* “He [Darnold] targeted JSN more than everyone else combined…” For obvious reasons. Who else was Darnold going to target to any meaningful degree? All the other receivers are one or more of (1) green, (2) well on the downside, (3) limited
* “I think at any point, the Seahawks could give more responsibility to Nehemiah Pritchett or promote Shaquill Griffin…” One quarter of either of these two against a competent QB will make Woolen look like a first team All Pro
* “the difference between a good game and a terrible game could just be that Kenneth Walker didn’t get enough opportunities…” Exactly. Walker is the only player on the offense who has shown explosiveness. If anything, I’d give him more carries
We’ve discussed it before that PFF is “judgmental” ranking, but if something at least is done consistently, it can be educational. Darnold top ranked offensive player. Followed by Cross and JSN. Fourth, Bradford. A lot of people ripping him. 8 points better than Grey. Ahead of Abe and Sundell. Yes some would likely see a “missed” block. What I was seeing when I watched, he was to go to second level. To set downfield block. The RB just didn’t get to the second level. Maybe we shouldn’t let past play determine current. Or, as SJ notes, 40 good with 1 bad.
I thought the offensive line played well in pass pro, including Zabel, Sundell and Bradford. I think improvement could be had in run blocking, but I am reluctant to say that won’t get better with a better game plan this week. Take out that last rep of the game by Lucas, and he had a decent game, especially when you consider he was up against Bosa most of the game.
Interesting thoughts on week one being different as opposed to any other. I'm disappointed in the week one offense performance, but I've calmed down thinking that Salah had an entire training camp against basically the same offense that we run, run by a coordinator with the same last name as ours, and who share the same mentors.
Now if we can't run, or throw to someone besides JSN, against Pittsburgh....
I thought Sam Darnold played fine. He played about as I would expect him to play in his current form. He can rip throws into windows and is exceptional deep.
The question coming out of this game is can he get the nuance of the position. I watched Matt Hasselbeck talk a little bit about good QB play. He cited Aaron Rodgers and DK dropping the first pass to him. What did Rodgers do next play? Bang right back to DK. Kupp made a 3rd down drop at the beginning of the third ... Darnold didn't target him again until 3 minutes left in the 4th.
Hasslebeck also talked about getting teammates involved because you will need those guys in crunch time. Just an awful job from SD in this regard. How can you not target Horton one time? Not even once. Arroyo, 1 catch for 7 yards. These guys have put in the time and effort to get to the league and deserve opportunities.
For me, its hard to judge Darnold's performance. On the one hand he has the skills and made some great throws. On the other hand, he didn't get his teammates involved and heavily relied on one guy. He also wasn't asked to do much. He hit his back foot and through the ball to JSN. He didn't sit in the pocket and go through progressions and make reads. Maybe that was the game plan, I don't know. But it looked like a low level offense even if Darnold himself looked pretty sharp throwing the football (Hasslebeck also said the training wheels game plan for Darnold is probably more or almost all due to the O-line concerns than QB conerns).
Overall, onward and upward. Its just one game. Darnold looked sharp throwing the football and can still improve with all the other requirements for being a good QB. Right now, as exepcted, he is a fine QB.
We're in year 4 with Woolen. Can't keep him out there if you can't rely on his head being in the game, play in and play out. That long completion to Pearsall, I can't even figure out what he was doing. And the play later in the endzone????? No idea. If the best players play, then MacDonald has a hard choice to make. If the players are 'self policing', Woolen would have heard about it from the DB room when they watched the film. Leslie Frazier has been working with him I know, so I was hopeful we'd see a big step up from him. Not in week 1.
Leo had a great game. He is, in fact, a monster. Highlight of the game for me. And Love.
Darnold was fine, but I agree with Danno and others who have commented on it, the formations and play calling were perplexing to say the least. Willing to let Kubiak find his groove. I'm sure he got some timely feedback from Coach, who agreed with Hawkblogger in Monday's press conference that there wasn't enough movement and not enough play action.
Injury to Emmanwori is a bummer, and I'm sure MacDonald is salty about that. It's like having your favorite toy taken away.
Seahawks are 7-4 all-time against Aaron Rodgers, 6-5 if you count the fail-Mary game as a loss instead of a win. But this is the 2025 version not the 2012 version, so hopefully our odds are better than even-stephen.
One other aside here, I just finished watching the all-22 of the Vikings Bears game. I specifically watched Fries on the Vikes and Dalman on the Bears. I was not overly impressed with either player. They played a decent game, but I would not say either played any better than Bradford or Sundell. And I think Bradford/Sundell is at least $25 million a year cheaper than the free agents we missed out on! At least for this small one game sample.
There was an excellent article on Field Gulls showing film shots of why Walker is failing. It's super clear that Walker is continually bouncing outside on zone blocks instead of taking one of the holes north/south like Charb does. It was very illuminating - he can't read the holes, so he bounces to the wide gap thinking he can outrun coverage. Teams have so much film on this guy, and they know this is his tendency, so they can play spread knowing this is what he's going to do. Result = no gain or a loss. Charbonnet is a much better fit for this scheme.
I agree Walker did not look good, but we really ran very little wide zone in this game. At least from what I saw in comparison to the run game against the Chiefs. I’d love to really see us try that Chiefs running game plan against PIT, and see what Walker can do there. Not everyone can take the physical toll of a 25 attempt back like D Henry. I think both Charbs and K9 would benefit from a RB1A bad RB1B situation. Keep them in play at the end of the season.
About Darnold: I didn't see any bone-headed mistakes ala Geno, and that's what we need in tight games. Last play fumble was just a great play by a generational D-lineman, not his or Abe's fault necessarily. Play calling and unfortunate fumbles mostly
No, it was a great defensive play, but it’d be nice if Lucas can anchor just a bit better. I expect Lucas to continue to get better. He saw Bosa much more than Cross. I k now from his comments, Lucas was not happy with his play. He took responsibility. It would be more reassuring if Woolen did the same for his play. But as far as I could tell, he had no comment about his game play.
I grade Darnold as a B. I think Kubiak’s play calling made it difficult for him to play his best game. I want to see more FB, more multiple TE formations, more under center wide zone runs. This will set up play action and role out pass plays which are strengths for Darnold. His best game is NOT as a shot gun or drop back pocket passer.
I want to see Woolen out there Sunday. I think he’s a good press CB and he needs to get in DK’s face and stick with him. He’s one of the very few CBs with the speed and quickness to stick with DK. The team needs to challenge Woolen to show us what he can do. I think Wollen should trash talk DK constantly. DK is very insecure as he thinks he’s a top 3 wide receiver with the highest skill set, yet he loses too many contested catches, drops too many balls, and can be worked into personal fouls by the opposition. We need the combination of Woolen and Spoon playing on DK’s insecurity to set him off. I expect DK to have at least 25 yards in penalties.
Well we do agree! The hawks will win but DK is going to abuse Tariq unfortunately. If DK gets a penalty and/or Tariq gets a pick..then I’ll be the first guy to sing Tariq his praises. I just don’t think he will.
I can’t live with that thought. DK is dead to me. He doesn’t want to be a Seahawk? To hell with him. That’s how I feel about players. I’ll stick with guys who want to be hawks. I love Lucas for admitting he wants to retire with the Hawks. I Love Earnest Jones for feeling the same way. Their agents probably hated that. DK wants out? I dropped him like a hot potato. I have to go with DK costing the Steelers big time against the Hawks. It doesn’t have to make sense. However the most important thing is coming out of Pittsburgh with a W. If I have to put up with a good performance by DK and the Hawks win, I’ll live with that, but an INT, a drop, and a personal foul against him would be the cherry on top!
I’m old, OLD school. I rarely listen to anything from 1990 on. I’m so old school I went to my neighbor’s party a couple of years ago and one of the twenty something’s there said this guy is “Oh gee.” I had no idea what he was referring to until I got home and asked my niece. I need an interpreter to speak to young people and to make sense of their messages.
* “He [Darnold] targeted JSN more than everyone else combined…” For obvious reasons. Who else was Darnold going to target to any meaningful degree? All the other receivers are one or more of (1) green, (2) well on the downside, (3) limited
* “I think at any point, the Seahawks could give more responsibility to Nehemiah Pritchett or promote Shaquill Griffin…” One quarter of either of these two against a competent QB will make Woolen look like a first team All Pro
* “the difference between a good game and a terrible game could just be that Kenneth Walker didn’t get enough opportunities…” Exactly. Walker is the only player on the offense who has shown explosiveness. If anything, I’d give him more carries
We’ve discussed it before that PFF is “judgmental” ranking, but if something at least is done consistently, it can be educational. Darnold top ranked offensive player. Followed by Cross and JSN. Fourth, Bradford. A lot of people ripping him. 8 points better than Grey. Ahead of Abe and Sundell. Yes some would likely see a “missed” block. What I was seeing when I watched, he was to go to second level. To set downfield block. The RB just didn’t get to the second level. Maybe we shouldn’t let past play determine current. Or, as SJ notes, 40 good with 1 bad.
I thought the offensive line played well in pass pro, including Zabel, Sundell and Bradford. I think improvement could be had in run blocking, but I am reluctant to say that won’t get better with a better game plan this week. Take out that last rep of the game by Lucas, and he had a decent game, especially when you consider he was up against Bosa most of the game.
Exactly. Yet because the offense wasn’t “perfect” on every play, “OLine sucks”. “ waste of money to pay Lucas”. “Schneider and Coach Mac must go”.
MacDonald was just asked if Woolen will start against Pittsburgh. Response.....'we'll see'.
The Meritocracy is still in place.
Interesting thoughts on week one being different as opposed to any other. I'm disappointed in the week one offense performance, but I've calmed down thinking that Salah had an entire training camp against basically the same offense that we run, run by a coordinator with the same last name as ours, and who share the same mentors.
Now if we can't run, or throw to someone besides JSN, against Pittsburgh....
I thought Sam Darnold played fine. He played about as I would expect him to play in his current form. He can rip throws into windows and is exceptional deep.
The question coming out of this game is can he get the nuance of the position. I watched Matt Hasselbeck talk a little bit about good QB play. He cited Aaron Rodgers and DK dropping the first pass to him. What did Rodgers do next play? Bang right back to DK. Kupp made a 3rd down drop at the beginning of the third ... Darnold didn't target him again until 3 minutes left in the 4th.
Hasslebeck also talked about getting teammates involved because you will need those guys in crunch time. Just an awful job from SD in this regard. How can you not target Horton one time? Not even once. Arroyo, 1 catch for 7 yards. These guys have put in the time and effort to get to the league and deserve opportunities.
For me, its hard to judge Darnold's performance. On the one hand he has the skills and made some great throws. On the other hand, he didn't get his teammates involved and heavily relied on one guy. He also wasn't asked to do much. He hit his back foot and through the ball to JSN. He didn't sit in the pocket and go through progressions and make reads. Maybe that was the game plan, I don't know. But it looked like a low level offense even if Darnold himself looked pretty sharp throwing the football (Hasslebeck also said the training wheels game plan for Darnold is probably more or almost all due to the O-line concerns than QB conerns).
Overall, onward and upward. Its just one game. Darnold looked sharp throwing the football and can still improve with all the other requirements for being a good QB. Right now, as exepcted, he is a fine QB.
F them Comp picks!
We're in year 4 with Woolen. Can't keep him out there if you can't rely on his head being in the game, play in and play out. That long completion to Pearsall, I can't even figure out what he was doing. And the play later in the endzone????? No idea. If the best players play, then MacDonald has a hard choice to make. If the players are 'self policing', Woolen would have heard about it from the DB room when they watched the film. Leslie Frazier has been working with him I know, so I was hopeful we'd see a big step up from him. Not in week 1.
Leo had a great game. He is, in fact, a monster. Highlight of the game for me. And Love.
Darnold was fine, but I agree with Danno and others who have commented on it, the formations and play calling were perplexing to say the least. Willing to let Kubiak find his groove. I'm sure he got some timely feedback from Coach, who agreed with Hawkblogger in Monday's press conference that there wasn't enough movement and not enough play action.
Injury to Emmanwori is a bummer, and I'm sure MacDonald is salty about that. It's like having your favorite toy taken away.
Seahawks are 7-4 all-time against Aaron Rodgers, 6-5 if you count the fail-Mary game as a loss instead of a win. But this is the 2025 version not the 2012 version, so hopefully our odds are better than even-stephen.
One other aside here, I just finished watching the all-22 of the Vikings Bears game. I specifically watched Fries on the Vikes and Dalman on the Bears. I was not overly impressed with either player. They played a decent game, but I would not say either played any better than Bradford or Sundell. And I think Bradford/Sundell is at least $25 million a year cheaper than the free agents we missed out on! At least for this small one game sample.
There was an excellent article on Field Gulls showing film shots of why Walker is failing. It's super clear that Walker is continually bouncing outside on zone blocks instead of taking one of the holes north/south like Charb does. It was very illuminating - he can't read the holes, so he bounces to the wide gap thinking he can outrun coverage. Teams have so much film on this guy, and they know this is his tendency, so they can play spread knowing this is what he's going to do. Result = no gain or a loss. Charbonnet is a much better fit for this scheme.
I agree Walker did not look good, but we really ran very little wide zone in this game. At least from what I saw in comparison to the run game against the Chiefs. I’d love to really see us try that Chiefs running game plan against PIT, and see what Walker can do there. Not everyone can take the physical toll of a 25 attempt back like D Henry. I think both Charbs and K9 would benefit from a RB1A bad RB1B situation. Keep them in play at the end of the season.
About Darnold: I didn't see any bone-headed mistakes ala Geno, and that's what we need in tight games. Last play fumble was just a great play by a generational D-lineman, not his or Abe's fault necessarily. Play calling and unfortunate fumbles mostly
Sam Darnold was/is not asked to do what Geno Smith was/is asked to do.
No, it was a great defensive play, but it’d be nice if Lucas can anchor just a bit better. I expect Lucas to continue to get better. He saw Bosa much more than Cross. I k now from his comments, Lucas was not happy with his play. He took responsibility. It would be more reassuring if Woolen did the same for his play. But as far as I could tell, he had no comment about his game play.
I grade Darnold as a B. I think Kubiak’s play calling made it difficult for him to play his best game. I want to see more FB, more multiple TE formations, more under center wide zone runs. This will set up play action and role out pass plays which are strengths for Darnold. His best game is NOT as a shot gun or drop back pocket passer.
I want to see Woolen out there Sunday. I think he’s a good press CB and he needs to get in DK’s face and stick with him. He’s one of the very few CBs with the speed and quickness to stick with DK. The team needs to challenge Woolen to show us what he can do. I think Wollen should trash talk DK constantly. DK is very insecure as he thinks he’s a top 3 wide receiver with the highest skill set, yet he loses too many contested catches, drops too many balls, and can be worked into personal fouls by the opposition. We need the combination of Woolen and Spoon playing on DK’s insecurity to set him off. I expect DK to have at least 25 yards in penalties.
I think DK is going to smoke Reek like a joint on Sunday.
We disagree. In my rosey scenario, the Hawks win! I’m going with that until DK proves me wrong.
Well we do agree! The hawks will win but DK is going to abuse Tariq unfortunately. If DK gets a penalty and/or Tariq gets a pick..then I’ll be the first guy to sing Tariq his praises. I just don’t think he will.
I can’t live with that thought. DK is dead to me. He doesn’t want to be a Seahawk? To hell with him. That’s how I feel about players. I’ll stick with guys who want to be hawks. I love Lucas for admitting he wants to retire with the Hawks. I Love Earnest Jones for feeling the same way. Their agents probably hated that. DK wants out? I dropped him like a hot potato. I have to go with DK costing the Steelers big time against the Hawks. It doesn’t have to make sense. However the most important thing is coming out of Pittsburgh with a W. If I have to put up with a good performance by DK and the Hawks win, I’ll live with that, but an INT, a drop, and a personal foul against him would be the cherry on top!
"Did we just become best friends?"
Ooo you make me live! https://youtu.be/HaZpZQG2z10?si=4O0ZbwDo7_UtPJAf
Wow! I had not thought about that song in a minute let alone heard it. Now I can not stop singing it. Go HAWKS!!
I’m old, OLD school. I rarely listen to anything from 1990 on. I’m so old school I went to my neighbor’s party a couple of years ago and one of the twenty something’s there said this guy is “Oh gee.” I had no idea what he was referring to until I got home and asked my niece. I need an interpreter to speak to young people and to make sense of their messages.