Greetings,
I am from Extremeskins.com. I see through various threads that you guys don't have too high of an opinion of that place. I can tell you that its a great site with dedicated and passionate membership and I love it there.
But, we absolutely love our football talk, and that's what I came here to do.
Much like you guys, I can't wait for the match up on Sunday. I like to call it the Main Event of Wildcard Weekend.
All season long, I've enjoyed the moments I've gotten to watch your Seahawks. I love your attacking defense. Mebane and Red Bryant are dangerous up front. They're tough to run on. Wagner is for sure a candidate for defensive rookie of the year, if not the defensive rookie of the year. Mentioning your corners isn't worth it, those two can play with the best of them, which is probably why you guys enjoy the 1 high man concept that you employ so often. With Browner and Sherman on the outside you can essentially shut down the field from hash to sideline. Despite the praise I've given elsewhere, I'm probably most impressed with your safeties. Chancellor is a hard hitting, fly around kind of defender. Earl Thomas is a ballhawk of a free safety.
From what I've seen, your weakness on defense is 3rd down efficiency. Your pass rush isn't great on third downs, which is why I believe a big key to this game is 3rd down. The Redskins MUST win the matchup on first down, which I believe is gaining four or more yards. Third and medium is decent territory for the Redskins offense to convert, as the playaction will come into play, an area of defense that Seattle is ranked 24th league wide against. The zone read action that we run, that I'm sure you're all quite familiar with, has to be respected, as it does with your opponents. In 3rd and long situations, Seattle's coverage unit will be tough to crack. We have to stay in manageable situations on third down. Due to your aggressive defense, it'll be tough for them to stay home on meaningful third down situations, which will open up the hook zones a bit to allow Griffin some throwing room. If your safeties begin to cheat up, the 'Skins will start taking more shots deep. It's one of those situations that I really like as its an aggressive, attacking style of offense, but it also scares me with Earl Thomas patrolling back there.
I'm interested to see how Seattle matches up against various formations. From our "Uzi" set, which is the fullhouse backfield out of Pistol, to formations which align Garcon in the slot. I have to wonder if they'll move Browner or Sherman on Garcon on the inside. Stopping Alfred Morris will be a key component to Seattle's success, because if he gets going the read option/read option pass is going to be a tough play to stop.
There is an intriguing matchup on the other side of the ball as well. Our defensive leader, and best defensive player was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month. Your quarterback was named NFC Rookie of the Month. That'll be a fun one to watch.
I think in general, your receivers match up favorably with our DBs, especially our safeties. DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson can be very, very good on the outside, or they can be very, very bad. Golden Tate always seems to get YAC. Madieu Williams at free safety concerns me the most. He's very prone in coverage. Both of our safeties come up and play the alley quite well versus run, but Williams also has a knack for missing tackles and allowing runners to spring free. That's where Marshawn Lynch is most dangerous. He's a guy that you absolutely have to tackle or he'll tear you to shreds. And much like with Washington's offense and Morris, if Lynch gets going opposing defenses are in a world of hurt. And also similar to Washington's offense, once your running game gets going, so does your play action game.
The key to both teams is stopping the running game and forcing teams to be one dimensional.
As a 'Skins fan, I truly believe Griffin deserves to be the offensive rookie of the year, but I have no qualms with Russell Wilson receiving that honor. He's been a very, very good player and he reminds me a lot of Fran Tarkenton (or, rather, what I've seen of Tarkenton on film). The key is blitzing him and forcing him off his spot and THEN containing him. Easier said than done. I almost feel that the 'Skins D will be safer forcing him from his spot and then once he moves not over committing to chasing him, or he'll pull the shoulder switch evasion technique I've seen him use many times. We have to make him make quick decisions.
From a fan of the game, this is an intriguing match up. Both attacking defenses (yours is better, in my opinion), both "new age" offenses. Both teams are built completely on their running game. It will be the most exciting game of the year, or it should be anyways.
We all know who I'm rooting for, but I think all of us have two things in common:
1) Hope for no injuries
2) That whichever QB, Russell or Griffin wins Rookie of the Year, at least it's not Andrew Luck, who doesn't stack up to either one of our quarterbacks.
I am from Extremeskins.com. I see through various threads that you guys don't have too high of an opinion of that place. I can tell you that its a great site with dedicated and passionate membership and I love it there.
But, we absolutely love our football talk, and that's what I came here to do.
Much like you guys, I can't wait for the match up on Sunday. I like to call it the Main Event of Wildcard Weekend.
All season long, I've enjoyed the moments I've gotten to watch your Seahawks. I love your attacking defense. Mebane and Red Bryant are dangerous up front. They're tough to run on. Wagner is for sure a candidate for defensive rookie of the year, if not the defensive rookie of the year. Mentioning your corners isn't worth it, those two can play with the best of them, which is probably why you guys enjoy the 1 high man concept that you employ so often. With Browner and Sherman on the outside you can essentially shut down the field from hash to sideline. Despite the praise I've given elsewhere, I'm probably most impressed with your safeties. Chancellor is a hard hitting, fly around kind of defender. Earl Thomas is a ballhawk of a free safety.
From what I've seen, your weakness on defense is 3rd down efficiency. Your pass rush isn't great on third downs, which is why I believe a big key to this game is 3rd down. The Redskins MUST win the matchup on first down, which I believe is gaining four or more yards. Third and medium is decent territory for the Redskins offense to convert, as the playaction will come into play, an area of defense that Seattle is ranked 24th league wide against. The zone read action that we run, that I'm sure you're all quite familiar with, has to be respected, as it does with your opponents. In 3rd and long situations, Seattle's coverage unit will be tough to crack. We have to stay in manageable situations on third down. Due to your aggressive defense, it'll be tough for them to stay home on meaningful third down situations, which will open up the hook zones a bit to allow Griffin some throwing room. If your safeties begin to cheat up, the 'Skins will start taking more shots deep. It's one of those situations that I really like as its an aggressive, attacking style of offense, but it also scares me with Earl Thomas patrolling back there.
I'm interested to see how Seattle matches up against various formations. From our "Uzi" set, which is the fullhouse backfield out of Pistol, to formations which align Garcon in the slot. I have to wonder if they'll move Browner or Sherman on Garcon on the inside. Stopping Alfred Morris will be a key component to Seattle's success, because if he gets going the read option/read option pass is going to be a tough play to stop.
There is an intriguing matchup on the other side of the ball as well. Our defensive leader, and best defensive player was named NFC Defensive Player of the Month. Your quarterback was named NFC Rookie of the Month. That'll be a fun one to watch.
I think in general, your receivers match up favorably with our DBs, especially our safeties. DeAngelo Hall and Josh Wilson can be very, very good on the outside, or they can be very, very bad. Golden Tate always seems to get YAC. Madieu Williams at free safety concerns me the most. He's very prone in coverage. Both of our safeties come up and play the alley quite well versus run, but Williams also has a knack for missing tackles and allowing runners to spring free. That's where Marshawn Lynch is most dangerous. He's a guy that you absolutely have to tackle or he'll tear you to shreds. And much like with Washington's offense and Morris, if Lynch gets going opposing defenses are in a world of hurt. And also similar to Washington's offense, once your running game gets going, so does your play action game.
The key to both teams is stopping the running game and forcing teams to be one dimensional.
As a 'Skins fan, I truly believe Griffin deserves to be the offensive rookie of the year, but I have no qualms with Russell Wilson receiving that honor. He's been a very, very good player and he reminds me a lot of Fran Tarkenton (or, rather, what I've seen of Tarkenton on film). The key is blitzing him and forcing him off his spot and THEN containing him. Easier said than done. I almost feel that the 'Skins D will be safer forcing him from his spot and then once he moves not over committing to chasing him, or he'll pull the shoulder switch evasion technique I've seen him use many times. We have to make him make quick decisions.
From a fan of the game, this is an intriguing match up. Both attacking defenses (yours is better, in my opinion), both "new age" offenses. Both teams are built completely on their running game. It will be the most exciting game of the year, or it should be anyways.
We all know who I'm rooting for, but I think all of us have two things in common:
1) Hope for no injuries
2) That whichever QB, Russell or Griffin wins Rookie of the Year, at least it's not Andrew Luck, who doesn't stack up to either one of our quarterbacks.