Pete Ball is NOT the Problem

I have been critical of Pete on this board; I have been a strong critic of his in fact. Pete's philosophy works, however. Look at the Titans as an example: running game and defense, and limit possessions.

The shortcoming this year, in part, was an inability of the coaching staff and the team as a whole to move away from Pete ball when needed. Like it or not, this team was not built for Pete ball due to roster construction and injuries. I don't think this reality was realized entirely, but maybe I am grasping at straws.

Thats the whole point that everybody is complaining about. Pete ball works when you have the talent to make it work (good defense and stout running game). When you have neither, why does he continue doing it for entire halves? Its maddening and he refuses to change and adapt.

Same downfall as Holmgren. Either inability or unwillingness to adapt to reality.

Pete is the one costing Hawks in big games. SB Int vs Pats and now again with pretty much the same play again taking a dumb penalty pissing away the division title and bye.

One of the reasons Pete Ball works, is because running the ball keeps it away from the opposing offense, it's favorable for time of possession, keeps your defense rested, thus keeping the per game score down, which in turn brings the ranking of your defense up!

And, it wears out opposing defenses. Look at what Tennessee is doing. Don't be surprised if they beat the "high powered Chiefs" this weekend. There's a reason why Andy Reid has so many regular season wins, but so few post season wins.

ivotuk":glzlanhi said:

One of the reasons Pete Ball works, is because running the ball keeps it away from the opposing offense, it's favorable for time of possession, keeps your defense rested, thus keeping the per game score down, which in turn brings the ranking of your defense up!

And, it wears out opposing defenses. Look at what Tennessee is doing. Don't be surprised if they beat the "high powered Chiefs" this weekend. There's a reason why Andy Reid has so many regular season wins, but so few post season wins.

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Three and out does not keep the ball away from the opponent. Derrick Henry was running through holes the likes that have never been seen under Carrol. Our backs have so much YAC because they are hit at the LOS if not in the backfield.
Statistically speaking, NFL wide, for max point production you should throw the 70% of the time for the best W/L outcome. With a QB as talented as RW make that 75% of the time.

ivotuk":2af8vruh said:

One of the reasons Pete Ball works, is because running the ball keeps it away from the opposing offense, it's favorable for time of possession, keeps your defense rested, thus keeping the per game score down, which in turn brings the ranking of your defense up!

And, it wears out opposing defenses. Look at what Tennessee is doing. Don't be surprised if they beat the "high powered Chiefs" this weekend. There's a reason why Andy Reid has so many regular season wins, but so few post season wins.

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The Titans have the players to do it. Seattle does not.

I would prefer a run game and a stout D as well. We don't have that. game planning like we do and going 3 and out until there are 2 minutes left in the first half puts the team in a hole and tires out the defense.

When it comes to the running game, it is far more important to run the ball when you NEED to than it is to run it when you WANT to do it. Against the Packers, our play calling focused on preference over necessity in the first half. In the second half, we flipped that, and became far more successful.

These fundamental principles are part of the problem that MUST be addressed.

irfuben32":mmd6a3du said:

ivotuk":mmd6a3du said:

One of the reasons Pete Ball works, is because running the ball keeps it away from the opposing offense, it's favorable for time of possession, keeps your defense rested, thus keeping the per game score down, which in turn brings the ranking of your defense up!

And, it wears out opposing defenses. Look at what Tennessee is doing. Don't be surprised if they beat the "high powered Chiefs" this weekend. There's a reason why Andy Reid has so many regular season wins, but so few post season wins.

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The Titans have the players to do it. Seattle does not.

I would prefer a run game and a stout D as well. We don't have that. game planning like we do and going 3 and out until there are 2 minutes left in the first half puts the team in a hole and tires out the defense.

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So is the answer change philosophy, or get the players to run the type of offense Pete wants to run (and defense).

Seems much easier with a 67 year old coach set in his philosophical ways to focus on player acquisition and development, rather than scream for wholesale philosophy, scheme or coaching changes.

There's more than one way to win in the NFL, we've proven that ourselves.........and no further proof then the AFC Championship game this weekend with two polar opposite schemes going at each other.

Seems futile to discuss ad nauseum about wanting Pete to change, when we all know damn well he won't, and for most of what he does, we shouldn't.

Ummm...hahahaha.....Damn, newbies gonna newb. 60 posts of critical Seahawk problems..... An obvious expert in football and especially Seahawks football. His expertise is clearly available here.

Yeah......Go...Hahahahha

Some numbers that favor your argument

Top 10 teams with most Passing Yards? Only 2 made the Playoffs, New England and KC.

The Top 10 teams as far as Rushing? 7 made the Playoffs.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=162844

Pete ball is not the problem.... Unless you don't have the personnel to run it. Add to the fact that Wilson and the offense seem to thrive in a more up tempo quick passing game, with the occasional long ball.

cymatica":umbkf1kh said:

Pete ball is not the problem.... Unless you don't have the personnel to run it. Add to the fact that Wilson and the offense seem to thrive in a more up tempo quick passing game, with the occasional long ball.

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That si correct in how the offense works best which is why it makes no sense not to do it. However, that said we actually throw long as much in uptempo as we did in PC ball.

Which in itself makes PC ball the problem.

ivotuk":kxokjc9v said:

Some numbers that favor your argument

Top 10 teams with most Passing Yards? Only 2 made the Playoffs, New England and KC.

The Top 10 teams as far as Rushing? 7 made the Playoffs.

http://seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=162844

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You are confusing correlation with causation. In your analysis you are failing to control for other variables, defensive performance likely being the most important.

The problem that I see is a HC that now seems to be satisfied with just a winning season and possibly a wild card berth .
What ever happened to Carroll's philosophy of " every game is a championship game " . Wilson just recently said that the Hawks were underachievers this season , That view is a direct result of Carroll's refusal to adapt and change . IMO

xray":1hsq4tjp said:

The problem that I see is a HC that now seems to be satisfied with just a winning season and possibly a wild card berth .
What ever happened to Carroll's philosophy of " every game is a championship game " . Wilson just recently said that the Hawks were underachievers this season , That view is a direct result of Carroll's refusal to adapt and change . IMO

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Wilson was straight up coach speak during that interview. He was doing his best Pete Carroll of being upbeat and positive for the future. Did you even watch the post game interview Pete gave? Did you watch his end of the year presser? Losing in the divisional round hurt that man's soul.

This season was completely overachieving. The talent level on defense is not there. We were lucky we could pull off the Clowney and Diggs trades or we would have ended up under .500. The fact that the team was in the divisional round is a testament to Carroll.

xray":odonnfuk said:

The problem that I see is a HC that now seems to be satisfied with just a winning season and possibly a wild card berth .

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Definitely, you can see that after each win in the locker room, Pete get's everyone fired up with his "WILD CARD ROUND IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME BOYS!!" speeches.

Sgt. Largent":3m3wqwye said:

xray":3m3wqwye said:

The problem that I see is a HC that now seems to be satisfied with just a winning season and possibly a wild card berth .

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Definitely, you can see that after each win in the locker room, Pete get's everyone fired up with his "WILD CARD ROUND IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME BOYS!!" speeches.

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Pete was the most angry I have seen him in a while with that Jimmy G first down call. He wanted more. I can guarantee you he is not satisfied with the outcome. Don't mix that up with a positive outlook.

For a bit of perspective I recommend reading through some of the Ravens fan comments on r/Ravens or several of their fan forums. While the majority are reasonable, there's the same loud 10% or so that thinks because they didn't win the Superbowl they should have passed a lot more and need to rework their entire identity.

I was specifically reminded of a few posts on this forum when I saw a couple of divisive comments on r/Ravens about how Harbaugh was wasting Jackson's talent. Sometimes it's hard to see the forest for the trees, and taking a step back to look at other NFL teams can provide a much needed reality check.

xray":3nblmwpi said:

The problem that I see is a HC that now seems to be satisfied with just a winning season and possibly a wild card berth .

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Most of the fans around here feel that way it seems.