DK Edit: please welcome Davis to Field Gulls! For his first post he did some game charting of RT James Carpenter for the Seahawks 1st quarter of action in their preseason game against Minnesota from Saturday. Enjoy.
First off, this was a very unusual quarter with the pick-six through Tate's hands and the forced fumble punt return - poked out by Jeron Johnson. When you consider the unblocked sack of McNabb by Raheem Brock, which essentially killed that series, Minnesota barely touched the ball. The time of possession was about 13 minutes to 2 minutes in the Seahawks' favor.
What we witnessed was 26 actual snaps and 25 plays, as one play was called back due to "tripping" by Robert Gallery. There were three other False Start penalties (Miller, BMW, and Moffitt). Mike Holmgren would pop veins, arteries and other vessels in his neck and forehead.
This was some ugly offensive football. It was ugly the first time I watched it, and it was ugly as I took notes on the rewatch. Some overall stats:
Of the twenty-six snaps- nine were designed runs (34.6%) and there were eleven total runs, as two ended as scrambles by Tarvaris Jackson. Both scrambles were successful -- the first scramble was on 1st and 10 and he gained 4 yards and the second scramble was on 3rd and 7 on which he gained a first down.
Seattle was really trying to pass in this first quarter by design, most likely to try some things out. The Hawks did achieve six first downs and one of the six first downs came on 4th and 1.
The quarter encompassed four offensive drives. There was one unceremonious penalty in each of the four drives.
I wanted to watch James Carpenter in particular because he was our 2011 first round pick and a major investment in terms of the OL emphasis for our team.
The opening drive- which started with the horrible Tate kickoff return. 5 plays. 4 passes and 1 run.
1) 1-10: fired to Tate on left side-- dropped.
2) 2-10: misdirection play action- student body left- hits Zach Miller on the right on a boot for 10-11 yards
3) 1-10: Marshawn Lynch to nowhere for 1 yard.
4) 2-9: After a false start by Miller now 2-14- Tarvaris escapes Jared Allen (Hasselbeck would have been crunched here) incomplete out of bounds.
5) 3-14: 3 yard dump-off to Forsett- these are the types of plays that no one in the Stadium believes will convert before, during or after the play but we got field position right!
2nd Drive starts after MIN punts after going 3 and out. 3 passes, 2 runs. 1 designed run.
6) 1-10: play action pass gets botched with pressure, designed pass but Tarvaris Jackson has to scramble for 4 yards
7) 2-6: complete to TE Anthony Mccoy for a 1st down.
8) 1-10: Marshawn Lynch run for -2 yards.
9) 2-12: nothing materializes so Jackson dumps to Michael Robinson for 3 yards.
10) 3-9: False Start on BMW makes it 3-14 -Pressure on Tarvaris Jackson and with a man in his face he throws incomplete.
So far I graded out Carpenter using three categories: (1) Good (2) Passable (3) Negative. Most plays should be in the passable category with very few Goods and Negatives.
I gave Carpenter a passable grade on five out of five plays for the first drive. In the second drive I saw two negative snaps and three passable snaps.
--Snap 8: he pull blocks and misses the LB- and Lynch gets hit behind the line.
--Snap 10: he gets beat in pass pro, which leads to the incomplete pass and pressure on the QB. Carpenter does a lot to essentially shut down Drive 2.
3rd Drive starts past midfield after the Jeron Johnson forced a fumble that Aaron Curry runs back to no avail. 1 run, 3 passes. 2 passes if you negate the play with "tripping" by Robert Gallery.
11) 1-10: three yard run
12) 2-7: screen to Lynch for 6 yards is called back for tripping on Gallery.
13) 2-11: complete pass to TE Mccoy for 4 yards. Yay.
14) 3-7: pass to Golden Tate popped in the air for the play of the game, the pick-6 (touchdown).
I gave Carpenter a passable grade on all 4 snaps.
4th Drive- This ends up being a 15 play drive to the 1 yard line. 12 of the 15 plays take place in the 1st quarter. The last 3 plays are all Forsett at the Goal Line and take place in the 2nd quarter. Of the 12 1st quarter snaps- 6 were designed runs and 1 was a scramble. 7 total runs, 5 total passes.
15) 1-10 (from the 26 yard line): Pass to Lynch for 10 yards and 1st down. Plus you get a 15 yard late hit penalty. Who Hoo! Now we are at midfield!
16) 1-10: Run to the left for 3 yards
17) 2-7: Deep ball to Rice on right sideline- out of bounds. Not a good pass, TJ had time here. I don't blame it on protection, it was just a bad pass.
18) 3-7: Carpenter allows inside pressure and TJ has to scramble for 7, it was a designed pass.
19) 1-10: Run right- Leon for 9 yards! Yay. Carpenter does good here.
20) 2-1: becomes 2-6 because of a false start by Moffitt. Leon runs for 5 yards here.
21) 3-1: incomplete screen pass. Pete goes for it of course.
22) 4-1: Mike Rob smashes for more than the 1st down! Pops out of the pile somehow.
23) 1-10: Deep left incomplete- BMW and Rice were in the vicinity. TJ had time here and missed long.
24) 2-10: Carpenter misses his pull block but Forsett still converts for 5 yards.
25) 3-5: Best play and only explosive play of the quarter and I think of the half (17 yards complete to BMW on right side- challenged and upheld)
26) 1-G: Forsett up the middle for about 1 yard with 2 yards to the goal line.
On these 12 snaps I gave Carpenter a passable grade on six snaps, a good grade on three snaps, and a negative grade on three snaps.
Negative Snaps: (15) play is successful but allows pressure on TJ; (18) allows inside pressure causing TJ to scramble; (24) complete whiff of his pull block.
Good Snaps: (19) this is Carpenter at his best, run right and he steers his man wide and Leon hits it for 9 yards; (25) Good pass pro on the pass to Mike Williams; (26) barely in the good category- but on the goal line he gets push.
All in all -- not a good 1st quarter for Carpenter as he had 5 negative plays out of 26 snaps. He basically killed the 2nd drive and almost killed the 4th drive. TJack hit only one WR in 26 snaps. The two to Tate were not his fault -- but his two deep balls to Sidney were off and he had time. Besides his throw to BMW, the other key play by TJ was the scramble for a first down on 3rd and 7.
By the way, an explosive play is 12+ yards on a run and 16+ yards on a pass. This is per USC metrics when Pete was there and the Seahawks only had 1 explosive play in 26 snaps.
Parting thoughts-
(1) Gotta clean up the penalties.
(2) All the completed passes were to tight ends or running backs except the 17 yard ball to BMW.
(3) The other four targets to wide receiver were the two to Tate (were good enough to be caught) and the two to Sidney that were off line.
(4) If I were a defense I would play close to the line of scrimmage because Seattle wants to run the ball and complete short passes to TE and RB.
(5) I think Rice is a threat deep, but TJ and the o-line have to prove that they can create a clean pocket and that TJ can place the ball accurately deep. He has not shown that consistent deep or intermediate accuracy yet in his eight or so initial preseason drives.
(6) If I were a weakside defensive end playing the Seahawks, I would stay home and play the bootleg and get in the QB's face.
I think Jackson will play better versus Denver. I think the Oline will clean up the penalties and the pass pro and Jackson will hit a few deep/intermediate shots. I really hope he does.