Random Thoughts on the Rams game

[chris98251]

Our D line is based on a rotation, with so many injured that has now been altered and we don't have the guys in the right spots to make plays based on given situations, I know the comment was made early in the season they were trying to get it right even then, now it can't be even close to what they want. Add that the middle is now in trouble with Wagner out and Kam not playing how we know he can, he's not as fast and isn't hitting lanes like last year, at this point I almost think Johnson might fill better and get Kam right.

 

[DavidSeven]

I felt more encouraged watching Russell throw quickly and with confidence in the second half of a loss than I did with watching him running all over Washington in a win and beating them with end-arounds and broken play magic.

Why?

What I saw from Russell in the second half today is sustainable in this league. That stuff that we saw in Washington isn't. This offense has been living and dying on nothing but "lotto plays" and Lynch for too long. It took too long to get to this point, but this is about more than this week and more than THIS SEASON. Russell is about to become out franchise, $100 million QB. I want to believe he can be elite at both the conventional and non-conventional stuff for at least the next five years. I definitely saw that in the second half today. In big picture terms, this was possibly the best half we've seen this season.

 

[Appleegg1]

The defense?

Uh, the number one ranked defense in the NFL gives up 270 yards per game.
We gave up 272 yards today.

 

[byau]

Never has a devastating loss felt easier to take. The offense and even the secondary to a degree look to be back in form. If Seattle wants to go anywhere this year they must get right on offense and they must get right on pass defense. We saw some emphatically good signs from the offense and even a few signs of encouragement from the secondary.

Seattle lost a game, but they were in it despite a mountain of adversity. In a lot of ways, this game mirrors the structure of the Atlanta playoff loss a couple years ago. Big halftime deficit, no pass rush, not the greatest run defense, Lynch struggling early, and Wilson turning it on in the second half with one of the finest performances of his career. All to be undone by an improbable finish by the opponent.

You had me at "Never has a devastating loss felt easier to take".

On point, as usual, and I had that feeling of optimism despite it all as well.

After Harvin was traded, I honestly felt a HUGE amount of relief. Team chemistry is so vital to our success. That being said, I did start thinking I would not be surprised by a loss.

I figured the Hawks would overcome injuries

A disruption in how the team does things, EVEN FOR THE BETTER, came only two days before the game and without any time to let it sink in.

I was expecting a lot of fire, but possibly a lot of enthusiastic running around blindly since they didn't have time to get back to the Seahawk way

I do look forward to the rest of the season, and definitely see us winning that crucial stretch of games against our division foes at the end of the season.

 

[byau]

P.S. I checked the stats only briefly right after the game, Wilson passed for 300+ yards right? And 0 INT? With no Harvin?

Just by the numbers, that's A LOT of production for the Seattle receiving corps. Sure a loss is tough, you got to know if there is a moral victory, that's one of them.

 

[pcbball12]

The defense?

Uh, the number one ranked defense in the NFL gives up 270 yards per game.
We gave up 272 yards today.

It goes well beyond yards man. They couldn't get off the field on 3rd down once again. Rams were 4/9 on 3rd down and 1/1 on 4th down ( 2/2 if you count the fake punt ). Rams were also 3/3 converting touchdowns in the red zone. Throw that in with a few inopportune penalties, the failure to create any pressure, and the failure to cause any turnovers and you have a pretty bad performance by the defense.

They have to tighten up in the red zone and find a way to get off the field on 3rd downs or this will continue to be a frustrating defense to watch. Too much talent to not get things turned around IMO, but it hasn't been pretty so far. Teams are staying patient and taking the dinks and dunks. When you aren't flying to the ball like normal and missing tackles dinking and dunking will beat you.

 

[morgulon1]

Fisher called a fake punt, inside his own 20, just last year. On the road.

Yep, and the Coaches should have been aware of this. And aware that Fisher has always been a trickster (music city miracle anyone?) and ESPECIALLY against the Seahawks!

We got outcoached today...

Good call and to the point. I blame this one on coaching as well.

 

[dontbelikethat]

Fisher called a fake punt, inside his own 20, just last year. On the road.

Yep, and the Coaches should have been aware of this. And aware that Fisher has always been a trickster (music city miracle anyone?) and ESPECIALLY against the Seahawks!

We got outcoached today...

Good call and to the point. I blame this one on coaching as well.

Saw somewhere (think it was the ET interview) where he said the ST coach prepared them for it and they knew that the Rams were "trick shift team." Said they prepared for it, just didn't get it done.

But as others said, could've played base defense there,etc.

EDIT: Yup, ET said it in his interview. PC also said they prepared for it in his press conference.

 

[Anthony!]

I feel positive after this loss. I'm not going to speculate on our season prospects, but save for one part of the second when our pass protection dissolved into smoke, the offense had more rhythm today than before now.

Offense can only click with zone read, I'm positive now.

you realize they did not do that much zone read, only a couple of times

 

[Anthony!]

Turn either of our first half FG's into TD'd and the entire game changes. Rams had a good day, we didn't and still lost by two after shooting ourselves in the foot twice in the first half. Our offense shares responsibility.

They are far down on the list in responsibility.

 

[Anthony!]

Has Pete always been this skittish about his QBs? You'd think by now he should trust Russell enough to take the "governor" off of him.

Yes PC has said he wants low scoring games, low risk get a small lead and let his defense win it. Combine that with the OC scripting the first 25+ plays and not being willing to change when they are stalling and there you go. In the 2nd half when the first half goes like today, they unless Wilson and you see what our offense could really be. One of the reason I worry about resigning Wilson not sure he will want to stay when they are holding him back

 

[Anthony!]

Hope it's as simple as Wilson trusting himself or Pete trusting him to pull the trigger across the middle. Fear that teams will adjust and take away the quick hitters and we will have to pass protect, and that's when the passing resurgence dies.
Gives us something to look forward to next week though, seeing if a blip can become a trend.

I think it is simple this is how PC wants to play close to the vest on Offense get a lead and then let the defense bring it home. He has said it many times. This has nothing to do with Wilson trusting himself but the way PC wants to play. When it does not work at half they basically tell Rw to do his thing. I know people in the Seahawks Org and they have been telling me this for 2 year now.

 

[gulliver]

Brian Schneider, he's the Special Teams coach, this should be on him.

Tough loss, but I'm not going to allow myself to wallow in it. Instead, I'm looking forward to the WIN in Carolina. :th2thumbs:

No excuses, but special teams has been the lone bright spot this year. You have to have 2 or 3 units firing on all cylinders and playing complete games; you can't depend on ST all season long without the O or the D stepping up in a big way. Today, the ST was bad, which is rare, although we were tested by trick plays. The O was bad until the 2nd half. And the D was just shaky.

Ugh, just a completely different looking team this year.

 

[hawker84]

I agree with you on pretty much everything Kearly. Although a very tough loss to swallow, the second half gave me hope that we can right this ship and get back to playing Seahawk football.

STL went into complete desperation mode to pull out that victory (good on them). I do have concerns with the D Line, and i the O line still, but man it was good to see Lynch/Baldwin/Kearse being a key part of the offense again. And how bout them rooks..

I'm over this one, as others stated, one definitely to grow from, and that Niner curb stomping eased the pain quite a bit.

Cards will stumble when they get to the meat of their schedule, Niners are looking very beatable, as are we, but all we got to do is get in the dance...

Go Hawks!!!!!!!

 

[Largent80]

I can't figure out why Pete would be surprised they tried that fake since they did it to us just 2 years ago.

It's more than a brain fart, it is a no-brainer to prepare to see it, if it ends up as a punt then we still get decent field position with plenty of time even though the only time out would have been the 2:00 warning.

It shouldn't have even come down to that but we let them score on a punt return plus give up 75 on a K.O. return.

The K.O. led to 7 so we spotted them 14 on S.T.

Obviously the "new" game plan sans Harvin didn't get enough time to get the required reps, and our o-line was getting abused by a team that previously had only 1 sack.

I have to re-watch because the penalties and non calls drove me away from the TV.

Simply put = This team (right now) is not good enough to beat the other team AND the refs on the same day.

 

[pehawk]

I feel positive after this loss. I'm not going to speculate on our season prospects, but save for one part of the second when our pass protection dissolved into smoke, the offense had more rhythm today than before now.

Offense can only click with zone read, I'm positive now.

you realize they did not do that much zone read, only a couple of times

No I didn't realize that. Wow, I'm stunned. I mean, here I thought we ran it 100% of the time and that's what the offense needs to be.

Now I feel dumb, I should really start watching the games.

Good stuff...

 

[HawkFan72]

And the Rams are borderline being a good team. They have a ridiculous amount of talent but have had bad luck with the QB until Austin Davis came along. They gave the 49ers hell last week for a good part of the game and were keeping it close until Austin Davis threw a pick 6.

For me they played well for nearly one half against the Niners. Then gave up an 80-yard TD to end the half. And the Niners took total control in the second.

I think they'll struggle to win four games this year personally. None of their high picks from the RGIII trade are paying off. They have no idea what to do with Tavon Austin.

Last year we lost to the Colts, Niners and Cards. I know we had a few close ones too, but we didn't lose to a team anywhere near as bad as this St. Louis outfit.

We could have very easily lost to Houston, Tampa Bay, and the Rams last year. VERY easily. This game was similar to all those games.

 

[morgulon1]

Fisher called a fake punt, inside his own 20, just last year. On the road.

Yep, and the Coaches should have been aware of this. And aware that Fisher has always been a trickster (music city miracle anyone?) and ESPECIALLY against the Seahawks!

We got outcoached today...

Good call and to the point. I blame this one on coaching as well.

Saw somewhere (think it was the ET interview) where he said the ST coach prepared them for it and they knew that the Rams were "trick shift team." Said they prepared for it, just didn't get it done.

But as others said, could've played base defense there,etc.

EDIT: Yup, ET said it in his interview. PC also said they prepared for it in his press conference.[/quot




If this is the case, it was poor ineffective coaching haha.

 

[Anonymous]

If this is the case, it was poor ineffective coaching haha.

It may have been more about lack of focus than anything else.

 

[AgentDib]

Trash talking Austin Davis sounds a lot like sour grapes. He played very efficiently and didn't turn the ball over against a defense desperate for takeaways, kudos to him.

The coaching staff should have been ready for the fake punt but I'm not surprised that Harvin and our injury situation distracted them this week. I'm sure Pete put a ton of effort into managing the locker room this week and we had a lot of different faces out there on special teams. It sucks but I just don't buy that they thought about it and rejected it as a possibility.

The Baldwin change seems well explained based on his post game comments. He said that he was originally playing the Zebra (11 personnel set), had transitioned to the X, but now was switching back to Zebra and that has been a challenging process.

I didn't like the announcer's criticism of Helfet vs. Quinn; it's the sort of comment that gets made when a player loses a block but would never get made if the block had been successful. Helfet isn't some 5'8" RB, he is a big guy and our offense relies heavily on TE blocking, and Pete said in TC that his blocking was nearly up to the level of his receiving. I wouldn't be surprised if Helfet takes some snaps away from Willson going forwards as I think Willson is the guy with much further to go in pass protection.