jlaff35
New member
This is an article I wrote for our blog, hawksontap.com, but wanted to share it here for my friends at .net. I take a look at the good, bad, and the ugly performances in yesterday's game, see if you agree or tell me what I missed! If you want to read the article in it's best format, head to my blog where there are pictures, etc. But if not, enjoy it here!
Wow, that felt good. Felt good to see our Hawks get back to pounding the ball at will against an opponent that wanted no part of our physicality. It seems like the Hawks have been getting close to erupting like this after a string of lackluster offensive performances, and boy did they erupt. A franchise record 350 rushing yards. First time ever has a team had a running back score 4 TD's in a game, yet have another rusher gain over 100 yards. Granted, this wasn't a very good defense that the Hawks exploited, but at this point, after recent struggles, you take it when you can get it. Was it a perfect game? No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it was finally a game that I didn't have to chew my nails all the way til the end of the game. On this beautiful Sunday, with vintage Seattle weather, the Hawks and the 12th Man authored a vintage Seahawk performance. Let's take a look at some of the performances that stuck out on Sunday.
The Good
Marshawn Lynch - a very, very obvious call here as Beast Mode had the best game of his career, scoring 4 touchdowns and energizing the players and the fans equally. Lynch is the heart and soul of this team, and he proved that on Sunday yet again. By the end of the game, the Giants wanted no part in tackling him, which was never more evident than on Lynch's final TD run where Zach Bowman literally backed away from Lynch and basically waived him into the end zone as if he were a 3rd base coach. That play made me smile! Never mind the fact that I have Lynch on my fantasy team! What's crazy is he should have had 5 TD's, he just missed out on one where he was down at the half yard line and somehow the Hawks failed to punch it in from there. I'm not sure what is happening behind the scenes with Lynch, his attitude, his buy in, his relationship with teammates, his desire to make this his last year in Seattle, etc, but what I am sure about is that this man plays his ass off on the field and runs with a passion that is unmatched in today's NFL. There's a reason legendary RB's Barry Sanders and Jim Brown call Marshawn the best back in the NFL.
Offensive Line- kind of goes without saying that when you break a franchise record for rushing yards, your offensive line had a pretty good day. Props to this much maligned group for answering the bell and stepping up in a must win game for the Hawks. Definitely helped having Max Unger and Russell Okung back in the lineup. It's funny how sometimes we as fans just expect the offensive line to function as normal, even when missing two former All-Pro players. It's not as easy as just "plug and play" and today was a good illustration of that. Another positive sign was that we seemed to cut down on pre-snap penalties, and in amazing fashion, none of Marshawn's big plays were called back due to penalty! Amazing.
Earl Thomas - I've been a pretty harsh critic of Earl Thomas this season. I love the guy, but I expect so much more from him because we know how good he is. There have been entire games where I haven't even noticed Earl was on the field. Today, I noticed him in on a lot more tackles, playing closer to line of scrimmage. Plus, his interception was classic Earl. Hustling all over the place, never giving up on a play, and being able to make a game changing play when the opportunity arises. I think we need to see more of Earl near the line of scrimmage. I know he plays center field in a single high scheme, but teams aren't really testing us deep all that much, and frankly we should be encouraging them to do so as defending the deep ball is our strength. It sure the hell isn't defending the underneath routes. Yes, I know Beckham roasted us one time, but sometimes that happens. I'll trade that for an opportunity to have Earl more involved in shutting down the short to intermediate routes, until teams dictate that we go back to putting Earl way back there.
Kevin Pierre Louis - KPL is the man. Pete and John have struck gold yet again by drafting this athletic freak in the 4th round. 5 tackles yesterday, and his role just continues to grow. He plays from sideline to sideline and I'm excited to watch him grow. He made a play late in the game on a screen play where he took on a blocker, jumped over him, and made a solid diving tackle to prevent any yardage. When that play was made, my phone blew up with texts from my Hawks on Tap brethren saying how great that play was.
The Bad
Russell Wilson - I hate putting him on this list, but sometimes it happens. Is it me or does it seem like every season at around this time he goes into a huge funk? What's the deal RW? Maybe make some time for sleep. Sometimes you must take a step back from the situation in order to see the picture more clearly. I still have 100% faith in Russell, don't get me wrong. We are just going to need much better performances as we head into a 6 game stretch against all playoff teams. Those two brutal interceptions were ugly, but I kind of have a problem with the first one, the play call anyway. Here we have a speed burner in Paul Richardson. Drafted to take the top off of defenses. Yet we insist on using him on hitch routes. Guess what Darrell Bevell? Teams have no fear of us throwing the ball any further than 15 yards, so before you call a hitch to PRich (that's a rhyme I can get behind!), you may want to at least show that you have the stones to send him on a 9 route. One thing I loved about Russell Wilson today is that he was so willing to keep the ball on the read option. Not sure why he doesn't do this way more often. He has to realize that every single time he keeps it and gains even 5 yards, it makes Marshawn's job 10 times easier as they have to respect the keeper. Interesting stat: Now that Russell Wilson has three 100 yard rushing games this season, only Demarco Murray and Arian Foster have more than him! That's just crazy.
The Ugly
Pass Defense - not really sure what the deal is here. We literally have no answer for stopping the pass. Unless it's 3rd and 8 or more, the odds of our defense getting off the field is slim to none. This has to change fast, especially with check down master Alex Smith next on the docket. We allowed the Giants to go 6 for 12 on 3rd downs for the game, but i'm betting it was 5 for 6 in the first half (I'm not a stat guy, not going to look that up haha). Here's what I realized once we got up by a couple scores yesterday: this defense is meant to play with a lead. I know most defenses are, but the Hawks especially thrive when they can make the offense one dimensional. Unfortunately, we haven't been in that situation very many times this season in which we were up by more than 7 points. In fairness, the D stepped up in the 2nd half and didn't allow any scores, but really against a poor Giant team, I take that with a grain of salt. I'm not going to crush our guys for giving up yardage to Odell Beckham. This guy is the real deal, as Sherm even himself acknowledged after the game to Beckham. He will burn many teams in his bright career. We actually made some good adjustments on him in the second half, which was nice to see.
Well that was a much needed blowout win. 6-3 with a 6 game gauntlet coming up. Only two of those at home. Going to Kansas City, another 6-3 team that plays in front of a raucous home crowd. Really hoping we can build off this win and carry it into next weekend. Side note, very sad to see what happened to Carson Palmer. That didn't look good, and now word is he has torn his ACL for a second time. Drew Stanton is no slouch as his backup, but hard to imagine the Cardinals being the same without their leader. Throw in the fact that the Niners just beat New Orleans in the Superdome and are about to get three All Pros back in Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, and Navorro Bowman, and this NFC West is going to be a dog fight to the very end. We wouldn't want it any other way!
Wow, that felt good. Felt good to see our Hawks get back to pounding the ball at will against an opponent that wanted no part of our physicality. It seems like the Hawks have been getting close to erupting like this after a string of lackluster offensive performances, and boy did they erupt. A franchise record 350 rushing yards. First time ever has a team had a running back score 4 TD's in a game, yet have another rusher gain over 100 yards. Granted, this wasn't a very good defense that the Hawks exploited, but at this point, after recent struggles, you take it when you can get it. Was it a perfect game? No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it was finally a game that I didn't have to chew my nails all the way til the end of the game. On this beautiful Sunday, with vintage Seattle weather, the Hawks and the 12th Man authored a vintage Seahawk performance. Let's take a look at some of the performances that stuck out on Sunday.
The Good
Marshawn Lynch - a very, very obvious call here as Beast Mode had the best game of his career, scoring 4 touchdowns and energizing the players and the fans equally. Lynch is the heart and soul of this team, and he proved that on Sunday yet again. By the end of the game, the Giants wanted no part in tackling him, which was never more evident than on Lynch's final TD run where Zach Bowman literally backed away from Lynch and basically waived him into the end zone as if he were a 3rd base coach. That play made me smile! Never mind the fact that I have Lynch on my fantasy team! What's crazy is he should have had 5 TD's, he just missed out on one where he was down at the half yard line and somehow the Hawks failed to punch it in from there. I'm not sure what is happening behind the scenes with Lynch, his attitude, his buy in, his relationship with teammates, his desire to make this his last year in Seattle, etc, but what I am sure about is that this man plays his ass off on the field and runs with a passion that is unmatched in today's NFL. There's a reason legendary RB's Barry Sanders and Jim Brown call Marshawn the best back in the NFL.
Offensive Line- kind of goes without saying that when you break a franchise record for rushing yards, your offensive line had a pretty good day. Props to this much maligned group for answering the bell and stepping up in a must win game for the Hawks. Definitely helped having Max Unger and Russell Okung back in the lineup. It's funny how sometimes we as fans just expect the offensive line to function as normal, even when missing two former All-Pro players. It's not as easy as just "plug and play" and today was a good illustration of that. Another positive sign was that we seemed to cut down on pre-snap penalties, and in amazing fashion, none of Marshawn's big plays were called back due to penalty! Amazing.
Earl Thomas - I've been a pretty harsh critic of Earl Thomas this season. I love the guy, but I expect so much more from him because we know how good he is. There have been entire games where I haven't even noticed Earl was on the field. Today, I noticed him in on a lot more tackles, playing closer to line of scrimmage. Plus, his interception was classic Earl. Hustling all over the place, never giving up on a play, and being able to make a game changing play when the opportunity arises. I think we need to see more of Earl near the line of scrimmage. I know he plays center field in a single high scheme, but teams aren't really testing us deep all that much, and frankly we should be encouraging them to do so as defending the deep ball is our strength. It sure the hell isn't defending the underneath routes. Yes, I know Beckham roasted us one time, but sometimes that happens. I'll trade that for an opportunity to have Earl more involved in shutting down the short to intermediate routes, until teams dictate that we go back to putting Earl way back there.
Kevin Pierre Louis - KPL is the man. Pete and John have struck gold yet again by drafting this athletic freak in the 4th round. 5 tackles yesterday, and his role just continues to grow. He plays from sideline to sideline and I'm excited to watch him grow. He made a play late in the game on a screen play where he took on a blocker, jumped over him, and made a solid diving tackle to prevent any yardage. When that play was made, my phone blew up with texts from my Hawks on Tap brethren saying how great that play was.
The Bad
Russell Wilson - I hate putting him on this list, but sometimes it happens. Is it me or does it seem like every season at around this time he goes into a huge funk? What's the deal RW? Maybe make some time for sleep. Sometimes you must take a step back from the situation in order to see the picture more clearly. I still have 100% faith in Russell, don't get me wrong. We are just going to need much better performances as we head into a 6 game stretch against all playoff teams. Those two brutal interceptions were ugly, but I kind of have a problem with the first one, the play call anyway. Here we have a speed burner in Paul Richardson. Drafted to take the top off of defenses. Yet we insist on using him on hitch routes. Guess what Darrell Bevell? Teams have no fear of us throwing the ball any further than 15 yards, so before you call a hitch to PRich (that's a rhyme I can get behind!), you may want to at least show that you have the stones to send him on a 9 route. One thing I loved about Russell Wilson today is that he was so willing to keep the ball on the read option. Not sure why he doesn't do this way more often. He has to realize that every single time he keeps it and gains even 5 yards, it makes Marshawn's job 10 times easier as they have to respect the keeper. Interesting stat: Now that Russell Wilson has three 100 yard rushing games this season, only Demarco Murray and Arian Foster have more than him! That's just crazy.
The Ugly
Pass Defense - not really sure what the deal is here. We literally have no answer for stopping the pass. Unless it's 3rd and 8 or more, the odds of our defense getting off the field is slim to none. This has to change fast, especially with check down master Alex Smith next on the docket. We allowed the Giants to go 6 for 12 on 3rd downs for the game, but i'm betting it was 5 for 6 in the first half (I'm not a stat guy, not going to look that up haha). Here's what I realized once we got up by a couple scores yesterday: this defense is meant to play with a lead. I know most defenses are, but the Hawks especially thrive when they can make the offense one dimensional. Unfortunately, we haven't been in that situation very many times this season in which we were up by more than 7 points. In fairness, the D stepped up in the 2nd half and didn't allow any scores, but really against a poor Giant team, I take that with a grain of salt. I'm not going to crush our guys for giving up yardage to Odell Beckham. This guy is the real deal, as Sherm even himself acknowledged after the game to Beckham. He will burn many teams in his bright career. We actually made some good adjustments on him in the second half, which was nice to see.
Well that was a much needed blowout win. 6-3 with a 6 game gauntlet coming up. Only two of those at home. Going to Kansas City, another 6-3 team that plays in front of a raucous home crowd. Really hoping we can build off this win and carry it into next weekend. Side note, very sad to see what happened to Carson Palmer. That didn't look good, and now word is he has torn his ACL for a second time. Drew Stanton is no slouch as his backup, but hard to imagine the Cardinals being the same without their leader. Throw in the fact that the Niners just beat New Orleans in the Superdome and are about to get three All Pros back in Aldon Smith, Patrick Willis, and Navorro Bowman, and this NFC West is going to be a dog fight to the very end. We wouldn't want it any other way!
