17 Thoughts on the Win Tonight

MontanaHawk05

Well-known member
Joined
May 1, 2009
Messages
17,892
Reaction score
406
1. Woohoo!

2. While this was the Legion's worst performance since 2011, it came at the hands of what might be the NFL's best passing attack outside of the cheater. Deadly WR corps, great offensive line, and a big mobile QB who doesn't need it. That's not something you hold to 200 yards. Not excusing them; just putting it in perspective.

3. Wilson's five losses have come against the #2, #3, #4, #10, and #14 DVOA passing defenses. That's fairly stiff competition except for the Packers, whom Wilson found purchase against (and whom were playing better at that point). Today he beat the #16 passing defense. Next week he faces the 15th; after that, the 27th and 29th. He does, however, close out the season vs. the #3 and #4.

4. The Vikings defense is fast but largely ineffective against the run, and Teddy Bridgewater? 8 TDs, 7 INTs in a conservative, complementary passing offense. If our D stays assignment-correct against AP, we should contain their offense.

5. The Jimmy Graham loss is going to hurt. He was accounting for pretty much the same % of our passing offense (more than 20%) than he was the Saints'. I do think Wilson can make do with the weapons we have behind average protection, but I don't like it. (For those who think our offense is better off without Graham, what do you want this team to do? Never draft a first-rounder?

6. Rawls gaining 81 yards today was a positive, given he was up against a good run defense.

7. Wilson played well. A few inaccurate passes doesn't look bad next to Aaron Rodgers, who's in an absolute downward spiral right now. Stayed in the pocket and didn't panic.

8. It's time to acknowledge that our front four sucks. I hate, hate, hate stopping the run and it not mattering one iota. 2009 flashbacks. Avril is the only one forcing the issue right now. No interior push up the middle, and Kris Richard, though good with his blitzing tendencies, should not be relying on it.

9. Bevell called a good game. He still shies away from the run too much and does not appear to have any kind of real 2-pt conversion playbook. But he called a good game. I just wish it didn't take him until November every year to learn to beat the blitz.

10. By the way, 2-pters ARE becoming a real part of the NFL now, what with extra points becoming more complicated.

11. No, I don't want to get rid of Okung. We all know how the "just replace him and improvement will be automatic" mentality worked with James Carpenter. Okung has struggled. But there's a point at which we count our blessings and keep a guy to maintain continuity, and I don't think Okung has slipped out of that zone yet.

12. The run seemed to fall off once FB Will Tukuafu came out with a concussion. Perhaps he's more valuable to the run that we've been thinking. I did like his run blocking.

13. Missed tackling is an underacknowledged problem all over this defense.

14. I'm pretty meh on the four interceptions. Easy and/or lucky, all four of them. Sherman picking an anticipation bomb, Lane outmaneuvering a left tackle, Kam picking off a desperation throw from Landry Jones that was knocked loose by Shead, and well, Rubin's was a heads-up play for sure. But meh, honestly.

15. Jeremy Lane and DeShawn Shead are the most valuable role-players we've got. Shead fought hard for the ball and stayed within the scheme.

16. We finally found an opposing ST against whom Tyler Lockett could make some things happen.

17. REGARDLESS OF EVERYTHING ELSE, this was a huge character win for the Hawks. Sometimes you don't know you can do something until you do it. Going forward, this offense will have some confidence and the defense might actually pull off some more turnovers. Just the kind of game we needed to spark a playoff run. I salivate to the idea of nabbing the #5 spot and playing the NFC East champion, road or not.
 

Sports Hernia

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 30, 2009
Messages
44,755
Reaction score
3,372
Location
The pit
Good job, agree with most of what you said. Would like to see Shead get his head around a second or two quicker, if he does that today he has 2 picks himself. Would like to find ways to get to the opposing QB more if the front 4 are having a bad day or are being held every play like the AZ, Dallas, and today's game.

Also need to ditch the bubble screens and empty sets, both fail about 95% of the time.
Grading on a curve Bevell was better today I'd say a B-, which is good for him.
 

hawksfansinceday1

Active member
Joined
Mar 3, 2007
Messages
24,629
Reaction score
3
Location
Vancouver, WA
Agree with most of what you said Montana though I'm with Hernia on Bevell. Am I the only one that thinks Russ staying in the pocket a lot more the last 2 weeks is directly attributable yo better pass pro? He did stand in and take a couple of nasty hits on unblocked blitzers today though and completed passes both times so yes he's learning too.
 

jkitsune

New member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
3,339
Reaction score
0
Excellent post, thank you for taking the time to put it together. I agree on most of your points, and think Rawls' performance might be the easiest positive of the game to overlook given the passing offense, the defensive issues, and the loss of Graham. With every game that passes, we move beyond 'small sample size' and into 'another low-cost coup for the FO.'

Re: our front four, the biggest difference seems to be in interior pressure. It seems to me that none of our tackles have generated any consistent pressure from the inside, and that our only luck with our front four has come from Bennett and Avril. We've had a lot of attrition there to free agency, and I think it's finally catching up with us. Was nice to at least see Frank Clark pick up his first sack, though.
 

brimsalabim

Active member
Joined
Aug 12, 2012
Messages
4,509
Reaction score
3
"Wilson played well". :roll:

Bennett got flat backed by a running back ... Who then caught a pass. Our defense is not what it used to be and the staff must game plan that way. Bevel should get a pat on the back for getting it done today.
 

seahawkfreak

New member
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
5,447
Reaction score
0
Location
Aiken , SC
Thanks for the post, good insights.

In regards to our front four I don't think we blitz enough. Rushing four and playing a deep middle zone has left the middle of the field wide open. Crossing patterns and QBs escaping a collapsing pocked have benefited often against it. I'm not saying get rid of it, it just seems like we do it every play. I did not see any changes in regards to getting more pressure on the QB after halftime like PC said he was. We kept doing the same thing.

I would bet money Okung is going to try to get a larger contract or equal as Trent Williams got. Especially since he is representing himself. He's not worth it. Tons of bonehead mistakes and as badass as James Harrison is, our top LT should not get destroyed like he did against him. I find him embarrassing at times, especially for a #6 draft choice.
 

evergreen

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2013
Messages
1,237
Reaction score
447
great post. We saw a great 4th quarter today! And that is something new this season..............
 

shawnsim

Member
Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
434
Reaction score
0
brimsalabim":37tg09pq said:
"Wilson played well". :roll:

Bennett got flat backed by a running back ... Who then caught a pass. Our defense is not what it used to be and the staff must game plan that way. Bevel should get a pat on the back for getting it done today.

Excellent write up OP.

One thing about today is that we managed to overcome a potentially game altering 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty from Bennett. Again.

This seems to have been the case in all of our 4th quarter melts.
Poorly worded but, you all know what I mean.
 

Optimus25

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2014
Messages
2,378
Reaction score
520
Can i add?

What do we have to do to be able to defend screens, dumps, and seams?. Holy crap it felt like every checkdown went for ten plus, and our second level defenders are not tracking these guys out of the backfield at all.

Conversely do we have the worst screen game in the history of the nfl?. Non existent at times and awful when executed.
I guess I'm only referring to rb or te screens, bubble screens are a different animal.

Sherman was just flat out back tonight. I think he needs to be consistent from here, but he might be back in the pro bowl talk with play like this. At times he was just living in Brown's jersey.

Russ has to be able to not get intentional grounding on that play. I guess this will be part of his maturation still, but tonight I've seen Brady avoid it in even more dire straits. I mean whatever it takes to get that ball three more yards downfield, gotta happen..

That being said, I've come to terms with what russ is and what he isn't a while ago, and people on this forum need to do the same. It's like years ago when cowboys nation would melt down over Romo, then the next week he'd lead fourth quarter drives and make amazing plays. You take the good with the bad, and today showed us a lot of good. I mean for all the sacks we complain about him being somewhat responsible for, then he goes and dances and spins through the pocket and finds kearse for a first down. Those who complain about the money need to understand that there's more than open market value, there's situational value moreso. His value to our system is immense, he was paid as such, and if you question locking him to our team then look at Houston, Denver, Cleveland, or any other team going thru the uncertainty at the position.

I can't say enough... Having a team that is competitive in every game in recent memory is an incredible thing. Literally never allowing any other team to run away from us is really, really cool.

And....Hass is bossing in Indy. Really fun to watch, especially when he helps our playoff chase!
 

kearly

New member
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
15,975
Reaction score
0
The Steelers OL is one of the best around right now. Carolina's OL is playing at a very high level in 2015 for some reason. Last year, the Cowboys OL was unanimously considered the best. Those are all teams that gave Seattle's defense a lot of trouble.

An elite OL can be very tough for our defense to overcome, especially when paired with a very good QB. That said, The Seahawks pass rush got home enough in the second half and even knocked Big Ben out of the game (albeit with an illegal hit), which is how they held the Steelers to just 12 points in the 2nd half despite a strong performance from Big Ben. They also created four interceptions.

Pittsburgh isn't just an elite offense, their biggest strengths match up with Seattle's weaknesses on D. I think our D-line is pretty good, though I would agree that our interior pressure only seems to show up on blitzes.

As far as the interceptions go. Rubin and Chancellor's interceptions were circus catches, and Lane's interception was easy but created by heads up awareness of a trick play (a big fat O-lineman secretly running a route). Sherman had a nice 'interception' that wiped out a 2 point attempt. Sherman's 'real' pick was a gimme, but most of the picks Seattle made were either skillful or heads up. They also had about 5-6 other plays where defenders in their zones came an inch away from getting a finger on the ball.

The defense was challenged against an extremely difficult opponent, and while they did give up 30 points, it seemed like more of a case of the Steelers earning their yards more than Seattle being inept. And Seattle's D finally started showing some life in the red zone, which was nice to see.
 
Top