22 Comments
User's avatar
zezinhom400's avatar

Yeah you make a great point: our reaction to our OL is prob a bigger negative than it is to Schneider and the coaches -- they already knew. Prob do have a progression plan and in fact the 2nd half was already better than the 1st half despite no Fant. And Bradford is out there bc Haynes would have been worse.

And they did make a move on Conner Williams despite having Olu, which says they'll move if they see a real need/oppty.

Guess we just need to let them do their jobs and see how this plays out. Facing a better defense this week, will be a chance to continue to sharpen the sword

Expand full comment
Seaside Joe's avatar

I don't blame any fan for being worried! But yeah, I think coaches trust that they had a plan for this going into the season and they probably won't consider those plans to have failed for at least a few games.

Expand full comment
Nicholas Donsky's avatar

If/ when Lucas comes back, could they move Forsythe to RG. where his lack of lateral quickness would be less of a problem? Didn't Olu play some guard in college? I don't see any FA OL out there . Trading for one may be the only option. I hope I'm wrong but Bradford looked lost .

Expand full comment
JIMMY JOHNSON's avatar

Bradford's unnecessary 2 point holding call does not speak well for him, rookie or not. Use that desperate emotion to find focus

Expand full comment
Doug's avatar

Olu Olu was pretty much a C for his college career. Forsyth playing G might be “in emergency break glass”.

About Bradford and the Safety… yeah it was definitely a hold which you can’t do there but watch that play again: Geno HAS to make a quick read and get rid of the ball there. By holding it in the EZ he was putting a lot of pressure on his OL. If he makes a quick read and throw (away) there the holding call doesn’t happen.

Expand full comment
JIMMY JOHNSON's avatar

Thnx for that, Doug.

Expand full comment
Seaside Joe's avatar

I hadn't thought of that but it's an interesting idea.

Expand full comment
Mike McD's avatar

Good points all the way around.

I think we should give the Broncos D-line some credit. There are a lot of teams that the perception changes throughout the season and the Broncos D could be one of them especially as it pertains to D-line. I think Zach Allen is a pretty good player and he appeared to be most disruptive to me.

The second half was pretty darn good. The Hawks ran the football well which seemed to take the steam out of the pass rush. That includes both guards playing very well in the run game.

Then the final scoring drive Geno was cooking. Here is their final scoring drive:

1st & 10 at SEA 20 K.Walker right guard to SEA 20 for no gain

2nd & 10 at SEA 20 (Shotgun) K.Walker left tackle to SEA 32 for 12 yards

1st & 10 at SEA 32 (No Huddle, Shotgun) G.Smith pass short right to T.Lockett to SEA 48 for 16 yards

1st & 10 at SEA 48 (No Huddle, Shotgun) G.Smith pass short left to D.Metcalf to DEN 41 for 11 yards

1st & 10 at DEN 41 (Shotgun) G.Smith pass short right to T.Lockett pushed ob at DEN 30 for 11 yards

1st & 10 at DEN 30 (Shotgun) G.Smith pass deep right to Z.Charbonnet for 30 yards, TOUCHDOWN

Thing of beauty.

I certainly get the O-line concern (which has been there all off-season) but you got to give them some credit for a really strong second half. 17 points on essentially 5 possessions is good. And one of them was cut short at least partially to a horrendous offensive PI call.

So, we will see. Which half do you choose to focus on? Truth may be somewhere in between.

Expand full comment
JIMMY JOHNSON's avatar

I'll admit to a certain paranoia when we opened like our first game last year. Maybe worse. Grubb saw where Tight End assists were needed on the O-Line and adjusted the playbook accordingly. Former players are commenting on how Week 1 is the toughest game, as even the veterans blow out the rust, adjust to new guys and find their rhythm. Good things have been said about AJ Barner's blocking. I expect Grubb will time and tune him some plays this week, showing the Patriots the unexpected. Lessons learned, opportunities exposed.

Expand full comment
Bobric's avatar

I think the O line needs another week or two before they make changes. They did not played as a starting lineup

I just have a gut feeling DK will be traded. The mental mistakes and the price to resign.

Expand full comment
Scott M's avatar

If it were up to me...I'd keep Tomlinson on a short leash. I'd keep Bradford in but really work on some stuff - but the guy moves bodies. He's a big strong dude. I'd be shopping for a right tackle due to injury and depth, but I would not rush to get just anyone - we have unknown commodities all over the place. Not sure about DK, I personally love him. But it's all about that money... How much is he gong to command and will (can) we pay it? Our defense looks great. Love the tackling and the rallying too the ball. Our D-line looks revamped and tougher to decipher for the opposing O-line. I think it's only going to get better as they learn each other's strengths and work it out. In game changes are the mark of good coaches. I was very impressed with the halftime adjustments and the calmness of the coaching staff. Overall, I'm super pumped for this season and I'm going to say we get to double digit wins.

Expand full comment
Mike McD's avatar

Well said.

I have been surprised all off-season that Laken was just slotted right in there at LG without any competition. I know Haynes played a little bit on the left side during training camp. But I would be much more ok with that type of performance from Haynes and Bradford so we can at least say we are getting better towards the future.

It was pretty annoying/disappointing to watch Puni start for the Niners at guard and perform well. Close to infuriating actually.

Expand full comment
MOBILIZER's avatar

It was definitely a tale of two halves. In the first half the extremely expensive and likely quite good. Broncos DL played some havoc with the extremely cheap and flawed Hawks OL. In the second half, where games are decided, that narrative got turned on its head. My tendency is to believe that people athletes take their dignity and self-respect very seriously, else they would not have made it this far. I would always like to see Bradford play smarter but we know for a fact there’s usually a long learning curve). I would like to see him a whole lot angrier, even if that’s an attempt to spite the many critics who couldn’t carry his jockstrap. He was hired to be an interior running game mauler, and he may be that now. In pass protection, Williams should be a good partner, but no one thinks RT right is currently a great support. I am more frustrated by Forsythe, who came from a college offense that was all about the pass and he was scouted as a good protector. Why this giant of a man hasn’t been coached or motivated into something resembling competence I cannot say.

Expand full comment
KHammarling's avatar

Regarding the OLine - It was week one of a new season with new staff and new schemes, with a starting 5 that had not played together. The fact it was not mauling the Broncos backwards did not surprise me. My bigger concern was the basic play design which for a period seems to focus too heavily on deep routes. However as the game went on the Line go better, the plays got better, and things wrapped up realtively positively. No need to panic buy yet, lets trust in the coaches to work something out heading into Week 2 where we see more positive growth.

Similar thoughts on Jones. As we are paid up on him, i'll hope he can step up and start to deliver as the D as a whole improves and MM/AD imprint more and more of their plans onto them.

Week 1 showed me enough to be happy and confident going forwards. This team and year will be judged with where they are in Week 18, not Week 1. Plus, we're not the Panthers - hoo boy would i hate to be a Panthers fan after that performance.

Expand full comment
Mike McD's avatar

Yes.

Good point ... Remember that Grubb is coming from the best O-line in the country. We should also give him a little bit of room to grow. Surely he wanted to come out on fire (the plays were there) but was either caught off guard a little or had a rude awakening to NFL level pressure.

However, I would much rather see him try to push the limits and then dial it back and win a game than come out ultra conservative. I think we are in this time period where he is trying to figure some things out also.

Expand full comment
Doug's avatar

The first game was actually two games. The first half was an abysmal performance from the OL (and QB), that would have caused us all to question whether the season itself could be saved. Then, the second half happened—the OL was competent even with Fant out, the running game got going and set up the P/A passing that is Geno’s forte. Based on the second half alone you would say the Seahawks are rolling, baby!

We are going to need a couple or three games to really know what we’ve got in this team. But, based on Grubb/Huff’s ability to turn things around in Game 1 I am optimistic we will see the offence look more like the second half than the first half going forward.

The D will get to at least “middle of the pack” this year based on Game 1’s performance which will be huge progress.

Expand full comment
Kevin Cacabelos's avatar

I’m looking to see how and if OLine improves this week against Patriots. It’s too early to declare that the OLine sucks and won’t get better. I agree that they aren’t good right now, but as the season progresses, who’s to say they won’t get better as a unit?

Expand full comment
Paul G's avatar

Re Barner and FWIW, his blocking impressed both Mike Dugar and Brock Huard.

Expand full comment
Seaside Joe's avatar

I wish I was as good as seeing those things in the moment and giving credit where credit is due.

Expand full comment
Paul G's avatar

Me too, but we can temper our expectations. Huard has been doing football at a high level for his whole life and Dugar is being developed by the New York Times. You and I can watch All-22 24/7 and still miss 90% of what is happening. On the other hand, neither of them provide the historical perspective of Seaside Joe and both were caught flat footed when Schneider drafted Witherspoon,

Fun (I hope) story: A college friend is an obstetrician in Salt Lake City. Back in the Holmgren years, he was in Seattle for a conference and we had dinner. It turned out that one of Coach Holmgren’s daughters was an intern in my buddy’s practice and had gotten tickets for the previous Sunday’s game. He told me that he figured “this will be great—we’ll be on the 50-yard line.” Except they weren’t, unless your idea of the 50 is the Hawk’s nest. It turned that she had grown up with her father teaching her how to watch All-22 film. My friend said that as soon as the ball was snapped, she would immediately cheer or curse while he sat there bewildered.

Expand full comment
Paul G's avatar

I meant to say that without the background of those two, you and I could watch etc…

Expand full comment
Paul G's avatar

If JSMM believe that Haynes is the future at RG, he shouldn’t start until the coaching staff thinks he is ready. If that means taking some lumps in the meantime, so be it. Hopefully, the hotshot OC can work around that as best as possible.

Ken, re Sherman, my memory is that he started when did only because an injury to Walter Thurmond. It’s not like Sherm was entirely ready—the ‘Hawks likely win the playoff game in Atlanta if he takes the PBU on Ryan’s Hail Mary instead of going for the INT. Not that he’ll ever admit to that!

Expand full comment