2 minutes of a game.

It drives me insane as you are almost always banking on, hoping for, a turnover or a missed field goal.

As others have mentioned, play pressure defense, take the risk of getting beat over the top, and maybe your offense gets one more crack at it worst case scenario. I hope this changes in football coaching circles someday, but I am seeing no sign of it currently.

But this is not unique to us. Nearly every message board in America is filled with these posts after giving up two minute drills like a hot knife through butter. Happens every week at every level.

 

[Mick063]

Evreryone makes good points (giving up the sideline, playing too soft) but this is not a Seahawk specific/Norton issue.

Nearly every College and NFL football team plays defense this way in the final 2 minutes of a game.

It drives me insane as you are almost always banking on, hoping for, a turnover or a missed field goal.

As others have mentioned, play pressure defense, take the risk of getting beat over the top, and maybe your offense gets one more crack at it worst case scenario. I hope this changes in football coaching circles someday, but I am seeing no sign of it currently.

But this is not unique to us. Nearly every message board in America is filled with these posts after giving up two minute drills like a hot knife through butter. Happens every week at every level.

We are talking about a one point lead here, not a three point lead.

With a three point lead, I'm fine with the conservatism, but cripes, the Rams only needed to get to the Seattle 40 yard line to win the game via field goal. That is 3.5 ten yard outs, with out of bounds clock stoppage, which can all be done in as little as 25 seconds. The Rams had a 1:35 to work with. The scenario called for tighter coverage, even in today's college and pro ranks.

 

[PlinytheCenter]

I was yelling at the TV the rest of the game as to why Pete didn't go for it on 4th and 1. Under most circumstances it would have cost us the game. We got lucky.

 

[HawkGA]

I thought the pass rush, particularly at the end of the game was disappointing. They were blitzing and getting absolutely nothing to show for it. I'm okay with the blitz calls, but they gotta do a better job of getting home.

 

[HawkStrong]

The secondary giving up chunk yardage at the end of halves and games is frustrating AF.

I'm watching them march down the field after we failed to get two yards for a game-clinching first down and I'm having heart palpitations because we cannot stop them at all. The soft zone allowing the underneath stuff was killing us as they got closer and closer into FG range.

Unfortunately this isn't going away anytime soon as long as we stay in our base defense with three LB's on the field and not nickel or dime because we don't have four CB's Pete trusts.

It's the base defense that teams like the Rams take advantage of, as good as our LB's are they can't hang with speedy quick WR's like Kupp and even TE's sitting down in soft zones.

You are wrong.

Our base defense is why we held them to 29 points, despite giving them two easy drives.

https://twitter.com/bcondotta/status/11 ... 70913?s=19

 

[Hawkpower]

Evreryone makes good points (giving up the sideline, playing too soft) but this is not a Seahawk specific/Norton issue.

Nearly every College and NFL football team plays defense this way in the final 2 minutes of a game.

It drives me insane as you are almost always banking on, hoping for, a turnover or a missed field goal.

As others have mentioned, play pressure defense, take the risk of getting beat over the top, and maybe your offense gets one more crack at it worst case scenario. I hope this changes in football coaching circles someday, but I am seeing no sign of it currently.

But this is not unique to us. Nearly every message board in America is filled with these posts after giving up two minute drills like a hot knife through butter. Happens every week at every level.

We are talking about a one point lead here, not a three point lead.

With a three point lead, I'm fine with the conservatism, but cripes, the Rams only needed to get to the Seattle 40 yard line to win the game via field goal. That is 3.5 ten yard outs, with out of bounds clock stoppage, which can all be done in as little as 25 seconds. The Rams had a 1:35 to work with. The scenario called for tighter coverage, even in today's college and pro ranks.

Exactly.

Why teams shrivel up and play soft at the end of games is beyond me. Especially with as much left as there was.

30 seconds or less? Fine. But not over a minute and a half remaining. Far too early.

 

[mistaowen]

Most frustrating part of their final drive was how they just kept running the same 8 yard out at Flowers' zone. Like, each play was 8+ yards and maybe took off 5 seconds. They moved to FG range in about 25 seconds without having a timeout. It's just inexcusable to a) not cover the sideline b) not adjust at all to the same play. Then they hit Everett down the seam which seemed like game over.

I don't think this secondary is good enough and it's telling Pete knows he doesn't have the secondary he wants with all the two deep coverages they roll out. Shaq has improved a bunch from last year but still had a few opportunities to make a game changing play and didn't. T2 made a great catch but was consistently 3-5 yards behind the play, not a great tackler, and cannot be trusted in single high. Flowers looks like he shouldn't be on an NFL roster at times and going from the LOB who hit like LB's to a guy like him who can't even gang tackle is so frustrating. At least when they would give up a completion, they'd prevent any YAC, which is killing the defense.

All that said, pass rush has to be better. They showed a stat without Jadevon on the field they get pressure on 11% of the plays, while with him it was like 34%. They sent pressure multiple times and it seems like they all get washed away together. I wonder if it's just not great blitz packages or guys not getting to their spots. Need drastically more from the unit and not just one guy, Reed coming back should be a nice boost.

And finally Russell is playing like the best player in the league so far this season. Also Carson is a monster who got better as the game went along. The offense will carry this team as far as they can it seems.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

No, we did not get Lucky. BOTH kickers missed field goals. Rams got lucky too I guess.
60 minute game, plenty of lucky on both sides.
Not sure I understand the fascination w/calling a win lucky and/or trying to downplay it.
Here I thought it was gonna' be an elated message board. Oh well, I had a blast and am thrilled with the win.
Go Hawks

 

[knownone]

If we don't miss our kick the game is very different. We were definitely the better team for most of the game. We did seemingly everything we could to give the game to the Rams, and luckily in the end they gave it back to us.

 

[HawkerD]

A win is a win and in the NFL wins are not easy to come by. ..Thank goodness we have #3

Good post.

Curious why you are so against the decision to kick the field goal on the 4th and short?

Pete was crucified here a few weeks back for not taking the points in a similar situation. Its not his fault the kick was missed. At that point in the game, the Rams had been sputtering on offense, so 3 more points right before the half looked like a good proposition.

I would have been ok with either choice, but I think its always easy for us to criticize the result. Just wondering your take

You are right, it is easy to be critical in hindsight. One thing that I was thinking was that if he missed they would get the ball where it was kicked from and that was a shorter field (by 8 yards or so. Not that big of a deal). It wasn't a gimme field goal either so that opened up my thinking. I felt that Carson could get the yard running Power. just a feeling. easy to coach from the couch.

 

[Shanegotyou11]

I've said it many times now, Pete is the worst situational playcaller and decision maker in the league.

Seriously, he just needs to let Schotty and Russell make those decisions..........or anyone. I don't care, just not him. He just can't ever get out of his own way. Overthinking? Overly emotional? Idk. But it's horrific.

Actually analysts say Reid and Mcvay types are. They then gave out reasons. Mcvay got play in too late and goff didnt hike in time and resulted in 5 yard delay of game.

Mcvay made huge mistake.

 

[sc85sis]

I've said it many times now, Pete is the worst situational playcaller and decision maker in the league.

Seriously, he just needs to let Schotty and Russell make those decisions..........or anyone. I don't care, just not him. He just can't ever get out of his own way. Overthinking? Overly emotional? Idk. But it's horrific.

Pete decides whether or not to go for it (vs. punt or FG attempt). He may suggest pass or run. He's not calling the exact play. The OC does that. It's always been that way.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

I've said it many times now, Pete is the worst situational playcaller and decision maker in the league.

Seriously, he just needs to let Schotty and Russell make those decisions..........or anyone. I don't care, just not him. He just can't ever get out of his own way. Overthinking? Overly emotional? Idk. But it's horrific.

Pete decides whether or not to go for it (vs. punt or FG attempt). He may suggest pass or run. He's not calling the exact play. The OC does that. It's always been that way.

I'm not going down this SB loss wormhole again, but the buck stops at Pete. He makes the decision, then he tells Schotty if he wants a pass or run, and THEN they confer at what will be successful.

That's not even what I'm mainly talking about, I'm talking about Pete's horrible decision making process (or lack thereof) when it comes to when to go for it, when to not go for it, when to call timeouts, when to challenge, etc etc.

Awful, and for a guy who's been around football for as long as Pete has, it's mind boggling as to why he's so bad.

 

[HawkRiderFan]

On a positive side, great work by your D on that opening series to not let the Rams get a TD off that opening fumble. That really reminded me of the first series and turnover in the NFC championship game vs the Niners. And pretty pedestrian numbers for Gurley - 15 for 51, including about 9 or so on the first run.

 

[James in PA]

Question: who was in the more enviable position with 1:38 left in the 4th quarter: Seahawks or Rams? I think its advantage offense in that situation, even with no timeouts. I’ve seen it too many times. A couple dink and dunks, get out of bounds, sprinkle in a spike to kill the clock. The next thing you know they are lining up for a FG. That’s why I feel very fortunate to have won that game. It is extremely hard to stuff out the opposing offense and prevent them from getting 35-40 yards in those hurry up situations.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DomeHawk]

The secondary giving up chunk yardage at the end of halves and games is frustrating AF.

I'm watching them march down the field after we failed to get two yards for a game-clinching first down and I'm having heart palpitations because we cannot stop them at all. The soft zone allowing the underneath stuff was killing us as they got closer and closer into FG range.

Unfortunately this isn't going away anytime soon as long as we stay in our base defense with three LB's on the field and not nickel or dime because we don't have four CB's Pete trusts.

It's the base defense that teams like the Rams take advantage of, as good as our LB's are they can't hang with speedy quick WR's like Kupp and even TE's sitting down in soft zones.

How do you think NE beat the Rams in the SB? With a 6-1 base defense (3-LB's) that Detroit and Chicago showed the Patriots how to stop the Rams' high powered offense.

https://www.turfshowtimes.com/2019/9/27 ... man-fronts