Postgame: Seahawks 20 - Titans 18: Winners and Losers

I’m more worried about the O-Line, but seeing good things from Whitehurst makes me feel better about it. I’m still worried about the D-Line, but our Secondary looks to be as voracious as expected. I would like to go 1-3 in the Preseason, just so we win the Superbowl next year.

I’m almost ready for my whitehurst jersey…

Josh Wilson was his usual solid self.
Matt looked bad but it’s week 1 pre season so….

Which abused an incompetent offense/QB for most of the game but was just trampled by the starting O. I hope they show up against the Pack to some extent. Hefty test.

Even though he’s just filler, he looked baaaad.

The sideline interview was the first I’d heard him sounding like a player who is realizing that his career might be over.

THANK GOD we get to play the Rams twice!

and missed the game FML…

recorded a QB hit… yay…

Otherwise, he largely went unnoticed.

Whitehurst: wow, outperformed expectations. He looked awesome, great reads and pressence in the pocket. Zings his throws on slants and curls.

Pass rush: after the first series I saw glimmers of hope. Clemons looked good to me. I would like to see more in terms of LB blitzing but that will probably come later in the preseason.

Recievers: Williams can be a big asset. Not sure where everyone fits in, it’s a crowded spot. Also want to see Carlson targeted more than what he saw tonight.

O-line: uh oh.

FB/TE: I feel that Schmitt may be gone by the time the cut to 53 is made. Ganther brings more to the table as a hybrid for this system. Taking Ganther in addition to our 3 other tailbacks frees Schmitt’s spot for a 4th TE.

No way he’s making the team

I thought he showed pluck.

That bodes well, yes?

At one point, a sideline official gave a sort of forearm shiver to push Carroll back off the field.

For finally getting a QB who could pass him the ball down field…

I was excited to see that after being used for simply a decoy so many times last year

Walter Thurmond wasn’t very good at covering people in his zone when playing zone defense, he didn’t move to cover his guy when they clearly ran and sat down in his zone

Jeff Byers had a really nice pull block in the 4th quarter (granted it was against th 3rd string D)

Concerned about the lack of any pressure by our first string defensive line

Kelly Jennings still has the body mass of a pencil

Even though it was pre-season, it was GREAT to have football again

It is not acceptable (IMO) to be doing the wave while a player is being carted off the field for an injury. I hope it was just a stadium full of excited fans not really paying attention to what was going on but it really rubbed me the wrong way

CHAMPIONSHIP!!!!!!!

So I didn’t get to see the level of detail that would help me really know where we are at. But I have three things that I am so excited about that I was pissed I couldn’t see it on my big screen at home.
A QB with a cannon
Pass rush
No injuries

Was a surprising group of QB’s (one good one not so much) and what 2!!!! TWO big plays!?

Not that is was against their best competition but at this point I’ll take what I can get for now because we needed big plays, needed that template set no matter how early (long TD good on ya Whitey and stretch, and Little bigmans pick…)

YA!

More please

against the starters were the guys Carroll brought in – Vickerson and Clemons.

God I hope vickerson keeps it up – he was in tennessee’s backfield a lot!

Curry complete whiffs on the 3rd and goal play. His tackling form is horrific. I am not officially concerned that Curry is broken or never was that good.

Looking at the replay so far, I thought he was very active. His length and quickness gets him into a lot of plays. He plays the DT spot in situations, too, though I can’t confidently describe those results. More tape needed…

Because I think Locklear is too broken to be a competent offensive lineman.

Alex Smith looked somewhat shaky and their O-line really shaky, especially Davis. Michael Robison looked bad running the ball but Anthony Dixon looks like he’ll solve the depth problem caused by Coffee’s retiring. First-team D looked solid.

On the Titans first drive, I think Curry’s man was the FB, hence why he went to take on the FB. Though, I think that once he was at the line of scrimmage, he should have kept his eyes up and stayed in the gap at the very least. This would force Chris Johnson to either run into Curry or to bounce outside behind his FB who was already taking on another defender before getting blown up by Curry.

On the Whitehurst-to-Williams TD, what I liked was how willing Forsett was being as physical as possible in his blocks. He stopped a LB who was considerably bigger than him and charging with considerable speed from proceeding further. While Forsett didn’t blow him up, and while his block proved unnecessary, given that Whitehurst had already got rid of the ball, Forsett’s recognition of a potential negative play and willingness to use his (undersized) body to stop the LB from proceeding was a sign of his maturity as a blocker. I’ll be keeping an eye on that.

Okung controlled his man at the point of engagement on that play as well.

On the 4th down pass to Butler, Okung struggled, mostly because the DE got an inside step on him, but again, prevented anything from happening. This is becoming a theme. The interior O-line did a great job on that play. The only D-lineman that threatened the play, was the guy that Okung picked up.

The play worked because of two things, Butler got separation and a step on his man via the misdirection of the play (he crossed routes with Williams – Williams was a decoy) and Whitehurst’s ability to get the ball off in a timely manner. Whitehurst showed his ability to make reads and go through his progressions on this play. I saw him read his receivers on the right before finding Butler. He has the makings of a fine QB.

On Whitehurst’s second TD, this was simply a matter of him recognizing the defense and knowing pre-snap who was going to be open. All he had to do was execute it. He did not need to go through a progession, being that he knew his that it was a quick pass play. It looked as if Whitehurst had two options based on who was going to be open: The Te or the RB. The play worked because Forsett drew out the LB with his route outside, leaving all that space for Anthony McCoy. Whitehurst, knowing this would be the result, simply fired the ball to McCoy.

And… YAY for Chancellor’s interception!!