Random Thoughts™ on the Chargers preseason game

[CANHawk]

I thought Smith and Morgan showed some great pass rushing acumen, but don't look like they have the size to do it from the Leo spot. They just got enveloped by the tackles they faced and no amount of spinning or swimming was going to help them escape. They looked like little kids playing with their overweight dad. I can see them bringing the heat from the OLB positions though.

I really liked the penetration I saw from Hill. Agree with your caveat of pre-season o-lines sucking arse, but he showed great quickness and some good moves. Hopefully that will translate to "real" games against real o-linemen. I know it's only a ridiculously small sample size, but I saw Jesse Williams get bowled over a few too many times for my liking. Hopefully they'll see some things on the tape that he can work on to keep himself more upright.

I hope last night was a big ol learning experience for Luke Willson. He has some tape to look at now, and the things he was doing wrong look to be totally correctable if he puts some work into it. i hope he can correct those problems because he has the tools.

I'm prepared to be patient with Winston Guy, but wouldn't cry a river if he were to depart suddenly. He has the tools, but has a long way to go. Jeron Johnson and Chris Maragos run circles around him though and I can't see us keeping 5 safties. That secondary is so obsenely stacked it should be illegal. There's going to be some tough decisions to make. BMax and Lane both seemed to have really good games.

I didn't really notice how well he plays corner, but Will Blackmon has got some sweet moves as a returner. We have some good options there.

I like Stephen Williams because he's huge, fast AND can catch the ball. We can always use a guy like that. That and I'm totally planning on refering to him as Dr. Death.

I think I really like white jerseys and blue pants. I hope that's our official road combo going into the season. White on white just makes us look like the Michelin Man.

 

[SmokinHawk]

I was on a date, so I only caught part of the game (women... demanding our time and stuff..).

Didn't get a chance to form an opinion on anyone. So thank you for the read sir!

Did you regale her with tales from the time you spent on the Seahawks practice squad?

 

[Anonymous]

All this talk of the LEO has my Sagittarius a bit jealous.

Can I just call them linebackers?

 

[CANHawk]

All this talk of the LEO has my Sagittarius a bit jealous.

Can I just call them linebackers?

You could, but you'd be wrong.

I was on a date, so I only caught part of the game (women... demanding our time and stuff..).

Didn't get a chance to form an opinion on anyone. So thank you for the read sir!

Did you regale her with tales from the time you spent on the Seahawks practice squad?

I don't know about all that, but I'm sure there was talk of moustache rides.

 

[themunn]

Good post Kearly.

On that Williams sideline play, he was clearly interfered with. Funny how the refs seemd to run around with their flags in their hands when we were on D, but had them firmly in pockets for SD. Meh, it's preseason, but I hope the silly personal foul calls go away. It reallyl looks like the NFL is trying to get away from any sort of physicality. Refs were throwing flags tonight like the NFL is afraid of being sued.

In fairness, while preseason should be hitting, the refs should definitely err on the side of caution to prevent players from going overboard in games that don't matter.

Yes we still want to see players hitting each other, but I was OK with the personal foul calls last night because A: the games don't matter and B: if it stops just ONE player from getting injured in preseason then it's worthwhile

 

[SDHawk]

Ty Powell looked bad in coverage but decent near the LOS. He doesn't close space as well as I had hoped.

Mike Morgan got stiff armed by Eddie Royal, that was enough for me to make up my mind on him.

Malcolm Smith looked good on a stunt but had a hard time shedding blocks in other situations.

Winston guy is a dirty player.

The linebackers were the stars last night. Allen Bradford and John Lotuleilei jumped off the screen with their athleticism and speed.

Kam Chancellor was all over the place. Looks refreshed and ready to play.

Offense was way more explosive with TJack in the game vs Quinn. Quinn looked no different than Whitehurst or a Mark Sanchez.

Agree on Michael getting the extra yard. I saw him make a spin move after a hit to get a couple extra yards for the first down. He looked very explosive.

Thought Luke Willson looked pretty good except for a drop on a pass from RW. The pass was a bit high but catchable and bounced right off Willson's hands.

Ashford looked like our best KR.

 

[Sac]

Michael had a wicked, blow your mind juke on that long run to the left. That was unreal.

 

[CANHawk]

Michael had a wicked, blow your mind juke on that long run to the left. That was unreal.

The man has skillz for sure. Looking forward to seeing what he can do...

 

[PlinytheCenter]

Mike Morgan got stiff armed by Eddie Royal, that was enough for me to make up my mind on him.

Yeah that was not a stellar moment for Morgan. He got punked.

 

[TwistedHusky]

Great job by Kearly.

I too was very concerned after watching our defense against the run. You simply should not be giving up 5-6 gashes against an almost patchwork offensive line.

If I was a Charger fan I would be pretty happy with how my 1s played against the Seahawk 1s, but we were missing quite a few guys and trying out some new ones.

I am still nervous about how the switch in DCs is going to affect this team. But I won't have any idea what the change will be by watching the preseason since everything gets watered down.

I like how Kearse got separation, even though he dropped a ball we needed. Williams looks to be at least a solid guy to stretch the field with some size and I saw we have some depth that will allow us to rotate our defenders in and out on the lines and in the secondary. At least it appears that if we do have any injuries along the way (unless it is a major one to one of our defensive or offensive cogs) then we should at least still be solid and not lose as much.

Bradford and Maxwell stood out for me as well. Didn't see the push from our rookie DLs that I was hoping though.

Christine looks quick, almost too quick. He bursts before the play gets a chance to create a hole. I am really looking forward to watching him learn to let the play develop and pick the hole. If he can get that, he is going to be a monster.

All in all, I think we didn't look great, we didn't look terrible. And it was not only one game, but the first game.

Still, I was hoping based on everything we have all seen and heard from camp that we would have come out of the gates a little better.

 

[Smelly McUgly]

I love reading Kearly's thoughts so much.

San Diego was running more complex stuff on both offense and defense while we were trying out undersized LBs at DE and playing only half our starters. I wouldn't read too much into those first couple drives. Now, if we suck in Week Three of the preseason, I'll be nervous.

One note: Unger is WAY better than whoever we have backing him up. Dude needs to stay healthy. When Russell Wilson was pressured, it was because a) San Diego was blitzing and b) the pressure came right up the middle.

 

[FortWorthSeahawk]

Thank you for this again Kearly....I know I've said this a couple times now, but for the deployed folk the descriptions that you and a couple other posters are able to paint makes it almost like I watched the game myself. Thanks again!

 

[White Devil]

Kearly, thanks for the time and effort. Always look forward to your write-ups.

Just a friendly reminder to most of the fans out there to remember that THIS was pretty much an exact definition of the team last season. I believe even if both teams kept the 1's and 2's out there for the entire game, we would have had close to the same result. These Seahawks don't get laid out with one blow. This team plays for 4 quarters, every game. That's 4 quarters of being punched in the face, fighting for every yard gained. Eventually someone is going to break...Pete thinks his team will break last.

I'm looking forward to a helluva ride this season...it's good to have football back.

 

[CANHawk]

I love reading Kearly's thoughts so much.

San Diego was running more complex stuff on both offense and defense while we were trying out undersized LBs at DE and playing only half our starters. I wouldn't read too much into those first couple drives. Now, if we suck in Week Three of the preseason, I'll be nervous.

One note: Unger is WAY better than whoever we have backing him up. Dude needs to stay healthy. When Russell Wilson was pressured, it was because a) San Diego was blitzing and b) the pressure came right up the middle.

Yeah, as somebody said yesterday, I think a lot of that was the new regime in SD trying to get some things established while we had a bunch of experiments playing and our starters were wearing street clothes. I'm reading NOTHING into the first couple drives. Remember, Jim Mora Jr. mopped the fricken floor with everyone in pre-season...

 

[QuahHawk]

Thanks for the write up. Can wait to be at the first home preseason game

 

[RockHawk]

One more tag . . . The most impressive thing about Michael was what he did without the ball. Dude stepped up huge as a pass protector. Several clutch blocks that most rookies misread or whiff.

That's exactly what I was going to post here; I was extremely impressed with his blitz pickup awareness, but moreso with the way he stepped up and completely stoned a blitzing LB and S. Very excited about this kid.

 

[kearly]

That's about as good a debut as you could ever hope for when you are a 6th round rookie who played his college football in the middle of nowhere.

Hey now! Cedar City isn't the middle of nowhere, I live there!

Great notes, Kip.

I grew up not far from there. Cedar City is nice. It's kind of like Utah's version of Flagstaff.

It is in the middle of nowhere though. Usually Cedar City is more known for it's high school football. : )

You're right Nano, Cedar City isn't the middle of nowhere, it's on the fringe of nowhere on the way to Mesquite and Las Vegas. When your claim to fame is proximity to Mesquite and some dinosaur tracks, you're hurting. On the plus side, being that close to Bryce Canyon and Zion is a bonus, and it's great fishing there! I do like the area, but had to give you a hard time.

Agreed on the fishing 110%.

 

[bellingerga]

kearlys random thoughts are here. WOOOOOOOO. excellent read.

I agree with nearly everything except that I think there's no chance we don't keep Farwell. Dude is a very important piece of our special teams and just has a knack for making timely, great plays.

 

[FlyingGreg]

One more tag . . . The most impressive thing about Michael was what he did without the ball. Dude stepped up huge as a pass protector. Several clutch blocks that most rookies misread or whiff.

That's exactly what I was going to post here; I was extremely impressed with his blitz pickup awareness, but moreso with the way he stepped up and completely stoned a blitzing LB and S. Very excited about this kid.

Not to mention, dude was getting stronger as the game churned along. He showed a lot of life in his legs in the 4th.

 

[Fuzzman55]

As good a day as Bradford had, he was slow out of the gates. Not having Wagner available is a big thing to point to for the early run defense struggles. I'm also going to be easy grading the rookie DTs. They have a long ways to go before their anywhere near a finished product. If they can flash early on, maybe find some limited roles they can excel at in their first year I'll be happy.