Spin Doctor
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- Sep 8, 2009
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It's football time again, even if the first few outings moved at the pace of a stoned tortoise, but damnit it's football. The angst is real, the excitement is palpable among the 12s. It's that time of year, and after a long wait after a disappointing end to the superbowl we are back for a shot at redemption.
Against KC I saw flashes of things that could be. That Wilson to Graham combo is going to be deadly. He didn't get much playing time, but when he was out there he made DB's look like fools. On one catch, there was a DB running with him stride for stride, Wilson threw it up, and Graham still came down with the ball. This is what the offense has been missing since the departure of Golden Tate. Graham is a player that can come down with contested balls, and what he lacks in blocking, he makes up for it in ball skills. Speaking of his blocking skills, we got a good glimpse of why Graham was not asked to block very much in New Orleans. This is OKAY though, blocking is a skill that one can learn. His footwork while blocking was very lacking. He often was in a bad position, or getting manhandled by the defense. This is a bit disconcerting because we relied on Miller to mask the some of the deficiencies in our line. All of our tight ends are lacking something in the blocking department.
Russell Wilson has emphasized staying in the pocket during these two preseason games. This is the next step that he needs to make to become an elite passer in the NFL. That being said, like Graham's blocking there is a lot of work to do, still. For some reason Wilson looks less decisive in the pocket. I saw a lot of double clutching, and hesitation from Wilson. He looks far more comfortable outside of the pocket doing his mad scrambler routine. Wilson's pocket presence is still lacking. A good example of this is a sack that he took in the first game. He decided to camp near Okung, he had room to step up in the pocket and buy himself more time, he did not do so. I notice his ball placement on certain routes is erratic. He overthrew Kearse on third down, and threw well behind Baldwin on another third down. These were easy give me passes. He needs to make these on a consistent basis. I'm interested to see his development given a whole season of work, but it is clear that managing the pocket is something that he's been working on this offseason. This is why he has looked underwhelming in preseason, he's putting himself outside of his comfort zone. Preseason IS the time of year to do just that.
Our line against KC looked markedly improved in pass protection. Wilson, and Archer weren't pressed very often against a very good KC Chiefs defense. There were still some ugly moments, that I saw however. Gilliam, our new RT had awful footwork. He was caught out of position a few times, but luckily he was able to recover every time. Gilliam is a work in progress, and I can see that there will be some growing pains. This is why I feel we need a good blocking tight end on our roster. That being said, his athleticism is very intriguing. He made some brutal mistakes, yet against NFL caliber pass rushers he was able to recover very nicely. If he ever gets all of the fundamentals down we're going to have one of the best RT's in the league in my opinion.
Britt looked better at LG, but I still feel we were lacking. He struggled in the running game and he looked mediocre in the passing game. He wasn't exploited very much in this game, but I feel like that LG position is now a huge liability.
RJ Archer personally has been a surprise for me. People have been calling him another CBJ, but I think that comparison is a bad one. RJ Archer is not a QB that has great physical tools, he relies on a very quick release, and anticipation to get the job done. He reminds me more of a less athletic Alex Smith. Like Alex Smith, his deep ball is bad. He lacks zip on deeper routes, and he puts A LOT of air underneath the ball. It is like the old Hasselbeck rainbow passes, only of course Hasselbeck had better deep accuracy. RJ Archer was absolute money on the shorter passes, and the pass he threaded in between two defenders on third down was excellent anticipation, and accuracy. That pass looked like something one would see from Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, it was a thing of beauty with little margin for error. His pocket presence is probably the best part of his game. He feels when defenders are closing in on him, and he's able to use slight movements in the pocket to buy time. He has a natural feel for when to step up, and he has an extremely quick release. His BIGGEST limitation is his ball placement. There was a few times in the last two games where his ball placement was off. I think RJ Archer has the potential to be a very accurate passer, but he really needs to work on ball placement and chemistry with his receivers. RJ Archer is a QB that relies on timing, and rhythm, if those two things are thrown off then he struggles. He's not too great at winning it, he's a classical pocket passer. If he becomes our backup, the read option will not be viable. Some of the plays Bevell was calling with Archer under center were baffling to say the least. He was calling the game as if Wilson was under center, RJ Archer is not a QB built for that kind of offense. He is a better fit for the classic west coast offense. That being said, I do like his potential, and I hope we keep him around. Most QB's would have a very hard time making that pass to Lockett. CBJ certainly wouldn't have been able to do it.
Christine Michael once again is an enigma. He looked lost on a few plays, like he didn't know what play was being called. I notice him learning into Wilson, and Archer. Then they yelled something at him and pointed to where he needed to be. On the other hand he was clearly the most talented runner of the day. Our line was not doing a great job of running blocking, yet even with all of that penetration he was able to turn a surefire loss into 5 yard gains. As a pure runner, I think he is much better than Turbin, Smith and Rawls. His pass blocking is another area that needs to be mentioned. He has shown great improvement here. He did a great job protecting Wilson's blind side against the first team defense, and he even laid a much bigger defender than himself down on the ground. I think the main reason he is not playing is that he doesn't understand the offense very well, and he looks very sloppy carrying the football.
On defense last weeks hero, Clark looked noticeably slower and less explosive. I think his ankle was bothering him. He didn't have as much burst, and he was pushed around more the little that he did play. Clark did have a nice play, breaking up a pass. I noticed he was close to batting down a few other balls as well. If Clark could do his best JJ SWAT imitation, that would be great.
DeShawn Shead looked FANTASTIC at corner. He was staying with his man, and was not fooled by anything the receivers did. I think he looks better at corner then he did at safety.
Dion Bailey once again had a good game, though I feel like he gives too much of a cushion. I think he needs to tighten up things just a little bit. He almost reminds me of Earl Thomas how he is able to turn on the jets, and come out of nowhere to make a tackle. He's a bit raw, but like Gilliam, he has a lot of potential. He's not going to be Kam Chancellor yet, and I don't think he will ever be as much of a game breaker as Kam, but I do not think he will be a liability, and I think he can player Kam's tweener role quite well.
This is all I have to say about defense for now.
Against KC I saw flashes of things that could be. That Wilson to Graham combo is going to be deadly. He didn't get much playing time, but when he was out there he made DB's look like fools. On one catch, there was a DB running with him stride for stride, Wilson threw it up, and Graham still came down with the ball. This is what the offense has been missing since the departure of Golden Tate. Graham is a player that can come down with contested balls, and what he lacks in blocking, he makes up for it in ball skills. Speaking of his blocking skills, we got a good glimpse of why Graham was not asked to block very much in New Orleans. This is OKAY though, blocking is a skill that one can learn. His footwork while blocking was very lacking. He often was in a bad position, or getting manhandled by the defense. This is a bit disconcerting because we relied on Miller to mask the some of the deficiencies in our line. All of our tight ends are lacking something in the blocking department.
Russell Wilson has emphasized staying in the pocket during these two preseason games. This is the next step that he needs to make to become an elite passer in the NFL. That being said, like Graham's blocking there is a lot of work to do, still. For some reason Wilson looks less decisive in the pocket. I saw a lot of double clutching, and hesitation from Wilson. He looks far more comfortable outside of the pocket doing his mad scrambler routine. Wilson's pocket presence is still lacking. A good example of this is a sack that he took in the first game. He decided to camp near Okung, he had room to step up in the pocket and buy himself more time, he did not do so. I notice his ball placement on certain routes is erratic. He overthrew Kearse on third down, and threw well behind Baldwin on another third down. These were easy give me passes. He needs to make these on a consistent basis. I'm interested to see his development given a whole season of work, but it is clear that managing the pocket is something that he's been working on this offseason. This is why he has looked underwhelming in preseason, he's putting himself outside of his comfort zone. Preseason IS the time of year to do just that.
Our line against KC looked markedly improved in pass protection. Wilson, and Archer weren't pressed very often against a very good KC Chiefs defense. There were still some ugly moments, that I saw however. Gilliam, our new RT had awful footwork. He was caught out of position a few times, but luckily he was able to recover every time. Gilliam is a work in progress, and I can see that there will be some growing pains. This is why I feel we need a good blocking tight end on our roster. That being said, his athleticism is very intriguing. He made some brutal mistakes, yet against NFL caliber pass rushers he was able to recover very nicely. If he ever gets all of the fundamentals down we're going to have one of the best RT's in the league in my opinion.
Britt looked better at LG, but I still feel we were lacking. He struggled in the running game and he looked mediocre in the passing game. He wasn't exploited very much in this game, but I feel like that LG position is now a huge liability.
RJ Archer personally has been a surprise for me. People have been calling him another CBJ, but I think that comparison is a bad one. RJ Archer is not a QB that has great physical tools, he relies on a very quick release, and anticipation to get the job done. He reminds me more of a less athletic Alex Smith. Like Alex Smith, his deep ball is bad. He lacks zip on deeper routes, and he puts A LOT of air underneath the ball. It is like the old Hasselbeck rainbow passes, only of course Hasselbeck had better deep accuracy. RJ Archer was absolute money on the shorter passes, and the pass he threaded in between two defenders on third down was excellent anticipation, and accuracy. That pass looked like something one would see from Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, it was a thing of beauty with little margin for error. His pocket presence is probably the best part of his game. He feels when defenders are closing in on him, and he's able to use slight movements in the pocket to buy time. He has a natural feel for when to step up, and he has an extremely quick release. His BIGGEST limitation is his ball placement. There was a few times in the last two games where his ball placement was off. I think RJ Archer has the potential to be a very accurate passer, but he really needs to work on ball placement and chemistry with his receivers. RJ Archer is a QB that relies on timing, and rhythm, if those two things are thrown off then he struggles. He's not too great at winning it, he's a classical pocket passer. If he becomes our backup, the read option will not be viable. Some of the plays Bevell was calling with Archer under center were baffling to say the least. He was calling the game as if Wilson was under center, RJ Archer is not a QB built for that kind of offense. He is a better fit for the classic west coast offense. That being said, I do like his potential, and I hope we keep him around. Most QB's would have a very hard time making that pass to Lockett. CBJ certainly wouldn't have been able to do it.
Christine Michael once again is an enigma. He looked lost on a few plays, like he didn't know what play was being called. I notice him learning into Wilson, and Archer. Then they yelled something at him and pointed to where he needed to be. On the other hand he was clearly the most talented runner of the day. Our line was not doing a great job of running blocking, yet even with all of that penetration he was able to turn a surefire loss into 5 yard gains. As a pure runner, I think he is much better than Turbin, Smith and Rawls. His pass blocking is another area that needs to be mentioned. He has shown great improvement here. He did a great job protecting Wilson's blind side against the first team defense, and he even laid a much bigger defender than himself down on the ground. I think the main reason he is not playing is that he doesn't understand the offense very well, and he looks very sloppy carrying the football.
On defense last weeks hero, Clark looked noticeably slower and less explosive. I think his ankle was bothering him. He didn't have as much burst, and he was pushed around more the little that he did play. Clark did have a nice play, breaking up a pass. I noticed he was close to batting down a few other balls as well. If Clark could do his best JJ SWAT imitation, that would be great.
DeShawn Shead looked FANTASTIC at corner. He was staying with his man, and was not fooled by anything the receivers did. I think he looks better at corner then he did at safety.
Dion Bailey once again had a good game, though I feel like he gives too much of a cushion. I think he needs to tighten up things just a little bit. He almost reminds me of Earl Thomas how he is able to turn on the jets, and come out of nowhere to make a tackle. He's a bit raw, but like Gilliam, he has a lot of potential. He's not going to be Kam Chancellor yet, and I don't think he will ever be as much of a game breaker as Kam, but I do not think he will be a liability, and I think he can player Kam's tweener role quite well.
This is all I have to say about defense for now.
