Random Thoughts™ on the Giants game

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kearly

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Even though this was nearly a four score blowout, you can't be blamed for thinking it should have been 40-0. Other than Doug Baldwin's TD catch, Seattle was remarkably unclutch all game long, finding ways to 1st and 10s in enemy territory into punts, or first and goal from the 2 into FGs. But Seattle still won, and though I was a little nervous seeing the game at just 3-0 midway through 2nd quarter, when Seattle went up 10-0 it felt like they had just scored the winning points. It's nice having so many comfortable wins lately after the first 10 games of the season made almost every week painfully dramatic.

So, when is it okay to worry about Marshawn Lynch? To my eye he's had good run blocking the last 3 weeks. Not elite run blocking, but average blocking at worst. It has now been over a month since the last time Lynch averaged over 3.6 yards per carry in a game. In 14 games, Lynch has averaged 3.7 YPC or less 7 times. He had 2.9 YPC today. Though Turbin looked good and ran in obvious rushing situations, his numbers weren't very good either. If Christine Michael plays well the next couple weeks, he needs to be a part of the game plan come the postseason. For the second time in 3 games, Russell Wilson was Seattle's top rusher (50 yards on 8 carries).

Lynch was our top receiver though. Kind of surprising given the day Doug Baldwin had.

Golden Tate failed to come up with a few catches today he normally gets. I won't call them drops, because they were very tough plays (sun in the eyes) or well defended. Remember that insane TD Tate had in the Rams game (ending with a taunt)? Tate had a few more plays like that today where you are thinking "interception" right before the ball gets there. The defender has perfect positioning, and then Tate does some kind of voodoo teleportation move and appears in front of the DB for an eyebrow raising catch. Except today, he didn't catch those.

That athletic ability to get in position for the deep catch almost no matter what is spoiling Wilson, and it showed on his interception targeting Ricardo Lockette. Lockette barely even tries to get back to the football, but that is a play (in terms of defender/receiver body position) that ends up an interception 9 times out of 10 targeting anyone other than Tate.

With two games left to play, Eli Manning has 25 interceptions. Only his rookie year, when he barely played, has a worse passer rating than his 2013 season. Seattle's 5 picks today were awesome to see, particularly Maxwell's insane 1 handed pick (his 2nd of the game) and the volleyball pick between Sherman and Thomas to seal the shutout.

I wonder if Pete gave Sherman guff for not knocking the ball down and getting greedy for the pick. I thought he might, but then I remembered that Sherman has probably the best set of hands on the field when he's out there, and sometimes hail marys are caught on deflections.

As insane as it sounds, if Bill Leavy officiated every Seahawks game, they would never lose again. He was extremely loose with the calls all day long, which is extremely beneficial to Seattle the way their OL and DBs play the game. Maxwell in particular looks like a superstar when the officials back off. He even got away with a pretty blatant PI at one point.

Russell Wilson had a interesting game. For most of it, he looked like a total stud. I think at one point in the 3rd quarter he was flirting with a 90% completion rate and 10 YPA. But then he had the silly interception and the Romo-riffic red zone fumble. Wilson was more clutz than clutch today, but other than those inopportune goof ups and easy missed throws (one for an easy TD that he overthrew to Miller), he was freaking outstanding.

Wilson also kept a ton of read option keepers today, which is eyebrow raising given that Seattle very nearly has HFA locked up.

The Giants offense looked awful. Dude off the street Peyton Hillis looked like an MVP candidate compared to the rest of their RB group, who never saw an arm tackle they didn't like. Eli Manning did more than throw picks, he held the ball and made an easy target to sack. Credit to Seattle's defense though, who created consistent pressure despite having Red Bryant at DE for most of the game.

Golden Tate is still an awesome punt returner. Do not let Tate walk PC/JS. You will regret it if you do. Granted, sacrifices need to be made. Don't make one of those tough decisions Tate.

Some of Hauschka's kicks were a little ugly, but he's 3/3 and he still hasn't had a true miss on a FG all season. I wonder if he hangs around in FA until June before signing a minimum deal again. How long can he live under the radar? Last I checked he's leading the NFL in scoring!

Jeremy Lane is a special teams stud... actually he's more like a special teams MVP. And IIRC, he wasn't even on the pro-bowl ballot. That needs to change next year. We need to get the word out. On a roster like ours, normally you'd hate keeping a guy just for kick coverage, but man, I have never ever seen a more consistently great coverage special teamer in a Seahawks uniform. He was very good at returns in the preseason as well.

There was never a great angle, but Chancellor's roughness penalty looked like it should have been legal to me. That penalty needs to be reviewable IMO.

Best road record all time for Seattle: 6-2, including a 4-1 record at 10am. I loved this team before the year, but I did NOT see that coming. Not many teams in NFL history have ever had this good of a present and future outlook.

It finally happened. First shutout of the season. When was the last 10am Pacific time start shutout for Seattle I wonder?

The Giants rushed for 25 yards. They had 181 yards of offense, a lot of that coming in garbage time. They had the aforementioned five picks and also had two fumbles that sat on the ground forever yet were retained, in addition to a lost fumble that was overturned on replay. If you subscribe to the idea that a turnover is worth minus 60 yards (a case made by Advanced NFL Stats), that means that New York's total offensive output was functionally worth -119 yards. It would have been nice to have Seattle's defense in fantasy today.

Victor Cruz is stuck on 998 yards. Pete is such a jerk. :)
 

McGruff

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Russell looked rattled by missing the safety on the INT. He was really off after that play.
 

Hawk4lyfe

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Great effort by our D. Wish I didn't feel like our D is only this dominant when the refs "let us play". the presnap penalties (and penalties in general I guess) are driving me nuts. has a super bowl winner ever lead the league in penalties during the reg season? (I know we are 2nd)

and the O looked out of sync. Should have put up atleast 14 more pts. But a win is a win. Just nitpicking
 

DYLcurry59

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SeatownJay":1twmlsd0 said:
The Giants didn't run a play in Seattle territory until halfway through the 4th quarter.

Of course it happened right after they put up the graphic stating that they hadn't. If not for the bogus personal foul call, they might not have run a single play in our territory all game.
 

QuahHawk

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McGruff":11e3v0vm said:
Russell looked rattled by missing the safety on the INT. He was really off after that play.

I wouldn't be surprised if it had more to do with what the coaches said to him after that. Tate saved 2 possible Int's. Obviously Locket doesn't have the same ability to protect his QB as Tate and Kearse do when they fight for the ball.
 

Dreo

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Thanks Kearly.

Between the play of Maxwell and Lane I am having a hard time missing Browner. And I think Browner is awesome.

It's crazy to think that we at some point will or might get back Thurmond and Browner. There was another thread that suggested that this is the best secondary ever: I agree.

As an aside, enemy GM's must be salivating at the opportunity to pick up our defensive players whom we can't keep due to the combination of salary cap and market value.
 

Seafan

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Lane played a great game overall on defense and special teams. He'd be a good choice for a game ball but the entire defense played really well. When you blank a team in their home while your offense struggles a bit the game ball goes to the entire D.
 

AROS

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I am a bit concerned about Lynch's lack of running productivity over the past month. Is Lynch injured and trying to play through pain or are defenses just stacking the box to the point that it negates any real running game? Or maybe a combination of both? We all know RB's stats steadily decline once they hit 30...Isn't Lynch around that magic number?

That Chancellor hit was similar to his Vernon Davis hit where the refs are reflexively throwing the flag because they see a sharp movement of the head at the point of contact, assuming it's helmet-to-helmet but it's not. The hit appeared totally legal on the replay and I agree 100% those plays should be reviewable. That would be a nice rule change from the NFL.
 

Dreo

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Also thanks Detroit! We drafted Maxwell in compensation for LoJack:

"Maxwell was drafted with the 173rd overall pick in the 6th round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Seattle Seahawks with a pick they acquired from the Detroit Lions after a trade for Defensive End Lawrence Jackson."
 

McGruff

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Lynch is just 27 but IIRC he entered the league at 21 so there's a lot of tread on those tires.
 

AROS

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Indeed. Lynch's running style alone indicated a shorter lifespan than some other RBs.
 

Dreo

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Aros":12iyh2cg said:
I am a bit concerned about Lynch's lack of running productivity over the past month. Is Lynch injured and trying to play through pain or are defenses just stacking the box to the point that it negates any real running game? Or maybe a combination of both? We all know RB's stats steadily decline once they hit 30...Isn't Lynch around that magic number?

That Chancellor hit was similar to his Vernon Davis hit where the refs are reflexively throwing the flag because they see a sharp movement of the head at the point of contact, assuming it's helmet-to-helmet but it's not. The hit appeared totally legal on the replay and I agree 100% those plays should be reviewable. That would be a nice rule change from the NFL.

I am concerned about Lynch as well but to be honest I think it is a matter of game planning by our opponents. In my non-expert opinion, for the past three weeks our opponents have seemed to have prepared to do two things:

1. Stop Lynch
2. Mitigate against the Read Option

All the while opening the door for RW to dominate with his arm. Heavens help our opponents when they can not achieve 1 and 2 above.
 

McGruff

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Aros":11mhylgg said:
Indeed. Lynch's running style alone indicated a shorter lifespan than some other RBs.

Just for comparison, Alexander was at @1700 carries at the end of 2005.

Lynch is at 1696 right now.
 

DavidSeven

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Lynch had 110+ all-purpose yards today. He was our most productive skill player. Teams are gearing up to stop the run against Seattle. I'm sure that was especially true this week with the threat of a snow game. Let's not overlook the fact that the Giants also have a top 10 DVOA defense. I'm sure we still have some blocking issues, but not worried about Lynch at all.
 

docj78

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Dreo":2a4bt5nx said:
Aros":2a4bt5nx said:
I am a bit concerned about Lynch's lack of running productivity over the past month. Is Lynch injured and trying to play through pain or are defenses just stacking the box to the point that it negates any real running game? Or maybe a combination of both? We all know RB's stats steadily decline once they hit 30...Isn't Lynch around that magic number?

That Chancellor hit was similar to his Vernon Davis hit where the refs are reflexively throwing the flag because they see a sharp movement of the head at the point of contact, assuming it's helmet-to-helmet but it's not. The hit appeared totally legal on the replay and I agree 100% those plays should be reviewable. That would be a nice rule change from the NFL.

I am concerned about Lynch as well but to be honest I think it is a matter of game planning by our opponents. In my non-expert opinion, for the past three weeks our opponents have seemed to have prepared to do two things:

1. Stop Lynch
2. Mitigate against the Read Option

All the while opening the door for RW to dominate with his arm. Heavens help our opponents when they can not achieve 1 and 2 above.

Defenses planning for him aside, I just don't see him getting the yards after contact anymore. Yes, he still gets them, but not as consistently. He looks tired out there to me. I'm really starting to wonder if we've already seen Beastmode's peak come and go.......
 

Fuzzman55

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I'm more concerned about all the lineman and blockers working in concert to get the running game going. That engine isn't firing right now and so there's some work to do in the last 2 games. Lynch has sat a ton this year, so they're either saving him for the playoffs or he's dealing with something. I'm thinking they want him ready for the post season, but that means we have to start getting it going on the ground soon if we want to be ready.
 
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