What makes us not good?

[Rob12]

Read this a lot following today's WIN.

I get that we're not dominating teams, and we've lost some games... But what exactly classifies us as as not very good?

San Diego outplayed us and kept our defense on the field.

Dallas flat out dominated us.

We outplayed St. Louis as a whole, but our Special Teams lost the game for us.

We've had to grind out three of our four wins, and those wins were not pretty. In two of those wins, Wilson delivered clutch drives.

Our defense isn't the same, but we're banged up pretty bad, which isn't an excuse in itself but it does lend a bit of an explanation as to why we've struggled at times. Our pass rush hasn't been all that effective, though I believe we can build on that after today.

I'm just a bit perplexed at the thought that the Seahawks are not a good football team. We have played a tough schedule thus far and we're 4-3 with two very winnable games coming up at the CLINK. The division is wide open, with Arizona getting ready to hit a tough stretch in their schedule. I know saying we're not good is not the same as saying we're DONE, but it almost feels like a good amount of posters here feel that way.

I think this team is much different than last year's version, but I don't think we're necessarily a worse team. Last year, it seemed like we got a lot of bounces that went our way and that's not happening for us yet this season. I think this year's team, a very young one at that, will grow leaps and bounds from the recent mountain of adversity that they just climbed. There's so much damn noise right now, but I believe in our guys to come through it all - especially No. 3.

I still believe that at worst, we're an 11-5 team. At best, I feel like we can finish 12-4, or dare I say 13-3. That would be winning out of course, which is not likely, but it don't put it past this team to achieve that for one damn minute.

Keep grinding. Get healthy. Let the leaders lead and rise above the noise.

We're a damn good football team that needs to get much better.

And we will.

 

[Rob12]

Hearing the Lynch news earlier this morning, I was walking to the ledge - I admit it. But I also don't entirely buy that article. And even if it's true, Beast will still play his heart out and finish his Seahawks career on a high note.

Just so much damn noise. Ignore it.

Next up... Oakland.

 

[pehawk]

Read this a lot following today's WIN.

I get that we're not dominating teams, and we've lost some games... But what exactly classifies us as as not very good?

San Diego outplayed us and kept our defense on the field.

Dallas flat out dominated us.

We outplayed St. Louis as a whole, but our Special Teams lost the game for us.

We've had to grind out three of our four wins, and those wins were not pretty. In two of those wins, Wilson delivered clutch drives.

Our defense isn't the same, but we're banged up pretty bad, which isn't an excuse in itself but it does lend a bit of an explanation as to why we've struggled at times. Our pass rush hasn't been all that effective, though I believe we can build on that after today.

I'm just a bit perplexed at the thought that the Seahawks are not a good football team. We have played a tough schedule thus far and we're 4-3 with two very winnable games coming up at the CLINK. The division is wide open, with Arizona getting ready to hit a tough stretch in their schedule. I know saying we're not good is not the same as saying we're DONE, but it almost feels like a good amount of posters here feel that way.

I think this team is much different than last year's version, but I don't think we're necessarily a worse team. Last year, it seemed like we got a lot of bounces that went our way and that's not happening for us yet this season. I think this year's team, a very young one at that, will grow leaps and bounds from the recent mountain of adversity that they just climbed. There's so much damn noise right now, but I believe in our guys to come through it all - especially No. 3.

I still believe that at worst, we're an 11-5 team. At best, I feel like we can finish 12-4, or dare I say 13-3. That would be winning out of course, which is not likely, but it don't put it past this team to achieve that for one damn minute.

Keep grinding. Get healthy. Let the leaders lead and rise above the noise.

We're a damn good football team that needs to get much better.

And we will.

Health is the biggest factor. Second was the distraction of a staff trying to rationalize having Percy. That rationalization stunted the growth of the passing game, running game, and rookie WR's.

They'll peak at the right time. Hopefully they'll have time.

 

[Rob12]

Read this a lot following today's WIN.

I get that we're not dominating teams, and we've lost some games... But what exactly classifies us as as not very good?

San Diego outplayed us and kept our defense on the field.

Dallas flat out dominated us.

We outplayed St. Louis as a whole, but our Special Teams lost the game for us.

We've had to grind out three of our four wins, and those wins were not pretty. In two of those wins, Wilson delivered clutch drives.

Our defense isn't the same, but we're banged up pretty bad, which isn't an excuse in itself but it does lend a bit of an explanation as to why we've struggled at times. Our pass rush hasn't been all that effective, though I believe we can build on that after today.

I'm just a bit perplexed at the thought that the Seahawks are not a good football team. We have played a tough schedule thus far and we're 4-3 with two very winnable games coming up at the CLINK. The division is wide open, with Arizona getting ready to hit a tough stretch in their schedule. I know saying we're not good is not the same as saying we're DONE, but it almost feels like a good amount of posters here feel that way.

I think this team is much different than last year's version, but I don't think we're necessarily a worse team. Last year, it seemed like we got a lot of bounces that went our way and that's not happening for us yet this season. I think this year's team, a very young one at that, will grow leaps and bounds from the recent mountain of adversity that they just climbed. There's so much damn noise right now, but I believe in our guys to come through it all - especially No. 3.

I still believe that at worst, we're an 11-5 team. At best, I feel like we can finish 12-4, or dare I say 13-3. That would be winning out of course, which is not likely, but it don't put it past this team to achieve that for one damn minute.

Keep grinding. Get healthy. Let the leaders lead and rise above the noise.

We're a damn good football team that needs to get much better.

And we will.

Health is the biggest factor. Second was the distraction of a staff trying to rationalize having Percy. That rationalization stunted the growth of the passing game, running game, and rookie WR's.

They'll peak at the right time. Hopefully they'll have time.

Yep, agreed at peaking at the right time. At this point, the coaches know what we are. Time to put that knowledge to use and become a more complete team.

And get healthy...

 

[hawknation2014]

Lynch makes us an elite team. The common theme against SD, DAL, STL, and today was the lack of carries for Lynch in the first half. The coaches and the FO have to stop pretending this isn't true.

Lynch allows the offense to control the clock, he gives us third and shorts and keeps the chains moving, he opens up the downfield passing game, and he breaks the will of the opposing defense when you give him 20-30 carries in a game. When they don't do that, our offensive line's struggles and the youth of our receiving corps stalls any chance at offensive progress.

Maybe they draft someone like Todd Gurley or Melvin Gordon to replace Lynch's production. But until they find someone else who can do that, whether this team can be considered "elite" is dependent on making sure they feed the beast.

 

[Rob12]

Lynch makes us an elite team. The common theme against SD, DAL, STL, and today was the lack of carries for Lynch in the first half. The coaches and the FO have to stop pretending this isn't true.

Lynch allows the offense to control the clock, he gives us third and shorts and keeps the chains moving, he opens up the downfield passing game, and he breaks the will of the opposing defense when you give him 20-30 carries in a game. When they don't do that, our offensive line's struggles and the youth of our receiving corps stalls any chance at offensive progress.

Maybe they draft someone like Todd Gurley or Melvin Gordon to replace Lynch's production. But until they find someone else who can do that, whether this team can be considered "elite" is dependent on making sure they feed the beast.

I want Lynch to get the ball more too, but today at least, Carolina's mediocre defensive line was blowing up our run game. We also didn't run a whole lot of plays in the first half and had less than 100 yards of total offense.

I wish it were that simple, but the Panthers owned our run game in the first half.

 

[pehawk]

Part of the reason for our run game getting blown up is there were obvious run blitzes, and no audible. I don't know if that's because of Unger being out or what. But, there were alot of obvious audibles left on the field.

 

[hawknation2014]

Lynch makes us an elite team. The common theme against SD, DAL, STL, and today was the lack of carries for Lynch in the first half. The coaches and the FO have to stop pretending this isn't true.

Lynch allows the offense to control the clock, he gives us third and shorts and keeps the chains moving, he opens up the downfield passing game, and he breaks the will of the opposing defense when you give him 20-30 carries in a game. When they don't do that, our offensive line's struggles and the youth of our receiving corps stalls any chance at offensive progress.

Maybe they draft someone like Todd Gurley or Melvin Gordon to replace Lynch's production. But until they find someone else who can do that, whether this team can be considered "elite" is dependent on making sure they feed the beast.

I want Lynch to get the ball more too, but today at least, Carolina's mediocre defensive line was blowing up our run game. We also didn't run a whole lot of plays in the first half and had less than 100 yards of total offense.

I wish it were that simple, but the Panthers owned our run game in the first half.

I don't think you can give the ball to Lynch just fîve times in the first half and then say he's not running the ball well. Bevell did not allow the running game enough opportunities to get into rhythm in the first half.

I believe it is a philosophical issue . . . Bevell and probably the FO are hoping to find ways to move away from Lynch. First, it was Bevell discussing a committee approach. Then we missed an opportunity to score a TD in the opener by taking out Lynch. Then we get destroyed in time of possession against SD with several missed opportunities to give Lynch the ball, which could have kept the chains moving for the offense. The same story that happened against the Chargers and then Cowboys and then Rams. Whatever the reason, what they are doing has not worked in these games.

 

[Largent80]

Carpenter and Sweezy both missed time during that game, Bailey filled in both spots. We really didn't handle stacked boxes or blitzes well last year either, but we have to keep trying.

 

[Rob12]

Lynch makes us an elite team. The common theme against SD, DAL, STL, and today was the lack of carries for Lynch in the first half. The coaches and the FO have to stop pretending this isn't true.

Lynch allows the offense to control the clock, he gives us third and shorts and keeps the chains moving, he opens up the downfield passing game, and he breaks the will of the opposing defense when you give him 20-30 carries in a game. When they don't do that, our offensive line's struggles and the youth of our receiving corps stalls any chance at offensive progress.

Maybe they draft someone like Todd Gurley or Melvin Gordon to replace Lynch's production. But until they find someone else who can do that, whether this team can be considered "elite" is dependent on making sure they feed the beast.

I want Lynch to get the ball more too, but today at least, Carolina's mediocre defensive line was blowing up our run game. We also didn't run a whole lot of plays in the first half and had less than 100 yards of total offense.

I wish it were that simple, but the Panthers owned our run game in the first half.

I don't think you can give the ball to Lynch just fîve times in the first half and then say he's not running the ball well. Bevell did not allow the running game enough opportunities to get into rhythm in the first half.

I believe it is a philosophical issue . . . Bevell and probably the FO are hoping to find ways to move away from Lynch. First, it was Bevell discussing a committee approach. Then we missed an opportunity to score a TD in the opener by taking out Lynch. Then we get destroyed in time of possession against SD with several missed opportunities to give Lynch the ball, which could have kept the chains moving for the offense. The same story that happened against the Chargers and then Cowboys and then Rams. Whatever the reason, what they are doing has not worked in these games.

I think it's pretty likely that you're right, especially about the philosophical change on offense. I think we can all agree that he needs to give the run game more opportunities to get going.

 

[brimsalabim]

Yes I'd like to read an explanation on the audibles but it's for sure that our lack of a true center is not helping matters.

 

[AgentDib]

Lynch makes us an elite team. The common theme against SD, DAL, STL, and today was the lack of carries for Lynch in the first half. The coaches and the FO have to stop pretending this isn't true.

Drive 1 @ STL: We gave the ball to Lynch five times with the following outcomes: {1, 13, 0, 3, 2}. 3.8 YPC is not terrible but clearly skewed and if our running game had a more productive floor we wouldn't have needed to punt.

Drive 2: We gave the ball to Lynch once on the next drive (3 and out) for a 2 yard gain. The drive was also killed by 12 men on the field penalty which led to third and long and a punt.

Drive 3: Two carries for Lynch {3, 2} but two sacks put us in long yardage situations and we had to punt.

Drive 4: One two yard carry for Lynch followed by a a sack and a three and out.

Drive 5: False start and delay of game putting the offense at 1st and 15 and 1st at 12 on each set of downs. One -5 yard carry for Lynch anyway, field goal outcome.

Obviously the game plan here was to give Lynch the ball but you can't just do that every single play regardless of defensive alignment, down or distance. Further, the nine other carries besides the single long pickup averaged just 1.1 YPC which was a huge part of why we didn't have more first downs and more potential carries for Lynch. The running game was not working at all in the first half and it's way more complicated than just saying we needed more Lynch carries.

 

[Reaneypark]

The OLine injuries are causing a majority of the problems.

 

[pehawk]

Yes I'd like to read an explanation on the audibles but it's for sure that our lack of a true center is not helping matters.

Yeah, it's brutal. They'll run straight into a run blitz. The only time I was okay with them doing it was with CMike in the backfield, his speed is deadly vs those. Aside from that though? Seemed pretty dumb.

 

[hawknation2014]

Drive 1 @ STL: We gave the ball to Lynch five times with the following outcomes: {1, 13, 0, 3, 2}. 3.8 YPC is not terrible but clearly skewed and if our running game had a more productive floor we wouldn't have needed to punt.

You are mistaken about punting. We scored a FG on that first drive in part thanks to a commitment to the running game, which opened up the downfield passing game. I think the script (initial set of plays) clearly called for Lynch to be more heavily utilized. And we moved all the way to the 6- yard line thanks to that commitment, and then missed a manageable 3rd and five pass. Unfortunately, Bevell then abandoned the running game on the subsequent drives, which helped lead to all those punts.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playbyplay?gameId=400554257

 

[AgentDib]

Unfortunately, Bevell then abandoned the running game on the subsequent drives, which helped lead to all those punts.

"Abandoned" is a dishonest term. Bevell did call some other plays besides Lynch rushes up the middle, because of reasons. The running game was not executing well, down and distances were signficantly harmed by offensive penalties, and the Rams defense was giving plenty of respect to the run. More runs could have led to worse outcomes, fewer total plays and as a result not even more total Lynch rushes.

 

[hawknation2014]

Unfortunately, Bevell then abandoned the running game on the subsequent drives, which helped lead to all those punts.

"Abandoned" is a dishonest term. Bevell did call some other plays besides Lynch rushes up the middle, because of reasons. The running game was not executing well, down and distances were signficantly harmed by offensive penalties, and the Rams defense was giving plenty of respect to the run. More runs could have led to worse outcomes, fewer total plays and as a result not even more total Lynch rushes.

Dishonest? Wow, you're really pulling out the claws today, AD.

When I say abandoned, I mean we went from running the ball on first down during a successful drive that yielded points to not running the ball on first down hardly at all the rest of the first half. There were three consecutive passes on first down after the FG. The offense became more predictable, allowing the defense to pin their ears back and tee off on Wilson. Our offensive line was beat more, because it's stronger in run blocking than pass blocking, which leads to more penalties. And then when you miss on those throws, you're playing behind the eight ball. The result was four consecutive drives of 3rd and long situations (3rd and 13, 3rd and 14, 3rd and 15, and 3rd and 17).

At least, that's the way I saw it. Bevell stopped using the running game as heavily he did on that first drive. You might think he did so because the running game was not effective, but I think we can both agree that the pass first strategy has not put many points on the board in these four games.

Personally, I don't think he really gave the running game an opportunity to develop after that first successful drive. A few short runs by Lynch often give way to a Beast Mode moment when he's given a sufficient number of carries. It also opens up the passing game; we saw what happened on that last drive against Carolina after Lynch's five-yard run. You're free to disagree, but let's try to give each other the benefit of the doubt (mistaken vs. dishonest).