Fade":2xakzkp6 said:
tersal":2xakzkp6 said:
Per Football Outsiders the Seahawks average time of possession per drive is
2:37 below the league average of 2:52. The Drive Success rate either a first down or touch down is .782 well above the league average of .745. Averaging 33.8 points a game second in the league clearly they are not emphasizing ball control. Let Russ cook is nice but longer drives would help the defense immensely. The team needs to find a happy medium between Let Russ Cook and Pete ball. Carson is the perfect back for a ball control rushing attack and he is averaging just 12.2 carries a game. The point is until this defense improves it is best to keep them off the field even if we see less of Russell Wilson's awesome passing game.
I would tend to agree if the defense was getting off the field early in the game, and as the game wore on they gassed out and couldn't get off the field.
They simply can't get off the field on 3rd down. That is the problem. The offense could also do a better job of converting on 3rd down, but they've been so explosive they've done a good job of avoiding the down entirely and putting points on the board.
They need to pick the tempo up actually early in games, build a big lead. Force the other team to press, get some turnovers. Then run the hell out of the ball in the 2nd half with a big lead. That is how they're built.
All slowing the game down on offense will do is lower the ceiling of what they can achieve. We watched that the last 5 years, I'm good. "Pete Ball" sucks.
Agree with what you said about not going full pete ball, but there is a ton of sense in not exposing your weaknesses. regardless of how successful the defense is or isnt on third down, keeping them off the field if you can is smart. i too have no love for an offense that doesnt utilize its strongest weapon. But i also remember all too well the holmgren years when we could run and shoot / west coast ourselves to a td in 1:52 seconds all day but then were constantly having to run back out on the field to retake the lead we'd just given up because the D was so porous.
What's the answer? there isnt a good one unless the D gets markedly better. We have won 5 straight. But we've also had the benefit of no crowd noise and its no surprise across the league that offenses on average are playing well. Will be interesting to see how crowd noise in hostile environments effects the current trend, including our Hawks. Assuming there are any crowds this year.
It will also be interesting to see how we counter the adjustments that other teams will make to our new look O. The Vikes neutralized us for a half. I would expect more of that in the future, maybe not with that degree of success, but i don't think the hawks can continue at the torrid pace they've been on without the defense stepping up. And if the O does begin to struggle and cant put up 30 burgers every week, it would be VERY smart to up our TOP as much as possible. that has zero to do with PeteBall. Its just smart ball.