Changing of the Guard

It has been a real interesting camp. This year it seems the offense is dominating. I have never heard so many wide receiver highlights in the daily recaps. Is the defense off? Are we really weak in the secondary minus Earl, Sherm and Bam Bam? Jimmy Graham has been unstoppable and this man was afraid to run a route against our defense two years ago. Even Richard Sherman has been burned. So are we now going to see the Seahawks be a more offensive team? Is the strength of our team our O???

The defense is of because McDaniel is gone, and his replacements are learning both to play the Seattle scheme, and to play together.

Jimmy Graham distorts a defense, and we are probably not hitting hard enough to try to break him.

Missing stars Earl and Kam makes a difference. The pass rush is still being developed and tested.

The new receivers are good too, but hard to tell how good. I think our defense will catch up a lot, but not be able to stop Graham and all the receiver combinations. It is going to be fun seeing how my guesses turn out.

It's always easier for the O before the pads go on. Press coverage isn't as physical and there is no likelihood of a WR getting lit up by a S. Besides that the pass rush isn't allowed to be as physical. However, that said, I hope the O has taken a huge step forward b/c the Hawks D when playing up to capacity is pretty tough to consistently beat.

My sense however is things are pretty usual and the O always has an early advantage until the pads go on and then the field gets tilted back to the D.

Not sure the first week of camp signifies anything, other than who is healthy (thankfully) and who isn't yet (damn!).

First pseudo-game soon, and that will show a little more. All is unfolding according to the master plan. :twisted:

Uhm, the loss of McD has nothing to do with WRs making plays.

Rubin is also a vet who isnt wide eye filled with panic.

Grahams influence is very real. And the Seahawks finally have a young stock of WRs that are finally becoming vets themselves. All that experience adds up and when you add elite talent like Graham with elite potential in Tyler Lockett, only good things will come from it.

As stated above the losses and overall inexperience in the secondary doesnt help but I rather that these guys make mistakes and get coached up to work harder rather than dominate out the gates and get full of themselves in live games, get toasted, and lose confidence.

Also, none of this really matters, its training camp, all that matters is competing, fundamentals, and fine tuning your game one day at a time. What side has the edge over the other is just not as important in the bigger picture of things.

I will say this though, I have no doubt the Seahawks will field a Top 3 Defense this year if not #1 yet again.

But it would not surprise if the Offense is much better than it has been in the past. Like Top 5 dominant.

With the entire LOB being injured at the end of last season, and the unproven depth in our secondary, this could very well be a down year for the defense by their standards. Meaning not in the conversation for historically great is all, but well above what they need to be in order to win football games provided some semblance of a passing offense that doesn't go AWOL for huge stretches of the game.

Graham was NO's passing attack. The way Russell's relatively short stature, great touch, and elusiveness cry out for a big target, I can see Graham having similar production here if Bevell doesn't decide that the championship move is to use Graham as a decoy while he throws to a blanketed Baldwin because chessmaster.

Russ has been connecting on deep 50/50 balls to Kearse, Baldwin, etc. his whole career so far at a pretty astonishing rate. Undersized, no separation, UDFA level talent. This is a big reason I'm glad Russ signed this year, I think he'll be able to find Graham with his eyes closed, short, intermediate, long, sitting in the stands, on his couch, whatever.

I can easily see us winning games with 20+ points and a defense that doesn't have to hold every team in the low to mid teens.

Our offense will be better IMO because of added dimensions.

I think Pete's team will always be a run first hard hitting defensive team.
I don't see a changing of the guard, I see the guard getting new/more weapons.

pmedic920":3t8z4jfb said:

Our offense will be better IMO because of added dimensions.

I think Pete's team will always be a run first hard hitting defensive team.
I don't see a changing of the guard, I see the guard getting new/more weapons.

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I agree but I get the feeling our defense my take a step back. Teams won't run on us but they might be able to pass. We may see dink and dunk all year. Our Slot cover is weak from what I can tell and Cary Williams still seems like a work in progress.

This isn't based on anything factual but I have a feeling the offense is every bit as good as the defense this year. The defense will still be great I just have high hopes for the offense. We were actually better than people realized efficiency wise and that was with a terrible red zone offense.

I think the defense is weaker right now, but will be noticeably stronger by year end, and might have become best ever had we been able to retain McDaniel. The pass rush will be noticeably stronger. Will have to see about run stopping.

Holy crap.

It is the first week of training camp.

Mick, understand and agree your comment, but just responding to the questions of the OP.

sutz":1f6bmwjo said:

Not sure the first week of camp signifies anything, other than who is healthy (thankfully) and who isn't yet (damn!).

First pseudo-game soon, and that will show a little more. All is unfolding according to the master plan. :twisted:

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Wouldn't it be nice if Okung has a 16+ game season?

It's been said before, but it's early. Typically, the defense is ahead of the offense until they find a rythm and get chemistry. Also, offense has a huge advantage with no pads.

Graham has had some catches against us. He doesn't always light us up, but there's highlights out there with him catching TD's in our end zone. Kam is a huge factor against TE's. He not only intimidates them, but he physically takes them out, like Wright can do with less athletic ones not named Graham or Gronkowski.

I wouldn't read much into what the receiving group is doing to the defense. I'd wait until the preseason games for that. We're missing the top FS in the NFL, the top SS in the NFL and our RCB is currently still getting his feet wet in our scheme. The receivers are playing against backups that wouldn't start on a lot of other teams, so it's not a great measuring stick to be honest.

If our 1s on offense couldn't beat the guys we have filling in for Earl, Kam and Lane, then we'd really have a problem.

The front seven has a chance to be as good as they have ever been. But right now, the secondary is a mess. Chancellor needs to get his ass back to practice so he can help coach up these young guys. Thomas has been cleared, which is a great sign. Simon will hopefully be back soon. The reports have been very positive about Blackmon. They have not been as positive about Williams. It will be interesting to see what they do at that spot. Coach Richard mentioned the possibility of using Blackmon at RCB, which would probably leave Burley or Shead at NCB.

I'm still hopeful that this defense has an opportunity to remain the league's best. It's not the L.O.B. without Thomas and Chancellor roaming around the defensive backfield.

Who is Thurmond?

netskier":2d7aue53 said:

Who is Thurmond?

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Blackmon . . . I'm sad to say, it's not the first time I have made that error. For some reason, those two (Walter Thurmond being the other) are linked in my mind. When I think of one, I tend to type the other's name.

Understandable since they share the Mon sound.