Close But No Cigar...

[AROS]

I spent a large portion of my morning telling my daughter what we all know. House money. Glad to be here. If it wasn't for the Lions we wouldn't even be given this opportunity to plow themselves into a buzzsaw like a bunch of lemmings.

Look, the game was more or less what we all expected. Moments of "Hey we have a chance!!" riddled with the majority of "Yep, and this is why we are not ready for prime time." Look, let's be honest. While the second quarter gave us the illusion that we could actually pull this magical ride off, it was the second half that reminded us all that we are a year or two away to truly compete on the 9ers level.

Even with a rookie QB! That is the single thing that hurt me the most. We could never garner any true pass rush and there you have it. The fact is, our defense by and large is terrible. Are we not ranked 30th out of 32 defensively?? Lordy.

That's not to say we don't have any talent on D because we clearly do. The problem is we just don't have good enough talent on the DL. And look no further than the 9ers to see how vital it is to have talent on the DL. My greatest wish is that we NAIL the draft this April with DL picks. The lack of pass rush disgusted me in this game. Nearly as much as the lack of WRAPPING UP AND TACKLING on the initial hit. think I stopped counting after 16 missed tackles.

Disgusting.

Let's move on to Geno. He proved his ceiling in this game. Moments of glory mixed with baffling plays of turnovers. If I were his QB coach I would smack him (gently) over the head and say STOP WITH THE STANDING IN THE POCKET WHEN THE POCKET IS COLLAPSING AROUND YOU!! Good lord Geno have you ever heard the term bootleg?!?

The only time I ever want to conjure up the ghost of Russ is in those moments where the pocket is collapsing around Geno...RUN FORREST RUN!!!

I certainly don't blame Geno for this loss but I owe it to myself as a cognizant fan of this team to suggest he needs to do better if he wants that top tier payday. He fumbles in the worst situations. Throws picks in the worst situations. Yet I respect his numbers and that he is actually a very good quarterback.

So what are we to do?

I think we are legitimately two years away to being at the 9ers level. Does that include Geno? I have no idea. It will be very telling how the Seahawks select their draft picks in 3 months.

 

[hawkfan68]

Great post. You covered my thoughts regarding the game and the Seahawks.

 

[Optimus25]

I can’t recall a big time hawks game where I’ve seen less playmaking from the defense. It’s usually a ton of bend not break mixed with a huge strip sack or forced fumble or something for crying out loud. Just complete wet napkin performance and hurtt should be canned at the presser just to make a damn point. Other than Jackson’s stellar defense on the deep ball to deebo i struggle to remember ANY SINGLE ‘name called’ for a hawks defender. I mean not even one damn time did ANYONE ‘make a play’.

DK showed up big. Tyler did Tyler things but why couldn’t we have got him involved in the first two series? CANNOT be a 2-score dog on the road and go 3 and out on the first drive when you pick up 9 yards on first down. Completely unacceptable for Shane to go vanilla on 2nd and brain dead on 3rd down.

Walker looks really good. we can build the offense around him and be fine.

SF had enough suck seasons to have quality depth. When you suck you’re not farming draft picks to reach on question mark stars (Adams). When you suck you’re skimming every round of the draft at the upper tier, which makes a major difference. Our success has been our Achilles heel- we’re often too good to not be in a playoff hunt, and we’re too hodge podge to be actual contenders anymore. This creates the vicious circle of good but not good enough and too good for great players to come in and break the chain.

We HAVE to find quality LBs. Whatever it takes, nothing else matters until we have that ‘KJ and Bobby’ again. Granted asking for a HoF talent like Bobby is a stretch, but brooks is at least nearing KJ level talent. 2023 looks like a LB buffet for free agents so let’s get some deals done. Superior LBs can mask growing pains with your DL.

Myers and Dickson are ultra next level.

At least our second half collapse wasn’t as embarrassing as the chargers

 

[Mad Dog]

We are starting to remind me of the Dennis Erickson/early Holmgren Seahawks. Not talentless but not talented enough to do great things. Mired in mediocrity. Anyway, here's hoping Schneider can hit another draft out of the park so we can be set up for success for the next 5 years. I'm not against the defensive philosophy, I just think the players needed for what Hurtt wants to run are different than the players we've got.
Get some manhandling big DE, move on from Taylor and Ford, get bigger and faster at LB.

 

[WarHawks]

Even when we do build up the D and oline, I'm still not sold on Geno. I think signing him for more than a year would be a big mistake. We need to get younger, and better, not older, and more mediocre.

 

[Optimus25]

Even when we do build up the D and oline, I'm still not sold on Geno. I think signing him for more than a year would be a big mistake. We need to get younger, and better, not older, and more mediocre.

The problem is there are so many problems and question marks in building up the defense that you probably have to take the bird in the hand on Geno.

He would have been a 10 win QB if we had anything at all in our run defense from the LV game. You can’t just dismiss a system guy that easily who is capable of double digit wins.

Who would we turn to? Carr? Probably even more question marks with him and more expensive.

Jimmy G? Probably not worth the money saved due to time needed to learn the system, plus we need a more mobile qb like Geno due to having a weaker line than SF.

If we didn’t need a complete defensive rebuild we could tinker with QB, but that is not happening in ‘23. No way.

Besides what playoff team in dire need of any and all defensive overhaul says they will start the rebuild by scuttling their pro bowl QB? That’s called question marks on top of question marks.

Field a middle of the pack nfl defense yesterday and we might have been in a 1 score game throughout against the leagues hottest team.

 

[hawkfan68]

Just watching the Min-NYG game, I wished the Seahawks had won just one more game in the regular season. They would have played the Vikings and their #31 defense instead. Close but no cigar in so many ways for the Seahawks this season. That cliche really sums it up well.

 

[Aircrew]

I'm more than satisfied with what the Seahawks accomplished this year. Yes, they have deficiencies that must be addressed in the offseason, but I'd give the team a solid B for what they were able to do on the field.

 

[bileever]

I don't want to say I'm glad we lost because of course, I'm not, but it was good to have it reinforced what a gap there is between us and the 49ers. And until we can beat the 49ers, we aren't going anywhere.

Our O-line, though improving, still needs work. The defense didn't come close to stopping the 49ers offense, and that was a problem with not just the personnel but the scheme as well. The Seahawks brain trust will have to solve this problem or next year will be the same.

We're trending up, but have a long ways to go.

 

[AROS]

Improve the LG/C/RG and most the DL and we will be in great shape. Yeah, easy to say.

 

[DomeHawk]

Makes you think we should spend our first four picks on defense.

 

[AROS]

Makes you think we should spend our first four picks on defense.

 

[BASF]

Improve the LG/C/RG and most the DL and we will be in great shape. Yeah, easy to say.

Lewis was our best linemen this season though. He did really well. The illegal man downfield penalties were stupid and cost us, but that does not negate how well he played this season.

 

[Mase]

-- An interesting twist would be if we don't re-sign Geno, nor any other "starting QB", and go into the draft with teams convinced we will use #5 to move up or take a QB there. Might motivate someone who wants QB3 to move ahead of us, which would push Carter or Anderson down to us. Wishful thinking? Well.. yes.

-- And I agree, although possibly concussed on Saturday, I like Lewis at guard. Center in the real sticking point on that line.

Mase

 

[AROS]

Lewis was our best linemen this season though. He did really well. The illegal man downfield penalties were stupid and cost us, but that does not negate how well he played this season.

I would love to have a better understanding about illegal man downfield penalties. I truly don't get it. Why does the league care if a lineman is down the field, especially since he is ineligible as a receiver? I'm sure the answer is obvious to some, but I simply don't see the harm in a lineman 3+ yards beyond the line of scrimmage on a passing play.

 

[BASF]

I would love to have a better understanding about illegal man downfield penalties. I truly don't get it. Why does the league care if a lineman is down the field, especially since he is ineligible as a receiver? I'm sure the answer is obvious to some, but I simply don't see the harm in a lineman 3+ yards beyond the line of scrimmage on a passing play.

It is ultimately about the amount of people that are drawing the attention of the defensive players. It is also a pretty big tell for the safeties and linebackers as to whether or not the play is a pass. The linemen shooting off the ball is the most important clue that a safety needs to come up in run support. Flea flickers were a lot more effective when the linemen could move up three yards before they were flagged because it truly looked like a run.

Frankly, I am happy that they moved the penalty to the one yard mark. It was about time they started helping defenses after they changed several rules to totally open up offenses.

 

[AROS]

Thank you for the explanation!

 

[BASF]

Thank you for the explanation!

You're welcome

 

[Seahwkgal]

Lewis was our best linemen this season though. He did really well. The illegal man downfield penalties were stupid and cost us, but that does not negate how well he played this season.

It’s been obvious all season that RG and C are major improvement needs on offense. No doubt. I thought Lewis played very well this season too.

 

[AROS]

Guilty, I shouldn't have added LG to my wish list. (slaps hand)

I just saw a stat on Total Access that said the Seahawks had 17 counted missed tackles against the 49ers. 17!!!

If that doesn't scream FIX THE DEFENSE nothing does.

PS...The LOB would have had -10 missed tackles.