3rd and Long, again.

Ok, so I brought up that I think Nowak has cost us both games, regardless of other issues on the team. I would like to discuss this thought more, so I created this thread instead. One of the Seahawks biggest strengths has always been run-blocking. For as poorly as they pass-block, the O-line does a bang up job clearing space and making holes for Lynch. Or at least they used to. What Ive seen the last 2 games, is a turnstile pretending to play center. Lynch is constantly getting hit 2-3 yards behind the line. I thought that maybe Lynch was just a bit sluggish last game, but after watching the coaches film from last week, and rewatching last nights game, I see our biggest strength suddenly a glaring weakness.

Our whole game for the last 4 years has been, run the ball. Tire the defense out. Pound, pound, let Russell open up on a deflated defense. There's been no pounding. There's been a ton of 3 and outs. This is all the 3rd downs from last night. Yes, some were made worse by penalties, but the trend is noticeable regardless. We are constantly in 3rd and long because we cant run it like we used too. And for the most part, I put the majority of that on Nowak. Especially when all I see is him whiffing every chance he gets.

3-12 Punt
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3-8 32 yard pass to DB
3-3 Punt
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3-16 Punt
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3-21 Punt
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3-3 Punt
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3-11 12 yard pass to Lockett (This kid is still the beaming light I can see off in the distance. This guy was the missing piece from last years team, and it feels almost wasted right now with the other issues we have going on.)
3-G 5 yard pass to Jackson, TD
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3-10 Punt


Disgusting. Nowak needs to drastically improve, or he needs to be on the bench, and fast. Hes just not ready yet.



*Side note: I'm not saying everyone else is free of all responsibility. O-lines stupid penalties and other sloppiness on the O-line is noticeable. But I dont think its been the biggest difference maker. We had the same issues last year. I think if we get into 3rd and short a bit more. We are punting a bit less. Were keeping our defense off the field a bit more, which in turn, takes a few points off of the other team.

Nowak not being able to hold his ground resulted in Marshawn being blown up behind the LOS six or seven times. Something has to be done there

Are you guys sure its only nowak? I think there was plenty of olineman getting blown off the ball not just him...

gowazzu02":1t9breqi said:

Are you guys sure its only nowak? I think there was plenty of olineman getting blown off the ball not just him...

Click to expand...

Sure, a few times it happens. Every team gets beat at the line every once in awhile. But with Nowak, its pretty much a constant.

Well, we've played two pretty good teams. I suspect home cooking will help improve things a lot.

I feel like Britt played a worse game than Nowak.

gowazzu02":1j2n3ed3 said:

Are you guys sure its only nowak? I think there was plenty of olineman getting blown off the ball not just him...

Click to expand...

I agree, as an offensive line its never just one guy getting a beat. the Oline is a unit. One mistake reflects the whole line. Now is young only his second career start, and going against Raji he will be fine. The rest of the line needs to mesh around him. I will say the Oline looked much better in the second half.

SeahawksFanForever":3qtepn3q said:

I feel like Britt played a worse game than Nowak.

Click to expand...

I was at the GBP game. Putting mustard on a brat and some big guy wearing a #68 jersey comes up and makes a few comments about the Seahawks and then says, "hey what do you think about that Britt guy?". I gave a kind of neutral/positive answer and he says something like - "well that's good, I am his dad". Sure enough it was. Talked to him and Britt's mom for a few minutes. Probably should have known something was up when I saw the 68 jersey.

The blame being placed on Nowak is largely misplaced. He did have one very obvious bad play in the first drive. Outside of that, he played a pretty good game. Britt struggled, Gilliam had his share of problems, and Sweezy had an uncharacteristically bad game. Okung was solid.

Here is an example where Nowak makes a nice block, but Britt whiffs on Matthews and Lynch cuts back for a loss. Britt is more new to his position than Nowak is and will certainly improve his positioning at the second level as he gains more experience at left guard. Okung and Britt both vacated the defensive end at the same time; that was likely a mistake by Okung. Marshawn, for his part, is going to settle down as he gains more game reps.


Nice job by Nowak to clear out the NT . . .

Anybody think a big part of this is #24 not getting very many meaningful reps with his line before the season starts? Doesn't show up for OTAs. Doesn't take training camp seriously. Doesn't play preseason games. How are the new guys on the line supposed to develop any chemistry with him?

Whats more shocking there however is lynch getting taken down on an ankle swipe
When had a possible 20 yard run or more of open green?

He seems "off" to me
Is he out of shape?
In that first play he avoids the hole?

gonzhawk":11dhmjso said:

Whats more shocking there however is lynch getting taken down on an ankle swipe
When had a possible 20 yard run or more of open green?

He seems "off" to me
Is he out of shape?
In that first play he avoids the hole?

Click to expand...

What hole?

It is there for a brief moment in the flow of the play off the DT's left behind Britt, at least it looked that way to me before he chose to go the other way. It does close, but on the replay it just looks like something he has hit before and while the guy might have had a stop it would have been moving forward and much better result than what did happen. Just my point of view.

Marshawn missed a couple of big holes, but the one above wasn't one of them.

I think he needs to get in game shape a bit. He may also be sulking about Chancellor; he seems to get distracted by other team mates' issues a lot.

Someone said he lacked reps with this line. I think that has a lot of merit. He always sits out OTA's, and they manage his reps a TON in TC, which is fine, as he's getting older and needs it. He knows the offense, so it's not an issue.

As for reps with the OL, missing a lot of reps in TC isn't an issue, as we were about done with TC when this current incarnation of the OL was finalized. This is just growing pains. I hope it gets better, Lynch can trust his blocking, and round back into form physically.

Keep in mind, we haven't played at home yet, and have played our two toughest road games of the season, at the very beginning, before we've had time to build chemistry. And we've been in both games. Aside from all of our issues, if both offense and defense played clean games and weren't so sloppy, we'd be 1-1 and maybe 2-0.

Nowak wasn't that bad. Are you sure it was him you were seeing on the whiffs? He got manhandled on that first drive. It happens. He was physically outmatched by Raji, but got it together quickly and held his own. I've been in that kind of battle before. You give a guy all you've got and he throws you backwards. You've got to go to war and get dirty, and I thought he did a pretty good job of responding. He got manhandled on two other plays, one was a terrible pressure and once he got thrown back into Lynch. However, he was very assignment sound and pretty much neutralized Raji for the rest of the game. There aren't many centers if any that are going to push Raji around, and just about all of them are going to get blown up by him a couple of times. He did whiff once on the second level and appeared to whiff on Matthews another time, but on that play, Russ kept it and the LB changed directions to go after him. That's a tough block in space for any lineman. I'm not anointing him into the pro bowl just yet but he was hardly a glaring weakness. We just as a whole didn't get much push.

On the whole, the pass pro was amazing. Russell didn't get quick pressure more than a time or two all game long. Watching tape, Russell was kind of all over the place. Even some passes he completed were low or behind guys and it didn't allow them to keep running after the catch.

If we're not going to use Jimmy Graham, can we get Unger back?

Laloosh":cd153pra said:

Our entire midfield fails to play up with the ball. A handful of times it was one against 5 and our midfield support wa walking up. Jennifer and I noticed it several times. Elijah and Fernando have feet made of concrete trying to receive a ball. Jack refuses to work unless the ball is within 10' of him. The guest kids were great said:

Whats more shocking there however is lynch getting taken down on an ankle swipe
When had a possible 20 yard run or more of open green?

He seems "off" to me
Is he out of shape?
In that first play he avoids the hole?

Click to expand...

What hole?

Click to expand...

Lynch put 64 on the wobble and could've slipped right past him, right in there behind Britt. When Lynch is at his best, it's these types of holes that he hits with authority. On this play, however, he tries to slide out wide and gets cut off at the pass.

Nit-picking, sure. Or maybe not? We'll have to wait and see if a pattern of hesitation behind this line really establishes itself.

Thanks
This is what I saw too

Much better answer than mine!

Thanks
This is what I saw too

Much better answer than mine!