Bevell is at it again... bad plays against a weak Defense

[Ozzy]

I think the way the defense played in this game and how good Wilson looked I would of put the game in his hands and not the defense. I think we needed a momentum(overrated term in football) shift and we could of taken the game from them at that point. I think they should of went for it there.

 

[jlwaters1]

I can't fathom the decisions to starve the Beast instead of feeding him, and barely trying to use Percy.

Talk about two players that should be utilized a lot...SMH.

You can't feed the beast when your not on the field. SD ran twice as many plays as Seattle. The defense couldn't get off the field. 2 plays that really affected the game IMO 1) Smith's holding call 1st drive of the 2nd half. Bobby get's a great sack, only to have Smith moronically grab Gates, I think that would have been a momentum changer. Sure SD punted later in the drive but I would have given SEattle great field position.

2) Obviously, Bruce Irvin's late hit. Up until this point Bruce was effective in pass rushing, I was screaming at my screen after that bonehead play. SD would have been kicking a FG, instead just a few plays later Gates pulls in his 3rd TD.

The offense IMO played pretty well, I just wish we could have gotten something going in that last drive. The jet-sweep to Harvin was a huge loss and put us in a bad spot. Still to have the ball so little and to ultimately have the ball with a chance to with with 3+ minutes in the game is all you can really ask for. Just didn't turn out.

 

[Ozzy]

For everyone complaining about Beast only getting 6 carries when could we have given him the ball? We were never on the field.

JLWaters1 good post.

 

[FargoHawk]

If you watched this game and thought our O was the problem, then I question your knowledge as a football fan.

Add - except for Okung. Our tackles were a major disappointment yesterday. Freeney and Ingram dominated our Oline.

And I question your knowledge of football if you don't believe the Oline is part of the offense.

How many times was RW scrambling for his life, versus how many times did he have time in the pocket?

I know my post was super long and tough to read but you do notice that I say our oline was a problem??

 

[hawk45]

I don't agree we couldn't run the ball because we were down. We have been down by more in the past and have still run the ball, in keeping with our offensive identity.

The defense bears the blame for not keeping the Chargers off the field, thus the lopsided TOP. That said, a few more rushing plays mixed in could have been of some assistance. Most probably not enough to win the game and overcome the defensive malfunction, but it's puzzling that in a game played in conditions like yesterday when the defense desperately needed a blow (and unlike other games couldn't achieve it themselves), running didn't feature more prominently.

Priority #1 for defense is to stop scoring. They didn't, they failed. Priority #1 for offense is to score. They did score in limited opportunities, they succeeded. It does still puzzle me that the offense didn't go about their scoring in a way that might have also served a secondary objective of chewing some clock, that's all. Especially in *this* game. Don't understand the thinking there.

Don't expect it to ever be that large of a problem again because we won't play in that type of heat again, or not very often, but during the game I was wondering about the absence of Lynch and so were the announcers, and so were post game commentators on the networks, so it was a noticeable divergence from regular play calling in a game that really could have used more rushing.

 

[RiverDog]

4th and 2 punt KILLED US in this game... I was screaming why the FFFFF do you not go for it??? We could' t stop them and we were driving.. wow at least others were seeing this as I was...

Last season we were one of the worst teams in the league at converting 3rd and 4th and short, so I have no problem with punting in that situation. Giving them the ball at our 36 with the ball carrying like it does on a hot day would have almost certainly led to 3 points and made it a two score game with less than 5 minutes by the time our offense got the ball back again. Even though they were having a bad day, we still have the best defense in the league and you have to put your faith in them. Play to your strength, and don't try to overcome a weakness when you're on the road and the game's on the line. Punting was the absolute right decision IMO.

I'm usually one of the harshest critics of Pete's game management, but I didn't see anything that he could have done differently that would have increased our chances of winning.

The problem is the defense was GASSED, I mean completely GASSED. The offense needed to pick up the defense on one of those two drives and it didnt. And Pete took away one of its chances by punting the ball back to the Chargers and putting our out of gas defense back on the field. Baffling move by everyone Ive talked to in person yesterday.

They weren't that gassed, at least no more than the Chargers were. After all, they did force them to punt, something they weren't able to do but twice in the entire game.

The plan worked. We punted the ball, the defense kept them off the scoreboard, and got the offense back on the field trailing by 6 with 3 minutes on the clock and two timeouts left. It would have been nice had we stopped them earlier and given us better field position, but really, what difference would it have made if we couldn't get even one first down after we did get the ball back?

We got beat, plain and simple. This wasn't a game decided by game management decisions. The Chargers were better prepared and played better than we did, and there wasn't a game management decision that Pete could have done differently that would have improved our chances of winning.

 

[RolandDeschain]

For everyone complaining about Beast only getting 6 carries when could we have given him the ball? We were never on the field.

JLWaters1 good post.

Our offense was put on the field just as many times as San Diego's with time for a drive. Spending most of our opportunities doing nothing and getting right back off the field quickly is the offense's fault.

 

[gulliver]

The adjustment I would have liked to see is...

It's halftime. The Chargers have stringed together a half a dozen LONG drives, they keep converting third downs, our defense is more gassed than gassed, it's 120 degrees on the field and we're wearing dark blue, TOP is an all-out disaster, we cannot get our guys off the field. OK. Time to establish the run. Run, run, pass or run, pass, run. ALSO cut Russell loose on some designed runs/keepers so they have to account for the possibility of Marshawn, Percy on the sweep, Russell throwing, Russell scrambling on a busted play, OR Russell passing. Overload their D with punishing 10- and 20-yard gains every other play that keep them on the 120 degree field.

Or score in 90 seconds and send the D right back out there to expend what little energy they've got left. This WAS an option, but I'm not sure any of us--certainly not Bevell or Pete--had the presence of mind to stop and reassess, but it's what we needed to do.

You have to have the presence of mind to make that adjustment, but we're suddenly so enamored with the Oregon-esque, smoke-and-mirrors quick strike approach that we're leaning on passes and sweeps. Not our strong suit.

 

[Jacknut16]

4th and 2 punt KILLED US in this game... I was screaming why the FFFFF do you not go for it??? We could' t stop them and we were driving.. wow at least others were seeing this as I was...

Last season we were one of the worst teams in the league at converting 3rd and 4th and short, so I have no problem with punting in that situation. Giving them the ball at our 36 with the ball carrying like it does on a hot day would have almost certainly led to 3 points and made it a two score game with less than 5 minutes by the time our offense got the ball back again. Even though they were having a bad day, we still have the best defense in the league and you have to put your faith in them. Play to your strength, and don't try to overcome a weakness when you're on the road and the game's on the line. Punting was the absolute right decision IMO.

I'm usually one of the harshest critics of Pete's game management, but I didn't see anything that he could have done differently that would have increased our chances of winning.

The problem is the defense was GASSED, I mean completely GASSED. The offense needed to pick up the defense on one of those two drives and it didnt. And Pete took away one of its chances by punting the ball back to the Chargers and putting our out of gas defense back on the field. Baffling move by everyone Ive talked to in person yesterday.

They weren't that gassed, at least no more than the Chargers were. After all, they did force them to punt, something they weren't able to do but twice in the entire game.

The plan worked. We punted the ball, the defense kept them off the scoreboard, and got the offense back on the field trailing by 6 with 3 minutes on the clock and two timeouts left. It would have been nice had we stopped them earlier and given us better field position, but really, what difference would it have made if we couldn't get even one first down after we did get the ball back?

We got beat, plain and simple. This wasn't a game decided by game management decisions. The Chargers were better prepared and played better than we did, and there wasn't a game management decision that Pete could have done differently that would have improved our chances of winning.

They ran another 5+ minutes off the clock AND the switched the field on us, pinning us way back in our own end.

There was no way you could expect the defense to all of the sudden put up a 3 and out , and guess what they didnt.

And did you just say the Chargers were just as gassed, REALLY?? Please tell me you dont think that.

 

[RiverDog]

They ran another 5+ minutes off the clock AND the switched the field on us, pinning us way back in our own end.

There was no way you could expect the defense to all of the sudden put up a 3 and out , and guess what they didnt.

And did you just say the Chargers were just as gassed, REALLY?? Please tell me you dont think that.

Because we punted and put them back on their own 20, we didn't need a 3 and out, and them running off 5 minutes didn't hurt, either, as a matter of fact, it might have worked out perfectly had we scored on what ended up being our last drive as it would have left them very little time remaining on the game clock. You go for it on 4th and 2 at our 36 with 8 minutes remaining and score, you almost certainly would be giving them the ball back with time left to get into FG range.

The fact that we only forced the Chargers to punt twice in the entire game, and one of those coming from their subsequent series after our punt on 4th and 2 is proof that our defense was no more gassed than were the Chargers at that particular point in the game. If they were as gassed as you claim they were, they would have gone through our defense like a hot knife through butter, and that didn't happen.

 

[HawkWow]

It was pretty clear to me that the 4th and 2 at the 36 yard line was our best shot to win the game. It is incorrect to say that we would have less than a 50% chance to convert the 4th and 2. We converted over 54% last season even with all our backup Offensive Linemen and no Harvin. Good Teams like Denver can convert nearly 90% over the course of the season.

Our Offense was kicking some serious booty out there from a Yards Per Attempt standpoint, I think we had at least an 80% chance to pick up that first down. If we can't pick up 2 yards with arguably the 3 best play-makers in the game (Wilson, Lynch, Harvin) then it was probably a bad play call to begin with.



But punting on 4th and 2 in that situation was really the nail in the coffin for us.

Love your conviction bro...but inventing numbers to bolster your position won't win you many debates. Just sayin'.

First, you and the others that believe punting cost us the game need to offer some examples that show the success rate of teams that were down by 6 (or 7 or less), then went for a 4th and 2 from their own 36 with 8:00 remaining in the game.

I think you will find very few teams have even attempted such a thing and trickeration should be excluded from your findings unless you are saying we should have faked the punt. This information is paramount to your argument, imo.

I know you don't believe Denver converts on such plays 90% of the time. Why would they ever punt in that situation if that was even remotely close to truth. And if it's not truth, why fabricate such a number?

You feel we had an 80% chance of converting. I don't want to be one of the yoyos in here that ask the question "do you think you know more than Pete"? But in this instance, I have to ask just that. IF Pete thought we'd have those odds, surely he would have ran a play. Or do you think he didn't see the D was struggling and / or affected by the heat? He built this team, we watch his build. Pete made the call that he felt gave us the best chance to win. Why would he not?

You continue that we have 3 of the best playmakers in the game so should be able to easily convert. Lynch aside, none of those guys can block and Harvin was virtually non-existent by that point in time.

Not punting on 4th and 2 was far from the "nail in our coffin". Not converting would have put SD damn near in field goal range. a single 1st down and they're now up by 9 with the clock ticking....and our D that much more gassed.

Pete made the right call. I've not seen a single headline or even a story reading or suggesting "Hawks decision to not go on 4th and 2 results in loss". That's because it didn't.

Make no mistake, I admire you guys that wanted to roll the dice in that situation. You are passionate fans that believe we would convert and go onto win the game. And you could be right...but that wouldn't make Pete wrong.

 

[chris98251]

The signature of this team is the defense, you want to say don't have explosive plays, give the ball just to Lynch when you're on the road in a competitive game and behind? The idea is get ahead and hope the defense will hold and then go to your grind and ball control. Make them the desperate team and make mistakes.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

Funny how a loss instantly changes sound decisions to bad play calls.

Keep hoisting that banner of hindsight, Doobie and Roland.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Funny how a loss instantly changes sound decisions to bad play calls.

Keep hoisting that banner of hindsight, Doobie and Roland.

Sound decisions? I hated that from the moment we decided to punt, I felt strongly that we should have gone for it on 4th & 2 right off the bat. What, don't believe me?

 

[pocketprotector]

Just because the game clock stops after an incompletion does not mean the defense gets any less rest, as long as the offense is picking up first downs

 

[Zebulon Dak]

Bevell's fault. Heat not a factor. Good talk.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Bevell's fault. Heat not a factor. Good talk.

BEVELL'S THE BESTEST GREATESTEST OC EVER!

Good talk.

 

[Zebulon Dak]

All caps? I guess you win. I don't have that kind of fire power.

 

[RolandDeschain]

All caps? I guess you win. I don't have that kind of fire power.

Caps lock is cruise control for cool, man. It's an automatic trump card; whomever busts it out first wins. :lol:

 

[BlueTalon]

F: scoring quick is a great thing, it's not every week you play in 110 deg temp and none of the bounces go your way.

F: Scoring quickly is not actually that great of a game plan for a team that prioritizes protecting the ball and playing solid defense. Ideally you want to win the time of possession game so your defense is fresh, especially when it's like 100 degrees on the field.

I agree with Tokadub here about TOP, but the bolded part of Timmahawk's quote was really the game in a nutshell for me.