Tundra
New member
First off I'm not Kearly! Second these are my observations and in no way am I an expert. I have been around this site for years and have posted sporadically. I thought I would take a shot and post my observations during the pre-season. So let's begin.
1. Tyler Lockett. WOW! everything advertised about him was true and then some. He really had great vision finding and hitting the holes last night on returns. His 103 yard return TD was great to watch! It looked like he was just running at a speed no one else on the field had. It seemed you could actually see his gears shifting in his gait as he accelerated(I know total exaggeration).His speed is something this team needed. There has not been a speedster on this team like that since Harvin. I think Lockett will turn out better than him. Last night he put on a demonstration on how to debut in the NFL. Let's hope we see more inthe return game and a transition of that display when he plays WR.
2. D-line. If what we seen from this unit last night continues to grow during the rest of the pre-season,the rest of the NFL should be worried. The line was very disruptive and there was a deep pool of players all game that contributed. Frank Clark and Cassious Marsh really stood out. They were constantly getting pressure in the back field and almost recorded a few sacks. Those will come in time I believe. You could see Marsh is more experienced this pre-season than last and Clark just has the tools and ability to be a beast in the NFL. What was more impressive to me was there pursuit of the plays downfield pass the line of scrimmage. On two separate plays I notice both of them tackle a running back from behind. Clarke was about 5 yards past the line and Marsh was about 9-10 yards past. You got to love that type of motor and mentality from a D-line men. One negative that I must say, and this is more personal, I did not notice Rubin except coming off the field once. I was hoping to get a sample of his play and I have not re-watched it yet to really notice. I'm keeping an eye on him since the team let McDaniel go. Other than that I'm feeling very comfortable with the d-line after this game.
3. O-line. I really don't want to touch this one! Let me just say this, the O-line performance left me feeling like I was running for my life from my couch! They were constantly being abused( bull rushed, knockdown, and blown past) all night long. It was like watching a game in reverse. At the beginning of a pre-season game the starting QB's are protected and in the fourth quarter the 3rd stringer is just running for his life and hoping he is going to survive the game to pick up his game check. It was the exact opposite this game. Our third stringer Archer had a better pocket than Wilson. I do have faith in Cable to get this group together though. I mean come on he has been doing it the last few pre-season.
4. Other stand outs. Who is Ty Smith(#22?) he is one of the DB's filling in last night for the LOB. The whole group got dinked and dunked by Oswieler for a good portion of the game.(more on that in a bit) Smith stuck out to me though. He always seemed around the ball. He had a nice deflection where he got burned and then recovered and showed nice closing speed to catch up to the Denver receiver and rip his arms right when the ball was dropping for a big completion in the second quarter I believe. I'm going to be watching for him the rest of pre-season.
5. Injuries. Chris Matthews left the game with a shoulder injury and T-Jack left with an ankle injury. The reports coming in today are that they are both types of sprains to the respective areas and they will be out a few weeks maybe( I have not seen an official report from the Hawks yet at the time I'm writing this). I hope they take Matthews out of gunner position it looked like he was in during punts. That was the type of play he hurt his shoulder on. Actually it was a weird fluke as he was diving for a fumble that the Denver punt returner dropped if I remember and got his shoulder rolled it seemed. He has a lot of promise coming off that SB performance and I want to see more. Maybe this is a sign that Ricardo Lockett is on the bubble? Maybe.
6. Short passing game. I mentioned earlier that Denver did this. After the SB I think the rest of the NFL thinks this is the way to attack the Hawks defense and they are right, to a point. In the SB we had a run down LOB and they were negated by Brady and the short passing game. I believe we are going to see more of this type of game plan from opposing teams. But, I also believe with a healthy LOB this game plan will not work. The key is a hearty LOB. But I also believe that this D-line can be a force that will help negate this type of game plan. I'm just saying get used to seeing the short passing game from opposing teams till this team proves it is not going to work.
7. Jimmy. Almost forgot about Jimmy! I should just stop now for doing that but I won't. He finished with 1 catch for 12 yards. But boy what a catch. The play was a QB bootleg to the left and Jimmy made both the linebacker and the DB covering look stupid. He started the route from the tightend position off the left tackle and got off the line and started his route going towards the middle of the field. He then made a nice cut between the LB and the DB while Wilson rolled out to his left and was hit for a 12 yard gain. I can't remember if the catch was behind him a bit or in front of him but he showed that he has a huge catch radius on that play. I know we all know what we got when the trade happened but it was exciting seeing it on the field even if it was just one catch. Oh yeah, it was in the red zone too(I think).
This was the first pre-season game and I'm sure I'm missing a lot more. It's just great to have football back and not be talking solely about contracts and extensions. I will end and say that I'm happy with the first game all in all and I think that we will see better depth in most positions than last season. (Just fix the O-line) With that being said, if you have followed me to this point than you are definitely bored this morning! Just kidding. I throw this out to the wolves and am ready for what comes.
GO Hawks!!
1. Tyler Lockett. WOW! everything advertised about him was true and then some. He really had great vision finding and hitting the holes last night on returns. His 103 yard return TD was great to watch! It looked like he was just running at a speed no one else on the field had. It seemed you could actually see his gears shifting in his gait as he accelerated(I know total exaggeration).His speed is something this team needed. There has not been a speedster on this team like that since Harvin. I think Lockett will turn out better than him. Last night he put on a demonstration on how to debut in the NFL. Let's hope we see more inthe return game and a transition of that display when he plays WR.
2. D-line. If what we seen from this unit last night continues to grow during the rest of the pre-season,the rest of the NFL should be worried. The line was very disruptive and there was a deep pool of players all game that contributed. Frank Clark and Cassious Marsh really stood out. They were constantly getting pressure in the back field and almost recorded a few sacks. Those will come in time I believe. You could see Marsh is more experienced this pre-season than last and Clark just has the tools and ability to be a beast in the NFL. What was more impressive to me was there pursuit of the plays downfield pass the line of scrimmage. On two separate plays I notice both of them tackle a running back from behind. Clarke was about 5 yards past the line and Marsh was about 9-10 yards past. You got to love that type of motor and mentality from a D-line men. One negative that I must say, and this is more personal, I did not notice Rubin except coming off the field once. I was hoping to get a sample of his play and I have not re-watched it yet to really notice. I'm keeping an eye on him since the team let McDaniel go. Other than that I'm feeling very comfortable with the d-line after this game.
3. O-line. I really don't want to touch this one! Let me just say this, the O-line performance left me feeling like I was running for my life from my couch! They were constantly being abused( bull rushed, knockdown, and blown past) all night long. It was like watching a game in reverse. At the beginning of a pre-season game the starting QB's are protected and in the fourth quarter the 3rd stringer is just running for his life and hoping he is going to survive the game to pick up his game check. It was the exact opposite this game. Our third stringer Archer had a better pocket than Wilson. I do have faith in Cable to get this group together though. I mean come on he has been doing it the last few pre-season.
4. Other stand outs. Who is Ty Smith(#22?) he is one of the DB's filling in last night for the LOB. The whole group got dinked and dunked by Oswieler for a good portion of the game.(more on that in a bit) Smith stuck out to me though. He always seemed around the ball. He had a nice deflection where he got burned and then recovered and showed nice closing speed to catch up to the Denver receiver and rip his arms right when the ball was dropping for a big completion in the second quarter I believe. I'm going to be watching for him the rest of pre-season.
5. Injuries. Chris Matthews left the game with a shoulder injury and T-Jack left with an ankle injury. The reports coming in today are that they are both types of sprains to the respective areas and they will be out a few weeks maybe( I have not seen an official report from the Hawks yet at the time I'm writing this). I hope they take Matthews out of gunner position it looked like he was in during punts. That was the type of play he hurt his shoulder on. Actually it was a weird fluke as he was diving for a fumble that the Denver punt returner dropped if I remember and got his shoulder rolled it seemed. He has a lot of promise coming off that SB performance and I want to see more. Maybe this is a sign that Ricardo Lockett is on the bubble? Maybe.
6. Short passing game. I mentioned earlier that Denver did this. After the SB I think the rest of the NFL thinks this is the way to attack the Hawks defense and they are right, to a point. In the SB we had a run down LOB and they were negated by Brady and the short passing game. I believe we are going to see more of this type of game plan from opposing teams. But, I also believe with a healthy LOB this game plan will not work. The key is a hearty LOB. But I also believe that this D-line can be a force that will help negate this type of game plan. I'm just saying get used to seeing the short passing game from opposing teams till this team proves it is not going to work.
7. Jimmy. Almost forgot about Jimmy! I should just stop now for doing that but I won't. He finished with 1 catch for 12 yards. But boy what a catch. The play was a QB bootleg to the left and Jimmy made both the linebacker and the DB covering look stupid. He started the route from the tightend position off the left tackle and got off the line and started his route going towards the middle of the field. He then made a nice cut between the LB and the DB while Wilson rolled out to his left and was hit for a 12 yard gain. I can't remember if the catch was behind him a bit or in front of him but he showed that he has a huge catch radius on that play. I know we all know what we got when the trade happened but it was exciting seeing it on the field even if it was just one catch. Oh yeah, it was in the red zone too(I think).
This was the first pre-season game and I'm sure I'm missing a lot more. It's just great to have football back and not be talking solely about contracts and extensions. I will end and say that I'm happy with the first game all in all and I think that we will see better depth in most positions than last season. (Just fix the O-line) With that being said, if you have followed me to this point than you are definitely bored this morning! Just kidding. I throw this out to the wolves and am ready for what comes.
GO Hawks!!
