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So, last night's game against the Green Bay Packers. I was so nervous at the start of the game that I felt like throwing up (this is why I could never play sports; I get waaaaay too invested). I mean, it is no joke playing against Aaron Rodgers. He's like the new Peyton Manning as far as the media is concerned; he's the best QB in the league. (I wonder if they get together to decide these things as a group.) Almost all preseason rankings had the Packers in the top 5 of teams. I cursed the NFL for making the Seahawks' home opener after winning the Super Bowl such a tough matchup -- it's supposed to be an honor to open the season, and after a dream season they wanted us to have a good chance of losing our first game?! Right after unfurling our championship banner for the first time?! Jerks!
I felt a little bit better when Bing Predictions, which went a perfect 15 for 15 in the World Cup knockout round, gave the Hawks a 74.2% chance of beating the Packers. It wasn't a guarantee, of course, but mathematically from a trustworthy source it seemed like a pretty confident margin.
And then the game happened. And, well... I'm glad the Hawks won, obviously. But I didn't think they played all that well, and I'm disappointed by that.
I don't have network TV, so I always listen to the game on radio and view play-by-plays online, then watch the game the next day. So maybe my observations are skewed from that; I don't know. Because the narrative from most outlets today seems to be that the Seahawks dominated, they're on another level, yadda yadda. And, well, that is not what I saw at all. I was even alternating between Field Gulls and Niners Nation (I like going there because they despise the Seahawks so much it's a good antidote for the rampant homerism that goes on on any fan blog... so between the two blogs I feel like I have a perspective somewhere near realistic), and even NN commenters were saying that there was no way Green Bay was going to win because they were getting totally outclassed. I read that perspective with utter incredulity, because from what I could tell from listening to the game on the radio, we were barely hanging on. I think the score was 17-10 or something at that point, so the Seahawks were only up by a touchdown.
Now, admittedly, I am a rather doom and gloom person. When I'm rooting for a team, I don't like close games and never have. I like blowouts so that my blood pressure can stay at manageable levels for most of the time. And with QBs like Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and et al, you can't rest on your laurels. There's no letting up, because they're so talented that they can bring their team back into the game with their brilliance and what not.
Anyway, back to the point. I realize that I can be hard on my teams because I want them to do better than trade scores with the opponent, so they probably did better than I'm giving them credit for. That said, I also feel that they did not remotely play up to their potential, and like any parent or schoolteacher, that disappoints me. I was glad to read in some of the coverage today that Pete Carroll and some of the Seahawks have said they were disappointed with their performance. GOOD. They did not execute as well as they should (and could) have. I don't want them to take a game in which they did not execute well, but which they happened to win, and start believing that their shit doesn't stink. Because some of it stunk. Badly.
Here were some of the positives and flaws that I saw (or rather, heard):
1) Russell did not play as well in this game as he's played all preseason. In preseason he'd seemed like he was on another level this year, was nearly perfect. In this game, I saw the same Russell as last season. Still good, still a playmaker, but not spectacular the way he'd been in the preseason. He made plays, but he made mistakes as well -- the fact that he didn't have 2-3 interceptions to his name was due to the play of his teammates (Zach Miller and Doug Baldwin). That was kind of deflating.
2) Many third-down conversions that we did not convert. That's just not acceptable.
3) Related to that, it seemed that we were always a yard or less shy of a first down on those third downs. Players were just not making it past the sticks. I heard Percy, Doug, and even Marshawn just miss it, when normally they're all very good about that sort of thing. Again not acceptable.
4) Earl's muffled punt. Two faults here. Earl for not calling a fair catch, which he should have. Richard for letting that defender play him into Earl's area, thus banging into him and causing the fumble. The only good thing about this is that I believe Earl stopped returning punts at that point. Dare I hope that this ill-advised decision has now been reconsidered??? (ETA: Apparently no. Pete says Earl is still his punt returner. /facepalm
Someone on Field Gulls said it best: "Thomas just has one speed......balls out. And that doesn’t work every time on the PR." And a reply: "I agree. Thomas seems to be thinking at every punt: how can I contribute to this team? Answer: TD!" LOL. Oh, Earl. /sigh)
5) Bobby Wagner's defensive PI. I fucking hate when we get called on PI. It's such a costly penalty, and that one was brutal. However, from the commentary I've read, he basically had no choice at that point, he had to commit the PI to prevent it from being a touchdown (though I think it was just delaying the inevitable, as I believe they did score on that drive). So I guess I can give him a pass on that, both because how the hell did he keep pace with one of their best receivers (he's the MLB!!), and also because he finished the night with 14 tackles, which is insane for a dude who only just came back from injury and didn't play in any preseason games (maybe a snap or two in the Raiders loss, can't remember). Bobby's a beast... he is going to have a monster season. I really hope we can pay him next season. :/
6) Speaking of players who came back roaring after injury... Kam Chancellor. Wow. I had feared for both Bobby and Kam that they would be different after being hurt, not as good. Clearly those fears were unfounded, as they both seemed better than ever.
7) Still, the muffled punt and the DPI gave Green Bay 10 points. The score should really have been 36-6 (they did have a very nice touchdown drive that they orchestrated). I know I shouldn't look at it that way because they also made errors that led to scoring drives by the Seahawks, but obviously I care less about Green Bay's mistakes than I do about ours.
8) More unfounded fears: That somehow, just because he hit the magical 2-8 number, that Marshawn Lynch had somehow gotten terrible overnight. He proved his beastly point with his production last night. He's the same Marshawn as he's ever been. I know that in the offseason people had just about written him off for this season (when he was holding out, people were saying "the Seahawks don't need him") and next season for sure. Well, from what I saw last night, the Seahawks most certainly do still need him; it's the threat of him and Percy that's going to flummox defenses across the league. Robert Turbin, like Russell, seemed to play just as he had last season. He's just not a power back like Marshawn. After seeing how much of a difference Marshawn made in this game, and how strong he still looks, I wonder if they're going to try and find a way to keep him around next season, high price tag or no.
9) It was like ADB and Kearse weren't even there. I don't know if that was them or Russell or the play calling. Great that Percy's back and apparently awesomer than ever (though I did cringe that we were using him so much, when he's so injury prone and suffers from concussions/headaches easily), but what about our other receivers?? I felt like they were targeted a fair number of times, but they kept being incompletions.
10) This is probably going to make ADB mad, but... for the first time, I kind of understood why people disrespect our receivers and think them ordinary. They are totally solid guys but... it just didn't seem like they were playmakers the way Percy is. Don't get me wrong; I understand that Percy is a one-of-a-kind athlete. But why did it seem like his production made them somehow... worse? ADB is usually Mr. Reliable himself, but from what I heard of the game, he barely did anything. (Though his preventing that one interception was a baller move.) And Kearse was even more of a nonentity. Kearse was targeted maybe twice, and then Russell/the Seahawks seemed to give up on him, which was a bummer because I had totally started him on my fantasy team (sitting ADB in his place, which was a mistake, but not that big of one because he didn't seem all that productive either).
11) That said, I felt more sure about the offense than the defense during this game, which is a weird feeling. With the Seahawks, usually you're hoping that the offense can get it done, because you know the defense can. In this game, there were so many screw-ups by our defense that I just hoped something catastrophic wouldn't happen.
12) Zach Miller. Dude, what a baller. Restructures his contract in the offseason to stay with the team, then flat-out is a go-to guy in this game? Caught the balls thrown to him, prevented an interception with a total heads-up play, and blocked well all night. He doesn't get much respect as a TE but he gets a ton of respect from me as our TE, and he seems like a really decent guy to boot. OK yes, he's not the fastest runner in the world, but he's got sure hands and is a good blocker. I'll take it.
13) I can't believe Ricardo Lockette, of all people, got our first touchdown of the season. It was a beautiful read-option-pass play that apparently we've never used before, and was cribbed directly from Auburn's playbook (Pete gave credit where it was due in the press conference afterward). He's not thrown to very often, but when he is I've rarely seen him miss. Mostly he plays gunner on special teams, and while he's fast and fierce, he also always commits really stupid penalties, which annoys me. He just seems like a crazy thug sometimes. (He's the player who Aaron Hazel, who painted my Earl Thomas paintings, was supposed to meet at the VMAC, but who didn't show up and then was like "I'll be at this party!" and just acted like a spacy celebrity.)
Edit: Apparently Kearse was 1 for 3, Doug was 3 for 5, and Lockette was 2 for 3. Percy was 7 for 7. Yeah.
14) I'm reallllllllllly glad Derrick Coleman got that touchdown at the end. I love that guy.
15) Richard Sherman is going to get bored. I'm glad he's so intimidating that offenses, even one as powerful and talented as the Packers, avoid him, allowing him to essentially erase half the field... but I hope he doesn't lose his edge because of it. :/ I heard a sports commentator on the radio say today that it's not sustainable for other teams; eventually people are going to have to try him, because they just can't allow one guy to take away that whole part of the field.
16) I didn't hear much about Earl Thomas's area (deep middle), for some reason. Usually QBs don't throw there, either, because he's such a ballhawk. Maybe people were mad at him for muffing the punt, or maybe Richard is the squeaky wheel, or maybe it'll be a different story when I actually watch the game and see whether or not they did throw to the middle.
17) Brandon Browner was never my favorite Seahawk, but the tweets he sent out last night about Byron Maxwell (who replaced BB when BB was injured/suspended and basically won the job from him) really made me like/respect him more than before:
He sent that before Byron had actually gotten an interception. Then:
I felt a little bit better when Bing Predictions, which went a perfect 15 for 15 in the World Cup knockout round, gave the Hawks a 74.2% chance of beating the Packers. It wasn't a guarantee, of course, but mathematically from a trustworthy source it seemed like a pretty confident margin.
And then the game happened. And, well... I'm glad the Hawks won, obviously. But I didn't think they played all that well, and I'm disappointed by that.
I don't have network TV, so I always listen to the game on radio and view play-by-plays online, then watch the game the next day. So maybe my observations are skewed from that; I don't know. Because the narrative from most outlets today seems to be that the Seahawks dominated, they're on another level, yadda yadda. And, well, that is not what I saw at all. I was even alternating between Field Gulls and Niners Nation (I like going there because they despise the Seahawks so much it's a good antidote for the rampant homerism that goes on on any fan blog... so between the two blogs I feel like I have a perspective somewhere near realistic), and even NN commenters were saying that there was no way Green Bay was going to win because they were getting totally outclassed. I read that perspective with utter incredulity, because from what I could tell from listening to the game on the radio, we were barely hanging on. I think the score was 17-10 or something at that point, so the Seahawks were only up by a touchdown.
Now, admittedly, I am a rather doom and gloom person. When I'm rooting for a team, I don't like close games and never have. I like blowouts so that my blood pressure can stay at manageable levels for most of the time. And with QBs like Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and et al, you can't rest on your laurels. There's no letting up, because they're so talented that they can bring their team back into the game with their brilliance and what not.
Anyway, back to the point. I realize that I can be hard on my teams because I want them to do better than trade scores with the opponent, so they probably did better than I'm giving them credit for. That said, I also feel that they did not remotely play up to their potential, and like any parent or schoolteacher, that disappoints me. I was glad to read in some of the coverage today that Pete Carroll and some of the Seahawks have said they were disappointed with their performance. GOOD. They did not execute as well as they should (and could) have. I don't want them to take a game in which they did not execute well, but which they happened to win, and start believing that their shit doesn't stink. Because some of it stunk. Badly.
Here were some of the positives and flaws that I saw (or rather, heard):
1) Russell did not play as well in this game as he's played all preseason. In preseason he'd seemed like he was on another level this year, was nearly perfect. In this game, I saw the same Russell as last season. Still good, still a playmaker, but not spectacular the way he'd been in the preseason. He made plays, but he made mistakes as well -- the fact that he didn't have 2-3 interceptions to his name was due to the play of his teammates (Zach Miller and Doug Baldwin). That was kind of deflating.
2) Many third-down conversions that we did not convert. That's just not acceptable.
3) Related to that, it seemed that we were always a yard or less shy of a first down on those third downs. Players were just not making it past the sticks. I heard Percy, Doug, and even Marshawn just miss it, when normally they're all very good about that sort of thing. Again not acceptable.
4) Earl's muffled punt. Two faults here. Earl for not calling a fair catch, which he should have. Richard for letting that defender play him into Earl's area, thus banging into him and causing the fumble. The only good thing about this is that I believe Earl stopped returning punts at that point. Dare I hope that this ill-advised decision has now been reconsidered??? (ETA: Apparently no. Pete says Earl is still his punt returner. /facepalm
Someone on Field Gulls said it best: "Thomas just has one speed......balls out. And that doesn’t work every time on the PR." And a reply: "I agree. Thomas seems to be thinking at every punt: how can I contribute to this team? Answer: TD!" LOL. Oh, Earl. /sigh)
5) Bobby Wagner's defensive PI. I fucking hate when we get called on PI. It's such a costly penalty, and that one was brutal. However, from the commentary I've read, he basically had no choice at that point, he had to commit the PI to prevent it from being a touchdown (though I think it was just delaying the inevitable, as I believe they did score on that drive). So I guess I can give him a pass on that, both because how the hell did he keep pace with one of their best receivers (he's the MLB!!), and also because he finished the night with 14 tackles, which is insane for a dude who only just came back from injury and didn't play in any preseason games (maybe a snap or two in the Raiders loss, can't remember). Bobby's a beast... he is going to have a monster season. I really hope we can pay him next season. :/
6) Speaking of players who came back roaring after injury... Kam Chancellor. Wow. I had feared for both Bobby and Kam that they would be different after being hurt, not as good. Clearly those fears were unfounded, as they both seemed better than ever.
7) Still, the muffled punt and the DPI gave Green Bay 10 points. The score should really have been 36-6 (they did have a very nice touchdown drive that they orchestrated). I know I shouldn't look at it that way because they also made errors that led to scoring drives by the Seahawks, but obviously I care less about Green Bay's mistakes than I do about ours.
8) More unfounded fears: That somehow, just because he hit the magical 2-8 number, that Marshawn Lynch had somehow gotten terrible overnight. He proved his beastly point with his production last night. He's the same Marshawn as he's ever been. I know that in the offseason people had just about written him off for this season (when he was holding out, people were saying "the Seahawks don't need him") and next season for sure. Well, from what I saw last night, the Seahawks most certainly do still need him; it's the threat of him and Percy that's going to flummox defenses across the league. Robert Turbin, like Russell, seemed to play just as he had last season. He's just not a power back like Marshawn. After seeing how much of a difference Marshawn made in this game, and how strong he still looks, I wonder if they're going to try and find a way to keep him around next season, high price tag or no.
9) It was like ADB and Kearse weren't even there. I don't know if that was them or Russell or the play calling. Great that Percy's back and apparently awesomer than ever (though I did cringe that we were using him so much, when he's so injury prone and suffers from concussions/headaches easily), but what about our other receivers?? I felt like they were targeted a fair number of times, but they kept being incompletions.
10) This is probably going to make ADB mad, but... for the first time, I kind of understood why people disrespect our receivers and think them ordinary. They are totally solid guys but... it just didn't seem like they were playmakers the way Percy is. Don't get me wrong; I understand that Percy is a one-of-a-kind athlete. But why did it seem like his production made them somehow... worse? ADB is usually Mr. Reliable himself, but from what I heard of the game, he barely did anything. (Though his preventing that one interception was a baller move.) And Kearse was even more of a nonentity. Kearse was targeted maybe twice, and then Russell/the Seahawks seemed to give up on him, which was a bummer because I had totally started him on my fantasy team (sitting ADB in his place, which was a mistake, but not that big of one because he didn't seem all that productive either).
11) That said, I felt more sure about the offense than the defense during this game, which is a weird feeling. With the Seahawks, usually you're hoping that the offense can get it done, because you know the defense can. In this game, there were so many screw-ups by our defense that I just hoped something catastrophic wouldn't happen.
12) Zach Miller. Dude, what a baller. Restructures his contract in the offseason to stay with the team, then flat-out is a go-to guy in this game? Caught the balls thrown to him, prevented an interception with a total heads-up play, and blocked well all night. He doesn't get much respect as a TE but he gets a ton of respect from me as our TE, and he seems like a really decent guy to boot. OK yes, he's not the fastest runner in the world, but he's got sure hands and is a good blocker. I'll take it.
13) I can't believe Ricardo Lockette, of all people, got our first touchdown of the season. It was a beautiful read-option-pass play that apparently we've never used before, and was cribbed directly from Auburn's playbook (Pete gave credit where it was due in the press conference afterward). He's not thrown to very often, but when he is I've rarely seen him miss. Mostly he plays gunner on special teams, and while he's fast and fierce, he also always commits really stupid penalties, which annoys me. He just seems like a crazy thug sometimes. (He's the player who Aaron Hazel, who painted my Earl Thomas paintings, was supposed to meet at the VMAC, but who didn't show up and then was like "I'll be at this party!" and just acted like a spacy celebrity.)
Edit: Apparently Kearse was 1 for 3, Doug was 3 for 5, and Lockette was 2 for 3. Percy was 7 for 7. Yeah.
14) I'm reallllllllllly glad Derrick Coleman got that touchdown at the end. I love that guy.
15) Richard Sherman is going to get bored. I'm glad he's so intimidating that offenses, even one as powerful and talented as the Packers, avoid him, allowing him to essentially erase half the field... but I hope he doesn't lose his edge because of it. :/ I heard a sports commentator on the radio say today that it's not sustainable for other teams; eventually people are going to have to try him, because they just can't allow one guy to take away that whole part of the field.
16) I didn't hear much about Earl Thomas's area (deep middle), for some reason. Usually QBs don't throw there, either, because he's such a ballhawk. Maybe people were mad at him for muffing the punt, or maybe Richard is the squeaky wheel, or maybe it'll be a different story when I actually watch the game and see whether or not they did throw to the middle.
17) Brandon Browner was never my favorite Seahawk, but the tweets he sent out last night about Byron Maxwell (who replaced BB when BB was injured/suspended and basically won the job from him) really made me like/respect him more than before:
They going to keep trying B Max and he goin to pick one off, play with fire get burned
— Brandon Browner (@bbrowner27) September 5, 2014He sent that before Byron had actually gotten an interception. Then:
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So, last night's game against the Green Bay Packers. I was so nervous at the start of the game that I felt like throwing up (this is why I could never play sports; I get waaaaay too invested). I mean, it is no joke playing against Aaron Rodgers. He's like the new Peyton Manning as far as the media is concerned; he's the best QB in the league. (I wonder if they get together to decide these things as a group.) Almost all preseason rankings had the Packers in the top 5 of teams. I cursed the NFL for making the Seahawks' home opener after winning the Super Bowl such a tough matchup -- it's supposed to be an honor to open the season, and after a dream season they wanted us to have a good chance of losing our first game?! Right after unfurling our championship banner for the first time?! Jerks!
<lj-cut text="Cut for football commentary. It's even somewhat measured.">I felt a little bit better when <a href="http://blogs.bing.com/search/2014/09/03/bing-predicts-nfl-match-ups/">Bing Predictions</a>, which went a perfect 15 for 15 in the World Cup knockout round, gave the Hawks a 74.2% chance of beating the Packers. It wasn't a guarantee, of course, but mathematically from a trustworthy source it seemed like a pretty confident margin.
And then the game happened. And, well... I'm glad the Hawks won, obviously. But I didn't think they played all that well, and I'm disappointed by that.
I don't have network TV, so I always listen to the game on radio and view play-by-plays online, then watch the game the next day. So maybe my observations are skewed from that; I don't know. Because the narrative from most outlets today seems to be that the Seahawks dominated, they're on another level, yadda yadda. And, well, that is not what I saw at all. I was even alternating between Field Gulls and Niners Nation (I like going there because they despise the Seahawks so much it's a good antidote for the rampant homerism that goes on on any fan blog... so between the two blogs I feel like I have a perspective somewhere near realistic), and even NN commenters were saying that there was no way Green Bay was going to win because they were getting totally outclassed. I read that perspective with utter incredulity, because from what I could tell from listening to the game on the radio, we were barely hanging on. I think the score was 17-10 or something at that point, so the Seahawks were only up by a touchdown.
Now, admittedly, I am a rather doom and gloom person. When I'm rooting for a team, I don't like close games and never have. I like blowouts so that my blood pressure can stay at manageable levels for most of the time. And with QBs like Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and et al, you can't rest on your laurels. There's no letting up, because they're so talented that they can bring their team back into the game with their brilliance and what not.
Anyway, back to the point. I realize that I can be hard on my teams because I want them to do better than trade scores with the opponent, so they probably did better than I'm giving them credit for. That said, I also feel that they did <I>not</I> remotely play up to their potential, and like any parent or schoolteacher, that disappoints me. I was glad to read in some of the coverage today that Pete Carroll and some of the Seahawks have said they were disappointed with their performance. GOOD. They did not execute as well as they should (and could) have. I don't want them to take a game in which they did not execute well, but which they happened to win, and start believing that their shit doesn't stink. Because some of it stunk. Badly.
Here were some of the positives and flaws that I saw (or rather, heard):
1) Russell did not play as well in this game as he's played all preseason. In preseason he'd seemed like he was on another level this year, was nearly perfect. In this game, I saw the same Russell as last season. Still good, still a playmaker, but not spectacular the way he'd been in the preseason. He made plays, but he made mistakes as well -- the fact that he didn't have 2-3 interceptions to his name was due to the play of his teammates (Zach Miller and Doug Baldwin). That was kind of deflating.
2) Many third-down conversions that we did not convert. That's just not acceptable.
3) Related to that, it seemed that we were always a yard or less shy of a first down on those third downs. Players were just not making it past the sticks. I heard Percy, Doug, and even Marshawn just miss it, when normally they're all very good about that sort of thing. Again not acceptable.
4) Earl's muffled punt. Two faults here. Earl for not calling a fair catch, which he should have. Richard for letting that defender play him into Earl's area, thus banging into him and causing the fumble. The only good thing about this is that I believe Earl stopped returning punts at that point. Dare I hope that this ill-advised decision has now been reconsidered??? (ETA: Apparently no. Pete says Earl is still his punt returner. /facepalm
Someone on Field Gulls said it best: "Thomas just has one speed......balls out. And that doesn’t work every time on the PR." And a reply: "I agree. Thomas seems to be thinking at every punt: how can I contribute to this team? Answer: TD!" LOL. Oh, Earl. /sigh)
5) Bobby Wagner's defensive PI. I fucking hate when we get called on PI. It's <I>such</I> a costly penalty, and that one was brutal. However, from the commentary I've read, he basically had no choice at that point, he had to commit the PI to prevent it from being a touchdown (though I think it was just delaying the inevitable, as I believe they did score on that drive). So I guess I can give him a pass on that, both because how the hell did he keep pace with one of their best receivers (he's the MLB!!), and also because he finished the night with 14 tackles, which is insane for a dude who only just came back from injury and didn't play in any preseason games (maybe a snap or two in the Raiders loss, can't remember). Bobby's a beast... he is going to have a monster season. I really hope we can pay him next season. :/
6) Speaking of players who came back roaring after injury... Kam Chancellor. Wow. I had feared for both Bobby and Kam that they would be different after being hurt, not as good. Clearly those fears were unfounded, as they both seemed better than ever.
7) Still, the muffled punt and the DPI gave Green Bay 10 points. The score should really have been 36-6 (they did have a very nice touchdown drive that they orchestrated). I know I shouldn't look at it that way because they also made errors that led to scoring drives by the Seahawks, but obviously I care less about Green Bay's mistakes than I do about ours.
8) More unfounded fears: That somehow, just because he hit the magical 2-8 number, that Marshawn Lynch had somehow gotten terrible overnight. He proved his beastly point with his production last night. He's the same Marshawn as he's ever been. I know that in the offseason people had just about written him off for this season (when he was holding out, people were saying "the Seahawks don't need him") and next season for sure. Well, from what I saw last night, the Seahawks most certainly <I>do</I> still need him; it's the threat of him <I>and</I> Percy that's going to flummox defenses across the league. Robert Turbin, like Russell, seemed to play just as he had last season. He's just not a power back like Marshawn. After seeing how much of a difference Marshawn made in this game, and how strong he still looks, I wonder if they're going to try and find a way to keep him around next season, high price tag or no.
9) It was like ADB and Kearse weren't even there. I don't know if that was them or Russell or the play calling. Great that Percy's back and apparently awesomer than ever (though I did cringe that we were using him so much, when he's so injury prone and suffers from concussions/headaches easily), but what about our other receivers?? I felt like they were targeted a fair number of times, but they kept being incompletions.
10) This is probably going to make ADB mad, but... for the first time, I kind of understood why people disrespect our receivers and think them ordinary. They are totally solid guys but... it just didn't seem like they were playmakers the way Percy is. Don't get me wrong; I understand that Percy is a one-of-a-kind athlete. But why did it seem like his production made them somehow... worse? ADB is usually Mr. Reliable himself, but from what I heard of the game, he barely did anything. (Though his preventing that one interception was a baller move.) And Kearse was even more of a nonentity. Kearse was targeted maybe twice, and then Russell/the Seahawks seemed to give up on him, which was a bummer because I had totally started him on my fantasy team (sitting ADB in his place, which was a mistake, but not that big of one because he didn't seem all that productive either).
11) That said, I felt more sure about the offense than the defense during this game, which is a weird feeling. With the Seahawks, usually you're hoping that the offense can get it done, because you <I>know</I> the defense can. In this game, there were so many screw-ups by our defense that I just hoped something catastrophic wouldn't happen.
12) Zach Miller. Dude, what a baller. Restructures his contract in the offseason to stay with the team, then flat-out is a go-to guy in this game? Caught the balls thrown to him, prevented an interception with a total heads-up play, and blocked well all night. He doesn't get much respect as a TE but he gets a ton of respect from me as <I>our</I> TE, and he seems like a really decent guy to boot. OK yes, he's not the fastest runner in the world, but he's got sure hands and is a good blocker. I'll take it.
13) I can't believe Ricardo Lockette, of all people, got our first touchdown of the season. It was a beautiful read-option-pass play that apparently we've never used before, and was cribbed directly from Auburn's playbook (Pete gave credit where it was due in the press conference afterward). He's not thrown to very often, but when he is I've rarely seen him miss. Mostly he plays gunner on special teams, and while he's fast and fierce, he also always commits really stupid penalties, which annoys me. He just seems like a crazy thug sometimes. (He's the player who Aaron Hazel, who painted my Earl Thomas paintings, was supposed to meet at the VMAC, but who didn't show up and then was like "I'll be at this party!" and just acted like a spacy celebrity.)
Edit: Apparently Kearse was 1 for 3, Doug was 3 for 5, and Lockette was 2 for 3. Percy was 7 for 7. Yeah.
14) I'm reallllllllllly glad Derrick Coleman got that touchdown at the end. I love that guy.
15) Richard Sherman is going to get bored. I'm glad he's so intimidating that offenses, even one as powerful and talented as the Packers, avoid him, allowing him to essentially erase half the field... but I hope he doesn't lose his edge because of it. :/ I heard a sports commentator on the radio say today that it's not sustainable for other teams; eventually people are going to <I>have</I> to try him, because they just can't allow one guy to take away that whole part of the field.
16) I didn't hear much about Earl Thomas's area (deep middle), for some reason. Usually QBs don't throw there, either, because he's such a ballhawk. Maybe people were mad at him for muffing the punt, or maybe Richard is the squeaky wheel, or maybe it'll be a different story when I actually <I>watch</I> the game and see whether or not they did throw to the middle.
17) Brandon Browner was never my favorite Seahawk, but the tweets he sent out last night about Byron Maxwell (who replaced BB when BB was injured/suspended and basically won the job from him) really made me like/respect him more than before:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>They going to keep trying B Max and he goin to pick one off, play with fire get burned</p>— Brandon Browner (@bbrowner27) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbrowner27/status/507702836147548160">September 5, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He sent that before Byron had actually gotten an interception. Then:
<blockquoteclass="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I dozed off for half of the 3rd quarter, and apparently Byron got a pick. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/itolduso?src=hash">#itolduso</a></p>— Brandon Browner (@bbrowner27) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbrowner27/status/507727764376805377">September 5, 2014</a></blockquote> <script asyncsrc="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I don't know why teams are so determined to not challenge Richard and instead keep challenging Byron. Byron is no slouch. It only means that at the end of <I>this</I> season, he's going to be the one with the most INTs to his name, and then what? You just stop passing the football?
18) The defense had a number of missed tackles (12, which is good for a normal team, but is apparently the most since some game long ago in the Pete Carroll era), which sucks, particularly because that's an area where they normally excel. Even fans of other teams who hate us have to grudgingly admire what good tacklers our guys are. Not sure what happened with the tackling discipline in this game, but in his press conference Pete did said he was disappointed with that and that the guys would be disappointed in themselves. Hope they work on it and cut that shit out! TACKLE LIKE I KNOW YOU CAN.
19) However, I do have to give props to them for the way they were able to limit the run. Losing Red Bryant and Chris Clemons is no joke. :/ Hopefully they can keep that up.
20) I am really, really nervous about Jeremy Lane's groin injury. He was killer in the preseason... apparently too much so. Now we have to start Marcus Burley in his place, and Marcus was added to the team a week ago. Literally. (We traded a 6th-round pick to the Colts for him, which at the time I felt was too high a price... and now I'm wondering if John Schneider and Pete Carroll consulted an Ouija board or something, because HOW DID THEY KNOW WE'D NEED A SPARE NICKEL WHEN JEREMY WAS STILL HEALTHY?! Oh wait... maybe Jeremy was already injured by then... yes, yes he was. OK fine.)
21) It seemed like we got a lot of lucky breaks because of dumb penalties that Green Bay committed... I feel like we should be able to win without needing other people to play badly. If that one dude hadn't run into Jon Ryan, if that other dude hadn't facemasked someone else when Clay Matthews sacked Russell, etc.
Sitting Aaron Rodgers on my fantasy team in favor of Russell Wilson was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made. :)) It's kind of nice that everyone outside of Seattle and the media totally underestimates Russell. They think his reputation is just media hype, but I know it's not. He's truly talented. He just needs to get over that one last hump, and then I think he'll actually legitimately be in the discussion for being elite. And my other fantasy team did really well since I had Marshawn and Percy. :)) It was awesome.</lj-cut>
Meanwhile in college football... apparently my UCLA Bruins are actually ranked in the top 10 this year (which I don't think they have been since I went to school there, when we dominated USC at just about every sport, including football)! Which is super exciting, but I'm thinking I might just have to do them the favor of not paying attention or watching any games. It seems like whenever I do, that's when they fail. It always happens. And then they're heartbroken, and I'm heartbroken. Ugh. /flashbacks
To leave you with stuff that might bring a smile to your face, here's some fun graphics: <a href="http://www.rsvlts.com/2014/09/02/if-every-nfl-team-had-an-emoji-for-this-seasons-kickoff-32-exclusive-emojis/">If every NFL team had an emoji for this season's kickoff</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPmObvuOMYA">NFL players read mean tweets</a>
<lj-cut text="Cut for football commentary. It's even somewhat measured.">I felt a little bit better when <a href="http://blogs.bing.com/search/2014/09/03/bing-predicts-nfl-match-ups/">Bing Predictions</a>, which went a perfect 15 for 15 in the World Cup knockout round, gave the Hawks a 74.2% chance of beating the Packers. It wasn't a guarantee, of course, but mathematically from a trustworthy source it seemed like a pretty confident margin.
And then the game happened. And, well... I'm glad the Hawks won, obviously. But I didn't think they played all that well, and I'm disappointed by that.
I don't have network TV, so I always listen to the game on radio and view play-by-plays online, then watch the game the next day. So maybe my observations are skewed from that; I don't know. Because the narrative from most outlets today seems to be that the Seahawks dominated, they're on another level, yadda yadda. And, well, that is not what I saw at all. I was even alternating between Field Gulls and Niners Nation (I like going there because they despise the Seahawks so much it's a good antidote for the rampant homerism that goes on on any fan blog... so between the two blogs I feel like I have a perspective somewhere near realistic), and even NN commenters were saying that there was no way Green Bay was going to win because they were getting totally outclassed. I read that perspective with utter incredulity, because from what I could tell from listening to the game on the radio, we were barely hanging on. I think the score was 17-10 or something at that point, so the Seahawks were only up by a touchdown.
Now, admittedly, I am a rather doom and gloom person. When I'm rooting for a team, I don't like close games and never have. I like blowouts so that my blood pressure can stay at manageable levels for most of the time. And with QBs like Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and et al, you can't rest on your laurels. There's no letting up, because they're so talented that they can bring their team back into the game with their brilliance and what not.
Anyway, back to the point. I realize that I can be hard on my teams because I want them to do better than trade scores with the opponent, so they probably did better than I'm giving them credit for. That said, I also feel that they did <I>not</I> remotely play up to their potential, and like any parent or schoolteacher, that disappoints me. I was glad to read in some of the coverage today that Pete Carroll and some of the Seahawks have said they were disappointed with their performance. GOOD. They did not execute as well as they should (and could) have. I don't want them to take a game in which they did not execute well, but which they happened to win, and start believing that their shit doesn't stink. Because some of it stunk. Badly.
Here were some of the positives and flaws that I saw (or rather, heard):
1) Russell did not play as well in this game as he's played all preseason. In preseason he'd seemed like he was on another level this year, was nearly perfect. In this game, I saw the same Russell as last season. Still good, still a playmaker, but not spectacular the way he'd been in the preseason. He made plays, but he made mistakes as well -- the fact that he didn't have 2-3 interceptions to his name was due to the play of his teammates (Zach Miller and Doug Baldwin). That was kind of deflating.
2) Many third-down conversions that we did not convert. That's just not acceptable.
3) Related to that, it seemed that we were always a yard or less shy of a first down on those third downs. Players were just not making it past the sticks. I heard Percy, Doug, and even Marshawn just miss it, when normally they're all very good about that sort of thing. Again not acceptable.
4) Earl's muffled punt. Two faults here. Earl for not calling a fair catch, which he should have. Richard for letting that defender play him into Earl's area, thus banging into him and causing the fumble. The only good thing about this is that I believe Earl stopped returning punts at that point. Dare I hope that this ill-advised decision has now been reconsidered??? (ETA: Apparently no. Pete says Earl is still his punt returner. /facepalm
Someone on Field Gulls said it best: "Thomas just has one speed......balls out. And that doesn’t work every time on the PR." And a reply: "I agree. Thomas seems to be thinking at every punt: how can I contribute to this team? Answer: TD!" LOL. Oh, Earl. /sigh)
5) Bobby Wagner's defensive PI. I fucking hate when we get called on PI. It's <I>such</I> a costly penalty, and that one was brutal. However, from the commentary I've read, he basically had no choice at that point, he had to commit the PI to prevent it from being a touchdown (though I think it was just delaying the inevitable, as I believe they did score on that drive). So I guess I can give him a pass on that, both because how the hell did he keep pace with one of their best receivers (he's the MLB!!), and also because he finished the night with 14 tackles, which is insane for a dude who only just came back from injury and didn't play in any preseason games (maybe a snap or two in the Raiders loss, can't remember). Bobby's a beast... he is going to have a monster season. I really hope we can pay him next season. :/
6) Speaking of players who came back roaring after injury... Kam Chancellor. Wow. I had feared for both Bobby and Kam that they would be different after being hurt, not as good. Clearly those fears were unfounded, as they both seemed better than ever.
7) Still, the muffled punt and the DPI gave Green Bay 10 points. The score should really have been 36-6 (they did have a very nice touchdown drive that they orchestrated). I know I shouldn't look at it that way because they also made errors that led to scoring drives by the Seahawks, but obviously I care less about Green Bay's mistakes than I do about ours.
8) More unfounded fears: That somehow, just because he hit the magical 2-8 number, that Marshawn Lynch had somehow gotten terrible overnight. He proved his beastly point with his production last night. He's the same Marshawn as he's ever been. I know that in the offseason people had just about written him off for this season (when he was holding out, people were saying "the Seahawks don't need him") and next season for sure. Well, from what I saw last night, the Seahawks most certainly <I>do</I> still need him; it's the threat of him <I>and</I> Percy that's going to flummox defenses across the league. Robert Turbin, like Russell, seemed to play just as he had last season. He's just not a power back like Marshawn. After seeing how much of a difference Marshawn made in this game, and how strong he still looks, I wonder if they're going to try and find a way to keep him around next season, high price tag or no.
9) It was like ADB and Kearse weren't even there. I don't know if that was them or Russell or the play calling. Great that Percy's back and apparently awesomer than ever (though I did cringe that we were using him so much, when he's so injury prone and suffers from concussions/headaches easily), but what about our other receivers?? I felt like they were targeted a fair number of times, but they kept being incompletions.
10) This is probably going to make ADB mad, but... for the first time, I kind of understood why people disrespect our receivers and think them ordinary. They are totally solid guys but... it just didn't seem like they were playmakers the way Percy is. Don't get me wrong; I understand that Percy is a one-of-a-kind athlete. But why did it seem like his production made them somehow... worse? ADB is usually Mr. Reliable himself, but from what I heard of the game, he barely did anything. (Though his preventing that one interception was a baller move.) And Kearse was even more of a nonentity. Kearse was targeted maybe twice, and then Russell/the Seahawks seemed to give up on him, which was a bummer because I had totally started him on my fantasy team (sitting ADB in his place, which was a mistake, but not that big of one because he didn't seem all that productive either).
11) That said, I felt more sure about the offense than the defense during this game, which is a weird feeling. With the Seahawks, usually you're hoping that the offense can get it done, because you <I>know</I> the defense can. In this game, there were so many screw-ups by our defense that I just hoped something catastrophic wouldn't happen.
12) Zach Miller. Dude, what a baller. Restructures his contract in the offseason to stay with the team, then flat-out is a go-to guy in this game? Caught the balls thrown to him, prevented an interception with a total heads-up play, and blocked well all night. He doesn't get much respect as a TE but he gets a ton of respect from me as <I>our</I> TE, and he seems like a really decent guy to boot. OK yes, he's not the fastest runner in the world, but he's got sure hands and is a good blocker. I'll take it.
13) I can't believe Ricardo Lockette, of all people, got our first touchdown of the season. It was a beautiful read-option-pass play that apparently we've never used before, and was cribbed directly from Auburn's playbook (Pete gave credit where it was due in the press conference afterward). He's not thrown to very often, but when he is I've rarely seen him miss. Mostly he plays gunner on special teams, and while he's fast and fierce, he also always commits really stupid penalties, which annoys me. He just seems like a crazy thug sometimes. (He's the player who Aaron Hazel, who painted my Earl Thomas paintings, was supposed to meet at the VMAC, but who didn't show up and then was like "I'll be at this party!" and just acted like a spacy celebrity.)
Edit: Apparently Kearse was 1 for 3, Doug was 3 for 5, and Lockette was 2 for 3. Percy was 7 for 7. Yeah.
14) I'm reallllllllllly glad Derrick Coleman got that touchdown at the end. I love that guy.
15) Richard Sherman is going to get bored. I'm glad he's so intimidating that offenses, even one as powerful and talented as the Packers, avoid him, allowing him to essentially erase half the field... but I hope he doesn't lose his edge because of it. :/ I heard a sports commentator on the radio say today that it's not sustainable for other teams; eventually people are going to <I>have</I> to try him, because they just can't allow one guy to take away that whole part of the field.
16) I didn't hear much about Earl Thomas's area (deep middle), for some reason. Usually QBs don't throw there, either, because he's such a ballhawk. Maybe people were mad at him for muffing the punt, or maybe Richard is the squeaky wheel, or maybe it'll be a different story when I actually <I>watch</I> the game and see whether or not they did throw to the middle.
17) Brandon Browner was never my favorite Seahawk, but the tweets he sent out last night about Byron Maxwell (who replaced BB when BB was injured/suspended and basically won the job from him) really made me like/respect him more than before:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>They going to keep trying B Max and he goin to pick one off, play with fire get burned</p>— Brandon Browner (@bbrowner27) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbrowner27/status/507702836147548160">September 5, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
He sent that before Byron had actually gotten an interception. Then:
<blockquoteclass="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I dozed off for half of the 3rd quarter, and apparently Byron got a pick. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/itolduso?src=hash">#itolduso</a></p>— Brandon Browner (@bbrowner27) <a href="https://twitter.com/bbrowner27/status/507727764376805377">September 5, 2014</a></blockquote> <script asyncsrc="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I don't know why teams are so determined to not challenge Richard and instead keep challenging Byron. Byron is no slouch. It only means that at the end of <I>this</I> season, he's going to be the one with the most INTs to his name, and then what? You just stop passing the football?
18) The defense had a number of missed tackles (12, which is good for a normal team, but is apparently the most since some game long ago in the Pete Carroll era), which sucks, particularly because that's an area where they normally excel. Even fans of other teams who hate us have to grudgingly admire what good tacklers our guys are. Not sure what happened with the tackling discipline in this game, but in his press conference Pete did said he was disappointed with that and that the guys would be disappointed in themselves. Hope they work on it and cut that shit out! TACKLE LIKE I KNOW YOU CAN.
19) However, I do have to give props to them for the way they were able to limit the run. Losing Red Bryant and Chris Clemons is no joke. :/ Hopefully they can keep that up.
20) I am really, really nervous about Jeremy Lane's groin injury. He was killer in the preseason... apparently too much so. Now we have to start Marcus Burley in his place, and Marcus was added to the team a week ago. Literally. (We traded a 6th-round pick to the Colts for him, which at the time I felt was too high a price... and now I'm wondering if John Schneider and Pete Carroll consulted an Ouija board or something, because HOW DID THEY KNOW WE'D NEED A SPARE NICKEL WHEN JEREMY WAS STILL HEALTHY?! Oh wait... maybe Jeremy was already injured by then... yes, yes he was. OK fine.)
21) It seemed like we got a lot of lucky breaks because of dumb penalties that Green Bay committed... I feel like we should be able to win without needing other people to play badly. If that one dude hadn't run into Jon Ryan, if that other dude hadn't facemasked someone else when Clay Matthews sacked Russell, etc.
Sitting Aaron Rodgers on my fantasy team in favor of Russell Wilson was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made. :)) It's kind of nice that everyone outside of Seattle and the media totally underestimates Russell. They think his reputation is just media hype, but I know it's not. He's truly talented. He just needs to get over that one last hump, and then I think he'll actually legitimately be in the discussion for being elite. And my other fantasy team did really well since I had Marshawn and Percy. :)) It was awesome.</lj-cut>
Meanwhile in college football... apparently my UCLA Bruins are actually ranked in the top 10 this year (which I don't think they have been since I went to school there, when we dominated USC at just about every sport, including football)! Which is super exciting, but I'm thinking I might just have to do them the favor of not paying attention or watching any games. It seems like whenever I do, that's when they fail. It always happens. And then they're heartbroken, and I'm heartbroken. Ugh. /flashbacks
To leave you with stuff that might bring a smile to your face, here's some fun graphics: <a href="http://www.rsvlts.com/2014/09/02/if-every-nfl-team-had-an-emoji-for-this-seasons-kickoff-32-exclusive-emojis/">If every NFL team had an emoji for this season's kickoff</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPmObvuOMYA">NFL players read mean tweets</a>
