Some observations off the cuff

[Ozzy]

Salish you judge his speed on how many yards he got on 4 catches in one game? Do you know what the routes were on those 4 routes? Lockett is fast. Anyway thanks for sharing tical. Lots of good stuff.

Tical

 

[Scottemojo]

one other observation, what was up with the rams putting a slap on Wilson's helmet every chance they got? I know they want to knock him out with a hard hit, but geezuz be a little less obvious than to reach out and slap his hat every chance you get.

Friggin Gregg Williams. THe dude even looks slimy.

 

[RockinHawks]

Wonder what Zach Miller is up to....would love to have an extra lineman in there, who can add protection and dead-out as a safety valve for Russ.

We need people who can block.

Also, Cary Williams sucks balls. Big, sweaty, disgustingly hairy balls. Please activate Tharold Simon next week, or Williams' receiver may become Jerry Rice.

 

[Smellyman]

Salish you judge his speed on how many yards he got on 4 catches in one game? Do you know what the routes were on those 4 routes? Lockett is fast. Anyway thanks for sharing tical. Lots of good stuff.

Tical

Salish and tical are obtuse or not smart. One or the other....

 

[kearly]

Unless this game is an outlier, Kam's stock just rose massively. And the chance at us keeping him just dropped like a stone.

Kam will see he has leverage, the FO will refuse to budge and we will be forced to trade him. Kam will then have the option of holding out for the Raiders or something, and might get a better contract out of it. Or I guess he could try to hold a gun to the team that trades for him in holding out on them.

Kam's stock did go up massively. To the Seahawks. If anything, this game eliminated whatever tiny chance ever existed of the Seahawks dealing him. What sounds better? Having Kam back or getting a draft pick and having Bailey sabotage our D the rest of the year?

 

[getnasty]

I'm not sure Kam's stock went up, Seattle knows fully how important Kam is to this team, but at the end of the day you just can't give in.

 

[DavidSeven]

I have concerns with the secondary that extend beyond Kam's absence, though that's definitely a big one. I don't think his return solves all the problems.

Outside of Sherman and Thomas, we just aren't talented nor athletic in that group. Apparently, our nickel CB situation is so bad now that Sherman has to kick inside. Well, that leaves Shead on the outside, and we saw what happened on 3rd and 15. I'm still okay with Cary Williams, but Bailey, Shead, Terrell, Burley... a lot has changed since 2013 and these are not guys you want deciding games for you. Can Tharold Simon get on the field and keep his mind right? That might be the only way I see this new nickel experiment working. We can't have the LCB be the biggest liability in the group.

Is it time to see what we have in McCray at strong safety? Please do not tell me we shipped off a 5th for this guy just to make special teams tackles.

 

[AROS]

Bad calls went both ways in this game, but an uncalled DPI on an endzone fade late in the game was really tough. IIRC, it was targeting Kearse, and the DB just shoved him out of bounds while the ball was in the air.

I about lost it when the flag wasn't thrown there. Unbelievable.

 

[marko358]

Bad calls went both ways in this game, but an uncalled DPI on an endzone fade late in the game was really tough. IIRC, it was targeting Kearse, and the DB just shoved him out of bounds while the ball was in the air.

I about lost it when the flag wasn't thrown there. Unbelievable.

It canceled the obvious DPI against Sherman earlier in the game IMO.

 

[JimmyG]

Bad calls went both ways in this game, but an uncalled DPI on an endzone fade late in the game was really tough. IIRC, it was targeting Kearse, and the DB just shoved him out of bounds while the ball was in the air.

I about lost it when the flag wasn't thrown there. Unbelievable.

I thought that one was pretty bad too.

I thought we got away with one too though. I think it was Richard Sherman on Tavon Austin, sometime in the first half. Austin had him beat, and Sherman blatantly interfered with him in the endzone. Made no effort to look for the ball at all -- he basically mauled Austin. I don't recall them speculating much on the broadcast why it wasn't called, but I suspect the officials deemed the ball uncatchable.

 

[Chukarhawk]

Tical, of of your better posts and you post great stuff. Glad you confirmed what i was seeing with irvin, dude has missed setting the edge all preseason. I'm tired of this mook.


1. LB play was breathtakingly bad. WTF?

2. take one of the 3 out of the LOB (Sherm, Kam or thomas) and we struggle. We made a mediocre QB look great today, that secondary was the worst its been in a while. Gaping holes in coverage all over the place.

3. We passed it 41 times and took zero shots downfield? ugly

4. Russel looked meh for most of the game and has looked like that all preseason, time for him to step up and earn that big money we paid him.

5. What happened to this fearsome Seahawk D line? A very poor Ram Oline basically shut them down. COMPELTELY unacceptable effort there.

6. Is our new D coordinator in over his head?

7. F U Kam! I felt Really bad for Dion Bailey. Kam could have singlehandedly ruined this kids confidence by being the reason he was pressed into service too early. I'm really starting to lose my love for this guy.

 

[kearly]

I was a bit surprised that Rawls was active and got a few touches. Marshawn and Jackson are older backs, but they are about as durable as they come, and even if they went down Coleman could serve as an emergency RB. So they should have been just fine making Rawls inactive. Keep in mind that Michael was generally inactive as a 3rd back the last two years.

When Rawls did carry the ball, he looked underwhelming just like he did in preseason games 1-3. I think of all our RBs this preseason, moreso than even Turbin or Michael, Rawls needs space to do damage.

 

[timmat]

I was disappointed we didn't see more opportunities for Chris Matthews. I don't expect that his Super Bowl performance is something that can be relied upon, but yesterday's scenario is IMO perfect for what he offers. With the Rams blitzing and bringing pressure combined with Graham drawing lots of attention, Wilson needed a receiver that could beat single coverage to the sidelines. Matthews instantly beats single coverage with his huge catch radius in most 1-on-1 situations. With him split wide and D line pressure coming, a quick drop and throw to Matthews where he can high-point the ball is very difficult to defend, especially for the Rams' sub par DBs.

I'd hoped he would be allowed to become a weapon to offset pressure, not necessarily a deep route guy. When protection holds up, I think Baldwin, Kearse, Locket, etc. can have a bit more time to work and get open. But the big guys like Graham and Matthews seem like the way to go when pressure dictates quick routes. And with guys all over Graham....

 

[kearly]

That statement about Lockett not being fast derailed most your whole post in my opinion.

Nah. It's just a matter of semantics. Didn't Tical have some kind of playing / coaching background? It's pretty common for coaches to drop adjectives and reserve terms like 'fast' or "strong' only for the elites. And 4.40 isn't elite in today's NFL.

What is elite about Lockett is his vision, feel, and balance. His style is one of the most graceful in the NFL. The above average speed and good acceleration are icing on the cake.

I understand why some people jumped on his 'fast' comment, but I immediately knew what he meant when he said it.

 

[kearly]

It didn't make his stock go up in any meaningful way. While Bailey was no revelation, let's not forget he is still young and learning. I think if anything this actually hardens the FO to Kam in a big way, because if they truly feel his presence was the difference between winning and losing, it could just sour them to Kam's attitude.

The other thing lost in a lot of this, Kam hasn't played all preseason. There is a very good chance Kam could have had just as bad a game, if not worse, than Bailey. Also, to assume that Bailey's playing level doesn't rise from here is paying a disservice to our coaching staff.

I respectfully disagree.

I think a vet like Kam could step in and be just fine, assuming his conditioning was okay.

Bailey had six weeks to get ready to start, and looked terrible. I'm not as rosy as you on his coach up potential. He's been with the team for a couple years now and has never looked good. He was never much of a standout at USC either.

Bailey directly cost Seattle a win, and if he costs them a win next week, we'll probably be rooting for a January trip to Lambeau the rest of the year.

You can say what you want about the Hawks being bitter, I agree with that, but the team missed Kam badly yesterday.

I think before the game, Kam was probably on the verge of caving. Now I think he sees just how badly his absence is felt, and most likely believes he has leverage after all. That's the worst part about it, is that Bailey's epic struggles are creating leverage that Kam didn't have before.

 

[nanomoz]

Great observations, Tical & Kearly.

I think Kam did actually gain leverage, and even if he didn't, he probably believes he did.

I'd say Locket is elite in terms of quickness, balance, feet, and vision--but I could see why Tical wouldn't think his "speed" isn't the greatest. He's not Willie Gault. But I think his functional speed in pads, especially when stopping and starting, is probably better than anyone on offense by a lot. Ricardo's track speed only seems to show up on special teams.

 

[kearly]

Bad calls went both ways in this game, but an uncalled DPI on an endzone fade late in the game was really tough. IIRC, it was targeting Kearse, and the DB just shoved him out of bounds while the ball was in the air.

I about lost it when the flag wasn't thrown there. Unbelievable.

It canceled the obvious DPI against Sherman earlier in the game IMO.

Sort of. The Rams still scored a TD later on that drive, the Seahawks had to settle for 3 on theirs. IIRC. I'd rather live in a world today where both PI calls had been made.

 

[ivotuk]

Thank you Tical. Well written, and great points.

Appreciate all the added posts too that further expand my view of the game.

I'm not sure Lockette is a deep burner, he's pretty fast, but not elite fast. If you go by 40 times, he's the same as Doug Baldwin. I don't think anyone considers him fast. But there's a difference between 40 times, and game speed, and imho, that difference shows up on YPC. Randy Moss, 15.6 YPC. But even that isn't the end all be all, because players like Mike Evans of Tampa (4.53 - 40) have that. So you have to start there, then look at how defenses treat them. Are they playing them tight? Or playing them off?

I too am worried about Marshawn this year, wondering if he might check out, or if he doesn't have the kind of power he used to have. He still has the experience to play at a high level even as his body starts to break down, but I'm worried he might hit a wall.

I hope it's just the first game, early start that made some of the players (Avril) look a little slow. Only time will tell. Either way, I don't see them giving in to Kam, nor should they. If your team depends on one player that much,. then there's more wrong with your team than one player.

 

[Hawks46]

Sorry, your post was WAY too long to read.

Then create your own thread, and actually, you know, add something to it.

This is why we can't have nice things (Kearly's breakdowns). People feel the need to criticize and be negative, and add nothing to the conversation.

 

[Hawks46]

I'd agree with other folks, in that we just seemed out of it this game. There was not the intensity or energy we're used to seeing. Could be the start of the season, 1st road game, in STL. Could be Chancellor missing. Not sure, but hope we at least see some intensity next week, or GB is going to slaughter us. And laugh while doing it. Then again, maybe this team needs to really get a beat down to get pissed off.

I was thinking about something last night. I remember a game about 5 years ago, when NE went into Minny. At the time, Minny had the best DL in the league, and were averaging something stupid like 65 ypg rushing allowed. NE had been running the ball extremely well going into the game. So what does NE do ? They start out the game going with 5 WRs and just passed the hell out of the Vikings. The Vikings had a suspect, to maybe average secondary and NE just made them pay for it. Attacked a team's weaknesses, not run head first right into it's strengths.

Why can't we do that ? Literally EVERY fan on this board called this game. Maybe not the score, but the fact that the Rams DL would have their way with our OL, we'd have trouble running, and Wilson would get pummeled.

I know why we didn't throw deep, and it's because we had no real run game set up, had no time for Wilson, and had no real offensive rhythm. I'd say call a bootleg, but Fisher did a masterful job of blitzing off the edge, and Quinn owned one edge most of the night anyways.

My question would be: why do we not make teams pay for blitzing ? On one play, there were 6 guys coming and literally not one hot route was run. Is it Wilson ? Is it Bevell ? Is it the WRs ? I honestly can't figure it out.

Strangely enough, we averaged 4.1 ypc rushing as a team. And no, Wilson didn't bring that average up, he had like 3.1.

Lockett looks damned good. We should, you know, feature some plays for him. Like not blocking on a bubble screen.

I don't get why we didn't target Graham at all in the 1st half. I know I'm just a dumb fan that has never played QB, but if I had a guy that was 6'7" and could catch damn near anything, I'd be hucking it up to him to save my life, at least a few times. Was he doubled all 1st half ? I didn't get to see.