Brian Nemhauser·
Morning After
··8 min read

The Morning After: Seahawks Season Flashes Before Their Eyes, Narrowly Avoid Perilous Fall vs 49ers

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If the Seahawks were a couple, everyone would assume the offense had to be rich, because there is no way someone as beautiful as this defense would naturally pair with someone as hideous as this offense. In the cruel world of professional football, the defense is both better looking and wealthier, but still must be tethered to this offense like some grotesque three-legged race. This time, the big uglies up front were not the main issue. Russell Wilson and a few of his receivers played an awful game that nearly cost the team a shot at a meaningful season. If this offense was a zombie, they would have no arms and no jaw, rendering them harmless, slow, and eliciting groans instead of producing them. They still managed to inch forward ever slightly. That will have to provide sustenance for an anxious Seahawks fan base. It remains unclear if this offense will eventually devour our shared hopes or become a true threat to opposing defenses.

 

Russell not good enough

Wilson has been sacked so many times over the years that one can forgive him for feeling a little skittish at times in the pocket. If someone smacks you across the face 40 times, human nature is to flinch the next time that person raises their hand. Post-traumatic sack disorder appeared to set in as Wilson was dropping his eyes and prematurely scrambling through much of the first half when his line was providing at least marginal protection.

His passes were less accurate than what we have come to expect from Wilson, and his decision-making was questionable. He threw a few balls up for grabs. Any one of them could have turned a narrow win into a crushing defeat. His fumble last week keyed the Packers first offensive score. One of Wilson’s greatest natural attributes is his ability to evaluate the risk and reward of his passes in a way that allows him to be a high yards per throw player while also having a low interception rate. This was not a great game to demonstrate that talent.

Wilson rarely appeared to throw to his first read. I will need to go back and watch the coaches film to be certain, but there appeared to be players open that he was not finding. Whether that is because the play prioritized other targets or because Wilson simply missed them is impossible to know. A common pattern through two games is Wilson not hitting his first read who he is eyeing as he drops back.

That is most likely because the player is covered. If so, that raises other questions. Is it the receiver who is not getting open or ineffective play calls? Could Wilson do a better job pre-snap identifying the coverages and anticipating who has the best chance to be open?

Wilson is no longer wet behind the ears. The bar is high. He is paid like Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees and Matt Ryan and Tom Brady. It rare for those guys to have off days, where their passes are inaccurate or they cannot find a way to jumpstart their offense. Defense not only struggle to keep up with their physical abilities as passers, but their savvy as experienced signal callers. As bad as the Seahawks offensive line has been, Wilson still must find a way to rise above it and lift his team along the way. He was not good enough on Sunday.

Receivers let team down as well

Jimmy Graham dropped a key third down pass last week. This week, Tanner McEvoy dropped two key passes and C.J. Prosise dropped two more. Prosise and McEvoy cost the team a touchdown on two of their drops and third down conversions on the others. The offense simply is not good enough right now to withstand those kinds of mistakes.

Paul Richardson dislocated his finger early in the game, got it sewed back together, and came back to catch the game-winning touchdown. If that doesn’t remove all excuses for dropping passes, I’m not sure what does.

If you are thinking that these drops made Wilson’s day look worse than it was, that is fair on some level. His final numbers would have definitely been better. It still would not invalidate all the items raised earlier.

 

Graham fading into the background

The offensive line was rightfully the story of the Packers game. They were awful. Graham was not all that far behind. He looked like he barely cared, and was going through the motions as a blocker and as a receiver. He ran out of bounds on a reception instead of taking on a defensive back to gain a first down. It was the type of performance that coaches, teammates, and front office personnel sit up and notice. The hope was that he would snap out of it and come back strong this week. That did not happen.

Graham dropped the first pass that came his way after absorbing a vicious hit, and wound up with just one catch for one yard on the day. More telling was his total lack of involvement when the game was on the line. He was either on the sideline or not targeted for the touchdown drive. When the team needed to clinch the victory on their final drive, Graham was standing on the sideline.

I believe the team will seriously consider trading Graham before the October 31st trade deadline. Something appears to have soured. This is not just lack of targets in the red zone or a tough time integrating him into the offense. His heart does not look to be in it, and this team will not tolerate that, even for a player as talented as Graham.

 

Offensive line improves

Nobody should start throwing confetti, but the five guys up front were better than they were a week earlier. There were fewer free runners, and a promising ending where the team was able to run the clock out. Improvement is obviously relative. Verne Troyer can stand on a dollar bill and technically be taller. This group has a long way to go before being competent, but they deserve recognition for steps taken in the right direction, and this qualified.

 

Chris Carson makes his case

As I mentioned on the podcast with Softy, it seemed like Eddie Lacy was a candidate for being in street clothes for this game given his lack of special teams contribution and more defined roles for the other backs on the roster. Sure enough, the most highly paid back on the roster was a healthy scratch for this game. Thomas Rawls was supposed to be the starter, but received only five carries. Chris Carson had 20 totes for 92 yards and a healthy 4.7 yard per carry average.

If he is producing like that behind this line right now, it is very hard to justify giving anyone else carries for the foreseeable future. He runs hard. He runs decisively. He runs creatively. He blocks and he catches. Pete Carroll seems to get that, and may be intentionally keeping it casual with his public comments that imply all the runners still have a role to play. His actions are speaking volumes right now. I don’t believe Carroll was intent on limiting Rawls to just five carries as he implied in his postgame comments. I think Carroll loves what Carson provides and is having a really tough time justifying having any other player out there. He also joined some pretty impressive company with that performance:

 

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Defense was good, not great

 

San Francisco only scored 9 points, and had 89 yards passing. It may seem unfair to critique a defensive performance like that, but that is how high expectations should be for this group and how bad the 49ers offense is. This was a game where the offense was going to need help from their big brothers on defense. The idea was the Seahawks would completely overwhelm the 49ers offense and create turnovers that would give the Seahawks offense a short field to work with.

They only managed one turnover, a nice Bobby Wagner interception, and just two sacks. They also allowed over 8 yards per carry on the ground. Not good enough. Sheldon Richardson was mostly quiet. Cliff Avril has been absent for two weeks. Chaos was the hope when Richardson joined this group, but they have not achieved it yet. The way Green Bay looked against the Seahawks offense last week is how the Seahawks defense should look against quite a few opposing offenses.

Carolina created two takeaways, and allowed just three points to key their victory over the 49ers last week. The Ravens created five turnovers against Cleveland this week. That is the type of domination this Seahawks unit is capable of.

This was far from a poor performance. Coverage was outstanding all afternoon, with the 49ers longest pass going for 14 yards. This group will have to become even more disruptive next week if they hope to get a win on the road against a capable Titans offense.

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Welcome to first place

 

The mighty Los Angeles Rams lost a close game to the Washington Redskins and handed over first place in the NFC West to the Seahawks. Arizona needed overtime to beat the lowly Colts. The 49ers fell to 0-2. This division looks like the one we saw in the mid-2000s when it was historically bad. Nobody should fear an NFC West team at this point. Seattle has a huge game in front of them next week. The Titans should be favored to win, given the feckless Seahawks offense.

Should the Seahawks find a winning formula on the road in Tennessee, it would give them something to build on. There were signs of life in this game. Wilson ran more willingly at the end, which could remind him how important that can be to a struggling offense. The line saw Carson finishing runs, which should give them some of the confidence they so desperately need. The team converted 42% of their 3rd downs and had 9 conversions overall between 3rd and 4th down. Progress must be measured in inches right now. Beauty must be measured by effort and grit. Show us that big toothless grin, Seahawks. We still love ya.

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Brian Nemhauser
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37 Comments

  1. Something is wrong with Wilson’s delivery, there is a hitch in it. AC joint problem, sore elbow, indecision, jittery, a combo of the three, but if you watch, Russ does not have a normal motion. He looks like he is trying to throw a baseball and his ball is sailing on him. He is also dropping his head if he feels any pressure, which means he’s not looking at his first option. After that, it’s just sandlot stuff.

    Jimmy Graham is not suited for this type of football and he knows it. Times when he is open and the ball should be there, it’s not. Then when Russ is desperate, here comes the ball and his big body is not ready. Jimmy looks ponderous now out there, unsure what to do. It’s like being a catch-and-shoot player in basketball who runs through screens and gets open, only for the point guard to not get you the ball when you are in rhythm. I agree, they will trade Jimmy by the end of the year, if not sooner.

    The real question is do we need a quarterback who will make the reads and go through his progressions, rather than drop his head and make shit up. Russ has a lot of weapons around him and he’s not finding them. With bad technique now and a handful of panicked throws each game, Russ is quickly shaping into that mediocre QB, a sandlot scrambler we saw when he was a rookie.

    1. How do you think Matt Ryan or Tom Brady would fare behind this line? I’d argue Russ has a unique skill set that allows him to function behind this line at a level that most NFL QB’s wouldn’t be able to replicate. He literally runs for life on 90% of his dropbacks. But still manages to put up efficient numbers.

      I don’t think the main issue here is Russ. It might be Cable. It might be Schneider’s apparent blind spot in drafting mediocre offensive linemen. It might be Carroll’s insistence on investing payroll on the defensive side of the ball.

      I think eventually we’ll need to invest free agent dollars into our O line. And if we draft guys like Russel Okung, sign them before they leave the team.

      It will cost the defense. But I think a fully functioning Russell Wilson with good protection will more than offset any losses on D.

    2. Totally agree with you Kurt! Been thinking the same analogy of Wilson being a point guard and not getting the ball to the shooters in rhythm. The O line has contributed to this BUT Wilson is the well paid point guard who is not progressing since his contract but rather regressing IMO. Jimmy is a huge weapon and 1-10 yard routes is NOT him, rather he excellis on downfield routes.
      The red zone is a huge problem for Wilson as he now has to find another target other than Kearse. Instead of looking for Jimmy he always goes somewhere else.
      Weather it’s the delivery or O line jitters he needs to go back to what made him great. As you mentioned we do have talent at WR and really surprising to see Wilson not take advantage of the assets and automatically go to sandlot play. Sandlot play will work with inferior teams but the better teams more times than not will have a spy to make him throw it away.
      Before trading Jimmy they need to play to HIS strengths not make him fit the dink and dunk system.
      Reminds me of how they used Harvin. They trade for GREAT assets but don’t know how to use them.
      I want to see the pre contract/celeb Wilson.
      He just seemed so hungry back then. Where’s the “Separation is in the Preparation” from Wilson? Guess he’s got his “PHD from Pete” so no need.
      Great name Kurt, just spelled wrong. ?

  2. Aren’t we just seeing the ‘usual’ Seahawks’ rope-a-dope? Slow start to the season with a big finish?

    The drops by McAvoy and Prosise did turn what should have been a comfortable win into a nail-biter. The Niners’ stat line was padded by two long runs by Hyde (not to take anything away from him, he is a talented runner) but the Niners game-planned effectively to neutralize the rush. The Seahawks D helped the Niners out quite a bit with the offsides penalties.

    I was very happy to see Lockette’s involvement in the game plan–he looks back to form completely. The OL looked much better (apart from Glow) and should continue to improve with experience.

    Overall, a win is a win!

    1. It’s a dog eat doug world out there, so call me dug. Just so it doesn’t look we’re double posting. Good post by the way, and if you could read my notes, Glow did get better towards the end. Fingers crossed.

  4. Did not see the alleged OLine improvement in the running game, at all. For 55 minutes, they looked almost uniformaly awful. In the passing game, they alternated unpredictably between fairly decent and abysmal. That lack of predictability is clearly getting to Wilson. When he cannot count on his line, he bails too soon, lacks confidence to throw on rhythm, and sails his throws when he makes them. Check, on all three counts. He came through when it counted on the late drive that led to the touchdown, though. I’m not sure that throw is completed by any other QB in this league. Maybe Rodgers. Can’t think of anybody else.

    Carson is worth more snaps. He appears to have vision, cuts, second effort and enough size and speed to do damage in this league.

    2. Not quite sure what Brian was watching. The critique of RW is fair. He played a poor game. Missing a lot of throws and horrible reads. But to say, the OL has “improved” from last week, to make the case against RW, just because they have one less sack, even though the pressurized rate, even though he got one more QB hit, was the same, around 40%, which is about his career average. Regarding RW, he is “seeing” ghost as Brian referred on his Twitter. He is looking down at his feet now, instead of down the field, due to the pressure and not trusting the OL. That should tell you something given how he has dealt w/ that issue for his entire career. Also, I have said last year that RW is probably has reached his peak, but using the salary argument is not convincing. It is the market rate.

      Not trying to compare between RW and AR, because AR is significantly better. However, did you see Aaron Rodgers last night when he didn’t have 2 starting OL and the loss of T.J. Lang? Average at best. Dan Quinn does not have the athletes as Seattle, but he is building a good looking defensive unit. Sure missed him. Our current DC is not very good, or the players are just getting old.

      Btw, Brian can we start questioning the brain trust of this organization, instead just the players themselves? They are only here because there are people put them there.

      1. Front office and coaches have certainly not been sacrosanct in my analysis over the years. This blog was the first to publish Tom Cable’s sack rate for every line he has ever coached. It was a leading critic of the front office draft decisions around players like Ifedi and Carpenter, and trading Unger for Graham. I also was a heavy critic of their decision to bypass the 2015 free agent OL market and go for journeymen like Bradley Sowell and J’Marcus Webb.

        I thought Russell played a poor game yesterday relative to what I expect of him. If what you are looking for is a spunky game manager, he did fine. If you believe he can be one of the game’s greatest quarterbacks, he is falling short of that. I want that for him, and believe he can get there with the right coaching. I think the team has really erred in not surrounding him with better coaches. The QB coach is ancient and has never groomed any quarterback of note. Bring in Holmgren as a consultant or Kurt Warner or any number of options. Russell can grow if given the proper guidance.

        I also stand by the fact that I saw improvement from the OL. I did not say they were good. In fact, I said they were a long way from competent. That feels right. But when you are 500 feet below the Earth, you have to take some pleasure in digging your way up toward the Sun, even if only a few feet.

        Cheers, and thanks for reading!

  5. Let’s start with a positive; the Seahawks have the same record as the vaunted Patriots, and several other likely playoff teams!

    Okay, that probably didn’t raise your spirits did it? And I have no idea where I put the sunshine pump to plug into your navel and fill you full of joy and happiness. We’re in the first ugly period of the Seahawk season. That’s why last week I said it wouldn’t surprise me if the final score ended up around a 3 point spread despite the Vegas line. Apparently Blair Walsh reads these pages and likes me enough to make me out a savant. (insert weirdo imogie here). For a few years it appears to me that against lesser teams, these guys play down to their opponent’s level. Arghhhh!

    We all make comments on boards like this that are abbreviations of a larger narrative in our minds for the sake of brevity. But let me set a context for my comments going forward. Whether during my corporate period of life, or when I owned my own business, I hold management fully responsible for the final outcome of an entity’s performance. Sure, we can accurately enumerate the individual failings (dropped passes, missed tackles, penalties, etc.) but in the end those are just momentary actions that effective management should figure out how to work over, under, around, or through.

    Given that most of our complaints are so much like they were in previous years, even though each season has a fair amount of player turnover, the root causes have to be laid at the feet of those who are in their positions of responsibility year to year. They are the ones who set the tone, define the operating parameters, and make the choices in the process of the game (in this case) that result in the final outcome.

    In the past I’ve expressed dismay at the notion of shared management responsibility for the offense. One or both of Bevell or Cable has to be undercut by the authority level, perceived or real, of the other. The old “Too many cooks spoil the broth” thing. As support for singling out Offense I point to what’s commonly referred to as the “Coaches Tree”…..the idea that a good to great coach has many former employees working throughout the industry. The NFL is awash with former Seahawk (from the Carroll era) defensive coaches. Bradley, Quinn, Norton Jr, Selah, and others have been highly sought after to move up in other organizations. Not so the top offense (I so wanted to say offensive…..sigh) minds. No matter how good they may be, I believe the rest of the league views them as very predictable. Repetitive outcomes year to year, despite talent changes, would imply support for that belief. I’ve got to believe that defensive coordinators view preparing for the Seahawks as a boiler plate project. Occasionally individual player talents will challenge the plans, and defeat the defense, but not the overall strategy to hold that talent in check with thorough execution.

    I’m not inside the organization so don’t know exactly which guy is the “problem”, that’s the job of PC/.JS, and all that loyalty stuff is nice but sometimes the tough management decisions need to be made to shake things up. Otherwise you end up with what happened in Cincinnati last week with a team revolt; maybe, just maybe, that was what Sherm was displaying last year. C’mon Pete, time for that competition thing at the coordinator level………………………..well, past time really!

    1. Uncle Bob, I’m asking you to give it eight to ten games, and if I’m wrong, you get to call me stupid dug for the rest of your life!

      1. No, it is not the end of the world. The team will win 10-12 games, but get bounced in the second round. At this point, I’m getting a bit tired of watching the “replay” of that. This team is stacked w/ talents, supposedly, but we are talking about the same crap year after year. The window is closing fast w/ our defensive players, one or two years max. Then what? I’ve said so many times before, the main issue, IMHO, is PC is not adaptable. He did the same thing at USC, now in Seattle. I guess you can’t change when you are at a certain age.

    2. How dare you “questioning” the god in PC? Sacr/ Btw, you hit everything on the head. We can sit and psycho-analyze everything, but the bottom line is the missing of leadership from the top.

      1. Good to see you back again this season Andy.

        As for daring to challenge PCs status, I’m several years older than him (oh noooo!!) so he has to respect his elders.

        I would only disagree with your leadership comment in nuance. Since the team consistently performs in the upper half of the league year in and out it’s not a lack of leadership, it’s insufficient leadership for the conditions of the market/environment. Those of us that were fans from the beginning of the team had absolutely no realistic hope they would be Super Bowl contenders back then so weren’t so disappointed when they fell way short. Today is a different matter………expectations are much higher and more difficult to satisfy. Fan intensity wasn’t necessarily less, just the expectations. Games at the King Dome rocked, despite the comparative shortcomings of the venue.

    3. Uncle Bob – I thought about what you said, and it strikes me that there may be something that isn’t evaluated much, but probably should be. Due to injuring myself, I recently had to quit my job at the beloved IRS after a ten year career. Over that time span, I’ve spent hours sitting in technical classes over & over again. One would think that I wouldn’t learn anything more from the tenth instructor, but I did. Often times a new instructor would know something the others left out, or maybe just my hearing it from a different instructor, with different verbiage made me “get it” finally.

      The team likes to bring in entertainers each year during their preseason, and maybe they should be bringing in passed NFL position coaches or players to talk fundamentals with these guys as well.

      Us old timers have a lot to pass on, and while the Seahawks defense seems to do a great job of it, I’m not sure the offense on this team does, with the possible exception of WR Baldwin.

  6. Offensive Line: As seen through the eyes of a fan(atic).

    S=Sack. H=Hurry/Hit early. I=idiot penalty. T=Trucked. P=PwrBlk.

    Game two against the 49’ers was a lot harder for me to grade then the first game against Green Bay was. It was the first sloppy-wet day of the season, probably attributing to a lot of poor footing, but that’s football. The televised game had a lot of bad angles where I really couldn’t see a lot plays develop very well, even after watching the game twice. Quarterback play included a lot of roll outs, runs, and boot legs that voided many of the good blocks & missed blocks during my review. The overall rating for to the offensive line this game ended up being -2.2 versus the minus -1.8 grade in game one, but…

    For one thing, I don’t give pluses to the linemen for what I call adequate blocks, as that’s what they are paid to do, yet there were many more adequate blocks in this game as opposed to game one.

    LT – Adequate throughout the game. Over matched maybe a couple of times in the first half, but made up for it in the second half. I’d like to say that maybe we’ve found our LT if he keeps improving like this, as It’s my belief that the third round draft choice is way ahead of last year’s undrafted power forward. Grade (-2)

    LG – Good game, not exceptional, but I liked it. Looking at my notes, I charged him with one bad play in the first quarter, but noted a nice block for our RB in the fourth quarter. Grade (0.0)

    OC – By the way, that’s offensive center to me, because I don’t care much about special teams long-snappers. Justin Britt gets my Most Active Player of the game award. One penalty (again I couldn’t see it because of poor televising), but let’s not trade this guy for another Tight End okay? He had an impressive effort in the fourth quarter. Grade (0.0)

    RG – I gave him five infractions for the game, with most coming in the first half, and noted that his second half was much better. It appeared to me that he was more interested in ‘getting up field’ in this game, and wasn’t zone blocking the guy in front of him first. That may be him listening to the coach too much I dunno(?), but he provided a lot of whifs in this game, including a sack because of pocket collapse. Grade (-4.0)

    RT – Our line coach needs to become more honest with himself, because this just doesn’t appear to be working. He gets trucked to start the game, gives up a sack also, gets in “I” penalty in the third quarter, then just dives in the fourth quarter giving up three hurries/hits in the fourth quarter. I’m being gracious here crediting the fourth quarter sack to the RG instead… Grade (-5.0)

    Summary: Four out five positions got better as the game went on, so that’s encouraging. Take out the guy in front of you, and then worry about getting a block down field would be my mantra. The numbers given here don’t include everything (I can’t post my excel grid) that I witnessed. Our favorite QB made more positives out of broken plays, while being wildly off target during plays that he had a good pocket, and that kinda throws my numbers out the window. Very well disciplined line at this point, with few penalties at this point of the season. RB Chris Carson complemented the offensive line’s effort after the game. I think most of us would like to compliment Chris Carson for his blocking as well, impressive.

    Please feel free to criticize or add to my post, it’s the conversation that makes this fun for me.

    1. Thanks Dug! Good Stuff!

      I was listening to Walter Jones on radio last week and he said he thought it would take about two or three home games before the line had enough snaps / experience to see a noticeable improvement. It is hard for a new group to get in sinc on the road with noise versus snap counts, etc. Being at home allows them the opportunity to improve on that and work on communication.

      So looking the schedule, by the time we complete three homes games it puts it at the 7th game (about what you estimated to see what we really have in terms of OL). The only question I have is will that cost them the top seed in the end? I see 12-4 getting top seed this year and as the offense is playing now, I don’t see them going 5-2 in their first 7 games, more likely 4-3 at best.

      1. Ceasar, thank you very much for the kind words.

        Your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated by me. Last week I sent an e-mailed to Brian & asked his permission to continue with it, and he told me to go for it!

        I’ll not be able to do game eleven against the Atlanta Falcons on November 20th, but it’s my intention to try and do all the others. I’m not a writer myself, just a local sports fan, so please feel free to let me know if you ever agree or disagree.

        Atlanta is going to be a HUGE game.

    2. Last week a telling picture made the rounds, the one where 3 Packers were converging on Wilson while 4 Hawk linemen turned to appear to watch. In ancient times we used to call those “Look Out Blocks”, or “Duck Blocks”. So that might be a subset evaluation tool to add to your above acronym:
      L – Look
      O – out
      A – and
      D – duck

      🙂

      1. I have to disagree w/ you about the leadership component. Leadership separates the great teams from the good teams, good teams from average teams, and average teams from bad teams. At this level, the talent disparity is not much of a separation between good and great. It is the only difference in the leadership component, from the top to the bottom of an organization. As a team, Seattle consistently has some of the top players and coaching staff according to pundits and talent evaluators, but we keep coming short of the ultimate objective. Winning 10-12 games is not the expectation, winning the big one is.

      2. Uncle Bob – Your usual humorous intellectual take on all things is very gracious, and that post reminded me of a former Seahawks Center named Chris Spencer.

        First round draft choice by the Seahawks, and would willingly turn his back to an incoming defender, like his mind was saying “he ain’t my guy” and then he wouldn’t get charged for the sack/hurry, even though he had nothing else to do.

        That’s why I wanted to start my own grading system different from all the others. I do intend to incorporate your advice, and if it doesn’t get as good as I’m hoping by week ten, then we can both call it a…

        L-O-A-D of S-H-I-T

        PG – Parental guidance suggested, but I don’t have any parents myself. Gotta wonder why, eh?

    3. Dug, I like these reports!! I’ll take your word for Glow’s improvement in the second half, but did you see what he did on Russell’s TD throw? That was…not good.

      1. Hawkdog – I know that I faulted the RG for an “H” hurry/hit in the fourth quarter, and that was likely the play you are referring too.

        Note: When I watch the snap, count to one thousand one, and hit pause on the remote, it’s relatively easy to see a RB’s designed path, so I also fault the offensive lineman with an “H” if the RB’s path is affected by poor blocking. Not your point exactly, I know.

        Not sure I explained the sacks well in my above post either, so I’ll try again. The third quarter sack given up to the 49’er being blocked by our RT, I decided to charge to our RG instead. Huh?

        In my own youthful playing days, I was a little shall we call it… Light in the rear end, so as an OLB I’d line myself up in a spot that I didn’t really want to be in because those Guards & Tackles were coming to kill me, and once the ball was snapped I’d run to the point of attack where I really wanted to be all along.

        Knowing this, the tackle has to have somewhere to safely block the opposing defensive player towards & hopefully where no damage can occur to the QB or RB, but the RG’s game was often so pathetic that I’m sure the RT didn’t know where to send that opposing player. That sack came in the third quarter, and in addition, I also had to charge the first quarter sack to Russell Wilson himself, as he had the league average time to throw, chose not to throw the ball away, and just decided to bring the ball in and see if he could do better on his own. Ain’t nobody gonna fault him for it – It all worked out on the winning drive.

        So back to your point hawkdog, the RG’s performance was not perfect in the second half either (1-S, and 1-H, with one no + PwrBlocks to offset, but that’s better than the three infractions, and one good block that I gave him credit for in the first half. Any Sack, Hit/Hurry, Idiot penalty, or Truck can be a drive killer. I don’t like drive killers. RG got a (-4.0) from me, and although it’s an infinite grading scale that I’m using, The RT got a (-5), which is the worst grade I’ve given so far (three “H’s” in the fourth quarter alone).

        Trust me, I saw it, too many times…

  7. After looking back at every snap it is very odd that Pocic and or Aboush have not had snaps. Glow has not been good at all. If it’s about competition any coach at any level would have to see what we have in Pocic. Go back and look at the game winning drive Glow is just plain whiffing and standing. Play after play. To keep it positive Joke had a better game. Still having to keep a tight end in too much. Go hawks

    1. Wingman – My gut tells me that you are probably right, and that the team either wasted a first round pick on this RT, or maybe they ruined the RT by not letting him develop his skills at the position last year. I’m not the expert to say one way or the other, but it’s obvious that something needs fixing on the right side of this offensive line.

  8. Brian,

    I guess “improvement’ can be a subjective process if you are looking through the lenses of your own thinking. If based on statistical analyses, then it would become a little bit clearer. Let be honest, when this unit is ever “competent,” it never has with maybe an exception when we had Okung and Unger. At this rate, I don’t feel very confident to say this unit will become one.

    Regarding management, we can always look back and say oh I did question this and that. However, it is today, not yesterday, not last week, not last year. But I guess it is good to have an optimistic perspective on things. Isn’t that PC’s mantra, positive thinking?

  9. I want to know what happened to Offense of the pre-season. It almost feels like Bevell was alliwed to mess around a bit more in tbe pre-season but then told scale it back and lets get back to same thing we always do when regular season. I have been a harsh critic of Bevell in the past but now i am wondering if someone else is the issue. Cable? Or may Carrol homself?

    It feels like Carroll and Cable want to force this old style of football (ground and pound and strong defense) that just is not conducive in todays NFL. I just dont think the talent coming out of college supports it. Most now run up tempo spread offense. And many of the nee NFL rules are forcing this as well. T I think Brians last blog showed this perfectly when he was discussing yhe relationship between rushing and passing.

    Anyway you look at i think a change needs to happen. The coaches keep trying to force a style of football just does not seem to be working anymore.

    1. I don’t think it’s wrong to emphasize the running game. I think it’s wrong to emphasize the PREDICTABLE running game. Bevell is too predictable in a couple of ways: 1) the types of running and passing plays he calls are just too vanilla, too likely to be the same plays Seattle has been running for years, and 2) Bevell is too likely to call running plays when the other team expects a run, and passing plays when they expect a pass. For excellent examples of unpredictability on offense, look at our colleges with Chris Petersen and Mike Leach.

      Since a coach’s salary doesn’t fall under the limits of the salary cap, and since Paul Allen’s always been willing to spend money to improve the team, why not hire replacements for Bevell and probably for Cable? Some teams suffer from too many offensive coordinators in too short a time. Seattle suffers because for every additional year Bevell is with the club, it’s another year of predictable tape for our opponents to study his predictable ways.

  10. Hi I think Holmgren primarily concentrated on the offensive side, just like Carroll and Schneider primarily concentrate on the defensive side. But Matt had happy feet, even with one of the 2 or 3 best left sides of the O line ever. And even with Alexander, who should be in the Hall of Fame, but his 2nd rushing title and 2nd MVP were taken away by Holmgren by not letting him rush for just 10 more yards. Matt s happy feet might have to do with Holmgren turning beet red on the sidelines while he was yelling in Matt s ear.
    If he were Russell s coach, with all the improvs and mistakes, his head might pop off.

    It s hard to be too serious. I came into the season hearing the homerlike press coming from the Seahawks and the local media, and looking to another Superbowl. But the Seahawks press, and the local media, are starting to sound too much like the Mariners, who I stopped listening to when the exGM made the worst trade in baseball history for Eric Bedard.

    I think Wilson has maybe 2 more years with the same defense before there s major shakeups. That s 2 more chances for a Superbowl for Wilson, and then who knows, maybe that s it for him.

    So everyone is calling for Graham to go. He can t go from being the best tight end to being average when he came here. Stop using him to block. Line him up as wide receiver. Send 2 or 3 tight ends out whenever in the red zone, and tell Wilson those tight ends have to be your primary targets. Who would replace Graham s 1000 yards last year, when he was injured? I expect Lockett and Richardson to miss games, perhaps many games, from injury. So no Graham, no 2 or maybe 3, that s a good plan. I have another question, what if Baldwin starts to compensate, take chances and is injured? What then?

    The problem here is clearly in the running of the total offense, and that includes the drafting. I would get mighty cozy with Scott McCloughan s new scouting company coming into the next draft. But someone needs to be hired, maybe in Scouting and as Offensive Coordinator, who can take charge of the offense.

    I watched the Bears from childhood, so I m used to bad teams and owners who were okay with that. The Seahawks need more of a balance between a top defense, and an offense at least in the top 10.

      1. Yes that team was very good. But when they are touted as the best defense ever, half of that team was Buddy Ryan and his 4/6 defense nobody had ever seen before. Quarterbacks were not as good then, and I don t know if Mc Mahon would be in the top 15 today. Still, I stood next to Dent and Wilbur Marshall at a few parties. I lifted weights hard, and even with some juice, those guys were monsters.

  11. “He is paid like Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees and Matt Ryan and Tom Brady.”

    Since QB salaries don’t go down or fluctuate, experience is a more apt comparison:

    Brady – 17 years
    Brees – 16 years
    Ryan – 9 years
    Wilson – 5 years

    Let’s see where RW is in four years, then evaluate whether his play is as good as Matt Ryan’s nine years into his career.

      1. Thanks for the go ahead Brian.

        I’ve followed your site off and on for several years, and prefer yours over all the rest. It’s got class!

    2. Pkgoode – It’s hard to say one way or the other, as word on the street a year ago was that RW had bulked up and was in the best shape of his career, then at the start of this year we were told that RW slimmed down and is the best shape of his career. What??? Gives?????

      I’ve never seen RW miss this many good targets (including this preseason). But man is he “ON” when it comes down to crunch time, it’s like he can just WILL an entire drive and a completion into the end zone.

      It’s both amazing and confounding at the same time.

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