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Seahawks Schedule
St. Louis
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Sun 09/13 | W 28 - 0 |
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@
San Francisco
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Sun 09/20 | L 10 - 23 |
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Chicago
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Sun 09/27 | L 19 - 25 |
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Indianapolis
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Sun 10/04 | L 17 - 34 |
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Jacksonville
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Sun 10/11 | W 41 - 0 |
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Arizona
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Sun 10/18 | L 3 - 27 |
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Dallas
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Sun 11/01 | L 17 - 38 |
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Detroit
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Sun 11/08 | 1:05 PM PST |
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Arizona
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Sun 11/15 | 1:15 PM PST |
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Minnesota
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Sun 11/22 | 10:00 AM PST |
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St. Louis
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Sun 11/29 | 10:00 AM PST |
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San Francisco
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Sun 12/06 | 1:15 PM PST |
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Houston
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Sun 12/13 | 10:00 AM PST |
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Tampa Bay
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Sun 12/20 | 1:15 PM PST |
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Green Bay
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Sun 12/27 | 10:00 AM PST |
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Tennessee
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Sun 01/03 | 1:15 PM PST |
Open College Football Thread
by John Morgan on Nov 7, 2009 12:34 PM PST
264 comments
Before the power goes out.
264 comments | 0 recs
Edgerrin James Messes with the Wrong Fullback
by John Morgan on Nov 6, 2009 5:39 PM PST
18 comments
One final note before I excuse myself this blustery Friday evening. I will post notes for the third and fourth quarter tomorrow.
I wonder sometimes when a player is cut - what was the play that put them over the edge? What did Edgerrin James do that ended his Seahawks career? He had struggled since joining Seattle and his performance at Dallas didn't seem out line with his season average. We had waited for James to get up to speed and he hadn't, but what back could excel behind Seattle's piecemeal line?
So it was with some amusement that I watched Justin Griffith raise his hands into the air and then clearly point "inside" where James had cut, and then "outside" where James was supposed to cut.
It was the first play of Seattle's second drive of the quarter. The defense had slowed Dallas enough to keep Seattle in it and the Seahawks were on their own 44. Great field position. Seattle's consistent strong middle push was beginning to translate into yards. Julius Jones had run for 19 in four rushes to start the half. An additional five and a first resulted from an obvious Jay Ratliff hold. Seattle broke in a two wide receiver, I formation with a tight end on the right. Snap.
Keith Brooking rushes into the backfield and Griffith engages him and extends so Brooking is at arm's length to the right. This isn't smashmouth football. Griffith does not Mack Strong Brooking, he shields and turns. James cuts in and into Brooking and is tackled after one. Griffith's gesticulations follow.
Now maybe that wasn't the play that did James in, but I would guess it was. He picked up a blitz ably later in the drive and rushed for five and three in his final two attempts. James messed up the read and made Griffith look bad and nobody messes with Greg Knapp's fullback.
18 comments | 0 recs |
Post Your Hawk: Week 9
by Phildopip on Nov 6, 2009 3:56 PM PST
47 comments
Well, shit. The new and improved "optimist" version of me didn't work out. So fuck it. I'm back to being my old pessimist self. Even though I'm a pessimist, I'm thinking this is the game the Seahawks finally somewhat get back on track. Locklear might be back, Trufant has had another week to get ready...Matty is doing better.
47 comments | 0 recs
Patrick Kerney Subtly Swings into Irrelevance
by John Morgan on Nov 6, 2009 2:40 PM PST
15 comments
That drive was another pin in the Seahawks hopes. Seattle barely budged the ball before Jon Ryan and Seattle's coverage unit combined to undo the Seahawks field position advantage. The resulting drive would sap what was left of Seattle's comeback chances.
Marion Barber scurried for six and Tony Romo converted the first on a pass to Martellus Bennett. Seattle, for its part, put a lick on Bennett: Aaron Curry standing him up and Jordan Babineaux delivering the blow.
Then, for a brief shining moment, Darryl Tapp nearly undid a half's worth of damage and put Seattle back in the lead. It was another moment where Seattle missed by inches. Tapp rushed around left end and forced back Flozell Adams enough to block out Romo's preferred throwing lane. Tapp jumped as Romo motioned and Romo tucked before taking another attempt. The ball sailed behind intended receiver Roy Williams, but where a good break nets a pick six, Josh Wilson skidded and the pass proved too errant. Ironically, an accurate pass results in a pick six.
Then the wheels came off. Seattle was attacking and Romo forced consecutive offside penalties to convert the first. Penalties would decide this drive.
Lawrence Jackson moved into right defensive tackle alongside Tapp, and stopped the next two plays near single-handedly. He tackled Barber after two and read and reacted to a draw and curled in to stop Barber for a loss of one. Jackson has looked every bit the end I wanted him to be: aware, active, athletic and everywhere.
From the official NFL rule book:
Actions that constitute defensive pass interference include but are not limited to:
. . .
(e) Cutting off the path of a receiver by making contact with him without playing the ball.
This play pissed off a lot of Seahawks, but the ruling was justifiable if not maybe right. Marcus Trufant was attempting to curl underneath Miles Austin's deep route. Jordan Babineaux was to play over top, though he clearly wasn't deep enough and would have been beat on a clean throw attempt. Trufant curled into Austin's route. The contact looked incidental, with Trufant clearly not attempting to cut off the path of Austin, but he did cut off the path of Austin and Dallas got the call. So it goes.
In the same play, but of less interest, Nick Reed dropped into cover and was literally stride-for-stride with Patrick Crayton. That a player - and damn Crayton is slow.
Seattle cued up a Marshall seven-man blitz and forced an incomplete.
Seattle sent Josh Wilson on its next blitz and Deon Grant hit Crayton to force an incomplete.
Third and 9: Miles Austin for 16. This was a failure of pass rush. The blitz design was..not so good. One could see it working, but there was one major flaw inherent in its design. Perhaps this graphic can illuminate what I mean. For sake of clarity, I'll only show the key players.
You'll have to excuse me if that's too subtle, for I am a humble caveman confused and frightened by your modern world. It's a perfectly cromulent blitz design and swinging Patrick Kerney across the line should give him a strong matchup against the left guard, but Kerney is far too slow to get into the action before Romo finds an open receiver. This will rile some feathers, but do not be surprised if Seattle drafts a defensive end in the first round of next year's draft.
Cory Redding and David Hawthorne combined to delay the inevitable. Redding created the pressure and Hawthorne hit the ball out of Jason Witten's hands. A play later Roy Williams palmed the ball into the end zone and the Seahawks fell behind by two scores to end the half.
Seattle got the ball back and ran a simple run to kill the clock. The fun was over. The third quarter awaited.
15 comments | 0 recs |
Matt Hasselbeck's Square Wheels
by John Morgan on Nov 6, 2009 1:39 PM PST
7 comments
Matt Hasselbeck sold play-action well but showed off his square wheels attempting to roll out. He was barely through his curve before he had to target Deion Branch because of pressure. The pass had all the mustard of a Coney Island sand crab. Branch dropped it before being blown up.
Max Unger was beat back but Hasselbeck found John Carlson for five to put Seattle back into manageable third down. The play was filthy with Greg Knapp.
With that we get to the infamous instant sack by Bobby Carpenter. No breakdown necessary, but in short order, this is what I blame for the play:
1. Hasselbeck for not audibling into shotgun.
2. Knapp for making no attempt to disrupt timing the Cowboy's timing. Seattle has made little use of hard counts and Dallas and Arizona have timed the Seahawks snaps to perfection.
3. Chris Spencer, who doubled down on the nose tackle, and Unger, who needed Spencer to help him with Jay Ratliff.
The real culprit, by my estimate anyway, is the new coaching staff and lack of continuity on the line. Hasselbeck should have audibled into shotgun regardless, but each of the above can be attributed to an offense learning a new playbook and an offensive line that hasn't played together very much.
7 comments | 0 recs |
David Hawthorne: Pretty Boy-seeking Missile
by John Morgan on Nov 6, 2009 1:14 PM PST
25 comments
Today I finish up with last weekend's game notes. I rewatched the second quarter last night and I had an absolute blast. Here are my notes and highlights.
We left off with Seattle pulling close on one of those Greg Knapp third-down deep passes that drive folks crazy. A block in the back penalty would pin Dallas at their eight to start the next drive. Things looked up. Seattle needed its defense to hold field position and get Matt Hasselbeck the ball back.
Miles Austin responded with a beautiful catch on the right sideline. He was double covered and reached out nearly out of bounds to grab the ball. It's worth noting that Austin looked every bit the real deal, exploding out of the blocks and running tight routes.
That got Dallas out of jail. On the next play, Dallas pulled out its left side and directed fullback Deon Anderson at right end Darryl Tapp. Tapp has to win this, but doesn't and that allows Felix Jones a clean release through the hole -- Flozell Adams and Kyle Kosier blocking into the second level. Adams destroyed Aaron Curry and Jones was picked his way towards the third level. Jordan Babineaux hit him before the marker but Jones twisted for the first. It could have been worse. It should have been worse.
Brandon Mebane pressured up the middle and Leroy Hill was in position and aware of the pass on a high floater that overshot Martellus Bennett.
Dallas again targeted the Seahawks right side and doubled to stampede through Colin Cole. Deon Grant was controlling the right end and made contact with Jones at the line, but Jones spun right through Grant's tackle and reminded me again why I've stumped so vehemently for him to be positioned at free safety. Ken Lucas made a saving tackle that forced third down after a gain of nine.
Marion Barber converted the first. He was the up back.
Seattle overloads the right and Curry comes free around right end forcing Tony Romo up into the pocket. Seattle struggled with getting edge rush but failing to establish interior pressure, but this time Red Bryant plows through the right guard and forces and incomplete pass. Babineaux can be seen covering Jason Witten streaking up the right hash mark. However Seattle did it, the Seahawks shut down Witten.
Well, mostly. Patrick Kerney was taken down and that tripped Bryant and eliminated much of Seattle's rush. Cory Redding got a parting shot, but the pass was accurate and Witten received for 18.
David Hawthorne is an excellent blitzer, a stand out blitzer from the mike position. Seattle dropped its right end and overloaded the offensive right, but it wasn't a team effort that felled Romo. The goal was to free Hawthorne. Curry and Redding attempted to engage and force the Cowboy interior offensive line left. That plan was for Hawthorne to rush unabated between right guard and right tackle. Instead, Marc Colombo was squatting in Hawthorne's rush lane and Heater had to power through the giant right tackle to sack Romo. He did. That is a big league sack and Heater a major addition to Seattle's pass rush.
Romo scrambled for ten to put Dallas back into a manageable third down. Nick Reed was pwned.
The drive concluded when Lawrence Jackson pressured Romo and forced an incomplete attempt to Patrick Crayton. The resulting missed field goal put Seattle in business at their 38. Grand opening. Grand closing.
25 comments | 0 recs |
Video Preview - Detroit Lions vs Seattle Seahawks
by Scruffy Lefty on Nov 5, 2009 11:19 PM PST
39 comments
Instead of video previewing the lions and wasting everyones time - I found a bunch of videos that reminded me of certain Seahawks players....
39 comments | 0 recs
Is Colt McCoy Junior Jeff Garcia?
by John Morgan on Nov 5, 2009 7:51 PM PST
121 comments
Greg Knapp and Jeff Garcia rose to prominence together. The San Francisco 49ers signed Garcia from the Stampeders in 1998, Knapp's second season as quarterbacks coach. After Steve Young suffered a career ending traumatic brain injury*, Garcia won a battle of backups with Steve Stenstrom. The next season Garcia went to his first Pro Bowl. The next season Knapp became the team's offensive coordinator. Garcia would return to the Pro Bowl the next two seasons.
You can see how Garcia would click within Knapp's system. Knapp likes roll outs, he likes to move the pocket and his system benefits from a quarterback that can occasionally run. He incorporates short, middle and deep routes, leans heavily on play action and likes to run boots off play action. A Knapp quarterback must be able to throw on the run. The quarterback doesn't need a cannon but good deep accuracy and touch. Further, in this Tim Ruskell regime, any future Seahawks quarterback better have pocket presence. Garcia was able to move but keep his career sack percentage at 4.7%.
Colt McCoy's 5.2% might jump a little as a pro, but it's respectable. His completion percentage will come to Earth, too, but completion percentage is one of the more persistent skills of quarterbacking. Whatever his fate, McCoy will not have a bad completion percentage in the pros. He plays like a young, slightly taller Jeff Garcia and his potential is that of Garcia++.
121 comments | 0 recs |
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