Hit Or Miss

Not the stellar performance overall you are hoping for in the "dress rehearsal" of the preseason, but there were some nice plays and performances sprinkled throughout. You want to talk about dominant? Look no further than how the Patriots absolutely manhandled the Lions in Detroit earlier. Wow. Losing Edelman is going to be HUGE for them but I digress.

Count me in the camp that finds it mildly alarming that this elite defense can't seem to get off the field on the first series of any preseason game. Sure, it's preseason, but you would like to feel a little more confidence heading into the regular season by showing some solid 3-and-outs from your starting elite defense.

Wilson was running around too much for my taste aka 2016. I feel strongly that that will in fact carry over to the real season. Overall, a good night for him with a couple he would like back. In the few times he has ran this preseason, he's been caught from behind where I know damn well 2013 Wilson would not have. I don't know if it's because he isn't TRULY 100 percent back yet from his injuries of last year, or if it's just the natural slight declination of age. Bottom line there has been a few runs already I totally think he shouldn't have been caught by the defender but was. Nothing to be alarmed about yet. He may be simply running "preseason speed". (Same with the starting D I hope).

Above all else, the penalties were out of control. Some were simply bad calls by the officials, but most were on the players from both teams. U.G.L.Y.

Boykin STUNK. Carson looked good...The OL overall wasn't too bad. A lot to clean up all around I thought.

No major injuries tonight? Color me happy.

You make two very valid points of concern that give me pause for going all in on the "this is going to be a great season" bandwagon so many are so clearly in need of.

The D is aging and it shows - at least so far. Maybe there's another gear they will show come real game time. Hope so.

Wilson's penchant to scramble too much. He's just not as comfortable staying in the pocket as he needs to be. Some of that is O-Line related of course but this O-Line is improved over this time last year. Not a vast improvement but improved. it's Wilson's instinct to start running and even with the lost weight he doesn't have the speed he did a few seasons ago. He's older, and that loss of a step is going to worsen year by year and w/o a true pocket presence I wonder how his career will go longer term.

Then again a few quick wins and those concerns have a way of dissipating - but a couple tough losses and there will be a lot more willing to share those same concerns.

It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out soon.

I really think the offensive line had one purpose tonight and that was to emphasis the run game, which they did, I also think they were looking to showcase some plays to see how players performed, that they want to see situational. Defense is going to be underwhelming I think due to getting rotation going and wanting to see different packages, very few rearrangements of positions to create a lot match up issues versus seeing how guys handle specific gap assignments .

When we see guys beating their guys like Clark I think it raises our expectations in a pre season game.

Next week I wonder how they do things, first unit tune up or heavy dose of bubble players.

Yeah, Wilson bailed too early on a couple of plays when he had a good pocket to stand in or step up into, but man he had some sensational throws this game. Hopefully he learns as he goes and gradually improves his pocket presence, but at least we know he can extend plays and put the ball wherever it needs to be.

First team D got run all over, but Pete clearly noticed this and was not happy about it, per his post game presser. Also, lots of Chiefs drops bailed us out. Tyreek Hill had Griffin beat cleanly for a long gain or maybe a TD, but he dropped a perfect pass from Alex Smith. Good experience at the very least. Saw Sherm make a great tackle at the start and Earl was flying around.

Clark was a beast tonight. Like I said hit or miss. There were a lot of nice plays, and a lot of, well...misses. I wouldn't care as much if there wasn't so much drummed up about the 3rd preseason game being the "warm up" to the regular season. This is the game where you see the most of your starters so naturally we should expect good performance. The starting D was simply not as dominant as they SHOULD be, preseason or not.

Concerned? Yeah, maybe a little. But I admit, it could all be for naught come the regular season if they continue their 17 PPG average. Maybe they are showing their age. Even still, they are a Top 5 defense in this league no question.

I don't blame Wilson for happy feet, even with an improving line. It's instinct. You get beat up and injured like he was last year, anyone's first instinct would be to get out of the pocket as quickly as possible. I just hope he finds some trust in his line (if it's deserved) so he can use his arm and mind to dissect the defense from the pocket like we have seen him aka 2015.

Shout out to Lacy. Still no Lynch but you could tell he was running with a lot more conviction and necessity tonight.

Carson, Williams definitely need to make the 53 on the offensive side.

Defensively, who ya got?

Overall, I like what I have seen.

Even during the regular season, some teams come out on offense in the opening drive in any one game and look like they should finish 11-5 or higher... but then our defense starts tightening and continues to screw down the clamps as the game develops. This is part of the game within the game. It's a chess match of sorts... but that doesn't exist in preseason... it just doesn't.

What some here expect to see in each and every game, including preseason, is a reenactment of our stifling defense in the 43-8 drubbing of the Broncos in SB 48. That's an unrealistic expectation.

People that are hard on the defense need to remember this is the Bradley version and not the Quinn version, Bradley version wait for the play to come to you, protect your gap, play deep zone, rarely blitz. Quinn version more man to man, more stunts, more attack the ball and blitz.

As far as Wilson getting caught from behind, I thought the same thing. Hard to tell if he's lost a step speed-wise or if he is just tentative to go full speed running in the preseason (There were one or two plays where he slid to avoid contact, but regular season Wilson would have gone for a 1st down).

As for his passing he seems to have a bit more zip on his passes this year. I think he's ready to take the next step as a passer at the expense of his yardage running totals.

Offense has really exceeded my expectations and I am quite happy with it. The defense is a problem and barely a shadow of what if used to be. They looked soft last year in preseason and I thought they were soft last year (compared to 13-14). Definitely aging and the fact PC raised it means it was not vanilla nonsense. Perhaps the defense is good enough to go to the SB but it clearly isn't strong enough to carry us.

chris98251":ox6legel said:

People that are hard on the defense need to remember this is the Bradley version and not the Quinn version, Bradley version wait for the play to come to you, protect your gap, play deep zone, rarely blitz. Quinn version more man to man, more stunts, more attack the ball and blitz.

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The Seahawks did not blitz during the Quinn era either.

Since 2012, the Seahawks have blitzed sent more than five players on only 25 percent of opposing dropbacks. That's the sixth-lowest percentage in the league.

They were really good at getting home during the Quinn era. I think one of the reasons was how few snaps Michale Bennett got during the hay day of 2013. He would play 50% of the snaps now he plays over 80% of defensive snaps.

So far both our offensive and defensive lines have been sub par. I expected this much from the sloths Pete trucks in here to "protect" our QB but not from our defensive line. The D line may be mailing in the preseason. I certainly hope we haven't seen their best effort yet.

They held the Chiefs offense to 6 points, pretty damn good

thanks to how many dropped balls? Our defense was horrible, they got lucky quite a few times. They got ran over, and beat deep several times. The offense is what it's always been, the defense is clearly not at this stage.

Hearing footsteps has a lot to do w/all the drops

I am getting concerned watching teams pound the ball up the middle of our D for 5-7 yards carrying defenders. What happened to our run stuffers? No pass rush from tackles, now combined with gaping running holes is a pretty bad combination. Hopefully they shore that up...and soon.

Aros":2xxryfwa said:

Clark was a beast tonight. Like I said hit or miss. There were a lot of nice plays, and a lot of, well...misses. I wouldn't care as much if there wasn't so much drummed up about the 3rd preseason game being the "warm up" to the regular season. This is the game where you see the most of your starters so naturally we should expect good performance. The starting D was simply not as dominant as they SHOULD be, preseason or not.

Concerned? Yeah, maybe a little. But I admit, it could all be for naught come the regular season if they continue their 17 PPG average. Maybe they are showing their age. Even still, they are a Top 5 defense in this league no question.

I don't blame Wilson for happy feet, even with an improving line. It's instinct. You get beat up and injured like he was last year, anyone's first instinct would be to get out of the pocket as quickly as possible. I just hope he finds some trust in his line (if it's deserved) so he can use his arm and mind to dissect the defense from the pocket like we have seen him aka 2015.

Shout out to Lacy. Still no Lynch but you could tell he was running with a lot more conviction and necessity tonight.

Carson, Williams definitely need to make the 53 on the offensive side.

Defensively, who ya got?

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The one thing I've noticed is that the line seems to not be as discombobulated when Wilson breaks. He's bailing but still kind of cognizant of where people are as are his linemen. That's a silver lining.

Aros":s5uvqsiy said:

No major injuries tonight? Color me happy.

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With a veteran team like this with only a couple starting jobs up for competition, this is all that matters to me.

Really hoping the starters play one series, and nothing more. If that

Naz Jones was a good pick. He's going to be a beast. They got him for run stuffing but he's already showing some good pass rush skills. I'd like to see if that translates over to the regular season.

Wow, DE is sure deep. David Bass looks like he could play. I hope Bennett picks up a step in the regular season and this is just him sand bagging the preseason but he seems less explosive than last year.

I don't see how Darboh makes the team. We might see a medical redshirt here. I think we see Kasen Williamis and Tanner McEvoy make the squad. Both guys are athletic and big and play great ST's. McEvoy is just amazing; he seems so smooth and polished, then you realize he's 6'6" and weighs 230 lbs.

I was thinking Collins was going to get cut, now I think it's either Prosise or Davis. They may IR him and try one more time next year when the RB picture is a bit clearer.

Not too happy about KC running all over us, but Pete seemed to think it was just more run fits than getting our asses kicked.

I know it's just preseason, but at one point we were leading the entire league in points scored and were top 3 in three major offensive categories. Compare that to this time last year......