Quick Cap: Seahawks 37 - Rams 13
by John Morgan on Sep 21, 2008 4:45 PM PDT
in Seahawks Game Recaps
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Don't know why, but sometime in the last two weeks I lost my confidence. I wanted Field Gulls to fulfill the goal of the ancient Hebrew street journalist, not being a bastion for elitism, but including people, spreading the word. I realized I was avoiding my own site. I realized I didn't like my own site. Why do I blather about this? Because I realized something else today.
The Seattle Seahawks are a damn good football team. That's the perfect, rational description of their talent, skill and depth. Seattle is a Super Bowl contender. They took the worst part of their offense, built it back from the ground up, substituted the worst football player in the NFL with a good, complete and underappreciated running back in Julius Jones, resigned vital parts of their defense and had a hell of a draft. Somehow losing two games caused the miasma of ESPN-like reactionary thinking, panic and outright stupidity to crawl into this team, onto this site and into my brain.
But this win was ejaculatory. The frustration, doubts and stupidity are out of my brain. And if I have to purify this site with flames, I will to get back a place I can talk Hawks with intelligent fans.
A few stupid, slippery plays aside - and Seattle's good for a few whenever Brian Russell makes an appearance - Seattle dominated every snap of this contest. Last week the front seven destroyed. This week the secondary smothered. Finally, the turnovers are showing up. Would've been another if Deon Grant weren't a heady, unselfish player that understood field position was worth more than the pick. This is an elite defense. This year, with a running game to sew up big leads, it will avalanche on opponents like it couldn't in 2007.
This offense is good enough. The kind of above average offense great defenses rarely get. The running game has shown. The passing game is coming together. The line play is solid. And, most importantly, there's no substituting an accurate, aware, steadfast quarterback that keeps you in every game and makes recycled talent look capable.
I'm getting drunk tonight. It's my vacation, and I'm taking a night of my own and be stupid and rowdy.
Game Ball: Julius Jones, who really did make most of his yards on his own and can't be blamed for Hasselbeck's plunging short passes.
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It's the Rams
But I was happy with this win.
It’s not the defense really, it’s the offensive line. Buffalo is a good football team and no team has had a match for their blitzing, aggressive style.
The running game is back, the passing game is getting better, and most importantly, we have a new kicker. If Olindo Mare can make a clutch kick in the next few weeks then I’m sold on him.
Coming into this game I thought the Giants were going to blow out the Bengals and then soon the Seahawks…but now things have changed, I actually have hope.
Good win, console our friends at Turf Show Times.
Josh Who?
Continued Story: Running the Football
Marshawn Lynch: 18 carries for 76 yards
Frank Gore: 19 carries for 61 yards
Steven Jackson: 23 carries for 66 yards
Pretty dang good. I want to find out our ranking on short yardage (see the 3rd and 1 stuff today). We were good at that last year, too.
Three very good backs.
But not 3 very good offensive lines run blocking. I think that LoJack over Darrell Tapp is one reason, with another year of experience for Tatupu and Hill being another. But I’ve also been very impressed. It will be interesting to see how we do against the Giants.
The Giants(as we saw today) are not football gods, they are a very good football team that is beatable. I think they caught the Redskins at the right time, and obviously we saw the Rams today. We really need to show up, and a win isn’t mandatory, but would really really go a long way for our team. I think we can do it if we get just one of our WRs back.
It was nice to see the hawks
playing well today, just got a new hd tv the other day and dont think i could have kept my sanity if i had to watch another stinker in detail
I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.
The Rams can make ANY team look like champs.
Waiting for Seahawks vs Giants to be truly optimistic.
If life gives you lemons, keep the receipt
We'll have Mo, Koren, Branch, and Bobby for that one.
It’s good the Rams game was major-injury free!
Like I said he was probably drunk
You may gain some yards on the ground, but eventually Lofa will end up biting you in the ass.
by Scruffy Lefty on Sep 21, 2008 9:43 PM PDT up reply actions
Exactly--it's the Rams
I’m just not sure you can call us a “damn good football team” when we dominate at home the team that ranks 32nd in the league in both running and passing.
I mean, we might be, but I don’t think we know that yet. Other than Jackson’s sloppy tackle attempt on Jackson, and the 3rd and 21 touchdown, defense played well, and this time that includes the secondary. Did I see Wilson starting over Jennings?
If we really can run anywhere near like that against other teams, I’ll become a believer. That was amazing to watch.
Seattle is a damn good football team.
Talent. That’s how I know. Talent. Not the outcomes of three games. And discounting how Seattle played because the Rams are bad is illogical. What more could Seattle do but dominate this game? It’s been researched, dominating bad opponents is one of the surest signs of a contender.
Obviously it was one game...
But it did have that “42-10 win over the Texans in 2005” kinda feel too it. Off the cuff, I think we were a shaky 3-2 heading into that game three years ago having beaten the Rams in St Louis on the blessings of a muffed punt, the Texans were an ugly 0-4, and we were hosting them on Sunday Night Football. I remember thinking, “if the ’Hawks are as good as I think they are they should win big”. I felt similarly about the Rams game today.
Russell took a horrible angle on the play as well
He actually took himself AND Lawrence Jackson out of the play.
Remaining cautiously optimistic...
by Badical Turbo Radness on Sep 21, 2008 10:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Then how good is SF?
Because we sure as heck did not dominate them….
Look, I want you to be right. But my jury, at least, is still out…
JT O'Sullivan is good
I think that’s something that’ll take some time to seep in, but I think it’s true.
And before someone argues against it
yes there is such a thing as bad luck in football.
I'd say it was awfully close to domination
a few big plays/calls went the wrong way early.
And like John has mentioned before
with all of the pressure we had gotten on the quarterback in the first two games, it was remarkable we weren’t generating turnovers. If you keep doing those things right, turnovers will come.
Sometimes just looking at the results can be very, very misleading and often can cause people to panic way more than they should.
Leroy Hill is becoming an absolute beast
He’s everywhere, and the tackles he made in the open field against Gore and Jackson were ungodly. If he keeps this up he’ll deserve a lot of attention for defensive player of the year.
I agree about this win being purifying. It was one thing to have logical reasons not to panic in face of the adversity the Hawks saw in the first two games, but it’s a whole ‘nother thing to have a win like this show you you’re not just a homer. Judging by how I feel right now I think this is the first time I’ve breathed since the fake field goal in Buffalo.
Leroy Hill
is the MAN. Only hope TR can sign him before getting into the whole Franchise Tag mess, but if not, he’s it.
by lemonverbena on Sep 21, 2008 10:12 PM PDT up reply actions
He's managed to do it with every other key player we've had.
If anyone can keep him on the roster, it’s Timmy.
Not sure we can pay him
But hoping we can. Thing is if we sign him where does “the heater” end up? Or other smart roster pickups at linebacker? I’d love to see Hill stay but if he’s too expensive it makes sense to let him go.
That's the nice thing about young WR talent and K Rob
It’s cheap, hopefully cheap enough
2/3 of the world is covered by water. The rest is covered by Marcus Trufant.
Special Teams was still weak though
Bumpus may have very well sealed his fate with that muffed punt…..or he’ll just lose his special teams spot.
Jon Ryan will never ever get us a touchback.
Josh Who?
Punting touchbacks are bad...Thats why we liked plack, he could pin it inside the 20
without getting a touchback.
My dad heard on the radio that Holmgren was talking about how much he liked Bumpus
Yesterday's Pants
A blog-thingy about the Mariners and stuff.
by BrettJMiller on Sep 21, 2008 6:29 PM PDT up reply actions
WR roster (if no injuries) come end of season:
Branch
Engram
Koren
Colbert
Taylor
Peeps will go nuts with Bumpus cut, but Colbert and Engram are good slot guys.
Once Branch and Engram are back
I would like to see McMullen cut and Jamar Adams signed off the practice squad.
McMullen has played well
and he’s done it on short notice and without much of a supporting cast. I’d be leery of tossing him aside so quickly.
But once that WR depth is back (IE when Branch and Engram return)
wouldn’t it make sense to shore up the safety position?
Ya, I'm just saying...
and what me and you would do with extra safety “depth” might be a little different than what John Marshall would do with it.
I'd like to see what McMullen does with Branch and Engram in the mix
give him a week or two and see if we found a diamond in the trough or if he was just a solid FA pickup
Honestly I think McMullen is the odd man out in the group.
The team still seems committed to Courtney Taylor (which is good in my mind) and I just don’t think they’ll cut Bumpus. Factor in the fact that the team committed a conditional pick for Colbert and I just don’t see McMullen sticking around.
We only completed 12 passes
You may gain some yards on the ground, but eventually Lofa will end up biting you in the ass.
by Scruffy Lefty on Sep 21, 2008 9:46 PM PDT up reply actions
oh good point
huh…yeah, funny how things will have suddenly turned around with depth.
I’ve enjoyed McMullen’s play so far. He reminds me of Joe Jurevicius. His hands are great and I haven’t seen him catch it in his body, yet. I’d like to keep him. I’m sure Hass likes the fact he’s a big target.
with our record of receiver injuries this year...
I don’t think so!
It wouldn't surprise me if they started leaving him inactive
once everyone is back.
They would have 7 WR when everyone is healthy
So I would say it would be Taylor and McMuffin going inactive for games.
You may gain some yards on the ground, but eventually Lofa will end up biting you in the ass.
by Scruffy Lefty on Sep 21, 2008 9:48 PM PDT up reply actions
I would to
You may gain some yards on the ground, but eventually Lofa will end up biting you in the ass.
by Scruffy Lefty on Sep 21, 2008 9:53 PM PDT up reply actions
McMullen drops too many passes
I saw him drop 2 in the third quarter, and I think he definitely gets cut when Branch/Engram are ready to play. We currently have 23 defensive players, which is 1 of the lowest totals in the league. Since we’re using 4 spots for specialists, I don’t think we can tie up 7 spots with WRs, especially for someone as average as McMullen. Sure, he lead the team in recieving, but that was while playing next to Colbert, Bumpus, and Taylor. Not stellar competition.
McMullen didn’t even play last year, do you think he’ll get picked up if we cut him? Hass is making him look like a much better reciever than he really is.
Remaining cautiously optimistic...
by Badical Turbo Radness on Sep 21, 2008 10:23 PM PDT up reply actions
Cut? Yes.
Sign with someone else? No. He knows we will call if we need him.
XBOX live gamertag: BANE509...I would die tonight for my beliefs.
McMullen IS supporting cast
Remaining cautiously optimistic...
by Badical Turbo Radness on Sep 21, 2008 10:12 PM PDT up reply actions
Koren Robinson will KR I think
I think he is going to fill the Nate Burleson role when Engram and Branch are back, which is a very needed skillset right now.
Remarkable how a position that was so depleted is suddenly turning into a goldmine in only a few weeks.
Maybe this Ruskell chap knows what he’s doing.
That's the reason we went with the young guys.
We had both WRs coming back after 3-4 games, not even a quarter of the season. Burleson, Payne, and Wallace getting hurt was a complete surprise in that short amount of time, along with Kent and Taylor not playing well enough.
Myopia
Very stoked—relieved—with the big win and, save for the predictable Pork Chop hammy, for coming out uninjured.
And I don’t want to burst your fragile bubble, but: this team is not a Super Bowl contender. Not yet.
Now I know some of you fools think I’m some sort of concern troll, a bandwagon-jumper. My wet-feathered friends, I am neither. I go back to the earliest of early days with this franchise. Family season seats at the 20 yard line, 100 level, 24 rows up, DiamondVision side behind the home bench. I remember Sam Adkins, the benchwarmer. Sam-Bam Cunningham. Efren Herrera on Monday Nights. Kingdogs and Bill the Beerman. Lefty Zorn slinging it to Largent, handing off to Sherman Smith and Bigfoot Theotis Brown. A backup from tiny Milton College throwing to #80 and Deep-Heat Daryl Turner, handing off to Curt Warner and Dan Doornink. And now, a few times a year, I even get paid to watch NFL football. So hear me out, rubes. Because I’m occasionally down on this particular incarnation of the Seattle Seahawks does NOT mean that I do not wish all manner of success upon them. Quite the opposite.
A fan site is not served by blind fandom. Brutal honesty, not irrational optimism OR pessimism, is the coin of the realm. Especially for a team representing the great city of Seattle. If you follow Lookout Landing at all, you see an educated, cynical, hilarious community built up around one truly gifted writer and a number of solid contributors. They offer fawning, near-homoerotic praise and worship to players, managers, and administrators when they deserve it, and near-violent excoriation when warranted. Which in the case of the M’s it so frequently is, regrettably.
John, you do an amazing job of breaking down plays, to a level I would never aspire to. Some of which comes comes across as irrelevant minutiae, and doesn’t seem terribly accessible. SB sites do aspire to educate and inspire, not cater to the lowest common denominator. Seattle hack beat writers have been doing that for long enough. So keep on it. We need to learn.
With that said…
You know what? Fuck it. I’M WRONG. I’m glad to hear that you think we’re Super Bowl contenders. This is a fan site. I don’t personally think it’s true, what with Lofa wearing a cast, Tru sporting a club, K-Rob and a bunch of street FAs on the WR depth chart, Russell patrolling the defensive backfield and Spencer making the line calls… Deep? No, we’re not deep. But we are GOOD. We are fucking TALENTED, no question. We NEED the good. We NEED a snake-in-the-grass upset of NYG on the road in Week 5. The league is wide the fuck OPEN! Who the hell else is a contender? Homo the Romo? Manning the Fluke? Shit, Miami beat the snot out of the Patriots in Foxboro! They’re a contender!!
So… Go Seahawks!! I believe? Fuckin-A.
Meatloaf Meatloaf!! Hot spuds, Caesar!
huh?
Didn’t quite get a lot of that. Could you please repeat it?
OK sort of kidding. But I think this team is as good as any in this league, assuming Locklear, Bobby, and Engram come back healthy. The problems are:
a) our current record… 1-2 is pretty hard to come back from.
b) our schedule. At first I thought “ooh, looks tought”, then “aw, they always look tough, there’s a lot of wholes there”, and then (when Rogers looked good, and Favre went to the Jets) “oh crap, there’s two suddenly tough games”.
There is a great optimism to be found in the improved running game, the good run defense, and the addition of Carlson.
Perspective
a) our current record… 1-2 is pretty hard to come back from.
Agreed. The actuarial tables are not with us. But football in general is “pretty hard”. Like in 2005, when the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks went 2-2 to start the year.
Or the 2007 New York Football Giants, who had to win their Week 3 game to get to 1-2.
For example.
by lemonverbena on Sep 21, 2008 10:40 PM PDT up reply actions
The whole NFC West...
Has that same difficult schedule pretty much. Considering the Cards lost today to the probable 4th best team in the NFC East, it is conceivable that the Cards finish 8-8 or worse, considering they play all the same teams we play.
Substitute:
Vikings for the Packers
Panthers for the Buccaneers
That’s arguably the same schedule. They haven’t faced the Bills yet, and yes they made the Dolphins look silly. But the 49ers looked strong against both teams, and if we beat the Redskins(which I think we definitely can) that evens up the records already.
I see no reason why this team isn't a Super Bowl contender yet.
I’m not convinced that the team played remarkably different today than they did last week. All that happened this week was that two ‘Beck passes didn’t get tipped for flukey interceptions and the special teams didn’t play with their head up their asses.
Over the last two weeks, this team has played well enough to win, but caught some bad breaks. When you get as much pressure on the quarterback as our defense has regularly been accomplishing, turnovers are going to happen. For some reason, those takeaways didn’t show up the first two games, but today we saw that “regression to the mean” that John spoke of.
All that needs to happen are small, minor tweaks. Branch and Engram returning make an offense that isn’t nearly as bad as the numbers look that much better. A dead-cat bounce in performance from Russell (or replacing him in the scheme with Babs/Adams/someone who can cover ground) improves the defense and takes away the plays over the middle
Locklear is coming back, Porkchop has been a serviceable RG (and if he falters Willis can be placed in that spot). Julius Jones and TJ Duckett are the committee we’ve been longing for in the backfield. Carlson is turning out to be a terrific option it TE. Our WR corps has gone from a position of disaster to a depth goldmine.
Hell, I’m more excited now than I was four weeks ago.
subject line
It’ll take a few more good games against conference competitors to totally get me giddy. But at least today proved that the system works. I still won’t exhale until the Giants game is over and done with, but I’m happy with Week 3.
--Shrug
Field Gulls - The SBN Seattle Seahawks Blog
Brian Russell was a bad break and that's why we lost against the 49ers. ;-)
If there is one thing that would prevent me from believing we’re Super Bowl contenders, and even so, that could change in the next few weeks:
Win a road game against a playoff team.
This includes the Super Bowl season, we have not beaten a playoff team on the road, since 2004 in Minnesota (the famous Randy Moss throw). If we can just win against either the Giants or the Bucs then I’m set.
Josh Who?
So John, when you sober up...
We lost our RG and RT for a period of time, yet the line seems to have held up pretty damn well with Womack and Willis filling in. A couple of questions
1) Can we expected a marked improvement when Locklear returns to RT?
2) How does Willis project as a starting tackle down the line?
by BrianL on Sep 21, 2008 9:55 PM PDT reply actions 1 recs
Good questions...
I have had similar thoughts, except I was wondering if Locklear would doom our running game, or take it down a notch when he returns. But your 2nd question is exactly what I am wondering.
I think we should wait till John goes through the whole game, with an emphasis on the right side of the line to say how they’ve done pass blocking and run blocking(I think I know how that will go).
To borrow from Lookout Landing on Felix day...
Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. By the way, that song’s by Lesley Gore.
I don’t really know that I have anything to say that hasn’t been covered here. I’m afraid if I punt something out there, it’ll wobble and change direction in midflight but Michael Bumpus will still try to catch it. Ba-BING!
With the huge caveat that we were playing the Rams, everything about the offense was encouraging. That includes the slim receiving game, and I give the WR’s credit for being dependable and not making too many lamentable mistakes. McMullen was really inspired.
The touchdown drive in the 3rd quarter, which basically featured nothing but running, was the finest drive we’ve put together this year. It was exactly what we needed to do last week that we didn’t: Deliberately eat up the clock with a sizeable if not comfortable lead.
Again, tempered by the fact that we were playing a maligned defense, Julius still turned in some breakout runs and gave us a yard more than we got last year. Duckett proved exactly why he was signed when we needed short yardage. I’m encouraged. Well, hopeful.
The Hasselbeck block was this year’s Josh-Brown-tackles-Devin-Hester: A wonderful, inspirational and highly ill-advised moment. It’s one of those things we can point do whenever someone claims we don’t have the heart of a true competitor. Of course, it was a separated shoulder away from being a bad choice. But still, great theatre.
I was surprised how warmly received ESPN’s Kenny Mayne was when he rose the 12th Man flag. I know he’s a local boy and all, but still.
Best piece of chatter from Sec. 328: “I don’t believe in the existence of the St. Louis Rams! It’s an urban legend!”
--Shrug
Field Gulls - The SBN Seattle Seahawks Blog
I was in 309, it was pretty quiet in my section,
I was a bit dissapointed.
I'm back to liking midgets too much.
340 was pretty loud
Yesterday's Pants
A blog-thingy about the Mariners and stuff.
by BrettJMiller on Sep 22, 2008 10:55 AM PDT up reply actions
You were only three sections away from me, Thingray!
I was in Section 312!
"Hole in one, eh?"
by Coach Owens on Sep 22, 2008 11:01 AM PDT up reply actions
Row LL section 309.
My buddy got us tickets through his news group. My whole section was sitting on their hands for 90% of the game. I actually had a person ask me to sit down when I stood up to cheer on a big third down stop.
I'm back to liking midgets too much.
This is why I do SRO for 95% of games.
I have no desire to ever sit down at Qwest.
Yeah, I really don't require a "seat". Just get me in the stadium and I'm fine.
I'm back to liking midgets too much.
It feels so good to get that first win out of the way
It felt even better to win convincingly, and dominate the way we did. We needed a blowout win in the worst way.
Enjoy your bye week, boys. You deserved it. Bring on the Giants.
I have to be honest
Despite the loss last week – I felt really good because of Carlson’s breakout performance.
If he can get open among our current crop of WR’s and make 3rd down catches we will be a lot better than we think.
If we can get Engram back for the Giants game and McMullen & Colbert can get more comfortable with our playbook – Koren will be a bonus as well.. then the playbook will open up. two quarters of scoring – and a final half of power running.
You’re dead on with the great draft. Carlson, DT depth, LoJack. Now to cut Coutu and get a dependable punt returner =)
Coutu is an invaluable part of our bench scheme
If you’ll notice, he slides down the bench every couple minutes to keep the important players seats warm. He was a first-team all-pro at bench warming his Senior year, which warranted a draft pick. Don’t you read anything? JM will straighten you out.
Trade Coutu for Joey Galloway!
"Hole in one, eh?"
by Coach Owens on Sep 22, 2008 11:05 AM PDT up reply actions
screw that...
…trade Coutu for ME! I can do what he’s doing right now.
And by that, I mean diddly squat.
Tumbleweeds in here.
I thought it would be busier after a big win.
I'm back to liking midgets too much.
John is sleeping off the hangover
You may gain some yards on the ground, but eventually Lofa will end up biting you in the ass.
by Scruffy Lefty on Sep 22, 2008 1:06 PM PDT up reply actions
I'm at work still trying to recover.
Not so much hungover, but my stomach hurts and I’m tired as hell (didn’t sleep well last night for some reason).
I'm back to liking midgets too much.
guess it was kind of a "meh" moment
Beating the hopeless Rams is kind of expected by now.
Watch what happens a couple of weeks from now…
I think its more of a sigh of relief
at least thats how I feel today.
You may gain some yards on the ground, but eventually Lofa will end up biting you in the ass.
by Scruffy Lefty on Sep 22, 2008 1:34 PM PDT up reply actions
I didn't really have any doubts about Sunday
Usually I’m pretty nervous before a game, but Sunday was pretty much like “yay, how many points can we score”.
Of course, that doesn’t speak for fellow Hawk fans.
I was nervous before the game.
about three RUM and “maybe a little Coke”s later I was not as nervous.
I'm back to liking midgets too much.
Duckett
First game no carrys
Second game 3 carrys 2 yards 1 TD
Third game 17 carrys 79 yards 2 TDs
I never thought i would change my mind about duckett but it seems the more he carrys and the more fired up he gets. I would say we have found our 1-2 punch in the running game we have needed. I hope he isn’t lost in the game plan when Mo gets healthy.
great game
so fun up in standing room only by the 12th man flag
this giants game is huge, a win and that’s momentum for the whole year. they definitely seem beatable after their game yesterday, let’s hope our guys are ready to go out there on the east coast!
i was at the game and didn’t see carlson for pretty much the whole second half, was he hurt or not playing for blocking schemes (heller in for the run..) or just avoiding injury?? or was i totally wrong and he was in there?
by Woodinville_12thMan on Sep 22, 2008 7:05 PM PDT reply actions
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