Most Unstoppable Play in Football Is J. Graham iso in the RZ

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2017/12/8 ... touchdowns

Really enjoyed this read.

"On the 37 total snaps the team ran inside the 5-yard line, Graham lined up away from the formation on just three plays. All told, in Graham’s first 27 games with the team, the Seahawks ran 54 plays inside opponents’ 5-yard line and threw it to Graham just three times.

"Seattle’s run 30 plays from inside the 5-yard line this year (17 passes and 13 runs), and to the exasperated relief of an entire city and fan base, Graham’s been the target on a league-high 12 of the throws. That’s four times as many targets inside the 5-yard line as he saw his first two years with the team combined. Graham has turned that uptick in looks into six touchdowns, and easily the most effective play they team has used is when they simply isolate him one-on-one on the outside and throw the ball up for him."

The coaching staff can't be so dumb that they just don't understand his potential.

I prefer to believe that Pete, overthinking things as usual, just wanted to "catch the league off guard" by waiting to deploy it later in the season. Can you win in the 4th quarter and all that.

Baffling it took 3 years to learn isolating a monster red zone mismatch would result in easy TD's. How many times the past few years did he get lined up in some weird bunch formation that made it way easier for the defense to double/triple team him?

At least they're doing it now, some interesting wrinkles with pre-snap motion to ensure it's 1v1 man coverage. But man, should not have taken this long.

MontanaHawk05":33xvf875 said:

The coaching staff can't be so dumb that they just don't understand his potential.

I prefer to believe that Pete, overthinking things as usual, just wanted to "catch the league off guard" by waiting to deploy it later in the season. Can you win in the 4th quarter and all that.

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You mean end of the contract? This is year 3 not year 1.

Yeah, it's lame it took so long to figure out the obvious. However, they clearly are in a zone now, so I'm enjoying it. Russ and Jimmy and just locked in.

mistaowen":2w3gsid1 said:

Baffling it took 3 years to learn isolating a monster red zone mismatch would result in easy TD's. How many times the past few years did he get lined up in some weird bunch formation that made it way easier for the defense to double/triple team him?

At least they're doing it now, some interesting wrinkles with pre-snap motion to ensure it's 1v1 man coverage. But man, should not have taken this long.

Click to expand...

Baffling is correct. I'm glad they are finally doing it. I have to give credit to Bev, I am definitely not a fan, but he is doing a better job pre-snap to ensure its 1v1; but its like this coaching staff didn't watch a single minute of his tape from New Orleans the first 2 years he was here.

Yep, not only is he not being nearly as Bevellrific........the other team flat out KNOWS it's coming, and they still can't stop it.

scrummymustard":jgdz3t9c said:

mistaowen":jgdz3t9c said:

Baffling it took 3 years to learn isolating a monster red zone mismatch would result in easy TD's. How many times the past few years did he get lined up in some weird bunch formation that made it way easier for the defense to double/triple team him?

At least they're doing it now, some interesting wrinkles with pre-snap motion to ensure it's 1v1 man coverage. But man, should not have taken this long.

Click to expand...

Baffling is correct. I'm glad they are finally doing it. I have to give credit that Bev, I am definitely not a fan, but he is doing a better job pre-snap to ensure its 1v1; but its like this coaching staff didn't watch a single minute of his tape from New Orleans the first 2 years he was here.

Click to expand...

Why should he have? Our own arrogance states this perfectly. "It's not about them, it's about us". Pete, Bev, and Cable have used that time and time again. One of several things that kept us stuck in red zone purgatory for better than 1 1/2 years.

Also why many including myself called to not extend Jimmy or even trade him. Don't know how to use him, then spend the $$ where you can.

And Graham goes immediately from expendable to indispensable. Just another example of how long it takes Bevel to adjust.

Imagine if, in 2016, Wilson and Baldwin picked up right where they left off at the end of the 2015 season, and they started isolating Graham near the goal line (as almost all of us were clamoring for). Instead, we went right back to the same thing that hasn't worked for us since Lynch fell off the cliff. ukeface:

But enough of that rabbit trail. It is so good to see Graham finally getting the play calls he deserves. Whether we can keep him or not, I'm happy for him to be able to display to the rest of the league that he is still capable of being the red zone monster that we all know he can be. It's good for him, and probably good for the Hawks, in terms of the comp pick, even if we can't keep him.

Seymour":2zld7od1 said:

scrummymustard":2zld7od1 said:

mistaowen":2zld7od1 said:

Baffling it took 3 years to learn isolating a monster red zone mismatch would result in easy TD's. How many times the past few years did he get lined up in some weird bunch formation that made it way easier for the defense to double/triple team him?

At least they're doing it now, some interesting wrinkles with pre-snap motion to ensure it's 1v1 man coverage. But man, should not have taken this long.

Click to expand...

Baffling is correct. I'm glad they are finally doing it. I have to give credit that Bev, I am definitely not a fan, but he is doing a better job pre-snap to ensure its 1v1; but its like this coaching staff didn't watch a single minute of his tape from New Orleans the first 2 years he was here.

Click to expand...

Why should he have? Our own arrogance states this perfectly. "It's not about them, it's about us". Pete, Bev, and Cable have used that time and time again. One of several things that kept us stuck in red zone purgatory for better than 1 1/2 years.

Also why many including myself called to not extend Jimmy or even trade him. Don't know how to use him, then spend the $$ where you can.

Click to expand...

Making this offseason even more important. Do they adapt and make this RW's team and pay his weapons? Or continue to put most of the money on defense?

If hawks lose Prich & Graham, continue to be able to not run the ball, it could be real ugly on the O next year, particularly in the RZ.

scrummymustard":2nc515q6 said:

Seymour":2nc515q6 said:

scrummymustard":2nc515q6 said:

mistaowen":2nc515q6 said:

Baffling it took 3 years to learn isolating a monster red zone mismatch would result in easy TD's. How many times the past few years did he get lined up in some weird bunch formation that made it way easier for the defense to double/triple team him?

At least they're doing it now, some interesting wrinkles with pre-snap motion to ensure it's 1v1 man coverage. But man, should not have taken this long.

Click to expand...

Baffling is correct. I'm glad they are finally doing it. I have to give credit that Bev, I am definitely not a fan, but he is doing a better job pre-snap to ensure its 1v1; but its like this coaching staff didn't watch a single minute of his tape from New Orleans the first 2 years he was here.

Click to expand...

Why should he have? Our own arrogance states this perfectly. "It's not about them, it's about us". Pete, Bev, and Cable have used that time and time again. One of several things that kept us stuck in red zone purgatory for better than 1 1/2 years.

Also why many including myself called to not extend Jimmy or even trade him. Don't know how to use him, then spend the $$ where you can.

Click to expand...

Making this offseason even more important. Do they adapt and make this RW's team and pay his weapons? Or continue to put most of the money on defense?

If hawks lose Prich & Graham, continue to be able to not run the ball, it could be real ugly on the O next year, particularly in the RZ.

Click to expand...

Ya, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Look at it this way. We just took near $30M from D away (Sherm, Kam, Avril injuries) and the D has darn near the same PPG average and is playing well.

Graham being here is part of the run game problem with poor blocking (don't believe me look at NO then and now). You cannot combine that with a bad oline and expect to run. I say if you can keep him for $8M then do it, otherwise, spend the $$ on oline and protect your #1 asset. Without Wilson, everything else doesn't matter so much.

Great article, thanks for sharing.

I love what they're doing with Graham in the red zone, fun to watch!

Seymour":30wozf62 said:

scrummymustard":30wozf62 said:

Seymour":30wozf62 said:

scrummymustard":30wozf62 said:

Baffling is correct. I'm glad they are finally doing it. I have to give credit that Bev, I am definitely not a fan, but he is doing a better job pre-snap to ensure its 1v1; but its like this coaching staff didn't watch a single minute of his tape from New Orleans the first 2 years he was here.

Click to expand...

Why should he have? Our own arrogance states this perfectly. "It's not about them, it's about us". Pete, Bev, and Cable have used that time and time again. One of several things that kept us stuck in red zone purgatory for better than 1 1/2 years.

Also why many including myself called to not extend Jimmy or even trade him. Don't know how to use him, then spend the $$ where you can.

Click to expand...

Making this offseason even more important. Do they adapt and make this RW's team and pay his weapons? Or continue to put most of the money on defense?

If hawks lose Prich & Graham, continue to be able to not run the ball, it could be real ugly on the O next year, particularly in the RZ.

Click to expand...

Ya, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Look at it this way. We just took near $30M from D away (Sherm, Kam, Avril injuries) and the D has darn near the same PPG average and is playing well.

Graham being here is part of the run game problem with poor blocking (don't believe me look at NO then and now). You cannot combine that with a bad oline and expect to run. I say if you can keep him for $8M then do it, otherwise, spend the $$ on oline and protect your #1 asset. Without Wilson, everything else doesn't matter so much.

Click to expand...

Its a tough choice. NO signed Fleener, who is a worse blocker than graham. They put a massive amount of money and draft capital into the OLine. What it really comes down to is drafting well, cheap talent that is producing great, NO draft this year was unreal, but they also have had high picks lately, unlike the hawks.

Round Selection Player Position College
1 11 Marshon Lattimore CB Ohio State
32 Ryan Ramczyk OT Wisconsin
2 42 Marcus Williams FS Utah
3 67 Alvin Kamara RB Tennessee
76 Alex Anzalone OLB Florida
103 Trey Hendrickson DE Florida Atlantic
6 196 Al-Quadin Muhammad DE Miami

Those first 4 picks are all home runs. They only have $55 million of their cap allocated to defense (that includes IR). It's easier to beef up the OL when they have had high draft picks and spend more $ on the OL. Will the hawks start to change the $ allocation from D to O? We shall see.

scrummymustard":2powqqab said:

Seymour":2powqqab said:

scrummymustard":2powqqab said:

Seymour":2powqqab said:

Why should he have? Our own arrogance states this perfectly. "It's not about them, it's about us". Pete, Bev, and Cable have used that time and time again. One of several things that kept us stuck in red zone purgatory for better than 1 1/2 years.

Also why many including myself called to not extend Jimmy or even trade him. Don't know how to use him, then spend the $$ where you can.

Click to expand...

Making this offseason even more important. Do they adapt and make this RW's team and pay his weapons? Or continue to put most of the money on defense?

If hawks lose Prich & Graham, continue to be able to not run the ball, it could be real ugly on the O next year, particularly in the RZ.

Click to expand...

Ya, damned if you do, damned if you don't. Look at it this way. We just took near $30M from D away (Sherm, Kam, Avril injuries) and the D has darn near the same PPG average and is playing well.

Graham being here is part of the run game problem with poor blocking (don't believe me look at NO then and now). You cannot combine that with a bad oline and expect to run. I say if you can keep him for $8M then do it, otherwise, spend the $$ on oline and protect your #1 asset. Without Wilson, everything else doesn't matter so much.

Click to expand...

Its a tough choice. NO signed Fleener, who is a worse blocker than graham. They put a massive amount of money and draft capital into the OLine. What it really comes down to is drafting well, cheap talent that is producing great, NO draft this year was unreal, but they also have had high picks lately, unlike the hawks.

Round Selection Player Position College
1 11 Marshon Lattimore CB Ohio State
32 Ryan Ramczyk OT Wisconsin
2 42 Marcus Williams FS Utah
3 67 Alvin Kamara RB Tennessee
76 Alex Anzalone OLB Florida
103 Trey Hendrickson DE Florida Atlantic
6 196 Al-Quadin Muhammad DE Miami

Those first 4 picks are all home runs. They only have $55 million of their cap allocated to defense (that includes IR). It's easier to beef up the OL when they have had high draft picks and spend more $ on the OL. Will the hawks start to change the $ allocation from D to O? We shall see.

Click to expand...

But it goes beyond just the blocking ability alone. The cost to man that position comes into play once you start cutting players and putting rookies in to save $$ on your oline. Fleener is at least $3M cheaper than Graham. I don't know about his blocking, but I doubt it's worse than Grahams.

You are right about the oline. Funny how both they and Minny both built good lines with "no good players available".

More like no good coaches / scouts available. ukeface:

The biggest difference hasn't been the playcalling, we've always tried to ISO Graham in the red zone.

The biggest difference has been our WR sets, now we have three quick zone busting WR's in Doug, Lockett and Richardson who can get open (as we saw Sunday with Lockett's TD) if teams decide to bracket or double Jimmy.

There's no more double teams on Doug and Jimmy cause Kearse was dead weight in the red zone. Now teams have to choose..............and they've been choosing to leave Jimmy with one on one coverage, which has allowed to to box out and score.

The Seahawks have nothing in the red zone that works, except Graham. Where would the offense be without that singular weapon inside the 10 yard line? Now that they've figured out how to use him, they have to keep him.

On the plus side, tight ends aren't making any more in salary now than they were 3-4 years ago. It should be doable.

Sgt. Largent":2d3n4xlt said:

The biggest difference hasn't been the playcalling, we've always tried to ISO Graham in the red zone.

The biggest difference has been our WR sets, now we have three quick zone busting WR's in Doug, Lockett and Richardson who can get open (as we saw Sunday with Lockett's TD) if teams decide to bracket or double Jimmy.

There's no more double teams on Doug and Jimmy cause Kearse was dead weight in the red zone. Now teams have to choose..............and they've been choosing to leave Jimmy with one on one coverage, which has allowed to to box out and score.

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Disagree. Biggest difference has been ball placement by Wilson IMO. They finally figured it out, and my guess is without the help of Bevell.

Sgt. Largent":m4gyk631 said:

The biggest difference hasn't been the playcalling, we've always tried to ISO Graham in the red zone.

The biggest difference has been our WR sets, now we have three quick zone busting WR's in Doug, Lockett and Richardson who can get open (as we saw Sunday with Lockett's TD) if teams decide to bracket or double Jimmy.

There's no more double teams on Doug and Jimmy cause Kearse was dead weight in the red zone. Now teams have to choose..............and they've been choosing to leave Jimmy with one on one coverage, which has allowed to to box out and score.

Click to expand...

This isn't true. The article even says it. In 2015 & 2016:

"On the 37 total snaps the team ran inside the 5-yard line, Graham lined up away from the formation on just three plays"

Lining up Graham away from the formation in less than 10% of the plays ran inside the five is not always trying. Yes, technically they tried, 3 times, but yea, it was only 3 times.

Combo of both. Russ clearly has locked in on how to throw those passes to Graham. Also, they are actually ATTEMPTING to use him way more often. Play calling has been pathetic until recently.

SoulfishHawk":38bwcko6 said:

Combo of both....

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Waffles and pancakes?