Ruminations: Hats Off to Pete

Fade · Nov 19, 2020

Pete did a great job on a short week. I really liked the energy his team played with, particularly his defense that have been much maligned through the first 9 games of the season, rightfully so (Worst in NFL History.) They played with a lot of juice, and they were getting pressure throughout the night.

It had been a long time since I had seen the team so flat and defeated to the extent they looked really since the 2nd half of the first Cards game. And thankfully that trend has appeared to have ended. Pete is going to have to continue to work with Norton closely, to get his defense on track for the playoffs.

They had a lot of odd calls on both offense and defense tonight, but Pete's philosophy showed through and they overcame it. I still think they do not know how to use Adams, and they are trying to force things with him to justify everything they traded to get him. He simply doesn't fit the traditional Pete Carroll scheme, but progress is being made subtly. I am terrified of giving him a big contract at this juncture. Not because he isn't a good player, but because of the fit. They don't have to make that decision now, thankfully. They have 6 more games + playoffs to continue to adapt him into their scheme, and see where they are at with him then. 1 thing that would help is if hey walk their backers up into the A Gap more, and attempt to confuse the opponents protections, the Seahawks are really lacking in this area, and pretty much telegraph their blitzes. But let me emphasize again, progress is being made.

Seattle plays the easiest schedule the rest of the way, so they should pile up a lot wins going forward. Outside of the Rams, and maybe the sneaky good Giants, they really won't be properly tested until the playoffs.

So I recommend do not put too much weight into the wins they pile up here upcoming. Enjoy them of course, but don't think every thing is fixed from whooping on tomato cans. We won't know until the playoffs if the defense is really improved or not. Fingers crossed they continue to improve and get better, but we will not truly know until playoff time.

getnasty · Nov 19, 2020

Every team plays Tomato Cans yet we prop them up for it. You are what your record says you are at the end of the day. Defense has a long ways to go but if they can play like they did tonight i like our chances.

QuahHawk · Nov 19, 2020

Fade":1i5psz9z said:
Pete did a great job on a short week. I really liked the energy his team played with, particularly his defense that have been much maligned through the first 9 games of the season, rightfully so (Worst in NFL History.) They played with a lot of juice, and they were getting pressure throughout the night.

It had been a long time since I had seen the team so flat and defeated to the extent they looked really since the 2nd half of the first Cards game. And thankfully that trend has appeared to have ended. Pete is going to have to continue to work with Norton closely, to get his defense on track for the playoffs.

They had a lot of odd calls on both offense and defense tonight, but Pete's philosophy showed through and they overcame it. I still think they do not know how to use Adams, and they are trying to force things with him to justify everything they traded to get him. He simply doesn't fit the traditional Pete Carroll scheme, but progress is being made subtly. I am terrified of giving him a big contract at this juncture. Not because he isn't a good player, but because of the fit. They don't have to make that decision now, thankfully. They have 6 more games + playoffs to continue to adapt him into their scheme, and see where they are at with him then. 1 thing that would help is if hey walk their backers up into the A Gap more, and attempt to confuse the opponents protections, the Seahawks are really lacking in this area, and pretty much telegraph their blitzes. But let me emphasize again, progress is being made.

Seattle plays the easiest schedule the rest of the way, so they should pile up a lot wins going forward. Outside of the Rams, and maybe the sneaky good Giants, they really won't be properly tested until the playoffs.

So I recommend do not put too much weight into the wins they pile up here upcoming. Enjoy them of course, but don't think every thing is fixed from whooping on tomato cans. We won't know until the playoffs if the defense is really improved or not. Fingers crossed they continue to improve and get better, but we will not truly know until playoff time.

I think the Rams and 49ers game could help us sharpen our skills. Rams Offense is top 7 yards per game.

chris98251 · Nov 19, 2020

How our health goes is how the team goes, getting our secondary healthy, D line healthy and now O line healthy with healthy RB's will determine where we go and how deep we go.

Not the Opponents, the difference between winning and losing isn't that much in the NFL, any team can beat you if you don't have the right attitude and Health on a given week.

Pete has been stating this since the first week, we have not had health working in our favor all season.

TwilightError · Nov 19, 2020

The defense and the running game certainly took steps up, largely thanks to the two Carlos's. Hyde and Dunlap. Both huge upgrades. Pass rush was a factor and they actually were able to run the ball.

The next games should be 4-0. Eagles, Giants, Jets, Redskins. This is the easiest stretch in the schedule. And honestly it could not be much easier if I could hand pick four teams. Then its Rams and Niners again and it's impossible to evaluate yet how hard those will be.

bigskydoc · Nov 20, 2020

But, but, I thought the only reason the defense looked like it was improving was because the Rams let off the gas in the second half.

Adams will be fine. I think his groin injury is still bothering him a bit, and the whole defense is still trying to get a handle on what their assignments are in the new scheme. He is still in the be all and do all mode that was asked of him after Irvin and Blair went down, and I don't think he is quite ready to trust the rest of the team. They have a few games now to get the scheme solidified, and he will look less lost.

Not saying I agree with the scheme. It just kills me to see them giving 10 to 15 yard cushions, but I'm admittedly curious to see how this plays out.

chet380 · Nov 20, 2020

bigskydoc":30shs2v2 said:
But, but, I thought the only reason the defense looked like it was improving was because the Rams let off the gas in the second half.

Not saying I agree with the scheme. It just kills me to see them giving 10 to 15 yard cushions, but I'm admittedly curious to see how this plays out.

Don't.Let.Hopkins.Beat.You .Deep!

Fade · Nov 20, 2020

chris98251":r40kkvxa said:
How our health goes is how the team goes, getting our secondary healthy, D line healthy and now O line healthy with healthy RB's will determine where we go and how deep we go.

Not the Opponents, the difference between winning and losing isn't that much in the NFL, any team can beat you if you don't have the right attitude and Health on a given week.

Pete has been stating this since the first week, we have not had health working in our favor all season.

Hate to break it to you, but the Seahawks whooping on the Jets, Eagles, and Redskins, etc. Will give no indication whether they will be able to replicate it against the Packers, Bucs, & Saints. Though, I will be eye balling that Rams matchup pretty hard, and if they show well against the Rams, that would give me a lot of confidence for sure.

Injuries are just an excuse. The 49ers have been absolutely decimated on that side of the ball, and they rank top 5.
Sure, the injuries have hindered the Hawks full potential, but they shouldn't be ranking 32nd regardless. It didn't hinder them from playing well last night, against the #1 offense (YPG). COACHING. Pete's working at it, we'll just have to wait and see how much they can improve.

LTH · Nov 20, 2020

Fade":1cc03a00 said:
chris98251":1cc03a00 said:

How our health goes is how the team goes, getting our secondary healthy, D line healthy and now O line healthy with healthy RB's will determine where we go and how deep we go.

Not the Opponents, the difference between winning and losing isn't that much in the NFL, any team can beat you if you don't have the right attitude and Health on a given week.

Pete has been stating this since the first week, we have not had health working in our favor all season.

Click to expand...

Hate to break it to you, but the Seahawks whooping on the Jets, Eagles, and Redskins, etc. Will give no indication whether they will be able to replicate it against the Packers, Bucs, & Saints. Though, I will be eye balling that Rams matchup pretty hard, and if they show well against the Rams, that would give me a lot of confidence for sure.

Injuries are just an excuse. The 49ers have been absolutely decimated on that side of the ball, and they rank top 5.
Sure, the injuries have hindered the Hawks full potential, but they shouldn't be ranking 32nd regardless. It didn't hinder them from playing well last night, against the #1 offense (YPG). COACHING. Pete's working at it, we'll just have to wait and see how much they can improve.

There is a certain logic to what you are saying but... where it's going to help the Hawks is in two ways... the more this D plays together successfully, the more they learn to communicate, understand and trust each other that builds confidence one game at a time... then once the confidence is there it boils down to executing a great game plan against a great team...

Just my take

LTH

Fade · Nov 20, 2020

bigskydoc said:
But, but, I thought the only reason the defense looked like it was improving was because the Rams let off the gas in the second half.

You do realize the Rams started 8/10 on 3rd downs. 1/1 on 4th downs, and piled up 17 points and 240 yards in their first 3 possessions? Then Goff had an ugly turnover and the Rams decided to play it safe from that point forward, don't you?

This performance against the Cards showed me a whole lot more. They had three 3-and-outs in the 1st half alone. That is as many as they had had against the previous 2 opponents combined in 8 quarters of play, including the Rams.

Click to expand...

bigskydoc · Nov 20, 2020

If you couldn't see the foundation of an improved defense through the haze of them building it on the fly, I don't know what to tell you.

This is a defense that never got off the ground, due to injuries, and had to be retooled and rebuilt on the fly. No, they haven't done it nearly as well as the Niners, but they have done it.

After Irvin and Blair went down, they had to change things up from what was envisioned before the season, and then they rebuilt a bit, and are now on the third defensive scheme iteration of the season.

While they didn't have the statistical results against the Rams, if you watched what they were doing schematically, and individually, you could see how this defense was being developed, and you could see the potential, or at least I did.

Funny you bring up the Niners. When I saw this thread, the first thing I thought of was how, just a few weeks ago, when they were struggling, you couldn't see their potential either, and were calling out their head coach as not being a leader of men. What a difference a couple of successful outings makes.

What the Niners have done, despite their injuries, has me believing that their coaching staff, and GM, deserve some awards at the end of the year.

chris98251 · Nov 20, 2020

Fade":331j8htd said:
chris98251":331j8htd said:

How our health goes is how the team goes, getting our secondary healthy, D line healthy and now O line healthy with healthy RB's will determine where we go and how deep we go.

Not the Opponents, the difference between winning and losing isn't that much in the NFL, any team can beat you if you don't have the right attitude and Health on a given week.

Pete has been stating this since the first week, we have not had health working in our favor all season.

Click to expand...

Hate to break it to you, but the Seahawks whooping on the Jets, Eagles, and Redskins, etc. Will give no indication whether they will be able to replicate it against the Packers, Bucs, & Saints. Though, I will be eye balling that Rams matchup pretty hard, and if they show well against the Rams, that would give me a lot of confidence for sure.

Injuries are just an excuse. The 49ers have been absolutely decimated on that side of the ball, and they rank top 5.
Sure, the injuries have hindered the Hawks full potential, but they shouldn't be ranking 32nd regardless. It didn't hinder them from playing well last night, against the #1 offense (YPG). COACHING. Pete's working at it, we'll just have to wait and see how much they can improve.

This is exactly why we play the games, the Seahawks rarely blow out lower tier teams, we as many stated here seem to play down to our opponent.

I never said to use it as an excuse as far as injuries, we have to use what we have and that is on our GM and staff to get them up to speed.

Saying that, Reed, Dunlap, Adams and everyone else has to adjust to each other, learn the defense, learn the calls and communicate.

That does not happen in one, two, three or four weeks, it takes time to get comfortable with a system, the players you play with and how you communicate with them.

Then you have the Coaches knowing this and asking them to play more basic and protect mode instead of stop mode and aggressive.

We were more aggressive against the Cards, we were much more protect and keep in front against the Rams.

capncrunch · Nov 21, 2020

I iwill definitely take my hat off to Pete and co. Wow. The was the tonic we all needed. We saw some good D against the 9ers mostly, then the Bills blew us out but we began to get the pass rush going which was significant. The defensive performance against the Rams was encouraging and then a truly strong performance v the Cards. I f we didn't have the penalty by Diggs and later the horse collar we're looking even better. The stepping out of bounds on the punt was also making the Cards lives easier. We looked badass out there and did a great job against their run and hemming in Murray for scrambling. Wow. I like the moves bringing in Collins and Scarborough to help out. Hyde is a very good player. I'm gland they didn't try to bring him back before he was ready and I applaud their patience with Carson. Dallas is doing okay too. I think Homer should go personally. I like the dude they have retuning kicks instead of using Lockett. Amadi is a welcome return too. I'm feeling great about our special teams. Dixon and Meyers are studs.

I kind of thought watching the game that we could have almost blown them out, but some foolish penalties and problems at center and stuff kept hem in the game, But ahhh. We finally snuffed somebody out with our D at the end of the game and held on to our lead. We did so with great coverage and pressure from Pete's new find from the Bengals. Boy was it nice to see nice gash runs. Not just predictably between the tackles but on the edges. Schotty called a great game. Lots of runs by Russ too keeping the chains moving. Nice use of tight ends and backs. I'll stop now. Want to see us stomp the Eagles. We should be ahead by 14 or more when it's all done.

bigskydoc · Nov 22, 2020

Probably needs to be said...

The fact that I believed that I could see what the defense is going to look like at the end of the season should not be viewed as a defense of the product that Carroll, Schneider, and KNJ have put on the field.

There is no excuse for fielding the worst defense in NFL history after the amount of cap space and draft capital that was spent in the off season.

The product they produced is atrocious, just not quite as atrocious as some people thought. Injuries are the reason they went from being bad to being all-time worst, but that doesn't mean I'm cutting slack for being bad in the first place.

They should be a top ten defense after the draft and cap that was used up. It is sad that I will be happy, and we will probably make it back to the Super Bowl, if they can manage to close out the season at average.

Ad Hawk · Nov 22, 2020

bigskydoc":1srlt25b said:
Probably needs to be said...

The fact that I believed that I could see what the defense is going to look like at the end of the season should not be viewed as a defense of the product that Carroll, Schneider, and KNJ have put on the field.

There is no excuse for fielding the worst defense in NFL history after the amount of cap space and draft capital that was spent in the off season.

The product they produced is atrocious, just not quite as atrocious as some people thought. Injuries are the reason they went from being bad to being all-time worst, but that doesn't mean I'm cutting slack for being bad in the first place.

They should be a top ten defense after the draft and cap that was used up. It is sad that I will be happy, and we will probably make it back to the Super Bowl, if they can manage to close out the season at average.

Would you call our stifling of the Cardinals' league-best ground attack "average"?

It's OK to watch the rest of the season with your expectations that they be better than average. They may just do it!

bigskydoc · Nov 22, 2020

And, once again, this site never fails to live up to the expectation that somebody will take a post completely out of context.

The 2020 season of the Seahawks defense will no more be defined by their performance against the Cards, than Russell Wilson's season will be defined by his career low outing against the Rams.

If they maintain their current trajectory, they will likely end the season where they should have started.

And, FWIW, this is the most relaxed I've ever been about a Seahawks season. The areas they need to improve are obvious, and fixable. It it one of the most enjoyable regular seasons I've ever watched.

chris98251 · Nov 22, 2020

They spent money granted, two things you can't control happened, injuries and more injuries, and yet more injuries, we have not had our starters together on the field all season, we have turned over some positions since the beginning of the season, we have not had the same unit from week to week all season.

Regardless of what Madden says you need to learn as a unit and trust and communicate.

That gets stifled when your looking at the locker room door to see who is coming in it week to week and who is leaving to the Training room.

Should it have been better, one would have thought so, but Pete's bend and not break scheme attributed as well without a true pass rush.

Jazzhawk · Nov 24, 2020

Fade":10rsuvv1 said:
Hate to break it to you, but the Seahawks whooping on the Jets, Eagles, and Redskins, etc. Will give no indication whether they will be able to replicate it against the Packers, Bucs, & Saints.

I don't disagree, but I think you're underestimating the opportunity for the Seahawks to use these games more like a pre-season, tuning up what's wrong and working to make things right.

SoulfishHawk · Nov 24, 2020

You can only play the teams they put in front of you. It doesn't mean any LESS if they win these next 4. You either get the W or you don't. It doesn't always have to be "they won but...….."
Nothing wrong with being stoked about wins, regardless who they play. Just my opinion.....

olyfan63 · Nov 27, 2020

ANY road win in the NFL is a Good Win, no matter how ugly. These days, the Clink/Lumen may as well be a road game without the fans present.

Any of these NFC East teams could have a hot streak or a lucky day against us. It's up to the team, players and coaches, to keep focus, prepare well, and take care of business.

I've got my fingers crossed that the light bulb has gone on and will stay on for DC KNJ. Just get our D to average, and Russell will take care of the rest! Cmon, KNJ, make it a pedestrian defense that walks our asses to the Superb Owl!

Ruminations: Hats Off to Pete

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