Speedy #2 WR v LOB

While being built to take on the big boys of the league like Calvin, Fitzgerald, etc. the LOB has shown a propensity for letting the speedy/shifty type #2 or #3 receiver post career days against them, albeit only on the road so far. Even though this game is in the CLINK, WR Kenny Stills worries me a bit. He seems similar to Young and Hilton physically and like Hill and Young he's got a damn good QB throwing the ball. Even a slow footed Davone Bess had a day against the LOB last year.

Shifty/Speedy WRs who have had big games against us:
Davone Bess 5' 10'' 190lbs 4.54 forty: career day against Seahawks 7/129 (Seahawks lost 24-21)
Titus Young 5' 11'' 175lbs 4.39 forty: career day against Seahawks 9/100 with 2 TDs (Seahawks lost 28-24)
TY Hilton 5' 10'' 180lbs 4.34 forty: career day against Seahawks 5/140 2 TDS (Seahawks lost 34-28)
Kenny Stills 6' 190lbs 4.32 forty: TBD

Like most of the twelves, I am more confident in this team to win a big game than any other Seahawks team from the past. But, the WTIII suspension may leave us a bit more susceptible to that one match-up that has caused problems recently; the speedy guy who gets behind the coverage. The front four will have to keep the pressure on Brees full blast, all night! The linebackers will be busy enough with Thomas and Sproles coming out of the backfield and that Graham guy dragging the two route. Earl and Kam must bring their A game...but they almost always do so we should be good. It will be interesting to see Kam and Graham meet at the ball!

Any .netters see a potential problem with Stills this week? Saint fans, what is your take on Stills so far?

Him and Sproles are the X-factors that worry me, way more than Graham. They're going to punch Graham in the face and take him out. It's the little shits slipping through the cracks that worry me.

For all that I love him to death, having Brandon Browner (#freebrowner) out might actually be a bit of a blessing as more often than not it seems to be him who's getting exploited. I can see BMax and Lane having better success against those types of guys...

CANHawk":o7tlfkts said:

Him and Sproles are the X-factors that worry me, way more than Graham. They're going to punch Graham in the face and take him out. It's the little shits slipping through the cracks that worry me.

For all that I love him to death, having Brandon Browner (#freebrowner) out might actually be a bit of a blessing as more often than not it seems to be him who's getting exploited. I can see BMax and Lane having better success against those types of guys...

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:13: This.

BMax and Lane's 40 times: 4.43 and 4.53
Browner: 4.63 (a million years ago).

Browner doesn't have the raw speed to catch back up to a Sproles/Stills if he makes a mistake. It's the way he's always been. If they get a step on him, he's burned or he's going to get a flag. Would've loves to have WTIII but he F'ed up. Next man up!

I'm not that worried.

1. Because I'm confident the Seahawks Off/ST can win a shoot-out on their home turf.

2. We have speed that matches up... if I was the Seahawks I would put Sherman on Colston exclusively all game, keep Sherman way from Stills as much as possible and use Lane/Thomas to cover Stills. Lane runs what 4.35-4.45 range, Carroll did call him the fastest player on the team. Thomas runs about the same.

3. As for Sproles, as long as the LBer corps are on top of their games, namely Irvin, who not only has the speed to matchup with Sproles (4.4) but he also has the size to mess with Graham at 6-3, 250.

Bobby Wagner needs to keep building off that momentum, he's built up the last two games.

And this might be a game where you might see Malcolm Smith come in regularly for Wright and as well as Irvin because he too as speed plus strength that matches up well.

Excellent topic. Jeremy Lane is a speed demon who ran slow on his pro day, which helped us out. If you watch the ST play on kick offs, Lane is almost always the first one down there. I would put him at 4.3 speed. Last year on the blocked SF field goal where Sherman took off downfield, towards the endzone Lane came out of nowhere closing like a heat seeking missile, it was awesome to see!

Can't remember if it was Sando or Clayton but one of them said that BMax was outplaying Browner recently in practice. He's been in the system for 3 years and has played well, as has Jeremy Lane. I agree that Irvin, "S'Wagner" and Malcom Smith will probably handle Sproles very well. I'm sure they have something planned for Graham and I see this as a 7+ point win. The first quarter might start out slow as usual, but after that it will be all Seahawks Ball!

I agree that Maxwell has looked really good when given the PT and I did not realize that Lane had that kind of speed. The depth of the LOB and peripherals is pretty damn impressive, an argument could be made that one through seven they rival the best in modern NFL history.

Excellent responses! I feel better now.

jdemps":bawk9heo said:

CANHawk":bawk9heo said:

Him and Sproles are the X-factors that worry me, way more than Graham. They're going to punch Graham in the face and take him out. It's the little shits slipping through the cracks that worry me.

For all that I love him to death, having Brandon Browner (#freebrowner) out might actually be a bit of a blessing as more often than not it seems to be him who's getting exploited. I can see BMax and Lane having better success against those types of guys...

Click to expand...

:13: This.

BMax and Lane's 40 times: 4.43 and 4.53
Browner: 4.63 (a million years ago).


Browner doesn't have the raw speed to catch back up to a Sproles/Stills if he makes a mistake. It's the way he's always been. If they get a step on him, he's burned or he's going to get a flag. Would've loves to have WTIII but he F'ed up. Next man up!

Click to expand...

He caught up to Adrian Peterson...

Yeah, Stills and Sproles is a concern to me as well. I hope that this suspension stuff hasn't been a distraction. I know the team probably knew about it for some time, but now they are having to deal with the media stuff.

I'm concerned about Stills. You know Brees is going to try to find out early if Maxwell can play. I'm not as worried about the deep ball, because since Colston isn't going to go deep, Earl can make sure he always has Maxwell's back. Luckily, Stills hasn't been a volume receiver, more of a simple deep threat, but I'm assuming they're going to try to involve him more this week. I'm not worried about the slot if it is Meachem, but Lance Moore's sneakiness bugs me a bit.

Either way, I expect the most stress to be put on Kam, Irvin and KJ. KJ has to play fast, Irvin has to play smart, and Kam needs to break some people in half.

In Brees' interview, he said he'd seen a good bit of tape on Maxwell and that he was playing well. He's going to get tested because Brees has familiarized himself with Maxwell and Sherman usually doesn't give a lot of opportunities on his side. Brees said there wasn't a lot of tape on Lane and they were still working on a game plan for him.

Sherman on Colston would be a good matchup. Colston isn't that fast, so Sherman could do his usual QB baiting with him and maybe trick Brees into throwing a ball he won't want to.

I'm worried about this as well. It's going to come down to pass rush and forcing the Saints into obvious passing situations. If Brees gets time, it's not going to be pretty for us; they have too many weapons for us to completely neutralize with what we're fielding in the backfield. Then again, if BMax and Lane both play well, it could get ugly for the Saints very quickly.

On the other side of the ball, Harvin out worries me (yes I believe he's out until I see him on the field). With him, we had the firepower to stay with the Saints if we had to. Without him, well our WRs have shown a propensity to not get consistent separation and own DBs they should be owning.

jdemps":305kzc4u said:

CANHawk":305kzc4u said:

Him and Sproles are the X-factors that worry me, way more than Graham. They're going to punch Graham in the face and take him out. It's the little shits slipping through the cracks that worry me.

For all that I love him to death, having Brandon Browner (#freebrowner) out might actually be a bit of a blessing as more often than not it seems to be him who's getting exploited. I can see BMax and Lane having better success against those types of guys...

Click to expand...

:13: This.

BMax and Lane's 40 times: 4.43 and 4.53
Browner: 4.63 (a million years ago).

Browner doesn't have the raw speed to catch back up to a Sproles/Stills if he makes a mistake. It's the way he's always been. If they get a step on him, he's burned or he's going to get a flag. Would've loves to have WTIII but he F'ed up. Next man up!

Click to expand...

Just curious here...Who was it last Year, that ran across & down field like a cheetah and caught the Vikings Adrian Peterson, like he was a wounded gazelle, before he could make it to the goal line ?, Yep, that was Brandon Browner.
It's like Gruden said the other night on TV, "it's unfair to expect ANY corner to cover a Receiver, when an unpressured Quarterback has plenty of time to deliver the ball to a once covered, and now open Receiver.
Somebodies have to jamb the Receivers at the LOS, and our D-line has to make Breese uncomfortable, back there in the pocket, or it won't make any difference how fast, or how slow our guys are that have to cover, because even slow Receivers will get open with enough time.

Not that it matters, but I think that's a slow time for Lane. I remember last year Pete saying that if you lined up all the new guys and they raced, Lane would be looking back over his shoulder at them.

Starrman44":1jbxsmfv said:

Yeah, Stills and Sproles is a concern to me as well. I hope that this suspension stuff hasn't been a distraction. I know the team probably knew about it for some time, but now they are having to deal with the media stuff.

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Word is out that the players are pissed off at all the Media blathering, and going to come out and show that they earned the 10 & 1 they got.