Things seem to slow when Seneca takes the field.
Owen Schmitt made an interesting decision on third and one that contributed to a first down. Instead of engaging Keith Burnett charging into the backfield, Schmitt instead hit the hole and pushed the pile. T.J. Duckett ran past Burnett and surged through the pile for three. Instincts. Fullback is not a position you think of breaking onto the scene at a young age, but at 24, Schmitt seems primed to establish himself as one of the best lead blockers in the NFL.
In the six plays of this drive, Seattle moved 12 yards. Let's talk Sean Locklear and Deon Butler.
Locklear was noteworthy on four plays.
4. In this first play of the drive, Locklear was not able to sustain against Burnett and that closed Duckett's hole only three yards past the line. Jamal Williams slid over and completed the tackle.
3. He struggled to salvage a wide receiver screen that fell apart after Ben Obomanu skipped blocking Antoine Cason and instead moved forward to block someone never involved in the play. Locklear attempted to block Cason and Antwan Applewhite. Applewhite shouldn't have been involved; that was on Butler.
2. Locklear displayed his trademark mirror step and blocked Shawne Merriman perfectly. It looks like strength locking down Merriman, but it's technique. Locklear kept his shoulders square and parallel to Merriman, engaged him and took him out of the play. Merriman didn't move an inch once Locklear was on him.
1. Position goes both ways, and Locklear is still a little green at left tackle. On the final play of this drive, the one Ray Willis was charged with an illegal formation penalty that was declined, Lock mistakenly engaged Applewhite, a player in Rob Sims' zone, and missed Burnett blitzing untouched around the left end. Seneca Wallace faded and faded and the Seahawks looked to be attempting to put together a screen on the right, but too much pressure and too much discord on the line led Wallace to rightfully throw the ball away at Justin Forsett's feet.
Deon Butler was targeted on two passes.
2. In the first he was wide open and Butler showed good decisiveness, redirect and toughness turning upfield and pushing himself between Antonio Cromartie and Shaun Phillips for an additional two.
1. In the second he was wide open and Butler showed poor decisiveness and too much shake-and-bake on a broken play. This is the aforementioned blown block by Obomanu, wide receiver screen. Butler can be forgiven for not seeing much space in front of him, what with Cason free and Eric Weddle charging from the right, but it wasn't Cason but Applewhite that combined with Weddle for the tackle. Locklear chipped and moved away from Applewhite. Applewhite should have been too slow to get back into the play. Instead Butler suffered the proverbial death of a thousand cuts and never got out of the blocks. He was at the line of scrimmage when he was tackled.