This is pretty much how I see it, although I’ll settle for 2-3 first downs on the initial possession.
I’m puzzled, though, by “I was reminded of just how terrible Seattle’s offense was for 45 of the 60 minutes against Denver’s defense.” The Seahawks TOP was something like 28:46. What am I missing? Also, a 4:22 4th-quarter possession with a 13-point lead is helpful, so I’ll give the offense some credit there. Plus on the last possession they took a risk and passed for the first down that iced the game.
I love it when something I read makes me literally laugh out loud, and this did it for me:
"Seahawks must play offense for longer than 15 minutes this time."
Yeah, the offense has to be better and it does start with Geno. That INT cannot happen. The safety on the holding call was as much on Geno as it was on Bradford. Geno's decision-making has to be sharper! And, hopefully, Grubb and Huff won't wait until halftime to move off what isn't working--but I am optimistic about that.
I feel very calm about the D's ability to get 'er done, now. I know Denver had a first year QB in Nix, but I think MM is going to make even experienced QBs question what they are seeing/reacting to on the field, and that is what can lead to poor decisions with the football. We will see!
K9 saved their bacon last week and now Charbs and KMac, perhaps with help from a Shenault jet sweep or two, have to establish a run game. I want to know whether the interior OL is going to maul - or not. And whether short pass plays are going to help the OL and take advantage of three WR who are great at that (and whether Fant is going to make any kind of difference.)Then we can find out if the explosives will actually explode.
I don’t have much faith in Charbonnet across an entire game—he’s too slow. ZC didn’t show much in three games he started last year, although that wasn’t all on him.
He at least trucked a Panthers defender into the shadow realm even if he didn't quite get into the end zone while doing it. I didn't love the ZC pick, seeing as we'd dropped a 2nd on K9 the year before, but watched a ton of tape (YouTube) after we got him and he looks like a bruiser. Might not be the guy that can take an opening to the house like K9 but can pick up the tough nasty yardage all day and make defenders tired of running into him -and being run into. KMac is even slower, so I think expecting the explosives that K9 brings is going to lead to disappointment but that doesn't mean one or both can't have themselves a day. Especially as the game wears on. And maybe K9 is able to play, unless I missed that he's already designated as doubtful/out. Though hearing the words "oblique" and "day by day" is anything but encouraging.
By their 40 times at the combine, yes. But both were very good college backs, and KMac dropping to the 7th surprised me. Of course, he was on TV a lot, and I thought he was valued much higher than fringe draftable.
Maybe he had an off day at the combine, or maybe he’s worked on his speed since. I don’t know. What my eyes tell me is that he’s quick when he wants to be.
Yeah. And it took me a long time to believe that quick doesn't necessarily equal fast, also when watching guys with crazy quickness. And then watching guys like Hill and DK who are crazy fast but not the quickest.
I don't think the Pats are built for quick scores or explosive plays or playing from behind, so 3-and-outs or 6-and-outs should keep them at bay. Against the Bengals, they only scored on drives that lasted 7:20 (14 plays and 5.7 yds/play), 5:09 (12 plays and 5.7 yds/play), and 7:24 (12 plays and 4.3 yds/play). Other than a 2:08 drive that started on the Cincinnati 24 and only got them 7 yards in 4 plays, that's just a gifted field goal like ours to Denver to start the game.
So if we don't let them grind, they won't score. Not explosive enough. They only had 7 plays of 10+ yards and none reached 20 yards or the "explosive" category. None. So don't let them run on us, force them to go downfield and they'll shrivel up and die.
I see Week 1 as our Tune-Up game. The last time MM played New England was in Sept. 2022 and they scored 26 points on him. He's got better since. He'll have a Feel for them and has schemed accordingly. And this time he has films to study. He has been tailoring every game since January. Let's expect Grubb will be getting a huge benefit from those experiences, with a solid grasp on our strengths and weaknesses exposed last week. My hope was we'd get another Tune-Up week (2), but since Cincy's game last week, let's put that to bed. I have come to expect to get pissed off at the officiating in Boston, so we'll need to score fast and often and minimize any influences they will insert. Young Murphy has a Rookie double-team move that stuffs their gaps, which should be a big problem for any running game they may generate. Doing this in Week1/Game1 against a damn good Bronco O-Line should inspire our veterans to knowing where a runner Will Not Be, thereby adjusting the focus elsewhere. Do the math. We may very well find ourselves feasting, especially if forced to pass...
Like a lot of us, I chalked this game up to a win when the season schedule was announced. I expected a 2-0 start, even if the defense wasn't up to par in MM's system yet. After watching a condensed version of the Pats win last week, I feel a whole lot less confident. R Stevenson was one of those running backs I had heard of and thought was another decent 4th rounder who was talented but boom or bust from one play to the next like a million other backs. He looked determined and good at just running north when nothing was open last week and looks like a guy who could be a problem. But similarly, I feel WAY better about our LB corp and safeties right now than I did this time last week.
Bengals own a lot of his production by arm tackling, for sure. But I try to always remind myself when our D looks bad or what have you -how much of that is on the other team's players. It's technically 50/50 but as fans, I'm sure Saints fans lost their mind that the defense lost contain on Beastquake. Just saying that a big piece of it is what the other guy(s) do too.
I'll buy into that with you, John. And besides, we gifted them that win. Sounds like they need reminding. Give them a pants-down spanking at their own goal line and take a couple 2-pt safeties...
That would piss me off royally, and I'd be talking to the team about it. If that's planned for half-time, bury them early. Bullshit on celebrating a SB win against us with us on the field. That's trash. Bad karma, and I hope they pay for it.
In fairness, if we had had our SB celebration before the Broncos game, I would have kinda loved that. The Patriots do deserve to lose in embarrassing fashion though, seeing as they could have picked any number of different championships to celebrate and number of weeks. But it's not like Pete, Bill, or any of the players remain on either team at this point.
It definitely WOULD piss ME off, because it pisses me off NOW. The game was 10 YEARS AGO! Maybe a 10yr anniversary of something is important, but they haven't celebrated 10yr anniversaries of any of their other SB wins that I know of. It was 10 effing years ago and you're choosing to commemorate it NOW, not before the opening game of the season, but before your game vs US?!? Yeah, that's some bullshiznit right dehr, designed to spit in our franchises face. Our franchise that follows the ethics of a great man with great character. Nobody can blame Belichick for it, either. It's Kraft. He is a dick. As evidenced by his "massage" incidents that somehow get swept under the conversational rug, when Watson's are in a highlighted shadow box on the coffee table. I certainly didn't need another reason to hate the Patriots, but they are determined to keep piling them up. What a bunch of asshat clowns!
After finding out that this is their 1st home game, I am little more forgiving for the move, and I want to see whether they have done this for any of their other SB victories. It's still a slap in the face, it's just my outrage is muted a bit. LFG today!
After last week it's hard to tell if the Pat's are that good or the Bengals are that bad ! Sort of like the Hawks- Broncos game. If we can't beat Brisset ,a career back up, we're in for a long season!
On a positive note, our D looked better than the ones the last 2 years.
Agreed. Football is hard to have non-negotiables applied to. There are things not in our control throughout the game, and there is another team of paid pros trying to stop our success.
My non-negotiable is to breathe. Pretty much that is it. Though my life is full of repetition, I juggle things up once in a while to shake things up upstairs. Like, usually I put my right sock on first, but to keep the brain cells on their toes, I'll put my left sock on first. It's the small things like this that keep the magic in your life.
Stop the run and get after the passer. This is a bad o line and offense. Be on full attack.
On offense, keep grinding your game. Ok, the guards are probably bad. But you may have a stud left tackle. Put him on an island and scheme around the bad interior line and RT.
You know you missed huge plays down field in week 1… how do we hit them?
Weeks 1 was a correct change in scheme to win. No let’s figure out how to hit explosives. The goal is to beat the Niners and win the NFC. Need to find how to do that with the line you have.
Despite our brutal 1st half, we still ended up scoring 26 pts, so I try to take heart in that. As you mention, they were able to adapt and find a way to move the ball and score, bad o-line play or not. I'm really curious to see the adjustments, and whether we'll the see the o-line hold up better this week. I hope so.
My non-negotiable for this week and every week.......don't beat yourself. If they do that, they'll be in every game.
One thing that has come up this week watching clips and the game again - there were some open receivers that with time would've been explosive plays. So, the plays are there ... now can we get the time to hit them?
I am very excited to see what happens. I have a lot of confidence or hope in Grubb/Huff.
Obviously winning the game is the most important thing but also getting a little rhythm on offense and hitting some explosives would be big moving forward. Hawks have a lot of pieces in place, time to hit the gas pedal and stay aggressive.
I like the idea of a schedule or expectations for what you will give us on the days following the last game or leading up to the next game.
Consider including a review of how well the coaches or certain players do in delivering on their pre game statements. For example Geno said they need to get off to a stronger start, so a short segment on how well Geno did delivering on that goal. I mean every team needs to get better every week to make the playoffs so review how, or if they got better, … or not. Anyway, keep up the good work.
Seahawks need to get the lead in the game and play from that postion. Scoring and putting NE behind eventually minimizes the run in the later stage of the game when it's usually easier to run. Stop the run. Logan Wilson Cincy's MIKE made a lot of plays at the second level. Cincy's Safety's missed twice in the backfield on run blitzs that turned into big plays. Someone missed their assignment when there is no help on a run until 15 yards up the field and a missed tackle in the backfield. Seattle's D-Line needs to be manly this week; play your gaps. LB's plug the holes inside and out,; set the edge. Brisett rushed for 32 yards on 7 carries at 4.2 YPC. Many of those runs saved the drives. As far as the passing game look for the TE's to be targets with Seattle's secondary. Again LB play will be important with safety help (Baker, Dodson?). Seattle does need to score early. Gino needs to get the run going and get rid of the ball fast. NE was blitling on 3rd and 3 or so successfully. Burrow had some success with good routes that developed quickly. Cincy also gave up two TD's in the 1st half. Special teams fubled the ball near their own 20 setting up a field goal. The Bengals ran the ball fairly well at times against the Pats. They had a TD dropped (touched the ground) in the end zone and one was fumbled just before the receiver crossed the goaline on another in the first half. Seattle needs to run the ball. Cincy had some success with the screen (Kenny Mac). No turnovers. Stop the run. Get the lead early. Solid special teams.
There are certainly some factors that make winning harder or easier, but overcoming challenges can happen. I think non-negotiables should be things that are completely decisional on our part, and not results based. You can't control all outcomes. That said, I think we should have a focus on protecting the ball and attacking the ball. We should have a pitbull mentality (not one of Caribbean dance music, but of tenacity and unwavering effort), a never give up attitude. We should have a weekly focus, and not overlook any opponents. We should also attack our opponents perceived weaknesses, but also be agile enough to adjust to other discovered weaknesses or avoid discovered strengths during a game (halftime), among possible others.
This is pretty much how I see it, although I’ll settle for 2-3 first downs on the initial possession.
I’m puzzled, though, by “I was reminded of just how terrible Seattle’s offense was for 45 of the 60 minutes against Denver’s defense.” The Seahawks TOP was something like 28:46. What am I missing? Also, a 4:22 4th-quarter possession with a 13-point lead is helpful, so I’ll give the offense some credit there. Plus on the last possession they took a risk and passed for the first down that iced the game.
I love it when something I read makes me literally laugh out loud, and this did it for me:
"Seahawks must play offense for longer than 15 minutes this time."
Yeah, the offense has to be better and it does start with Geno. That INT cannot happen. The safety on the holding call was as much on Geno as it was on Bradford. Geno's decision-making has to be sharper! And, hopefully, Grubb and Huff won't wait until halftime to move off what isn't working--but I am optimistic about that.
I feel very calm about the D's ability to get 'er done, now. I know Denver had a first year QB in Nix, but I think MM is going to make even experienced QBs question what they are seeing/reacting to on the field, and that is what can lead to poor decisions with the football. We will see!
In fairness to Geno, he took a hit below the knees just as he threw.
K9 saved their bacon last week and now Charbs and KMac, perhaps with help from a Shenault jet sweep or two, have to establish a run game. I want to know whether the interior OL is going to maul - or not. And whether short pass plays are going to help the OL and take advantage of three WR who are great at that (and whether Fant is going to make any kind of difference.)Then we can find out if the explosives will actually explode.
I don’t have much faith in Charbonnet across an entire game—he’s too slow. ZC didn’t show much in three games he started last year, although that wasn’t all on him.
Charbs is that kind of RB that the word “punishing” was made for. If Charbs starts and gets 10-12 plays before halftime, he will have a huge 2nd half.
I will revise that total in the first half to 7-8. That will be enough.
I hope you’re right.
He at least trucked a Panthers defender into the shadow realm even if he didn't quite get into the end zone while doing it. I didn't love the ZC pick, seeing as we'd dropped a 2nd on K9 the year before, but watched a ton of tape (YouTube) after we got him and he looks like a bruiser. Might not be the guy that can take an opening to the house like K9 but can pick up the tough nasty yardage all day and make defenders tired of running into him -and being run into. KMac is even slower, so I think expecting the explosives that K9 brings is going to lead to disappointment but that doesn't mean one or both can't have themselves a day. Especially as the game wears on. And maybe K9 is able to play, unless I missed that he's already designated as doubtful/out. Though hearing the words "oblique" and "day by day" is anything but encouraging.
KMac slower? He hasn’t looked it. He also looks pretty nimble and evasive from the little we’ve seen.
By their 40 times at the combine, yes. But both were very good college backs, and KMac dropping to the 7th surprised me. Of course, he was on TV a lot, and I thought he was valued much higher than fringe draftable.
Maybe he had an off day at the combine, or maybe he’s worked on his speed since. I don’t know. What my eyes tell me is that he’s quick when he wants to be.
Yeah. And it took me a long time to believe that quick doesn't necessarily equal fast, also when watching guys with crazy quickness. And then watching guys like Hill and DK who are crazy fast but not the quickest.
I think of explosives esp without K9 in terms of the passing game
STOP. THE. RUN.
I don't think the Pats are built for quick scores or explosive plays or playing from behind, so 3-and-outs or 6-and-outs should keep them at bay. Against the Bengals, they only scored on drives that lasted 7:20 (14 plays and 5.7 yds/play), 5:09 (12 plays and 5.7 yds/play), and 7:24 (12 plays and 4.3 yds/play). Other than a 2:08 drive that started on the Cincinnati 24 and only got them 7 yards in 4 plays, that's just a gifted field goal like ours to Denver to start the game.
So if we don't let them grind, they won't score. Not explosive enough. They only had 7 plays of 10+ yards and none reached 20 yards or the "explosive" category. None. So don't let them run on us, force them to go downfield and they'll shrivel up and die.
I agree! If they've got the worst WR room in the NFL, and we've got the best CBs (plus Love), then prove it by inviting them to take shots downfield.
Agree... let's add a supporting phrase:
Stack. The. Box.
I see Week 1 as our Tune-Up game. The last time MM played New England was in Sept. 2022 and they scored 26 points on him. He's got better since. He'll have a Feel for them and has schemed accordingly. And this time he has films to study. He has been tailoring every game since January. Let's expect Grubb will be getting a huge benefit from those experiences, with a solid grasp on our strengths and weaknesses exposed last week. My hope was we'd get another Tune-Up week (2), but since Cincy's game last week, let's put that to bed. I have come to expect to get pissed off at the officiating in Boston, so we'll need to score fast and often and minimize any influences they will insert. Young Murphy has a Rookie double-team move that stuffs their gaps, which should be a big problem for any running game they may generate. Doing this in Week1/Game1 against a damn good Bronco O-Line should inspire our veterans to knowing where a runner Will Not Be, thereby adjusting the focus elsewhere. Do the math. We may very well find ourselves feasting, especially if forced to pass...
Like a lot of us, I chalked this game up to a win when the season schedule was announced. I expected a 2-0 start, even if the defense wasn't up to par in MM's system yet. After watching a condensed version of the Pats win last week, I feel a whole lot less confident. R Stevenson was one of those running backs I had heard of and thought was another decent 4th rounder who was talented but boom or bust from one play to the next like a million other backs. He looked determined and good at just running north when nothing was open last week and looks like a guy who could be a problem. But similarly, I feel WAY better about our LB corp and safeties right now than I did this time last week.
I'm going to go watch the highlights reel from their win last week.
Cinncy's tackling looked like us last year. Pete shied from full-contact practices meant to minimize injuries. Coach Mack disagreed. It shows.
Bengals own a lot of his production by arm tackling, for sure. But I try to always remind myself when our D looks bad or what have you -how much of that is on the other team's players. It's technically 50/50 but as fans, I'm sure Saints fans lost their mind that the defense lost contain on Beastquake. Just saying that a big piece of it is what the other guy(s) do too.
Ok fellas, you're all missing something big here.
My non-negotiable is that we kick their asses and grind them into the dirt.
No one has made mention of the fact that New England is planning to celebrate beating us in the Superbowl to start their home opener!
I, for one, rile at having my nose rubbed in that loss and can think of no better answer to it than a good, old-fashioned beat-down.
I'll buy into that with you, John. And besides, we gifted them that win. Sounds like they need reminding. Give them a pants-down spanking at their own goal line and take a couple 2-pt safeties...
That would piss me off royally, and I'd be talking to the team about it. If that's planned for half-time, bury them early. Bullshit on celebrating a SB win against us with us on the field. That's trash. Bad karma, and I hope they pay for it.
In fairness, if we had had our SB celebration before the Broncos game, I would have kinda loved that. The Patriots do deserve to lose in embarrassing fashion though, seeing as they could have picked any number of different championships to celebrate and number of weeks. But it's not like Pete, Bill, or any of the players remain on either team at this point.
It definitely WOULD piss ME off, because it pisses me off NOW. The game was 10 YEARS AGO! Maybe a 10yr anniversary of something is important, but they haven't celebrated 10yr anniversaries of any of their other SB wins that I know of. It was 10 effing years ago and you're choosing to commemorate it NOW, not before the opening game of the season, but before your game vs US?!? Yeah, that's some bullshiznit right dehr, designed to spit in our franchises face. Our franchise that follows the ethics of a great man with great character. Nobody can blame Belichick for it, either. It's Kraft. He is a dick. As evidenced by his "massage" incidents that somehow get swept under the conversational rug, when Watson's are in a highlighted shadow box on the coffee table. I certainly didn't need another reason to hate the Patriots, but they are determined to keep piling them up. What a bunch of asshat clowns!
After finding out that this is their 1st home game, I am little more forgiving for the move, and I want to see whether they have done this for any of their other SB victories. It's still a slap in the face, it's just my outrage is muted a bit. LFG today!
My non-negotiable is reading the daily SSJ posts.
After last week it's hard to tell if the Pat's are that good or the Bengals are that bad ! Sort of like the Hawks- Broncos game. If we can't beat Brisset ,a career back up, we're in for a long season!
On a positive note, our D looked better than the ones the last 2 years.
I’m all for non-negotiables for the Hawks, but I don’t think zero turnovers is one. To me, it should be at least two more takeaways than turnovers.
It’s football and “stuff” happens. The Hawks just need to make sure more “stuff” happens to the Patriots than to them.
Agreed. Football is hard to have non-negotiables applied to. There are things not in our control throughout the game, and there is another team of paid pros trying to stop our success.
My non-negotiable is to breathe. Pretty much that is it. Though my life is full of repetition, I juggle things up once in a while to shake things up upstairs. Like, usually I put my right sock on first, but to keep the brain cells on their toes, I'll put my left sock on first. It's the small things like this that keep the magic in your life.
Stop the run and get after the passer. This is a bad o line and offense. Be on full attack.
On offense, keep grinding your game. Ok, the guards are probably bad. But you may have a stud left tackle. Put him on an island and scheme around the bad interior line and RT.
You know you missed huge plays down field in week 1… how do we hit them?
Weeks 1 was a correct change in scheme to win. No let’s figure out how to hit explosives. The goal is to beat the Niners and win the NFC. Need to find how to do that with the line you have.
Despite our brutal 1st half, we still ended up scoring 26 pts, so I try to take heart in that. As you mention, they were able to adapt and find a way to move the ball and score, bad o-line play or not. I'm really curious to see the adjustments, and whether we'll the see the o-line hold up better this week. I hope so.
My non-negotiable for this week and every week.......don't beat yourself. If they do that, they'll be in every game.
Yeah.
One thing that has come up this week watching clips and the game again - there were some open receivers that with time would've been explosive plays. So, the plays are there ... now can we get the time to hit them?
I am very excited to see what happens. I have a lot of confidence or hope in Grubb/Huff.
Obviously winning the game is the most important thing but also getting a little rhythm on offense and hitting some explosives would be big moving forward. Hawks have a lot of pieces in place, time to hit the gas pedal and stay aggressive.
I like the idea of a schedule or expectations for what you will give us on the days following the last game or leading up to the next game.
Consider including a review of how well the coaches or certain players do in delivering on their pre game statements. For example Geno said they need to get off to a stronger start, so a short segment on how well Geno did delivering on that goal. I mean every team needs to get better every week to make the playoffs so review how, or if they got better, … or not. Anyway, keep up the good work.
Seahawks need to get the lead in the game and play from that postion. Scoring and putting NE behind eventually minimizes the run in the later stage of the game when it's usually easier to run. Stop the run. Logan Wilson Cincy's MIKE made a lot of plays at the second level. Cincy's Safety's missed twice in the backfield on run blitzs that turned into big plays. Someone missed their assignment when there is no help on a run until 15 yards up the field and a missed tackle in the backfield. Seattle's D-Line needs to be manly this week; play your gaps. LB's plug the holes inside and out,; set the edge. Brisett rushed for 32 yards on 7 carries at 4.2 YPC. Many of those runs saved the drives. As far as the passing game look for the TE's to be targets with Seattle's secondary. Again LB play will be important with safety help (Baker, Dodson?). Seattle does need to score early. Gino needs to get the run going and get rid of the ball fast. NE was blitling on 3rd and 3 or so successfully. Burrow had some success with good routes that developed quickly. Cincy also gave up two TD's in the 1st half. Special teams fubled the ball near their own 20 setting up a field goal. The Bengals ran the ball fairly well at times against the Pats. They had a TD dropped (touched the ground) in the end zone and one was fumbled just before the receiver crossed the goaline on another in the first half. Seattle needs to run the ball. Cincy had some success with the screen (Kenny Mac). No turnovers. Stop the run. Get the lead early. Solid special teams.
There are certainly some factors that make winning harder or easier, but overcoming challenges can happen. I think non-negotiables should be things that are completely decisional on our part, and not results based. You can't control all outcomes. That said, I think we should have a focus on protecting the ball and attacking the ball. We should have a pitbull mentality (not one of Caribbean dance music, but of tenacity and unwavering effort), a never give up attitude. We should have a weekly focus, and not overlook any opponents. We should also attack our opponents perceived weaknesses, but also be agile enough to adjust to other discovered weaknesses or avoid discovered strengths during a game (halftime), among possible others.