Time To GET BEHIND This Defense

kearly

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I have a sneaking suspicion that this thread isn't really about defense at all! Where is my Sherlock emoticon? :sherlock:

Anyway, here's my :twocents: . Our defense is certifiably elite. It's in the discussion for the best in football. The offense, well, that's going to take a long answer.

If you've played football, you know it's a game of momentum. That's doubly true on offense.

This season penalties, timely errors, and (at least until today) a mishandling of Russell Wilson have killed Seattle's momentum on offense. It's really hard to maintain a drive when you run a station to station ball control offense and that nice 15 yard run turns into a 10 or 15 yard loss from a completely unnecessary penalty. That's a bad mix, even moreso with a rookie QB who has to work around a height disadvantage.

I still remember how inept the offense felt in 2008 and 2009. The 2012 group is nowhere near that level. This team has out-gained their opponent in 4 of 5 games this season. They have won time of possession in 3 out of 5 games this season- and one of the times they didn't win time of possession they lost it by 16 seconds. The running offense is among the best in football. The passing offense has been efficient at times but mired by all the things I listed above.

The good news is that many of those problems are being worked on and can be fixed. I would guess that nearly three quarters of our penalties stem from the O-line, and that could improve as that group gels and gains comfort. It could also help things just by benching Giacomini. Fair or not, an average of two+ penalties per game just isn't going to cut it.

Russell Wilson is showing steady progress and is well on his way to being a good starter by 2013. I think it's wise to keep that in mind. I still hold out hope that Wilson can get the 2012 team into the playoffs. Every time that Wilson plays like he did against Carolina or Dallas, I will expect a win.

In the meantime, I think it's important to look beyond the counting stats and just focus on efficiency. Seattle runs a clock kill offense to shorten the game, which means everyone involved is going to have lower final stats because there will be fewer drives. I truly believe that this offense as currently constructed is an average offense turned bad by growing pains and penalties. If the Seahawks play without penalties and without freak turnovers, I think they'd be 5-0 right now. Not because our offense is where it needs to be, but because it's more than capable of being "good enough" if only it can stay out of it's own way. And it will only get better from here.
 
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bestfightstory

bestfightstory

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Wagner AND Irvin Appeared to have GREAT games in Carolina. But back to the subplot... Many on this board had predicted a kind of breakout game for Wilson and our offense in Carolina. While Wilson played a decent game, our offense overall was fairly pedestrian. When can we count on 21 points from this group?
 
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bestfightstory

bestfightstory

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Did I just have a flashback of Leon Washington losing a fumble?? If so, our defense had to contend with 3 turnovers AND a 7point gift on the road and we still won this game?? Remarkable.
 

hawkfan1975

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Wait a sec, the heck this isn't about our defense (this thread is for real, better believe it).

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volsunghawk

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Guess what? I'm behind both Wilson AND the defense.

We knew all along that during the first half of this year, Seattle would be relying heavily on its run game and defense while a new QB worked out the kinks. It would be the same if Flynn was in. Lo and behold, that's happening.

I think this offense will move toward middle-of-the-pack in the league as Wilson continues to gain experience, develop chemistry and confidence with his receivers, etc., but only if they can get the penalties under control. The offensive output yesterday would have been much more impressive had several key plays not been wiped out by stupid penalties.
 

Largent80

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How about getting behind the entire team?

Imagine that.

Wagner is really playing way beyond my vision of him and he is friggin FAST. :escape:
 

Scottemojo

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bestfightstory":3hef0d34 said:
Kam Newton had a career low in scoring yards. Carolina had no rushing game. And we STILL won by less than one score. In fact, 4 of our 5 games have been decided by 4, 2, 6, and 4 points. It seems our defense will always keep us within striking distance, yet our offense will always keep the other team within striking distance of a victory, as well.

And one of the best offenses in the league, Baltimore, went on the road and beat a terrible KC team 9-6. A road win is a road win. This offense will improve. No amount of demanding will speed that process up.

If you are so upset with the offense, maybe you should boycott until they listen to you?
 

hawkfan1975

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volsunghawk":320t151w said:
Guess what? I'm behind both Wilson AND the defense.

We knew all along that during the first half of this year, Seattle would be relying heavily on its run game and defense while a new QB worked out the kinks. It would be the same if Flynn was in. Lo and behold, that's happening.

I think this offense will move toward middle-of-the-pack in the league as Wilson continues to gain experience, develop chemistry and confidence with his receivers, etc., but only if they can get the penalties under control. The offensive output yesterday would have been much more impressive had several key plays not been wiped out by stupid penalties.

wilson and the defense? you mean offense and the defense.

Man there is NOTHING douchey about talking about this defense. Do you realize how long it's been since we...

nevermind
I'm sorry but this is getting ridiculous. I find it sickening other fans have this "RW or bust" mentality with other fans.
People here HAVE to fawn over RW ? Really? How about, NO? How about " he has a LONG way to go"?
I wish him the best because he's a hawk, but no I dont think he's a great qb, not yet at least, not even close.

This isn't a first rodeo for some here. Love the win, love my team, ill even be patient with this damn rook... but you bet yer sweet bippee this was in most part made by our D - again (it's always our D, special teams, and running game).

As much as you think your "over" the RW concerns voiced, believe me other fans are way "over" the false mega-hype. Can we just agree to disagree and deal?

add: and volsung, i realize i quoted you, sorry. wasn't meant to single you out actually to be clear.
 

theENGLISHseahawk

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hawkfan1975":2dag0hgz said:
Man there is NOTHING douchey about talking about this defense. Do you realize how long it's been since we...

I think you've completely missed the point of not only my post, but also this thread in general.
 

hawkfan1975

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theENGLISHseahawk":2mgkwlju said:
hawkfan1975":2mgkwlju said:
Man there is NOTHING douchey about talking about this defense. Do you realize how long it's been since we...

I think you've completely missed the point of not only my post, but also this thread in general.

i know all about your prior post english. relax.
 

SalishHawkFan

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HansGruber":b5obis2t said:
This is one of those Captain Obvious moments.

I'll be even more specific - our offense needs to stop negating those big plays with penalties. Seems like every time we come up with something big and some momentum, it's getting called back.

I was really really impressed with Wilson's ability to keep those drives alive though, getting 1st downs after having great plays called back. He just kept the drives alive. I like it.
I agree that the timing of some of these penalties has been atrocious. I checked out some stats today and we lead the league in offensive penalties. One thing stood out, the total yards in penalties is only about 100 yards more than the league average. That's only 20 yards per game. Give the offense that 20 yards and they only move up one slot on the total offense ranking.

The thing is, those penalties always seem to come from Breno after a big play. Remember Big Play Babs? Loved that guy. Breno is Big Penalty Breno. I hate that guy.
 
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