Seahawks-Packers: Third Quarter Notes

by John Morgan on Aug 28, 2010 4:05 PM PDT

Dexter Davis is short and stocky but also quick and agile. It's a rare combination for an end. His long legs, long arms and thick core is just plain rare.
That strangeness might explain him falling so far. He was very successful on a wretched Arizona State ~~defense~~ team. He was the fastest defensive lineman by forty time and showed footwork and agility through his top-ranked short shuttle and three cones times.
Davis started the third with busted coverage on a pass to fullback Quinn Johnson. He was sucked in a little and overcompensated by dropping way too far back. I hope Seattle doesn't stubbornly stick to the notion that Davis is a strongside linebacker. He isn't. He's an end, an almost ideal Leo end.
Two plays later he stacked and shed and tackled Quinn Porter after a gain of one.
Next play he turned the corner and forced Matt Flynn out of the pocket and into Tyjuan Hagler's arms.
"Turned the corner" is the operative phrase. Davis is quick in a straight line, sure, but that's common. It's his ability to turn 90 degrees with balance and quickness that makes him a potentially valuable edge rusher.
He finished his quarter with not one, but two 90 degree cuts in one pass rush. One that evaded Allen Barbre, the next that allowed him to run past Bryan Bulaga, close on Flynn, sack, force the fumble and recover. Davis had two quarterback hits, one successful run stop, a sack, forced fumble and fumble recovery.
Davis should win the spot Ricky Foley is actively vacating. Foley isn't much fun to watch. I'll leave it at that.
Kentwan Balmer looked decent. He tackled Porter after Hagler dropped the fullback. Later, the two switched duties. Balmer split a double team, stacked and shed Bulaga and took out Johnson and Hagler tackled Porter.
Barbre destroyed Foley on that same play.
Ben Obomanu had a nice gain on an end around. Frank Zombo and Pat Lee abandoned contain. That made the play, but good for Obo nevertheless.
The second string offense did not show a whole ton. Charlie Whitehurst looked decent if less confident. He was checking to a lot of underneath stuff. That beats bad reads, bad passes and bad sacks, but it also might imply that he wasn't seeing the field very well. All in all, it looked very ... eh ... basic.
He hit Anthony McCoy in stride for a first on third and twelve. A good read is not always or even typically about looking left and right and looking off the safety and whatever, but anticipating which player is likely to get open by anticipating coverage and matchups. Whitehurst never took his eyes off McCoy, really, but it was a good read and he delivered with confidence and zip.