-Well, first of all I have to correct myself again: I didn't mean to write that I would stop saying that the Seahawks are beating bad teams. I meant to say that I will NOT stop saying it. So that right there, that sentence, I really regret not correcting that before publishing!
- The Seahawks play the Lions next week and Sam LaPorta has a sprained ankle. That would be a huge break to not have to game plan for LaPorta, is he not the Lions best offensive player who isn't an offensive lineman?
- On the other hand, what will the Seahawks do to defend Aidan Hutchinson?
- The Seahawks stuffed a third and short run in the first quarter and that felt great. Like something we didn't see much of lately.
- Offense really stalled on third downs. That'll have to be a point of emphasis this week. Especially against one of the kings of third and fourth down calls, the Lions.
Aidan Hutchinson vs Stone Forsythe feels like it could be REALLY rough (just ask the Bucs replacement tackle who got beaten by Hutch for 5 sacks last week...), I anticipate more screen passes, runs, and jumbo packages early to nullify Hutchinson's impact then expand the playbook late as he gets less fresh.
The fact that the seahawks limited the dolphins (one of the most potent rushing offenses over the past seasons) to a team average of 3.6 YPC feels really good. Maybe it helps that they're more of a finesse running team with speedy RBs like Achane and Jaylen Wright rather than a power back like Rhamondre Stevenson, since Riq and Spoon have the speed and willingness to come up and make tackles on the edge.
Derick Hall seems to have made the Boye Mafe second year leap, he's playing really really well right now.
I think the 3rd down struggles can be attributed to the lack of a consistent run game early in the game, having consistent 4 yard runs on early downs is really helpful for setting up 3rd and 2s where you have the option to either run or pass to easily get the first down. Hopefully whatever adjustments Grubb made in the late part of the Broncos and Dolphins games will allow K9/Charbonnet to be more consistent through the whole game.
Random note, pretty cool that there's a targeted effort to get DK the ball, but I feel like it would be better to feature some more JSN working in the middle of the field because I think he has better spatial awareness to pull off more YAC.
For any offensive struggles, I think it's important context that this is only week 3, we have a new OC in Grubb, and the starters only played one or two drives together in the preseason. He's probably still figuring out what actually works on the field (not just in the playbook) given the different talents that we have, so I would check back in on the offense in week 6 vs the 49ers, I think by that point Grubb should have made the necessary in-season adjustments to the playbook and we can see how the Grubb offense really stacks up against a team that consistently shut down the shane waldron offense.
Re the first INT, Geno is not a rookie. His feet were set and the first option was apparently covered. Given the situation and shaky pass pro, a veteran QB should know to get the ball out to where no one can get it, not dance around.
The Seahawks have the receivers to pick up third and 6 plus but not the Offensive line. Oline has real issue with stunts and third down is stunt city. When the Seahawks were not behind the chains they were okay but picking third and long will be problematic until they improve on stunts. Getting beat happens. Having a free rusher repeatedly when rushing 4 cannot happen if a team wants to be successful on 3rd down. Pressure from 4 on 3rd equals 7 man zone and no where to roam on third and long.
I think it is unfair to mention the 3rd downs without mentioning the distance. The OL had them in 3rd and greater than 10 most of the game. Most teams perform poor in that situation. That said, I think the wound was self inflicted because the didn't mix up their play calling on 1st down until the 4th quarter. It's like they forgot what worked when the run game is want getting going last week. If they varied their play type more on 1st down and used short passes more early in the game, I think we put up 40 points. Grubb is showing lots of potential, but is streaky on his playcalls. When he gets locked in, this offense is going to be terrifying.
I don't think this game was indicative of a deep seated 3rd Down problem (i.e. an OC that can't scheme or players that suck), more a result of a lot of penalties & getting behind schedule.
Going through the Play-by-play i make six of the eight drive ending 3rd downs attributable to penalties putting us into 3rd&Long (well, one of those is 50/50 as it was the inentional grounding penalty which comes off a sack). Of the two left over, one was still 3rd&Long courtesy of a sack.
Our conversion rate then on 3rd&managable distances was actually good, with all three conversions coming on 3rd&shorts only missing one. 3-1 on 3rd&5 or less is good!
It's also good that Penalties should be fixable by coaches (especially Fales Starts). Cut those down by half to keep the team in that 3rd&5 range we could well be 6 of 11 on 3rd downs which is a significantly better stat line. So 3rd Down struggles yes, but it's a problem easy to identify and one that should be fixable.
I agree, but it seems it’s been going on for a while now. Hopefully they can fix it with coaching. You are right in saying we have found ourselves in too many 3rd and medium to long situations. This has been noticeable this season. So maybe it’s our 1st and 2nd down plays that need fixing up. Either way, a fix is needed and it’s been going on too long.
Are the Hawks capable of stringing together 4 good quarters on offense? I'd even be happy with 2 good ones and 2 average ones. But they disappear entirely for quarters on end and it makes me crazy.
Bradford has a nickname on FG... Anthony Flagford. Seems fitting.
At present the game is too fast for Bradford. He is think rather than playing. False starts are because he is thinking about what his assignment is as the protection/ blocking assignment changes at line. Because he is thinking about that he reflexively flinches on a hard count, Most of his holds are because he was a half step slow. When he sure of what he is doing then he is not bad and on occasion dominates. Until the game slows down for Bradford he is going to be a liability. Hopefully it slows down soon but I would not hold my breath waiting. Tomlinson is hopeless because almost everyone else is a better athlete apart from avoiding injury there is just nothing he does particularly well.
Looked like Spoon drew particular attention. Yeah, he's handsy. That's part of achieving "Shut Down Corner" status. He can expect to draw a flag for appearing inappropriate. He was turned, looking and has every right to go after the ball, too. The unsportsman "shove" was pure bullshit. So... along with 'no hard tackle will go unpunished', Spoon can expect flags for just playing hard and close. It happens as you begin drawing super star adjectives, especially by short-straw officiating crews out to prove something. Move over, DK.
For Spoon, on the unessesary roughness he just needs to paint a better picture to the ref. Whilst he did not shove Waddle, he also made no show of avoiding contact either. Just needs to angle the body away, stutter the legs. Show the ref "hey i'm trying to avoid this, but we're too close and too fast to not touch". A few more plays like that, really making clear he's trying to play clean, will go a heck of a long way to Refs easing up on him. I said the same after his suplex last season, and so far his hard hitting has looked very clean so far. He's doing fine, one DPI like he gave up is not bad.
It's the procedural penalties i struggle with. There's no excuse for false starts (says the armchair pundit that never player OLine ever), illegal shifts, formations etc. Defence only gave up three penalties (two for Spoon, one Illegal Contact for Riq) which is fine in my books. If the Offence can cut down on those procedurals we'd end up in a lot less (6 less by my count) 3rd&Long's which would make a sizable difference to the outcome of games.
At some point we'll see our offense gel when all this new stuff gets relegated to muscle memory and they can lessen the noise in their head for what needs to be concentrated on. Bradford will be fine once he gets there. He's slow with this. Let him be. I think that's what Macdonald see's. You must have a zero return policy. No Talent gets thrown away. Not everybody truly enjoys brawling for 60 minutes like Anthony. Put it to work. Be patient.
I believe your eyes, then. Struck me as a veteran move by Waddle to flop and remove all doubt. Spoon is not so dim as to think it will be missed by every eye and camera in the stadium. But then the guys might be testing the Refs for how close they are calling things. I was actually pleased when Dickson didn't play up injury after having them hit his plant-leg on a punt. No doubt it was a free first down. Theatrics are fine in basketball. It just goes against what it takes to play football. We'll beat these guys fair and square. Coach Mack doesn't look like someone eager to throw a red flag and will just let the official have their way. Save it for blatant bias and build some goodwill. MacDaniel did Miami no favors with his wild gesticulations begging for flags. Players just want to play the damn game and not let anger hurt someone after this neener-neener-neener crap.
I have seen Geno opinions ranging from a meh game to a bad game. It is pretty cool that we are at the Geno stage where a not good game is one of the better played games of the weekend at the QB position. He was 4th in passing yards prior to Sunday night football. Genos floor has been raised, that is a great thing.
Really cool to see different players get highlighted each week in Grubbs offense. It seemed to me that the tight ends were one of the focal points of this weeks offense. 11 targets to TEs.
Never a good time to lose LW and Murphy but right be fore the lions game is rough. Lions have possibly the best line and running game in football. We will need everyone to stop the run.
Today was a coaching mismatch. We have seen what Matt Lefluer has done with Malik Willis (happy for the guy). Yes Skyler Thompson sucks but he never had a chance. That’s probably a combo of poor coaching from dolphins and good coaching from Mike Mac.
Hawks are 3-0 and can still get better. That is exciting.
Weird game on a lot of levels, but I was really disappointed with Dickson’s punts. So many opportunities to flip the field and put the Dolphins on their heels, but every punt gave them life.
Thankfully, the defense didn’t give a shit. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Yes, Dickson has been a puzzle to me. He was clearly outkicked in the Denver game, and his punts so far have been more erratic than they have been in previous seasons. Still capable of corkers, but they are definitely rarer....
I think Geno was right to be cheesed off about the offense for 2+ quarters. It was an unfunny comedy of errors mixed with penalities, with gross OL run and pass blocking, with strange and un-Grubb like play-calling and with Geno being tentative and risk-averse in the pocket. But he avoided doing what at times he also used to do when he has hit that sort of a lull--turn the ball over. His two picks didn't bother me much, either, given their circumstances. The first one was the less impressive of the two, to me....
Week 3 of a new era. The Defence looked improved over Week 1 & 2, with players seeming more confident in their assignments and the calls overall adding a bit more complexity of the kind we hoped for from MM. We're going need to start throwing major props to Aden Durde soon as the way the DLine is playing is a big step up (also, yay for the fellow Brit!).
Offence, it's getting there. Still a ways of being scary to any team, but i can see the changes from Week 1 & 2, and they are good changes. OLine far from perfect but there's good work going on there. Stick with some of those younger guys and building consistency will go a long long way come Week 16 and cruch time. Grubbs overall scheme starting to show in now with good plays to all levels, including positive screen play showings which feels alien to us Hawks fans.
The good changes week to week are what i'm measuring the season on. The fact we're 3-0 is a bonus. The first true test is to come vs the Lions next week, but a Loss is not losing, and i think we're going to come out of that game feeling good about the staff, the players and the team. Liking the foundations.
Each week, we are showing improvement. Rookies are standing the tests. We beat the Lions last year in the year they found their pride again. At home, in front of their People. This won't be a do-over for them. It'll be Statement Day. Coming in without Iron Murphy or Big Cat? Hoo-boy. Still, we are far from what we will be. We have at least one smash-mouth game before meeting Frisco. 3 and 0 is a bonus. Both they and the Rams have lost Division Games. Bonus. Suddenly, the Division is within reach, not just a gifted Playoff berth. Let's bring it Home agin, Boyz.
There is a saying that teams that are not good enough to be 4-0, don't win the 4th game. If the Seahawks manage to beat Detroit in Detroit AGAIN they can be officially recognized as "GOOD". This game coming up though... that Detroit running game is a two-headed monster and the DL is frighteningly good. We will need 4 quarters of "Good Geno" and our D needs to hold up to the task. Detroit's OL is pretty good but I think we have the talent to put some pressure on Goff and maybe force an errant throw or two. Witherspoon and Riq are going to have their hands full with the Detroit WRs, too.
Other Hot: Riq Woolen. Hill and Waddle combined for 7/66, and Miami barely bothered to target Riq. The value of a CB that the other team fears to target can’t be overstated. Hats off to the safeties as well.
D-Hall should definitely be on the Hot list. He hurts people. Big, strong and fast, and is now playing so much faster and freer (sp?) than last year. Every time I see him tackle someone, they get up slow. Three games, three sacks and when he's not sacking the QB he's still beating him up. Hell of a game.
With Leo and Murph getting hurt, it was good to see contributions from unexpected places. Jones actually showed up yesterday. It was the first time I noticed him in a game multiple times. He was getting off blocks and making plays. Hopefully he keeps that up.
Contributions from Drake Thomas and Mo Morris as well. Drake looked really comfortable out there, so super excited that there is perhaps more depth in the LB room than I thought.
I'm not listening to the 'beating bad teams' commentary. Denver had a big win yesterday, with Nix looking just fine. NE has played everyone tough. Miami has playmakers, and the fact they couldn't get the ball to them consistently might just have something to do with Seattle's defense, not who's playing QB. Three-and-oh. I'm not apologizing to anyone for that.
That said, I would agree that Detroit will be a yardstick game, and I'm looking forward to it without fear or hesitation. We'll give them all they can handle, even with our shaky o-line. We have to clean up the mistakes and penalties though. That stalled the offense more than anything else.
My hot award goes to the entire defensive rush group. The Miami QB’s never had a comfortable moment in the pocket except for the weird play at the end of 1st half where the Hawks had zero rushers.
The NFL is designed to create parity so I will happily accept any Seahawks win. Especially one of more than 20 points. I know none of the 3 wins was against good teams, but great teams don’t just beat the good opponents, but also the bad ones. Of course there will be tougher challenges ahead, but the Hawks are 1 of only 2 NFC teams that are 3-0!
Who'd athunk? Leave it to MM to show something I have NEVER seen. Maybe it's a Special Team's wrinkle? How do OCs properly prep for these guys? Let them chase ghosts everywhere.
I will second that. The pressure wasn’t just hot It was searing. Some of the hits the Miami quarterback took made me wince. Last week they had to help Jacoby Brissett to the podium so he could speak. The Seahawks have yet to play an elite quarterback, but the quarterbacks they played the last two weeks got pummeled. Goff is a much better quarterback, but in the past, he has had a tendency to speed up the process and throw high when he starts taking shots. As Al Davis said the opposing quarterback has to go down and he hast to go down hard.
The OPI on DK was lame, Ramsey pushed him, but DK pushed back and is much stronger. Should have been a no call, but hey, the refs were intent on calling every infraction. This game showed how unattractive a game played by the rules is.
I would be concerned a lot more if 2 of our best DLine not available next week. I didn’t see Williams leave (ribs) but did see Murphy go into the blue tent. I thought maybe cramp but they say hammy. Will say it again, we saw why Hawks brought in Hankins. Man is big. We can’t play Hankins and J Reed a whole game.
SEA MORE COMMENTS:
-Well, first of all I have to correct myself again: I didn't mean to write that I would stop saying that the Seahawks are beating bad teams. I meant to say that I will NOT stop saying it. So that right there, that sentence, I really regret not correcting that before publishing!
- The Seahawks play the Lions next week and Sam LaPorta has a sprained ankle. That would be a huge break to not have to game plan for LaPorta, is he not the Lions best offensive player who isn't an offensive lineman?
- On the other hand, what will the Seahawks do to defend Aidan Hutchinson?
- The Seahawks stuffed a third and short run in the first quarter and that felt great. Like something we didn't see much of lately.
- Offense really stalled on third downs. That'll have to be a point of emphasis this week. Especially against one of the kings of third and fourth down calls, the Lions.
Aidan Hutchinson vs Stone Forsythe feels like it could be REALLY rough (just ask the Bucs replacement tackle who got beaten by Hutch for 5 sacks last week...), I anticipate more screen passes, runs, and jumbo packages early to nullify Hutchinson's impact then expand the playbook late as he gets less fresh.
The fact that the seahawks limited the dolphins (one of the most potent rushing offenses over the past seasons) to a team average of 3.6 YPC feels really good. Maybe it helps that they're more of a finesse running team with speedy RBs like Achane and Jaylen Wright rather than a power back like Rhamondre Stevenson, since Riq and Spoon have the speed and willingness to come up and make tackles on the edge.
Derick Hall seems to have made the Boye Mafe second year leap, he's playing really really well right now.
I think the 3rd down struggles can be attributed to the lack of a consistent run game early in the game, having consistent 4 yard runs on early downs is really helpful for setting up 3rd and 2s where you have the option to either run or pass to easily get the first down. Hopefully whatever adjustments Grubb made in the late part of the Broncos and Dolphins games will allow K9/Charbonnet to be more consistent through the whole game.
Random note, pretty cool that there's a targeted effort to get DK the ball, but I feel like it would be better to feature some more JSN working in the middle of the field because I think he has better spatial awareness to pull off more YAC.
For any offensive struggles, I think it's important context that this is only week 3, we have a new OC in Grubb, and the starters only played one or two drives together in the preseason. He's probably still figuring out what actually works on the field (not just in the playbook) given the different talents that we have, so I would check back in on the offense in week 6 vs the 49ers, I think by that point Grubb should have made the necessary in-season adjustments to the playbook and we can see how the Grubb offense really stacks up against a team that consistently shut down the shane waldron offense.
Re the first INT, Geno is not a rookie. His feet were set and the first option was apparently covered. Given the situation and shaky pass pro, a veteran QB should know to get the ball out to where no one can get it, not dance around.
100%.
He wasn't far off completing that pass, but I also would have preferred a low throw to avoid intentional grounding and not risk a big mistake.
The Seahawks have the receivers to pick up third and 6 plus but not the Offensive line. Oline has real issue with stunts and third down is stunt city. When the Seahawks were not behind the chains they were okay but picking third and long will be problematic until they improve on stunts. Getting beat happens. Having a free rusher repeatedly when rushing 4 cannot happen if a team wants to be successful on 3rd down. Pressure from 4 on 3rd equals 7 man zone and no where to roam on third and long.
I think it is unfair to mention the 3rd downs without mentioning the distance. The OL had them in 3rd and greater than 10 most of the game. Most teams perform poor in that situation. That said, I think the wound was self inflicted because the didn't mix up their play calling on 1st down until the 4th quarter. It's like they forgot what worked when the run game is want getting going last week. If they varied their play type more on 1st down and used short passes more early in the game, I think we put up 40 points. Grubb is showing lots of potential, but is streaky on his playcalls. When he gets locked in, this offense is going to be terrifying.
Fair comments on all of that IMO SSJ.
The struggle on 3rd downs seems to have carried over from last season. Hopefully they work on it as you say.
I don't think this game was indicative of a deep seated 3rd Down problem (i.e. an OC that can't scheme or players that suck), more a result of a lot of penalties & getting behind schedule.
Going through the Play-by-play i make six of the eight drive ending 3rd downs attributable to penalties putting us into 3rd&Long (well, one of those is 50/50 as it was the inentional grounding penalty which comes off a sack). Of the two left over, one was still 3rd&Long courtesy of a sack.
Our conversion rate then on 3rd&managable distances was actually good, with all three conversions coming on 3rd&shorts only missing one. 3-1 on 3rd&5 or less is good!
It's also good that Penalties should be fixable by coaches (especially Fales Starts). Cut those down by half to keep the team in that 3rd&5 range we could well be 6 of 11 on 3rd downs which is a significantly better stat line. So 3rd Down struggles yes, but it's a problem easy to identify and one that should be fixable.
I agree, but it seems it’s been going on for a while now. Hopefully they can fix it with coaching. You are right in saying we have found ourselves in too many 3rd and medium to long situations. This has been noticeable this season. So maybe it’s our 1st and 2nd down plays that need fixing up. Either way, a fix is needed and it’s been going on too long.
Are the Hawks capable of stringing together 4 good quarters on offense? I'd even be happy with 2 good ones and 2 average ones. But they disappear entirely for quarters on end and it makes me crazy.
Bradford has a nickname on FG... Anthony Flagford. Seems fitting.
At my house we're calling him Anthony Grabford...
At present the game is too fast for Bradford. He is think rather than playing. False starts are because he is thinking about what his assignment is as the protection/ blocking assignment changes at line. Because he is thinking about that he reflexively flinches on a hard count, Most of his holds are because he was a half step slow. When he sure of what he is doing then he is not bad and on occasion dominates. Until the game slows down for Bradford he is going to be a liability. Hopefully it slows down soon but I would not hold my breath waiting. Tomlinson is hopeless because almost everyone else is a better athlete apart from avoiding injury there is just nothing he does particularly well.
I was able to attend the game this week. From my perspective I felt like Derick Hall was HOT. He played better then I've seen him on t.v.
Absolutely! He was beating people's asses (not literally, that'd be weird).
He was hot from the couch view, too!
I just hope we never, ever, ever, see that overachieving officiating crew ever again.
Looked like Spoon drew particular attention. Yeah, he's handsy. That's part of achieving "Shut Down Corner" status. He can expect to draw a flag for appearing inappropriate. He was turned, looking and has every right to go after the ball, too. The unsportsman "shove" was pure bullshit. So... along with 'no hard tackle will go unpunished', Spoon can expect flags for just playing hard and close. It happens as you begin drawing super star adjectives, especially by short-straw officiating crews out to prove something. Move over, DK.
For Spoon, on the unessesary roughness he just needs to paint a better picture to the ref. Whilst he did not shove Waddle, he also made no show of avoiding contact either. Just needs to angle the body away, stutter the legs. Show the ref "hey i'm trying to avoid this, but we're too close and too fast to not touch". A few more plays like that, really making clear he's trying to play clean, will go a heck of a long way to Refs easing up on him. I said the same after his suplex last season, and so far his hard hitting has looked very clean so far. He's doing fine, one DPI like he gave up is not bad.
It's the procedural penalties i struggle with. There's no excuse for false starts (says the armchair pundit that never player OLine ever), illegal shifts, formations etc. Defence only gave up three penalties (two for Spoon, one Illegal Contact for Riq) which is fine in my books. If the Offence can cut down on those procedurals we'd end up in a lot less (6 less by my count) 3rd&Long's which would make a sizable difference to the outcome of games.
At some point we'll see our offense gel when all this new stuff gets relegated to muscle memory and they can lessen the noise in their head for what needs to be concentrated on. Bradford will be fine once he gets there. He's slow with this. Let him be. I think that's what Macdonald see's. You must have a zero return policy. No Talent gets thrown away. Not everybody truly enjoys brawling for 60 minutes like Anthony. Put it to work. Be patient.
I just rewatched the shove on Waddle. He was well past the white paint; the zeebs will call that every time.
I believe your eyes, then. Struck me as a veteran move by Waddle to flop and remove all doubt. Spoon is not so dim as to think it will be missed by every eye and camera in the stadium. But then the guys might be testing the Refs for how close they are calling things. I was actually pleased when Dickson didn't play up injury after having them hit his plant-leg on a punt. No doubt it was a free first down. Theatrics are fine in basketball. It just goes against what it takes to play football. We'll beat these guys fair and square. Coach Mack doesn't look like someone eager to throw a red flag and will just let the official have their way. Save it for blatant bias and build some goodwill. MacDaniel did Miami no favors with his wild gesticulations begging for flags. Players just want to play the damn game and not let anger hurt someone after this neener-neener-neener crap.
I want my guys to flop. Good acting wins games in all sports.
Good article … 3-0 … wild. We will take it!
I have seen Geno opinions ranging from a meh game to a bad game. It is pretty cool that we are at the Geno stage where a not good game is one of the better played games of the weekend at the QB position. He was 4th in passing yards prior to Sunday night football. Genos floor has been raised, that is a great thing.
Really cool to see different players get highlighted each week in Grubbs offense. It seemed to me that the tight ends were one of the focal points of this weeks offense. 11 targets to TEs.
Never a good time to lose LW and Murphy but right be fore the lions game is rough. Lions have possibly the best line and running game in football. We will need everyone to stop the run.
Today was a coaching mismatch. We have seen what Matt Lefluer has done with Malik Willis (happy for the guy). Yes Skyler Thompson sucks but he never had a chance. That’s probably a combo of poor coaching from dolphins and good coaching from Mike Mac.
Hawks are 3-0 and can still get better. That is exciting.
Weird game on a lot of levels, but I was really disappointed with Dickson’s punts. So many opportunities to flip the field and put the Dolphins on their heels, but every punt gave them life.
Thankfully, the defense didn’t give a shit. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Yes, Dickson has been a puzzle to me. He was clearly outkicked in the Denver game, and his punts so far have been more erratic than they have been in previous seasons. Still capable of corkers, but they are definitely rarer....
I think Geno was right to be cheesed off about the offense for 2+ quarters. It was an unfunny comedy of errors mixed with penalities, with gross OL run and pass blocking, with strange and un-Grubb like play-calling and with Geno being tentative and risk-averse in the pocket. But he avoided doing what at times he also used to do when he has hit that sort of a lull--turn the ball over. His two picks didn't bother me much, either, given their circumstances. The first one was the less impressive of the two, to me....
If Lucas comes back and the Hawks move Forsythe to RG. we may have a pretty good Oline. If not, make a trade and cut Bradford before Geno gets hurt.
Before we all get a little too excited, let's remember we beat two teams with back up QB s and one with a rookie making his first start.
3 and 0 is a nice start but we will know much more after the Lions game. The D looks great but the Oline could be the Os downfall.
Week 3 of a new era. The Defence looked improved over Week 1 & 2, with players seeming more confident in their assignments and the calls overall adding a bit more complexity of the kind we hoped for from MM. We're going need to start throwing major props to Aden Durde soon as the way the DLine is playing is a big step up (also, yay for the fellow Brit!).
Offence, it's getting there. Still a ways of being scary to any team, but i can see the changes from Week 1 & 2, and they are good changes. OLine far from perfect but there's good work going on there. Stick with some of those younger guys and building consistency will go a long long way come Week 16 and cruch time. Grubbs overall scheme starting to show in now with good plays to all levels, including positive screen play showings which feels alien to us Hawks fans.
The good changes week to week are what i'm measuring the season on. The fact we're 3-0 is a bonus. The first true test is to come vs the Lions next week, but a Loss is not losing, and i think we're going to come out of that game feeling good about the staff, the players and the team. Liking the foundations.
Each week, we are showing improvement. Rookies are standing the tests. We beat the Lions last year in the year they found their pride again. At home, in front of their People. This won't be a do-over for them. It'll be Statement Day. Coming in without Iron Murphy or Big Cat? Hoo-boy. Still, we are far from what we will be. We have at least one smash-mouth game before meeting Frisco. 3 and 0 is a bonus. Both they and the Rams have lost Division Games. Bonus. Suddenly, the Division is within reach, not just a gifted Playoff berth. Let's bring it Home agin, Boyz.
There is a saying that teams that are not good enough to be 4-0, don't win the 4th game. If the Seahawks manage to beat Detroit in Detroit AGAIN they can be officially recognized as "GOOD". This game coming up though... that Detroit running game is a two-headed monster and the DL is frighteningly good. We will need 4 quarters of "Good Geno" and our D needs to hold up to the task. Detroit's OL is pretty good but I think we have the talent to put some pressure on Goff and maybe force an errant throw or two. Witherspoon and Riq are going to have their hands full with the Detroit WRs, too.
Other Hot: Riq Woolen. Hill and Waddle combined for 7/66, and Miami barely bothered to target Riq. The value of a CB that the other team fears to target can’t be overstated. Hats off to the safeties as well.
D-Hall should definitely be on the Hot list. He hurts people. Big, strong and fast, and is now playing so much faster and freer (sp?) than last year. Every time I see him tackle someone, they get up slow. Three games, three sacks and when he's not sacking the QB he's still beating him up. Hell of a game.
With Leo and Murph getting hurt, it was good to see contributions from unexpected places. Jones actually showed up yesterday. It was the first time I noticed him in a game multiple times. He was getting off blocks and making plays. Hopefully he keeps that up.
Contributions from Drake Thomas and Mo Morris as well. Drake looked really comfortable out there, so super excited that there is perhaps more depth in the LB room than I thought.
I'm not listening to the 'beating bad teams' commentary. Denver had a big win yesterday, with Nix looking just fine. NE has played everyone tough. Miami has playmakers, and the fact they couldn't get the ball to them consistently might just have something to do with Seattle's defense, not who's playing QB. Three-and-oh. I'm not apologizing to anyone for that.
That said, I would agree that Detroit will be a yardstick game, and I'm looking forward to it without fear or hesitation. We'll give them all they can handle, even with our shaky o-line. We have to clean up the mistakes and penalties though. That stalled the offense more than anything else.
My hot award goes to the entire defensive rush group. The Miami QB’s never had a comfortable moment in the pocket except for the weird play at the end of 1st half where the Hawks had zero rushers.
The NFL is designed to create parity so I will happily accept any Seahawks win. Especially one of more than 20 points. I know none of the 3 wins was against good teams, but great teams don’t just beat the good opponents, but also the bad ones. Of course there will be tougher challenges ahead, but the Hawks are 1 of only 2 NFC teams that are 3-0!
Who'd athunk? Leave it to MM to show something I have NEVER seen. Maybe it's a Special Team's wrinkle? How do OCs properly prep for these guys? Let them chase ghosts everywhere.
I will second that. The pressure wasn’t just hot It was searing. Some of the hits the Miami quarterback took made me wince. Last week they had to help Jacoby Brissett to the podium so he could speak. The Seahawks have yet to play an elite quarterback, but the quarterbacks they played the last two weeks got pummeled. Goff is a much better quarterback, but in the past, he has had a tendency to speed up the process and throw high when he starts taking shots. As Al Davis said the opposing quarterback has to go down and he hast to go down hard.
The OPI on DK was lame, Ramsey pushed him, but DK pushed back and is much stronger. Should have been a no call, but hey, the refs were intent on calling every infraction. This game showed how unattractive a game played by the rules is.
I would be concerned a lot more if 2 of our best DLine not available next week. I didn’t see Williams leave (ribs) but did see Murphy go into the blue tent. I thought maybe cramp but they say hammy. Will say it again, we saw why Hawks brought in Hankins. Man is big. We can’t play Hankins and J Reed a whole game.