Ten things that will likely improve as the season goes on

[kearly]

1. Attacking the red line on offense. Russ's current YPA looks like old Matt Hasselbeck. It's because he's not completing enough deep balls. Which is probably as much on Bevell as it is on Wilson, the emphasis on offense early this year has been too much on short area passes.

2. The pass rush. Our pass rush always does better at home because of the extra fraction of a second advantage from the crowd noise. Seattle barely rotated their pass rush personnel against Green Bay. Frank Clark has barely played.

3. Run blocking. Either Nowak will develop into a competent run blocker or he'll be benched for Lewis down the road. I just can't see Nowak being allowed to get his ass kicked in the run like this for 16 games. At some point, the run blocking will approach competency. But we might not see it until late this year. On that same note, Gilliam and Britt have plenty of room to grow at their new positions. Improvement will happen, it's only a question of how much.

4. Game design. Darrell Bevell is decent at making adjustments, but poor at staking out initial game plans. At some point, Pete is going to realize that the slow starts on offense are hurting this team. Bevell may suck at his job, but Pete is a problem fixer. Last year, Pete traded Harvin and shifted the offense to get the ball out faster when the team struggled out of the gate. Maybe the answer this year is to let Wilson run the offense more in the first half. Pete will figure something out. Seattle seemingly always plays better offense (and defense) in the second half of the season.

5. Utilizing Graham. Pete said that they had six ways to get the ball to Graham last night and it didn't work. This despite GB being terrible at defending TEs. Graham's talent is not in question here, this is a correctable coaching issue. It might take some time, but it will get corrected.

6. Frank Clark. Coaches tend to take it slow with rookies. We'll be seeing a lot more of him as the year goes on.

7. Returning impact players. Chancellor, Lane, and Richardson all have a chance to return and make an impact.

8. Growth of the young DBs. Maxwell and Lane needed time to develop. It's no different for the new guys. Burley showed some encouraging progress vs. the Packers. Shead played a solid game.

9. Schedule gets way easier. Not really an area of improvement, but just sayin'.

10. Lynch. Kind of ties into run blocking, but Lynch doesn't trust his blocks right now, and it's impacting his performance. Once Lynch gets a feel for how the new line blocks, we'll start seeing 100 yard games from him again.

 

[lobohawk]

Thanks for the things and feel pretty much the same on those.

3. Yup. We're in a race to see if the OL can settle in before it's too late in the season.

4. Doesn't really fit the same category, but I'd like to see if they can stretch Russell's early risk gauge. In year 4 it's about time to go for smaller windows. Not saying pass willy-nilly, just ease up on the governor a little.

 

[justafan]

Good write up I think you are spot on.
Im still pretty positive about this team even after starting 0-2

 

[minormillikin]

These are good thoughts. A bit random™ though.

 

[EverydayImRusselin]

Out of all of these I'm picking the big one. Let me emphasize this clearly.

WHY ISN'T FRANK CLARK PLAYING MORE.

He must be doing something to upset the coaches or something.

 

[Sarlacc83]

#11: Kris Richard will get better at defensive game plans and calls. Quinn dropped right in because of his experience but Richard will need some time to figure out zone and man timing, blitzes, etc.

 

[capncrunch]

I don't disagree with anything I see on the list. Well done. I think we'll start to see the pass and scrambling plays used to set up the run rather than the run used to set up the passing game. I think Shead may have beaten out Bailey with his game last night. We've done well finding guys for the secondary before so I am hoping that Pete is developing some more good talent back there. I will forgive Fred Jackson the fumble and like his touchdown catch and look forward to his contribution. Yes. Clark will start to get more playing time terrorizing teams without jumping offsides.

 

[kearly]

#11: Kris Richard will get better at defensive game plans and calls. Quinn dropped right in because of his experience but Richard will need some time to figure out zone and man timing, blitzes, etc.

I think Richard did a really good job in the first two games. Personnel issues doomed us in game one, and game two was just an insanely tough test with Rodgers playing his very best and Starks (who kills our run D every single time) getting most of the carries. Blitzing Rodgers would have backfired badly. After all the blitzing Richard called in the preseason and in week 1, I gained a ton of respect for him to have the knowledge that blitzing Rodgers is never the answer. He is the best QB in the NFL, maybe in NFL history, at beating the blitz. Good to know that Richard knows the value of a 4 man rush, even when it struggles a little, it's still the right call when facing Rodgers.

I thought our defense looked pretty good considering the circumstances. When our defense wasn't jumping offsides and Sherman wasn't getting too cute baiting Rodgers, they actually did a very good job limiting the damage.

The Packers only found the end zone twice. And both required amazing throws from Rodgers.

 

[Ozzy]

Kearly as always great stuff and thanks for sharing.

 

[randomation]

4. Doesn't really fit the same category, but I'd like to see if they can stretch Russell's early risk gauge. In year 4 it's about time to go for smaller windows. Not saying pass willy-nilly, just ease up on the governor a little.

I honestly think in this case he is just doing what he is told he will take shots when he is allowed but has been told to play extremely safe.

 

[HawkFan72]

3. Run blocking. Either Nowak will develop into a competent run blocker or he'll be benched for Lewis down the road. I just can't see Nowak being allowed to get his ass kicked in the run like this for 16 games. At some point, the run blocking will approach competency. But we might not see it until late this year. On that same note, Gilliam and Britt have plenty of room to grow at their new positions. Improvement will happen, it's only a question of how much.

Can someone remind me why the Seahawks released JeanPierre again? He was a great fit for our offense when he had to replace Unger the last couple years. I just really didn't get that one.

 

[Sarlacc83]

#11: Kris Richard will get better at defensive game plans and calls. Quinn dropped right in because of his experience but Richard will need some time to figure out zone and man timing, blitzes, etc.

I think Richard did a really good job in the first two games. Personnel issues doomed us in game one, and game two was just an insanely tough test with Rodgers playing his very best and Starks (who kills our run D every single time) getting most of the carries. Blitzing Rodgers would have backfired badly. After all the blitzing Richard called in the preseason and in week 1, I gained a ton of respect for him to have the knowledge that blitzing Rodgers is never the answer. He is the best QB in the NFL, maybe in NFL history, at beating the blitz. Good to know that Richard knows the value of a 4 man rush, even when it struggles a little, it's still the right call when facing Rodgers.

I thought our defense looked pretty good considering the circumstances. When our defense wasn't jumping offsides and Sherman wasn't getting too cute baiting Rodgers, they actually did a very good job limiting the damage.

The Packers only found the end zone twice. And both required amazing throws from Rodgers.

FWIW, I don't hold Richards necessarily accountable nor even think he's done a bad job; I do think, however, he'll continue to improve due to experience which matches with the thread title. Because, yes, blitzing Rodgers is deadly, but that doesn't mean that if you're having a bit of trouble corralling him when he escapes that you don't keep someone on the edge to spy on him once in awhile, too - especially if your DL keeps opening up the edge like they did last night. (That needs to get corrected most of all. The DE's folding the tackles into the QB while the DTs push up the middle.)

 

[Tical21]

Good stuff as always. It's intriguing to think about what Pete can come up with offensively.

The one thing I did want to comment on was Shead. So far he's the only player I have analyzed from last night's game. Even then, it was the TV copy, so it's a little difficult sometimes to assess a coverage at times. That said, I think when they watch the tape, they're going to be pretty disappointed in him, particularly in his run fits. If we're going to play 8 in the box, he's got to get up and fill, and he was really passive. We played a lot more cover-2 than I've seen us play in a long time, but I'm not sure if that was just to honor the Green Bay passing attack or because we don't have the type of SS that excels inside the box. With Kam, you need him up there, that's where he's a difference maker. Do we run the cover-3 because of Kam, or because that is our defensive philosophy?

Also, Green Bay went with a really quick passing attack in the second half, and a lot of this was an attempt to expose Shead. He just wasn't playing fast. It doesn't show up as big negatives for him because he wasn't getting beat for really big plays, but he was just really soft overall, and certainly lacks the hitting power you would want from a strong safety. Could it have been a matchup thing? Is he better in deep coverage than Bailey? It will be interesting to see who starts where next week.

I want to watch again, but I haven't been impressed with Britt inside. I agree with pretty much everything else, although I'm not seeing Marshawn finish, and that is something to watch as the season unfolds. Thanks for the optimism.

 

[DavidSeven]

I'm not too worried about the Graham thing. It'll work itself out.

That said, I never expected him to put up more than 600-800 yards here. He had 889 yards last year in a high volume offense. Doug Baldwin had 825 on 25% less targets. This isn't Julio Jones we're talking about. There have been games in Graham's career where Brees didn't look his way. However, his value situationally is still there and crucial because our receivers can't win in short areas. Let's face it, Jimmy never was the best fit for this team from an every-down standpoint, and it's no surprise to me that it's hard to blend him in between the 20s.

I think people just need to manage their expectations a bit. If they thought Russell was going to get him 1,200 yards this year, then that was a bad bet.

 

[Cartire]

I think Nowak has been getting off light from this crowd.

I truly believe he is the #1 reason we have lost both games. He misses so many blocks, and lynch is hit 3 yards behind the scrimmage instantly. Do you realize how much better our team would have been, as a whole, if Lynch wasnt getting hit behind the line on almost every single run? We would be scoring more. Chewing the clock more, which in turn, keeps our defense off the field longer. They give up less scores. We most likely win the last 2 games if Unger was still center and Lynch is able to break off his usual runs. Its been agonizing to watch Nowak, a center, be the revolving door for both run-block and pass-block.

 

[byau]

Love your write-ups. Love'em

1. Attacking the red line on offense. Russ's current YPA looks like old Matt Hasselbeck. It's because he's not completing enough deep balls. Which is probably as much on Bevell as it is on Wilson, the emphasis on offense early this year has been too much on short area passes.

He did a few deep passes. But way too late. To me this is also a predictability issue. They seem to run the same plays in groups. Going to Marshawn three downs in a row. Going to the short pass three downs in a row. I think they even went long three downs in a row reminiscent of SB49. Maybe just a bit of variety to keep the opposing D on edge

2. The pass rush. Our pass rush always does better at home because of the extra fraction of a second advantage from the crowd noise. Seattle barely rotated their pass rush personnel against Green Bay. Frank Clark has barely played.

I also think Rodgers getting in their heads with the pre-snap penalties had an effect. Made them half a second too slow. Even still, our pass rush wasn't fatally terrible - there were a number of times they almost got to Rodgers but Rodgers slipped out of the pocket. Not too many QBs in the league that can do that. So I'd add finishing the play aggressively. From the beginning of the snap count they were not aggressive

3. Run blocking. Either Nowak will develop into a competent run blocker or he'll be benched for Lewis down the road. I just can't see Nowak being allowed to get his ass kicked in the run like this for 16 games. At some point, the run blocking will approach competency. But we might not see it until late this year. On that same note, Gilliam and Britt have plenty of room to grow at their new positions. Improvement will happen, it's only a question of how much.

Agreed - big o-line issue with run blocking. However I'd also relate this back to 1: Adding a variety on the offense and not being predictable. I think everyone and Marshawn's mother expected the Seahawks to go to Marshawn. Having Russell keep more of the options earlier would help. Don't recall which coach said this (Cable, Carroll, Bevell): Marshawn and Russell make each other more effective, so let's see both of them get off early.

4. Game design. Darrell Bevell is decent at making adjustments, but poor at staking out initial game plans. At some point, Pete is going to realize that the slow starts on offense are hurting this team. Bevell may suck at his job, but Pete is a problem fixer. Last year, Pete traded Harvin and shifted the offense to get the ball out faster when the team struggled out of the gate. Maybe the answer this year is to let Wilson run the offense more in the first half. Pete will figure something out. Seattle seemingly always plays better offense (and defense) in the second half of the season.

Agreed. 3rd quarter was great. They should have done that in the 1st quarter.

NBA analogy: when Hakeem played Shaq, he always told the team and his coach that he had to score on the first two buckets. Always. Because he had to let Shaq know he was there.

Same here: get all three big offensive weapons each a touch: Lynch, Russell, Graham in a variety of ways early on and aggressively to set a tone.

5. Utilizing Graham. Pete said that they had six ways to get the ball to Graham last night and it didn't work. This despite GB being terrible at defending TEs. Graham's talent is not in question here, this is a correctable coaching issue. It might take some time, but it will get corrected.

Ha I kinda bundled quite a few of your thoughts together

6. Frank Clark. Coaches tend to take it slow with rookies. We'll be seeing a lot more of him as the year goes on.

Looked for him on a few snaps, he didn't contain well, he seemed to rush really hard and the o-lineman was able to push him out and paste the QB. I think Frank has to refine his technique into getting past the o-lineman now so he can still get at the qb. So maybe they are taking it slow because he still needs some technique work

7. Returning impact players. Chancellor, Lane, and Richardson all have a chance to return and make an impact.

Maybe just a return of swagger once all this unknown limbo type stuff is over with. With the thought that Chancellor can come back at anytime, that puts us in limbo. I would rather see him get traded now, not just as a way to "give in" to Chancellor, but as a definitive statement of which way the Seahawks are moving forward. It sucks to wait on something external

You can see everyone just plodding along, no aggression. When I played baseball in school my coach said no matter what you hustle on the field and you hustle off the field. It was a show of hustle and aggression. Are we seeing that with the Seahawks?

8. Growth of the young DBs. Maxwell and Lane needed time to develop. It's no different for the new guys. Burley showed some encouraging progress vs. the Packers. Shead played a solid game.

Yes. Tied into the above. VERY encouraged! If we move on from Chancellor, once that statement is made, I bet you will see even more from these guys.

9. Schedule gets way easier. Not really an area of improvement, but just sayin'.

It is improvement in that if we survived the first two very tough road games as we did with lots of positives, that says something. It can be our "come to Jesus" type moment but early in the season

10. Lynch. Kind of ties into run blocking, but Lynch doesn't trust his blocks right now, and it's impacting his performance. Once Lynch gets a feel for how the new line blocks, we'll start seeing 100 yard games from him again.

Ties into the above for me too. Three-pronged offense needs to announce themselves early and quickly

Kearly..love your posts man

 

[Hasselbeck]

I think Nowak has been getting off light from this crowd.

I truly believe he is the #1 reason we have lost both games. He misses so many blocks, and lynch is hit 3 yards behind the scrimmage instantly. Do you realize how much better our team would have been, as a whole, if Lynch wasnt getting hit behind the line on almost every single run? We would be scoring more. Chewing the clock more, which in turn, keeps our defense off the field longer. They give up less scores. We most likely win the last 2 games if Unger was still center and Lynch is able to break off his usual runs. Its been agonizing to watch Nowak, a center, be the revolving door for both run-block and pass-block.

Very bold statement. I think we're 0-2 with or without Unger. With or without Kam.

 

[brimsalabim]

I heard an analyst on the radio point out that in the first two games, when our guards pulled, the DT 3 techs were getting past Nowalk, and riding the pulling guard into the backfield to shut down the play. I haven't had time to go back and look at the film yet to verify. Kearly have you seen this and if so can you say how we adjust?

 

[kearly]

FWIW, I don't hold Richards necessarily accountable nor even think he's done a bad job; I do think, however, he'll continue to improve due to experience which matches with the thread title. Because, yes, blitzing Rodgers is deadly, but that doesn't mean that if you're having a bit of trouble corralling him when he escapes that you don't keep someone on the edge to spy on him once in awhile, too - especially if your DL keeps opening up the edge like they did last night. (That needs to get corrected most of all. The DE's folding the tackles into the QB while the DTs push up the middle.)

Problem is that if you send a guy, he'll just throw where that guy came from. He's insanely good against the blitz. If you are going to blitz him, it should be rarely and creatively. Which is pretty much exactly what Richard did.

Very bold statement. I think we're 0-2 with or without Unger. With or without Kam.

IMO, I think it's very likely that we'd have won the Rams game with Kam. If nothing else than for the simple reason that it would have prevented Bailey from sabotaging our defense. The Packers game would have been closer with Kam. I think we're probably 1-1 if the holdout had never happened.

I don't miss Unger. He was good when healthy, but he couldn't be depended upon to stay healthy or make decent snaps. He was outplayed last season by Patrick Lewis. It's true that Nowak has been awful in the run game so far, but to me that has nothing to do with JS reading the tea-leaves and everything to do with Tom Cable filling Unger's spot with his latest teacher's pet.

The one thing I did want to comment on was Shead. So far he's the only player I have analyzed from last night's game. Even then, it was the TV copy, so it's a little difficult sometimes to assess a coverage at times. That said, I think when they watch the tape, they're going to be pretty disappointed in him, particularly in his run fits. If we're going to play 8 in the box, he's got to get up and fill, and he was really passive.

I commented after the game that Seattle's entire defense has been playing flat-footed so far this year. It's not just Shead, it's the rest of our DBs and most unforgivably, our star LBs. Rather than attack the runner, they wait to let him make the first move, even with multiple seahawk defenders around the ball carrier. In the process, they basically concede 3-5 yards of YAC each time.

When Seattle's D is at their best, they are aggressive and attack runners to eliminate YAC. Unfortunately, that is an area where Kam's presence and tone setting seems to have a major impact.

I'm not absolving Shead, I think he's well established as a poor safety based on his past performances. But in this game, he didn't kill us the way Bailey did in game one.

By the way, pretty funny how Pete singled out Bailey for praise after game one, then immediately benched his ass and never let him see the light of day in game two.

 

[CANHawk]

Thanks Kip! Agree on all counts.