Reasons for Optimism

[pehawk]

After seeing the offense the past two weeks, it's become clear the Seahawks stunted their offensive growth by feeding Percy. That 's not just Wilson, it was seemingly the entire organization attempting to rationalize Percy's presence. Having Percy in Seattle removed Pete and the offense from their desired goal; a point guard QB.

Point guard QB means the QB is to hit multiple receivers. Point Guard QB means whomever is lined up at WR or TE has an equal chance of making the reception. Defenses must respect and acknowledge that be it Cooper Helfelt or Ricardo Lockette, Wilson may just throw it their way. Percy took away from that ideal and goal. Percy needed the ball fed to him so he'd mentally check-in to the game. That's why the offense sputtered this season. It wasn't necessarily the play-calling or the offensive line, it was this regime forcing a player, whom by default, doesn't fit the overall vision.

All the aforementioned gives this Seahawks offense a very 2012 feel. Obviously the talent's a bit greater, due mostly to Wilson's maturation, but like that 2012 team, the offense just feels slightly out of rhythm. The good news is, just like that 2012 team, this 2014 Seahawks team WILL peak at the right time.

Every week this offense will look better. Like that 2012 team we'll be able to measure those incremental improvements via 3rd downs first, then RZ TD's second. Then, Wilson will feel comfortable audibling out of protections and calls. Each week we'll most likely see an uptick and improvement over the last.

Another offensive positive out of yesterday is Richardson. I'm a HUGE fan of this kid and am very happy Pete's going to at least give the playmaker touches via special teams. In general, I also love the fact every skill player for the Seahawks for the Seahawks has contributed the post two weeks. Depth, versatility and opponents attention comes from them their playing time. It will pay off (Christine Michael could really burn that AZ defense...I'm glad he's involved and getting time now because of that).

Another outstanding take-away from yesterday is/was getting KPL in the game. I would really like to see KPL get some extended run over the next two weeks. Providing KPL playing time now, will add flexibility later, when Wagner returns. If he plays well enough, when that LB group gets healthy, all of the sudden Quinn has space to put Irvin in his more natural spot, pursuing a QB. If Irvin knows you're passing, he'll beat his man, simple as that. He's just too fast.

Addition via attrition also applies to the secondary. While Burley's going through some growing pains, I do like his long term potential. Now imagine having a more seasoned and experienced Burley when Lane and Maxwell return? Sherm, BMax, Lane, Simon, and Burley is a SCARY good and physical DB group.

This team is set up to peak at the right time. I'm pretty damn stoked.

XOXO

Derrick Fenner

 

[drdiags]

I like your perspective on the young players and hope their maturation is coming at the right time as games get more intense in the second half of the season.

I do think Harvin stunted the offense the Seahawks like running. He would be a dream fit for a high volume passing offense. I bet he would be amazing in a Lions, Packers, Denver or Patriots offense. He probably needs to be with a veteran QB like Peyton that he could respect. But that is the Jets and future teams problem.

 

[pehawk]

I like your perspective on the young players and hope their maturation is coming at the right time as games get more intense in the second half of the season.

I do think Harvin stunted the offense the Seahawks like running. He would be a dream fit for a high volume passing offense. I bet he would be amazing in a Lions, Packers, Denver or Patriots offense. He probably needs to be with a veteran QB like Peyton that he could respect. But that is the Jets and future teams problem.

You want to know who else would benefit from a high-scoring offense? Bruce Irvin. Dude would post up some gaudy numbers if he routinely faced teams forced to throw. He'd be a (more) modern Dwight Freeny.

And for the record, I'm a little done hearing people bash Bruce. Dude's all heart on and off the field. When being asked about Burley's INT and/or Mebane's sack he said "it aint no fun unless the homeys get some". Then the homage to Wags on a sack.

Awesome.

 

[Largent80]

Except for the one hold he had, I liked Willsons game yesterday. He could have had another TD but Keuchly got there before he could secure the ball.

I saw him make a few nice blocks on other plays.

Also liked watching KPL both on special teams and when he was in the game playing LB.

Early on we were not converting, but we got it rolling, and a 58 yard FG by "MoneyHausch".

A lot to like, and only a couple weeks away from getting Miller and Lane/Max back.

XOXO

Joe Nash

 

[pehawk]

That Haush kick may very well have saved a season.

 

[OkieHawk]

I like your perspective on the young players and hope their maturation is coming at the right time as games get more intense in the second half of the season.

I do think Harvin stunted the offense the Seahawks like running. He would be a dream fit for a high volume passing offense. I bet he would be amazing in a Lions, Packers, Denver or Patriots offense. He probably needs to be with a veteran QB like Peyton that he could respect. But that is the Jets and future teams problem.

You want to know who else would benefit from a high-scoring offense? Bruce Irvin. Dude would post up some gaudy numbers if he routinely faced teams forced to throw. He'd be a (more) modern Dwight Freeny.

And for the record, I'm a little done hearing people bash Bruce. Dude's all heart on and off the field. When being asked about Burley's INT and/or Mebane's sack he said "it aint no fun unless the homeys get some". Then the homage to Wags on a sack.

Awesome.

Come on man, you know that every year the .Net crowd HAS to have a whipping boy, even though Bruce caught an INT last year the first time he had ever played LB. I personally feel he should stay at DE, but he is a player who has proven that he can, and will, play different positions for the team.

I also agree with your OP, this team will get better. In the Pete era we have had problems putting up gaudy numbers, but we win. Wilson is proving to be a great leader as he was constantly talking to the guys on the sideline all game. We will have ups and downs, it's the NFL, but as a whole we are sitting pretty, and that's just fine with me.

 

[Largent80]

Also, getting that win was EXACTLY what the doctor ordered for a team that went through a LOT of adversity.

It is the kind of win that gets a team believing in itself.

 

[endzorn]

My optimism stems from the return of Maxwell and Lane. Our secondary depth will be as good as there is in the NFL and hopefully that will translate to a more productive defense. Offensively I feel like car centered everything in our offense around Harvin as either a target or a decoy and now they're feeling their way through a dramatic change. There are warts on this team, but I feel like we can make some strengths so good that we can live with the weaknesses.

 

[NJSeahawk]

That Haush kick may very well have saved a season.

Always knew he was a great kicker, didn't know he had that much leg in him, talk about pressure. Good to know we can call on him for that. Goes back to that NFC champ game, when we were gonna kick it on 4th and forever.

 

[dumbrabbit]

Not afraid to admit it, Hauschka is the best kicker in the NFL. just look at how he's impacted this team this year and last year, and tell me which kicker in the NFL can do that for their team.

In response to the OP, Bruce Irvin is gonna go on a tear soon. He just needs teams that pass a lot. The next few games should give Irvin a chance to get his season back on track.

 

[gowazzu02]

I like your perspective on the young players and hope their maturation is coming at the right time as games get more intense in the second half of the season.

I do think Harvin stunted the offense the Seahawks like running. He would be a dream fit for a high volume passing offense. I bet he would be amazing in a Lions, Packers, Denver or Patriots offense. He probably needs to be with a veteran QB like Peyton that he could respect. But that is the Jets and future teams problem.

You want to know who else would benefit from a high-scoring offense? Bruce Irvin. Dude would post up some gaudy numbers if he routinely faced teams forced to throw. He'd be a (more) modern Dwight Freeny.

And for the record, I'm a little done hearing people bash Bruce. Dude's all heart on and off the field. When being asked about Burley's INT and/or Mebane's sack he said "it aint no fun unless the homeys get some". Then the homage to Wags on a sack.

Awesome.

While Bruce maybe all Heart,,,, he is literally no brain out there.

TWO neutral zone infractions in the same game. Follows a disturbing trend of brain farts. Going for the non sack on 3rd and 20 vs romo, when you have seen the EXACT same spin move, he did it the week prior, go for the upfield shoulder, The late hit of Rivers in SD.......

 

[Rose City Hawk]

Nice take sir, thanks for the writeup.

I was not really happy about Bruce being moved but it was what we needed at the time and the fact that he went with it and did well enough was great. He needs to be on the end, that's what he does, he's proven he can provide a modicum of coverage in a pinch as well. He may not be the most eloquent guy in the world but who cares. Sliding Bennett over to DT was a key to this line getting pressure as well. I think we are positioned well for the rest of the year if we can stop losing players to injury and get some fallen warriors back, we should finish strong, albeit a tough 2nd half of the schedule.

 

[idahohawk]

IMO, a lot of truth to this idea. The O steadily improved while Harvin was "injured" most of last season. When he came back for short stints, they didn't have to really justify "including" him or featuring him in the O. The first 6 games this year, the OC & staff had definitely tried (too hard) to feature Harvin and his unique demands.

The O shot themselves in the foot a few times Sunday, but did move the ball at times. Red Zone still painful to watch but I'm optimistic that once they all get healthy, things will start to click. Get past the trade deadline and the noise will quiet down.

GO Hawks.

 

[DavidSeven]

I think it's reasonable to guess that Percy's presence stunted Russell's growth as a down field passer, but having a playmaker in itself wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We can get by without Harvin (especially since he kept failing to come up with a big play when we needed it), but I think we need to find out what we have in Richardson pretty quickly here. In order to win games, this team is going to need big, explosive plays to come from somewhere. Lynch is going to help set some of that up, but he's not going to get us points by himself. We need some big plays -- whether it be in the passing game, defensive turnovers, or special teams. We just don't have an offense that's designed to easily march down the field. We only seem to score when we either (A) get yards in huge chunks (big pass, big return, or off a turnover) or (B) Russell's running is wide open i.e. end of tight games.

I think we underestimated what we had in 2012 with a healthy Sidney Rice and an emerging Golden Tate. Rice provided the RZ threat and helped keep defenses honest; Golden always seemed to make game-defining plays. To add to that, we were getting turnovers and Leon Washington was a constant threat to house a return. Right now, we're not getting much on Special Teams and our defense can't seem to buy a turnover. That's going to make Richardson a key piece to this puzzle. If he can provide us with that Golden Tate explosive-play element, this offense might have a chance.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

We scored 13 pts against a very average defense, so I'm not as optimistic as you..........especially after how well the offense played last week. So I'd consider yesterday a tiny step back if anything.

Still can't crank up the run game, pass blocking is still abysmal, and still too many stupid penalties.

The defense gave me more optimism than the offense yesterday.

 

[pehawk]

We scored 13 pts against a very average defense, so I'm not as optimistic as you..........especially after how well the offense played last week. So I'd consider yesterday a tiny step back if anything.

Still can't crank up the run game, pass blocking is still abysmal, and still too many stupid penalties.

The defense gave me more optimism than the offense yesterday.

The 2012 offense failed to score a lot of times too. It had to learn to do that.

This version of the offense is essentially brand new. No Coleman and now with Cooper, Richardson and Norwood.

 

[homerun1970]

The scoring last year was also helped out by a ton of turnovers and short fields. This year we haven't been getting those bounces as of yet. The muffed punt at the start of yesterdays game is an example came to a Hawk he swats it back to the return man. If we get turnovers and some short fields paired with some sort of offensive rhythm the points will start to roll.

 

[Hawks46]

Good post, and interesting parallels to the 2012 season.

The only thing really keeping us from being great on offense is the OL. The thing is, I can't understand how (almost) everyone thought we were going to have this powerhouse OL this season. Last year, we were weak up the middle. Teams regularly got pressure up the middle and Lynch did more to open up a lot of holes than the OL did. This year, we're trotting out the same players. Sure, Sweezy got a bit bigger and one year more seasoned, and Carpenter finally got in shape and is staying healthy, but they're looking to be the same players. Unger has seemed to flat lined. Okung can't stay healthy and is regressing. I personally don't hold Britt too accountable; sure there are guys that come in and dominate as rookies, but not often. I also find that pinning all your hopes for improvement on rookies is a sure way to get some heartbreak.

That said, I see the parallels. We have Richardson (whom I also really like) and Norwood that are going to start getting some real game experience, and it's going to have some growing pains. Willson is still improving and hasn't hit his ceiling. Michael is starting to get some carries. Skill positions have a lot of talent, but not a lot of experience, so we'll see.

I hope the defense improves with the guys from the secondary coming back. We need a pass rush, and I'd like to see our early season dominance in the run game come back at the same time. If we can control the los with both then our defense will likely look a lot better.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

This version of the offense is essentially brand new. No Coleman and now with Cooper, Richardson and Norwood.

I understand this, but that doesn't equate to optimism necessarily.

If I'm being optimistic about the offense, it's because guys like Miller and Unger are coming back soon. Cause right now Russell is pretty much the only thing holding this offense together.

 

[loafoftatupu]

All the aforementioned gives this Seahawks offense a very 2012 feel. Obviously the talent's a bit greater, due mostly to Wilson's maturation, but like that 2012 team, the offense just feels slightly out of rhythm. The good news is, just like that 2012 team, this 2014 Seahawks team WILL peak at the right time.

I basically said most of the same things im another thread. Some of it is forced because of injury, but I see PC getting the young players involved throughout the season and having a few of those being part of the whole "win forever" mantra.

This season reminds me a lot of 2012, where the Hawks lost a few games early that they easily could have won and then became nearly unstoppable. They are still a very good football team and they are ready to break out, again winning the division.