Christine Michael reverting to old habits.

[DavidSeven]

I'm going to try not to pay to much heed to reports that rag on his mental state, though it's certainly not comforting.

The bigger issue to me is that I'm not entirely convinced that Christine Michael, Sr. (or 2.0...or is it 3.0?) is actually a great runner with this new emphasis on ball control. Yes, he seems to rip off an 8-yard run like no one's business, but can he get past the sticks when it really matters? He did convert on short yardage late in the game, but so often, he seemed perfectly content to just dive mere inches from 1st down. No awareness of the marker whatsoever. He is like the RB version of Kirk Cousins, who is the perfect QB if you want a 7 yard completion on 3rd-and-8.

You are not going to intimidate anyone with this style of running, and that's part of the team's identity. Rawls, assuming he's anything close to the same guy as last year, has to be the guy you feature in your offense. I think Michael has a role as a complimentary piece, but even then, I'm still not quite sure his ability is game-changing enough to warrant a significant one.

 

[Smellyman]

He does often turn a 10 yard run into a 7 yard run. He really loves the ground.

The play in question was maddening, RW got blown up on the play and Michael has his head up his rear. For the gif creators, it is at 2:14 in the 4th. Such a critical time.

 

[ivotuk]

"2. What the hell, Christine Michael? He has been the single most improved player in training camp. And he was largely impressive Sunday, but on a second-and-4 play in the final 2 minutes, he showed some of the knucklehead tendencies that led to the Seahawks trading him a year ago.

Michael picked up a blitzing Dolphins defender, Bobby McCain. The problem was that Michael then stood and stared down at McClain, who was on his back.

Then Wilson’s pass bounced off Michael.

C’mon, man. Seriously. Staring down a guy you blocked while the football bounces off you?"

http://sports.mynorthwest.com/185704/wh ... g-victory/

 

[bmorepunk]

He costs less than a million against the cap. As long as he doesn't screw around too much and makes some plays he'll be worth it. If they have to dump him again for being an idiot, then it's not that big of a deal; he's been on borrowed time since he came back.

 

[Cyrus12]

he is a number 2 change of pace at best. Oh and someone buy him some new cleats his falling down and slipping is driving me nuts!

 

[Bobblehead]

As young as he was I would still have rather kept Pope and cut CMike. You know with Pope, his mistakes arn't because he's lazy and had mental mistakes.

 

[scutterhawk]

In the backfield, facial expressions when he doesn't like the play, distracted at times, and per Danny O'Neil, on 2 and 4, Michael blocks a DB to the ground then stands there and stares him down while the ball bounces off of his helmet.

Idiotic. That could have cost us the game because we ended up going for it on 4th down.

I agree with Dave Wyman, just when he seems to get his act together, and you start to have faith in him, he breaks your heart again.

I wonder if the guy can make it through a whole game without having a brain fart? Once he starts having more success, such as a 100 plus yard game, is he going to revert to his old habits?

Just read the article. Would like to see the Michael play in question. If he didn't have a pass catching role in the play then his job was to make sure the guy he was blocking stayed blocked, no?

What you say might be true, but he really does need to keep his wits about him, and be looking for the ball to come his way, as Wilson isn't always going to have designed plays go off without a hitch.
I'd venture to say that after he watches some game film on that particular play, he'll be doing a face palm, and apologizing to Russ for the space-out.

 

[HawkGA]

This thread is useless without gifs!

Okay, not useless, but still, somebody please put up a gif.

 

[theincrediblesok]

I have the game and checked it out starting at 2:15 left on the clock in the 4th quarter.

Michael picked up the blitz, stood there, Wilson threw him the ball as rush was coming, it bounced on Michael's shoulder.

It looked like Michael felt the ball hitting him on his shoulders, he did turn his head to look at Wilson's way, but then went back and starred at the defender.

If Michael turn his head to look at Wilson after the blitz picked up, there was no other defender on that side and he would of been able to get the first down, at the least 3 points on that drive.

Also noted on same play, Britt received a face-mask (head was bent back) that didn't get called. If refs called it, that would of been a first down.

Not sure if Wilson was just throwing it close to an eligible receiver as he saw the rush and was just throwing it out, or Michael was suppose to pickup the blitz then release.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

Agreed, but without knowing what his role was, it's hard to assess his boneheadedness. If he knocks the guy down then turns to become a receiver and the guy gets up and tackles Russ we'd still be going WTF.

It's the NFL, a guy needs to be able to block and be ready to have the ball thrown his way

Yup, well considering the ground he's covered in his 'awakening,' maybe that wasn't the core of what he has been concentrating on. At least he blocked well and took pride (however ill -timed) in doing so. Now it's time to take next step.

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[peppersjap]

Michael was pretty solid for the game outside of a couple of plays. I like the combo of him and Rawls but after re-watching the game I am so excited about the return of Rawls and want to see about a 70/30 use with Rawls. He just plays the game so hard.

 

[HawKnPeppa]

I think it is hilarious that you think a guy that routinely turns a potential 3-4 yard run into 8 is going to get cut.

He complements Rawls well. We need him.

Procise isn't going to fill the void and neither is Collins.

We are actually lucky we have him, because he is likely gone after this year but keep on being upset with him as he churns out 8 yard and 6 yards a carry regularly. You do realize he had a better average than Rawls right?

And again, who would replace him? TJack?

You take the bad with the good.

For once I completely agree with you. Make a mistake in a hi-vis situation and the vultures like to start some sort of cacscading effect of super-exaggerated shortcomings.
How about appreciating how far he's turned things around while accepting that he still has a ways to go?

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[HawKnPeppa]

I've never seen what others see in Michael either. Too often I just see him give up on a shoe string tackle and dive forward for an extra two yards instead of trying to power through it.

That said, we were really spoiled by Lynch.

Sheesh! He has pretty good balance. Remember Turbin? "Never seen what others seen, blah, blah, blah." Just another one joining the group-think pile-on frenzy.

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[UK_Seahawk]

I think the FO are giving Michael a clean slate and so far he hasn't let them down. Pulling him to bits over one play when he has been largely very good seems somewhat petty.

Early days but he isnt the biggest of our issues currently.

 

[WindCityHawk]

I've never seen what others see in Michael either. Too often I just see him give up on a shoe string tackle and dive forward for an extra two yards instead of trying to power through it.

That said, we were really spoiled by Lynch.

Sheesh! He has pretty good balance. Remember Turbin? "Never seen what others seen, blah, blah, blah." Just another one joining the group-think pile-on frenzy.

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Lol, it's called agreeing. It happens sometimes on a message board.

 

[SpokaneHawks]

I'm just afraid he's going to cost us a close one with his "mental lapses"! What shows me he still has maturity issues is the way he smiles and laughs whenever he does something like pick up a yard or two. It's like he saying to himself "almost broke it" even though we all know if he looked up he'd see he wasn't even close to "breaking it"!

 

[Ozzy]

His facial expressions if he doesn't like the play? Reverting back to old habits? This stuff gets old fast and people are scrutinizing Michael way too hard in hopes of finding something to confirm their bias. He has looked very good to my eyes and a quick internet search with various football minds and they all agree. He is a fantastic talent who has played very well. He had a run in the Miami game that I'm not sure many guys in the league get as much out of the play as he did. There are some extremely bright posters above who I really respect that I couldn't disagree more with on this topic. I'm not saying Michael is better than Rawls but I am saying Michael has played very well and deserves some credit.

On the checkdown play its really tough to know more about it unless we are in the huddle. This happens all the time in the NFL too, not sure this means Michael is biggest idiot in the league for a ball bouncing off of him in pass protection on a split second checkdown toss from Wilson as he's getting sacked. It happens a lot because there are multiple things going on at once. Maybe he did completely screw it up and maybe he didn't. Tough to say.

I really am baffled by the maturity isses and mental lapses going to cost us games angle. The dude deserves some credit.

 

[hawker84]

I guess we're going to forget the job he did for us late in the season and including the playoffs last year? At no time did he do anything to jeopardize our teams chances, he played his heart out.

The dude has talent and knows our system, as others has already stated, he is a good compliment to Rawls and can help this team. I'm sure if that play was as big a bonehead play as everybody's making it out to be, it will be pointed out and he'll learn from it.

 

[Seahawkfan80]

My opinion.....

I can not see his face so be it.

I replayed that play just now in real time and slo mo. Replayed it a couple of times with the tv aspect and tv speed, not the all 22. From what I saw, ADB was center field covered just beyond the first down marker. I expect that one other was in the same locale on the close side of the field. We had 4 wr set. One probably down field far side, one center at the marker, and 2 gone other routes mid range to far range to open holes. 5 man rush meaning a blitzer that was picked up by C-mike. I can not tell by the video whether this would be a rub route where Cmike rubs the dude and goes out for the pass.

But that is something that some would say is an automatic because after all, we have RW. Always expect the unexpected.

Cmike has had issues blocking in the past. So he made sure his man was down and not going back to tackle the qb...after all there were 3 on RW and one was not his guy. Castigate him for doing his job there all you want. Not up to me. If it was supposed to be a rub route, he probably would have whiffed on the block and got the 5 yards, And after RW chastised him for not blocking his guy like he was supposed to.

But from my perspective, it was just RW tossing the ball with a hope that something happens. It was not a planned play.

The pic above is where that perspective comes in. 2 guys bearing down on him, he sees only one person because he is close and tosses it to him without the vision that ADB may be open 6 yards away to the outside over the first down marker. You can hope that Cmike turns, looks, and sees that he is gonna get the ball anyway and run with it. That did not happen, so we go on and DotNet goes nuts.

As I said in the beginning.......MY OPINION.

 

[Ozzy]

One area that I think Michael has improved leaps and bounds by is in his pass protection. He is a wall back there and stones linebackers.

Good post Seahawkfan80.