Not saying that this game won't come down to quarterback play, but there are a few other items within the game that I will be looking at:
1 - Will the Seahawk's offensive show any signs of gelling like a real offensive line starting unit should?
In all honesty, I thought they would be more advanced by now, but I'm just not seeing it, and defensive line stunts are a good example. Can anybody name a game (in recent memory) where one of the tackles have passed off a defender to their guard, or where one of the guards have passed their pass rusher to the tackle, so that they could pick up the delayed pass rusher (I can't)?
2 - Will the Seahawk's defensive line finally show any consistent pass rush?
It's looking like the Hawks will be either without Leonard Williams this Thursday, or at least he will likely have limited snaps due to a recent ankle injury. Have the Seahawks developed either Mario Edwards or Myles Adams in any sort of way like say, the Pittsburgh Steelers do? Nope, so maybe we get some mileage out of Frank Clark, but that signing isn't looking real good to me at this point either. If there is a Gawd in heaven, please don't give me anymore Darrell Taylor. There I've said my prayers for tonight, or accurately, my prayers for tomorrow night.
3 - Will our defensive backs please stick to the Dallas receiver's hip pockets like they should?
Recently, all around the opposition's targeted receiver, I've been seeing 4 to 5 Seahawk defensive backs in a spread out circle around them, with none of our secondary defenders in that receiver's hip pocket. This to me is just mind boggling to me! Defenders should be aggressive at all times, yet it seems like our defenders are so uncertain of their roles, that they are afraid to go cover. Could it be that there is a communications gap between the Hawk's defensive backs and their defensive coordinator?
4 - Then there is the Seahawk's offensive third down conversion rate of about 1 in 47 attempts...
About 46 out of 47 third down attempts have been passes that don't work. Hawk's will likely be without half back K-9 for this game, and that isn't good, but how about using DeeJay Dallas a bit more on third and shorts? DeeJay has shown to be more consistent at getting 3 yards rushing than any other back on the team, and no he was not drafted to be a kick returner. DeeJay Dallas is the premier short yardage back on this team, so why not try using him a little bit more in that role?
I'm going to be mad as hell if the Hawk's try throwing the ball 60% of the time and continue to ignore advancing their running game.
