Quick impressions of the game

[sutz]

I suspect all of the "Let Russ Cook" crowd have Russ as their FF QB. :twisted:

The first five games of the season were great if you had our offensive guys in FF, but that's not what Pete's philosophy is about. Pete ball is what we're doing now, low on fantasy points but pretty damn good at winning games.

 

[Ambrose83]

My only concern or con of the game , was once again Russ's performance. I don't think he has a bad game, it's been like a month or more , that he's underperforming. I'm not trying to be the negative guy around , but i'm just writing what i see. First weeks of the season he was averaging 280-300 yards per game and 3-4 TDs. And the last 7 games he's averaging 200-220 yards per game , 2 TDs and 1 turnover per game. I hope he finds quickly , because in Playoffs we are going to face the best Ds. We may face again Rams in playoffs first game, their D is not a joke. Our D is being improved every game, but Russ...

How are we not? KC hasn't looked good in a month , mahomes is infact human. They totally should have lost to the falcons. NO is beatable, so is GB, with the d playing this well we can absoultely beat any of them .
But he drove the offense down and put the game away when he needed to making some great throws and playcalls.

So while I agree with you Russell hasn't been his best of late, he's making enough plays, and more importantly protecting the ball........something he wasn't doing mid season.

Again, are we up there with the top 3-4 teams in the league? Not sure, probably not. But in the playoffs it's more about health, good defense and timely offense, and we've got those things right now.

 

[LoneHawkFan]

This is a championship caliber team, no doubt. All three phases-

I'd say the Hawks are one notch below GB, NO and the top of the AFC............mainly due to the offense not quite clicking enough to put up 30+ against those elite teams.

But doesn't mean we can't win playoff games like we won yesterday, punishing playmaking D, good special teams and opportunistic offense with Russell making just enough plays to get playoff games to the 4th quarter with a chance to win.

So while I like how we're rounding into the playoffs healthy and playing solid, I'm not sold that we're a championship caliber team just yet, but certainly can trend that way and be a very dangerous team in the playoffs.

That's absolutely fair, and I agree. I'm looking at it like you alluded to- I like the trajectory, and depending on how we execute vs certain matchups in the postseason will determine our fate.

GB and KC are the cream of the crop, then there's a group of about 4-5 that are a notch below.
I think we're as good as NO right now.
Maybe not up to the level of play of Buffalo.
Tampa is the true essence of the term- the wildcard in all of this. I feel like they can beat anyone- and it seems they've really come together as of late.

I think we all see the struggles at times with this offense right now. We definitely need it to click on a few more drives.

 

[DomeHawk]

Aikman made a comment a halftime regarding Russ and his play in the first half, "His protection hasn't held up and there hasn't been anywhere to go with the ball".

Of course, that wasn't the case for every single offensive snap in the first half, but I thought it was a pretty fair comment and generally pretty accurate for the most part.

Not trying to absolve Russ of any blame for the poor first half performance by the offense, but he can't do it all by himself. Especially against the best D in the NFL. The rest of the offense needs to play better also.

It was a good comment by a HOF QB that knows what he's talking about. There have been times this year, even when he's had time, that he has stood there flat-footed trying to find somebody that was open.

 

[LTH]

I suspect all of the "Let Russ Cook" crowd have Russ as their FF QB. :twisted:

The first five games of the season were great if you had our offensive guys in FF, but that's not what Pete's philosophy is about. Pete ball is what we're doing now, low on fantasy points but pretty damn good at winning games.

Yep!! Pete ball is about efficiency and balance..

LTH

 

[HawkRiderFan]

Loved reading the analysis. Couple of things I was really happy about:

-The Rams since 2017 have owned the Hawks D on those jet sweeps and bootlegs. The D took that away yesterday. What a difference!
-Some people say Adams is poor in coverage and admittedly I don't think he's as good at as he is rushing the passer and stopping the run. But it's nice to see he's not all bad in coverage with the play he made on the seam route that he could have picked off.

-I'll give the O-line a pass re. the 5 sacks considering they are playing Donald and Floyd who is having a really good year too, and that was without our starting right tackle. Honestly I think Russ ran into 2 of those sacks if they called those times he took off up the middle as sacks.
-Speaking of which, just my opinion, but I would like to see Russ trust himself and his receivers more. On one sack, on the view behind him you could see man coverage downfield. The coverage was pretty good, but with the talent we have at receivers I wouldn't mind seeing him throw up a one on one ball and see if they make a play like the Moore catch.

 

[IndyHawk]

I suspect all of the "Let Russ Cook" crowd have Russ as their FF QB. :twisted:

The first five games of the season were great if you had our offensive guys in FF, but that's not what Pete's philosophy is about. Pete ball is what we're doing now, low on fantasy points but pretty damn good at winning games.

One could say Pete ball helped revive that defense..

 

[John63]

Loved reading the analysis. Couple of things I was really happy about:

-The Rams since 2017 have owned the Hawks D on those jet sweeps and bootlegs. The D took that away yesterday. What a difference!
-Some people say Adams is poor in coverage and admittedly I don't think he's as good at as he is rushing the passer and stopping the run. But it's nice to see he's not all bad in coverage with the play he made on the seam route that he could have picked off.

-I'll give the O-line a pass re. the 5 sacks considering they are playing Donald and Floyd who is having a really good year too, and that was without our starting right tackle. Honestly I think Russ ran into 2 of those sacks if they called those times he took off up the middle as sacks.
-Speaking of which, just my opinion, but I would like to see Russ trust himself and his receivers more. On one sack, on the view behind him you could see man coverage downfield. The coverage was pretty good, but with the talent we have at receivers I wouldn't mind seeing him throw up a one on one ball and see if they make a play like the Moore catch.

right and then if the receiver messes up and its int you blame Wilson.

 

[HawkRiderFan]

Loved reading the analysis. Couple of things I was really happy about:

-The Rams since 2017 have owned the Hawks D on those jet sweeps and bootlegs. The D took that away yesterday. What a difference!
-Some people say Adams is poor in coverage and admittedly I don't think he's as good at as he is rushing the passer and stopping the run. But it's nice to see he's not all bad in coverage with the play he made on the seam route that he could have picked off.

-I'll give the O-line a pass re. the 5 sacks considering they are playing Donald and Floyd who is having a really good year too, and that was without our starting right tackle. Honestly I think Russ ran into 2 of those sacks if they called those times he took off up the middle as sacks.
-Speaking of which, just my opinion, but I would like to see Russ trust himself and his receivers more. On one sack, on the view behind him you could see man coverage downfield. The coverage was pretty good, but with the talent we have at receivers I wouldn't mind seeing him throw up a one on one ball and see if they make a play like the Moore catch.

right and then if the receiver messes up and its int you blame Wilson.

Oh I will, will I? Please enlighten on what else I will say in other situations for my future reference.

 

[Nunya]

- Carroll's challenge. I'm not sure what he was told regarding the fumble from above, but there was no angle which showed anything close to a clear Seattle recovery.. or any sort of Seattle recovery at all. Seemed like Goff got it right back. It was inconsequential, and I would've been fine with it in the first half due to the risk/reward involved and the general incompetence of officiating... but second half? I love Pete, but that could have come back to bite them.

In the presser today, PC said that they had no word from upstairs as to whether there was a cleaar recovery or not. All he knew was that there was a fumble and believed a Seahawk player recovered. He took a shot at getting it ruled a turnover, getting the ball, and ending the Ram's drive.

Sounds like a reasonable decision. It would have been a much dumber decision to not throw a challenge flag had there been a clear recovery.

 

[olyfan63]

Loved reading the analysis. Couple of things I was really happy about:

-The Rams since 2017 have owned the Hawks D on those jet sweeps and bootlegs. The D took that away yesterday. What a difference!
-snip-

Wasn't that refreshing??!! The Niners have a similar type of play with Deebo Samuel they run against us routinely for 10+ yard gains. I think rookie LB Jordyn Brooks is becoming a factor, plus Jamal Adams, on those types of plays. Those two guys upgrade our team speed on D.

 

[olyfan63]

At first the challenge annoyed me too.

Looking back I think he was gonna call a TO anyway to get the defence lined up properly, rather than call a TO you may as well throw a challenge - same difference, with a slight chance of a turnover.

In hindsight, it was brilliant because it was going to take extra time, get extra rest, looking for a clear recovery.

 

[HawkRiderFan]

Loved reading the analysis. Couple of things I was really happy about:

-The Rams since 2017 have owned the Hawks D on those jet sweeps and bootlegs. The D took that away yesterday. What a difference!
-snip-

Wasn't that refreshing??!! The Niners have a similar type of play with Deebo Samuel they run against us routinely for 10+ yard gains. I think rookie LB Jordyn Brooks is becoming a factor, plus Jamal Adams, on those types of plays. Those two guys upgrade our team speed on D.

I know he wasn't a popular pick at the time, and besides reading scouting reports and knowing what the Hawks' needs are I really don't have a good opinion on picks. But one thing I thought reading about Brooks's speed and nose for the ball was he would help on those plays that the Rams and Niners were burning us on.