EWU @ Washington

[drrew]

A couple of thoughts.

- 2 wins is 2 wins. It's been a long time since this team was good enough to start worrying about style points.
- Outside of Mariota, Adams is the best QB this team will face all season. That includes Hundley.
- Illinois will be interesting, their QB had 450+ passing yards today. He doesn't move like Adams, but the defensive backfield could be in for another long day.
- Playcalling today didn't seem to really take into account which HB was in. Running Callier up the gut a half dozen times was odd. If you're going to cycle through the HB's as much as they have (which is not necessarily a bad thing) they need to play to their individual strengths better.
- Cyler Miles barely has a D1 caliber arm, it's shocking how weak it is. It's not reasonable to expect him to get to Kellen Moore levels of accuracy, but they'll need him to get close if he's leading them to much of anything.
- Michigan State is giving Oregon all it can handle and looks like they'll take the lead into the half, I expected better of the Ducks but Helfrich just isn't Chip Kelly who is proving to be the best offensive mind in football today.

 

[BillHawks]

- Cyler Miles barely has a D1 caliber arm, it's shocking how weak it is. It's not reasonable to expect him to get to Kellen Moore levels of accuracy, but they'll need him to get close if he's leading them to much of anything.

This is so big. I winced every time he threw a screen or anything out in the flat. His windup motion combined with his weak arm make all those screen a recipe for disaster.

As far as the defense goes, I'm starting to think the secondary played so soft because the coaching staff doesn't trust them to play physical at the line yet. Keep in mind the Huskies have one of the most inexperienced secondaries in the country.

 

[kearly]

I want Hau'oli Kikaha and Vernon Adams on the Seahawks.

Adams was AMAZING in this game against a very talented pass defense, and let's not forget what he did to Oregon State last year. He's undersized and if he succeeds in the NFL it will be a Russell Wilson type story, but he's got "it" and he's also got a great arm. I loved how gutty he was in this performance, beating the Husky D while playing through leg cramps. How insane is that?

The Huskies D was poorly coached, but it is very talented. Adams is a hell of a QB and it would be silly of us to not acknowledge that.

Kikaha looks like a great prospect in the NFL as a Michael Bennett type player. I want.

 

[kearly]

Regarding the coaching and how bad it was, I could probably go 2,000+ words on it easily. But instead, I'll just sum it up with how the game ended.

After allowing EWU's final TD on a maddening drive full of 3rd and 4th down mistakes, UW was up by 7 points with less than 3 minutes to go. EWU had just one timeout, and UW had run the ball down EWU's throat all day. This was a game where defense was so non-existent that EWU had already tried a couple of onside kicks previously in the contest. When EWU lined up to kick, it was quite frankly one of the most obvious onside kick situations I have ever seen in my life that wasn't in the final two minutes.

And yet, no hands team for UW. They had just 6 guys at the first level, with a bit of a squib kick type formation. I repeat, NO HANDS TEAM!

So of course, EWU kicks an onside kick that everyone in the world knew was coming except for Petersen, and UW recovers it just barely.

Petersen wasn't done making stunning inept coaching decisions either. When UW got the ball, they converted a first down which won UW the game. All UW had to do was kneel three times and it was over. But, with no awareness of this fact, Peterson did two RB handoffs before kneeling on the final play, exposing his team to the significant possibly of a game altering fumble.

The last 7 minutes of this game was by far the worst coached ending to a game I can remember seeing in quite some time. I can forgive Peterson for not lighting the world on fire in year one (His QBs may actually be worse than the ones Willingham had to endure), but what I can't forgive is him making such eggregious coaching mistakes, while also showing such incredibly poor game preparation.

 

[seahawk2k]

I don't expect this staff that Peterson brought with him to stay intact for longer than a season. It's pretty clear they are lacking in a few areas.

Miles inability to throw the ball with velocity is going to murder them in conference play when they play teams that can stop the run and force him to pass.

 

[Hasselbeck]

You Husky fans had some pretty pie in the sky hopes coming into the season. Petersen will be fine, but the roster definitely lost some big-time talent coming into 2014 (Price, Sankey, ASJ, etc)

Give him a little bit of time to get settled, find a QB, get the other talent in here, get the right coaching etc. If Petersen gets UW to a bowl that's a success in itself. This is really not a good football team .. they should win the next two games but the conference slate will be difficult to say the least since you get every big gun except USC this year.

I'd say 7-5 would be a great first year for Petersen.

 

[kearly]

I'd say 7-5 would be a great first year for Petersen.

I would take it. That would mean at least 3 Pac-12 wins.

I always thought this team would be way worse in 2014 than it was in 2013 (statistically). That said, this defense is talented RIGHT NOW. The offense is flawed, but has weapons and good run blocking. Pete Carroll could walk on and get this team to 10 wins, I have no doubt. Given how easy the schedule is, I think Sark could do it too.

Peterson's DC seems to be pretty bad, but it's actually the head coaching mistakes that alarm me the most.

 

[drrew]

Saw this number uwdawgpound

Danny Shelton 6'2 340lb nose tackle has six sacks through two games this season. Six.

 

[BillHawks]

Saw this number uwdawgpound

Danny Shelton 6'2 340lb nose tackle has six sacks through two games this season. Six.

If he keeps playing like this (overall game, not sacks) he'd look nice as Mebane's protege.

 

[fenderbender123]

Saw this number uwdawgpound

Danny Shelton 6'2 340lb nose tackle has six sacks through two games this season. Six.

Well when you've played 900 snaps, it kind of increases the odds.

 

[MLOhawks]

I will wait to see if he gets sacks against good teams.

 

[kearly]

Shelton has been good for a while, and he's got NFL-level talent. I would expect him to be a round three pick when he enters the draft, maybe even a late 2nd. He reminds me some of Brandon Williams.

 

[razgriz737]

You Husky fans had some pretty pie in the sky hopes coming into the season. Petersen will be fine, but the roster definitely lost some big-time talent coming into 2014 (Price, Sankey, ASJ, etc)

Give him a little bit of time to get settled, find a QB, get the other talent in here, get the right coaching etc. If Petersen gets UW to a bowl that's a success in itself. This is really not a good football team .. they should win the next two games but the conference slate will be difficult to say the least since you get every big gun except USC this year.

I'd say 7-5 would be a great first year for Petersen.

Wholeheartedly agree with everything in this post. This will be an adjustment year. No way am I giving up on Petersen after 2 freaking games.

I also think a lot of you aren't giving Eastern nearly enough credit. Vernon Adams is the real deal.

 

[DavidSeven]

I'd say 7-5 would be a great first year for Petersen.

Interestingly, the pitchforks would have been out for Sark if he had gone 7-5 again.

I'm still expecting the best from Petersen, but no denying that Sark got a pretty raw deal at times from the Husky faithful and local media. Pretty shaky start for Petersen so far. I can understand growing pains with the QB or offense, but the defense shouldn't be this bad.

 

[brettb3]

7-5 would be an extremely disappointing first year for Petersen. I still expect major improvement from what we've seen the first two games.

 

[MLOhawks]

I'm hoping its just growing pains of the new staff and system.

 

[davidonmi]

I'd say 7-5 would be a great first year for Petersen.

Interestingly, the pitchforks would have been out for Sark if he had gone 7-5 again.

I'm still expecting the best from Petersen, but no denying that Sark got a pretty raw deal at times from the Husky faithful and local media. Pretty shaky start for Petersen so far. I can understand growing pains with the QB or offense, but the defense shouldn't be this bad.

and if petersen consistently goes 7-5 the fanbase won't jump on him as well?
If you believe Sark got a raw deal, Petersen will get similar treatment. The defensive performance yesterday is completely unacceptable. Sark left a big mess at QB, but the defensive talent he left behind was pretty damn good. That said it is only 2 games, but a ton of room for improvement

 

[KitsapGuy]

In Don James first year, he went 6-5. In his second year, he went 5-6. In his third year, he took us to the Rose Bowl and won it. We missed a bowl game the following year. But, we then went to 9 straight bowl games. Winning 6 of those.

So it took him 2 years to get it going. But after that, he was fairly consistent.

I'd love instant success, but I'm willing to give him time to get things to jell.

 

[Seahawks1983]

7-5 would be an extremely disappointing first year for Petersen. I still expect major improvement from what we've seen the first two games.

Then you haven't been paying attention. The UW offensive line is nothing like it was hyped up to be, the UW defensive line looks fat and slow, and UW starts 3 frosh in the secondary. Couple that will a whole new coaching staff, some natural attrition, and you have the makings for a 6-6, 7-5 type year, big thanks in part to an incredibly weak OOC slate.

I wouldn't be terribly surprised if the Apple Cup ends up being similar to the EWU/UW game. Two mediocre teams trading scores because no one can play defense.

 

[MLOhawks]

Well that "fat and slow" defensive line isn't doing that bad. Oh, and nose tackle Danny SHelton leads the nation in sacks and tackles for a loss (and leads the team in tackles).