kearly
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I gave my initial thoughts in SCSis's thread. I rewatched the game just now focusing particularly on the OL and DL. Here are some of the things my eyes saw, maybe your eyes saw differently, but here goes my 2 cents:
OL
Bradley Sowell was once ranked as the worst tackle in the NFL by PFF. In the first couple of drives from this game, he looked the part. He simply had no answer for the spin move. He was a matador. He even whiffed on some run blocks early. However, after a brutal start he eventually settled down against Griffen and controlled the 2nd quarter pretty well. He also had some solid run blocking as the game went along and looked surprisingly decent going to the 2nd level.
I don't want to overstate things, but but... ah screw it. Mark Glowinsky is starting to look like he might be as big of a steal in the 2015 draft as Tyler Lockett was. He had some monster run blocks for the 2nd week in a row. He looks strong at the point of attack and moves well to the second level. In protection he was rock solid and always seemed to handle things without breaking a sweat or ceding more ground than necessary. Glowinsky played RG in college but so far he looks even more natural at LG than he did at RG. If there is one Seahawks OL who looks like a pro-bowler, it's Glowinsky.
Britt improved on his week 1 performance by continuing to stay strong at the point of attack in the run game while moving well to the second level and being reasonably stout against the bullrush. The Vikings blitzed often but did so mostly with outside overload and corner blitzes, rather than with stunts. Britt struggled badly with stunts in 2015 and had some issues with stunts last week, but the Vikings seemed to avoid running them which helped make Britt look good this week. I still want to see him pick up 10 stunts in a row before I jump on the hype train, but I do like the run blocking element he adds for sure. As far as his height, I'm not TOO worried about it. Max Unger was 6'5" and Wilson did fine.
Ifedi had the worst technique of the five starters by far but generally avoided big mistakes. He looked athletic going to the 2nd level and flashed power at times. He wasn't tested much in protection which is probably a good thing. Overall he looked pretty mediocre. Tools wise he is like Okung, tons of room to grow.
As was the case last season, Gilliam struggled to generate push on one on one blocks, and on at least one occasion I saw him essentially give up on run blocking on a running play, content to stand still hugging his assignment with no leg churn at all. It's preseason, but I'd really like to know why this kind of effort doesn't get him in Tom Cable's doghouse. Protection-wise, Gilliam is okay but will probably be exposed against elite pass rushers. Gilliam's lack of nastiness and core strength makes him a poor fit for RT, IMO. I really hope Webb can make it back and be decent, because Gilliam feels like a placeholder there. Gilliam's not terrible, but he's not helping much either. He's Tyler Polumbus-lite.
George Fant is probably playing for a practice squad spot. He's very much the Konz of the OL. Even moreso than Sokoli.
I still can't understand why Seattle drafted Rees Odhiambo in the 3rd round. He looks like a camp body out there.
When John Moffitt was a Seahawk, he was never as bad as his rep. He had fringe NFL tools and never dominated anyone, but he was a technician who was really good at just barely making key blocks that set up rushing TDs by Marshawn Lynch. In protection he was bad, but not awful, IMO. In other words, he was a backup caliber player, and if not for the off-field / motivational issues and the headaches, he'd probably still be playing in the NFL today.
I bring this up because I don't see a John Moffitt comp as a total slam, especially not for an undersized rookie. And so far, Joey Hunt is giving me John Moffitt vibes. He has great technique, but he is physically at his limits to just get by at times. It's hard for me to envision him as a starter on a good OL, but as a backup, I'm happy with how he's played so far. I wouldn't keep him over Patrick Lewis, but I wouldn't mind keeping him as a 3rd center either.
Jahri Evans looks slow and surprisingly small. He had one nice drive block but also whiffed badly on a RB screen block that should have been automatic. Don't be surprised if he gets cut.
Terry Poole has been a bit of a sleeper this preseason. He's looked competent in both the run game and in protection. Competent, not great. But still, competent is probably good enough to make the 53 man this year.
DL
Tony McDaniel didn't play a ton but still managed 3 impact plays. Hopefully he can still look that good against starters.
Frank Clark had a solid but somewhat quiet game. His sack was really more on the QB than on Clark. He had 4 tackles and 1 hustle TFL to go with a couple of pressures. That sounds like he had a great game, but I still feel like he's too much of a non-factor on too many snaps to view him as a 2016 difference maker. Ideally you'd like your future at pass rusher to be worth more than a few pressures a game. He's not the constant disruptive force that Michael Bennett is or that Frank Clark himself was in the 2015 preseason. Avril was also a non-factor. Though in fairness to both players, the Vikings QBs rarely held the football long enough for the pass rush to factor.
DT Tylor Harris displayed some monster power during a late game series, but then quickly seemed to disappear after that. Must be the kind of player who's motor runs hot and cold. But for a few plays, he was definitely worth being noticed.
Jarran Reed improved from his week one performance. He was a bit more aggressive this time attacking gaps and trying to get into the backfield.
Other thoughts
I feel a lot less negative about the team after rewatching the game. Seattle's 1st string team moved the ball much better than the Vikings did. Yes, the vikings were without AP and Bridgewater, but Shaun Hill is a borderline starter level QB IMO and he played a very sharp game.
The Vikings really only had two good drives in the entire game. Both of them came with several Seahawks starters being out of the defense. Shaun Hill trusted his pocket enough to stay in it while delivering perfectly aimed strikes down the field and to safety valves. The key play on their TD drive was taking advantage of the Seahawks "switchoff" point when the MLB passes the TE off to a safety. Remember how Cincy abused Seattle with this play last season? Well, Minnesota noticed. Seattle seemed to clean up this issue after the TD drive. The 2nd good drive was aided by penalties and a prevent defense. It resulted in 3 points.
Did Tye Smith really add weight this offseason? He still looks like a string bean out there.
I liked how confident Boykins was. He made some mistakes on that last drive, but still, I liked how he seemed to completely push the pick six out of his mind and simply go for the win. He has that same "never say die" mentality that Russell has. Given that Boykins has played so much already, you have to wonder if Seattle has already decided on him as the #2 QB and is just trying to get him game reps at this point.
Kevin Pierre Lewis still stinks. He might make the roster though, our linebacker group after Wagner and Wright looks awful.
Tyvis Powell played but had minimal impact. He's back on the roster bubble.
Most of the sacks came on corner blitzes and overloading one side. I don't think there was any sack that I would put most of the blame on the OL for. The QB has to diagnose or at least get rid of the football. Blitz pickup in the backfield was a huge issue as well. Collins, Brooks, and Pope all struggled with blitz pickup.
Pope had a great game running the football, though he whiffed on a blitz pickup that directly contributed to the game losing pick-six.
Michael's one catch at WR was a thing of beauty.
I really hope this is Luke Willson's last year here. The guy can't block much, and he can't catch.
Shead looked pretty good in this game, as did the rest of the corners. That's a contributing factor for why the Vikings QBs were picking on our LBs so much.
On Collins' botched 4th and 1 run, the Vikings defense showed zero respect for his speed, crashing the safety down instead of containing the outside. Had Rawls, Michael, or Pope taken that handoff with the same defensive look and with the safety crashing down, they could have bounced outside for a 50 yard touchdown. There was nobody there.
OL
Bradley Sowell was once ranked as the worst tackle in the NFL by PFF. In the first couple of drives from this game, he looked the part. He simply had no answer for the spin move. He was a matador. He even whiffed on some run blocks early. However, after a brutal start he eventually settled down against Griffen and controlled the 2nd quarter pretty well. He also had some solid run blocking as the game went along and looked surprisingly decent going to the 2nd level.
I don't want to overstate things, but but... ah screw it. Mark Glowinsky is starting to look like he might be as big of a steal in the 2015 draft as Tyler Lockett was. He had some monster run blocks for the 2nd week in a row. He looks strong at the point of attack and moves well to the second level. In protection he was rock solid and always seemed to handle things without breaking a sweat or ceding more ground than necessary. Glowinsky played RG in college but so far he looks even more natural at LG than he did at RG. If there is one Seahawks OL who looks like a pro-bowler, it's Glowinsky.
Britt improved on his week 1 performance by continuing to stay strong at the point of attack in the run game while moving well to the second level and being reasonably stout against the bullrush. The Vikings blitzed often but did so mostly with outside overload and corner blitzes, rather than with stunts. Britt struggled badly with stunts in 2015 and had some issues with stunts last week, but the Vikings seemed to avoid running them which helped make Britt look good this week. I still want to see him pick up 10 stunts in a row before I jump on the hype train, but I do like the run blocking element he adds for sure. As far as his height, I'm not TOO worried about it. Max Unger was 6'5" and Wilson did fine.
Ifedi had the worst technique of the five starters by far but generally avoided big mistakes. He looked athletic going to the 2nd level and flashed power at times. He wasn't tested much in protection which is probably a good thing. Overall he looked pretty mediocre. Tools wise he is like Okung, tons of room to grow.
As was the case last season, Gilliam struggled to generate push on one on one blocks, and on at least one occasion I saw him essentially give up on run blocking on a running play, content to stand still hugging his assignment with no leg churn at all. It's preseason, but I'd really like to know why this kind of effort doesn't get him in Tom Cable's doghouse. Protection-wise, Gilliam is okay but will probably be exposed against elite pass rushers. Gilliam's lack of nastiness and core strength makes him a poor fit for RT, IMO. I really hope Webb can make it back and be decent, because Gilliam feels like a placeholder there. Gilliam's not terrible, but he's not helping much either. He's Tyler Polumbus-lite.
George Fant is probably playing for a practice squad spot. He's very much the Konz of the OL. Even moreso than Sokoli.
I still can't understand why Seattle drafted Rees Odhiambo in the 3rd round. He looks like a camp body out there.
When John Moffitt was a Seahawk, he was never as bad as his rep. He had fringe NFL tools and never dominated anyone, but he was a technician who was really good at just barely making key blocks that set up rushing TDs by Marshawn Lynch. In protection he was bad, but not awful, IMO. In other words, he was a backup caliber player, and if not for the off-field / motivational issues and the headaches, he'd probably still be playing in the NFL today.
I bring this up because I don't see a John Moffitt comp as a total slam, especially not for an undersized rookie. And so far, Joey Hunt is giving me John Moffitt vibes. He has great technique, but he is physically at his limits to just get by at times. It's hard for me to envision him as a starter on a good OL, but as a backup, I'm happy with how he's played so far. I wouldn't keep him over Patrick Lewis, but I wouldn't mind keeping him as a 3rd center either.
Jahri Evans looks slow and surprisingly small. He had one nice drive block but also whiffed badly on a RB screen block that should have been automatic. Don't be surprised if he gets cut.
Terry Poole has been a bit of a sleeper this preseason. He's looked competent in both the run game and in protection. Competent, not great. But still, competent is probably good enough to make the 53 man this year.
DL
Tony McDaniel didn't play a ton but still managed 3 impact plays. Hopefully he can still look that good against starters.
Frank Clark had a solid but somewhat quiet game. His sack was really more on the QB than on Clark. He had 4 tackles and 1 hustle TFL to go with a couple of pressures. That sounds like he had a great game, but I still feel like he's too much of a non-factor on too many snaps to view him as a 2016 difference maker. Ideally you'd like your future at pass rusher to be worth more than a few pressures a game. He's not the constant disruptive force that Michael Bennett is or that Frank Clark himself was in the 2015 preseason. Avril was also a non-factor. Though in fairness to both players, the Vikings QBs rarely held the football long enough for the pass rush to factor.
DT Tylor Harris displayed some monster power during a late game series, but then quickly seemed to disappear after that. Must be the kind of player who's motor runs hot and cold. But for a few plays, he was definitely worth being noticed.
Jarran Reed improved from his week one performance. He was a bit more aggressive this time attacking gaps and trying to get into the backfield.
Other thoughts
I feel a lot less negative about the team after rewatching the game. Seattle's 1st string team moved the ball much better than the Vikings did. Yes, the vikings were without AP and Bridgewater, but Shaun Hill is a borderline starter level QB IMO and he played a very sharp game.
The Vikings really only had two good drives in the entire game. Both of them came with several Seahawks starters being out of the defense. Shaun Hill trusted his pocket enough to stay in it while delivering perfectly aimed strikes down the field and to safety valves. The key play on their TD drive was taking advantage of the Seahawks "switchoff" point when the MLB passes the TE off to a safety. Remember how Cincy abused Seattle with this play last season? Well, Minnesota noticed. Seattle seemed to clean up this issue after the TD drive. The 2nd good drive was aided by penalties and a prevent defense. It resulted in 3 points.
Did Tye Smith really add weight this offseason? He still looks like a string bean out there.
I liked how confident Boykins was. He made some mistakes on that last drive, but still, I liked how he seemed to completely push the pick six out of his mind and simply go for the win. He has that same "never say die" mentality that Russell has. Given that Boykins has played so much already, you have to wonder if Seattle has already decided on him as the #2 QB and is just trying to get him game reps at this point.
Kevin Pierre Lewis still stinks. He might make the roster though, our linebacker group after Wagner and Wright looks awful.
Tyvis Powell played but had minimal impact. He's back on the roster bubble.
Most of the sacks came on corner blitzes and overloading one side. I don't think there was any sack that I would put most of the blame on the OL for. The QB has to diagnose or at least get rid of the football. Blitz pickup in the backfield was a huge issue as well. Collins, Brooks, and Pope all struggled with blitz pickup.
Pope had a great game running the football, though he whiffed on a blitz pickup that directly contributed to the game losing pick-six.
Michael's one catch at WR was a thing of beauty.
I really hope this is Luke Willson's last year here. The guy can't block much, and he can't catch.
Shead looked pretty good in this game, as did the rest of the corners. That's a contributing factor for why the Vikings QBs were picking on our LBs so much.
On Collins' botched 4th and 1 run, the Vikings defense showed zero respect for his speed, crashing the safety down instead of containing the outside. Had Rawls, Michael, or Pope taken that handoff with the same defensive look and with the safety crashing down, they could have bounced outside for a 50 yard touchdown. There was nobody there.
