LarryCanadian
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I'll split it up.
First, I'll say what a beautiful football stadium. It seemed like every seat was close to the action. Very loud place. Home Field for Seattle is good for 1-2 false starts and some stress on oppossing teams from noise for sure. Seahawks fans are pumped up about this season after coming close for first time in 30 years last year.
My take on offense.
In general offense was pretty decent. First series was a disaster all the way around. The team needs to get over the drive killing mistakes that has cost it the last 2 years. Seems the timing of penalties is often brutal, costing us 2nd and shorts or first down plays. It is preseason though and it was very noisy from play 1!
Romo rocked. He isn't tall, and didn't showcase any long throws, but I was VERY impressed at how he commanded the field. He was confident and his passes were crisp. He had his receivers drop 3 passes on him and so could easily have been 22 of 25 or so. Hurd dropped 2. Fasano 1. More on that later. Romo threw into tight coverage a number of times and this might have been problematic with higher quality coverage on our receivers in terms of ball awareness, but Romo was tremendously accurate yesterday. Romo also has that ability to adjust his throws into very unconventional style when under pressure. He has to do this because he isn't looking over the heads of pretty much anyone. He flipped one pass I saw and did at least 2 semi-sidearms that were nice plays. Romo's poise was evident. He rarely if ever needed help from sideline. In terms of Bus Driving, it was great. Managed game well. Best of all, Romo seemed very quick in his decision making without focusing on just one option. He improvised a number of times as well, escaping from pressure. He also seems to have a sense of when to run for yardage, and is quite evasive. I was very impressed with him.
Crayton. Crayton is back (as long as he hasn't reinjured that ankle which I read a reporter say he strained before halftime). Crayton is a very strong route runner now and he continued to pluck ball out of air with those big mitts of his. What impresses me most about him is his crisp routes and focus. He isn't super fast but cuts very well and is extremely strong going for ball and running after catch. His touchdown catch and the long sideline grab (the latter right in front of me about 30 feet away) were awesome. They had tight coverage on him and his focus/concentration were excellent. Only negative I can say about Crayton is that he sometimes holds ball like a loaf of bread way out to the side after catching it. He forgets about it. This did NOT happen on his fumble after the long sideline grab, as he dropped it with two hands on it, trying to get his balance and struggle forward for YAC! He was trying to bring it into a safe hold. Romo and Crayton have chemistry and Crayton got hit right on the money each time, but he was well positioned each time to make catch, shielding defenders nicely a couple of times.
RB's. Julius looked decent. He sometimes gets thrown off balance when hit low still. He made 2 very nice moves after recovering nicely from a hard collission during a chip block and then scooting forward to receive a short pass up the middle. Still falling he dodged one tackle while spinning around, ran 2 steps and then cut back making another tackler miss before being swarmed. It was a very nice play and he also showed good hands.
Barber continues to impress. He is quick and strong to the hole. He is our hardest runner, churning his legs better and exploding into tacklers or the pile better than Julius or Thompson. He has quick changes of direction too. I just like how hard he runs, getting an extra yard or even 2 after contact often, for not that big a guy. Thompson has excellent straight ahead speed and power. Still doesn't have the moves the other 2 have, but has the size and gets ahead in the hurry with no monkey business. We have a good rotation here and I expect all will play quite a bit this year. Kincade shows a bit of vision and can dance a bit, but seems to run soft, not hitting hole hard or finishing his runs against tackles. Polite showed much better focus on his routes and trying to catch ball.
Hurd and Rector are way ahead of anyone else in running for 4th and or 5th receiver spots. Both need work but show lots of talent. Decent size, speed, and hands, although Hurd dropped 2 catchable balls. On first play of game he had huge cushion from defender and dropped a quick out. In his defense it seemed to be more from looking upfield right before ball got there and already taking a step trying to get yardage than from fear of getting plastered while hearing footsteps (it was right in front of me, and he looked like he just took off trying to run down sideline before he even got ball). Hurd also dropped a pass on a crossing pattern over the middle but in this case Romo narrowly avoided a sack by a Dline guy that was all alone on him and Romo dodged and improvised a sidearm pass that was behind Hurd as he was running. He got both hands on it but couldn't hold on. Probably should have had it, but it was tough catch. Hurd made up for it later on another mobile throw from Romo that was real wide (was smart though because it looked improvised and he put it where receiver had a chance but no DB would be able to close fast enough). Hurd made a nice leaping one hander, drew ball and and turned up field for a few extra yards and first down.
Rector caught two nice sideline balls showing excellent hands and concentration as well. He seemed to run decent routes and has ok size/speed. He was a bonehead twice though with 2 costly penalties. One he lined up in an illegal formation and the other time he cost us a first down on 2 and 1 (I think Barber got decent yardage on a run or it was a short pass, can't remember). Play got called back on a Rector block in back that wasn't needed and turned a 1st into a 2nd and 11. In his defense when I saw the replay (it was a bad angle and only showed end of block) it looked like a really iffy call, with Rector hardly touching guy as the defender was already diving and it sure wasn't in middle of his back. Albeit he could have shoved him in back before what the replay showed. Very costly penalty though.
More in bit.
Larry
First, I'll say what a beautiful football stadium. It seemed like every seat was close to the action. Very loud place. Home Field for Seattle is good for 1-2 false starts and some stress on oppossing teams from noise for sure. Seahawks fans are pumped up about this season after coming close for first time in 30 years last year.
My take on offense.
In general offense was pretty decent. First series was a disaster all the way around. The team needs to get over the drive killing mistakes that has cost it the last 2 years. Seems the timing of penalties is often brutal, costing us 2nd and shorts or first down plays. It is preseason though and it was very noisy from play 1!
Romo rocked. He isn't tall, and didn't showcase any long throws, but I was VERY impressed at how he commanded the field. He was confident and his passes were crisp. He had his receivers drop 3 passes on him and so could easily have been 22 of 25 or so. Hurd dropped 2. Fasano 1. More on that later. Romo threw into tight coverage a number of times and this might have been problematic with higher quality coverage on our receivers in terms of ball awareness, but Romo was tremendously accurate yesterday. Romo also has that ability to adjust his throws into very unconventional style when under pressure. He has to do this because he isn't looking over the heads of pretty much anyone. He flipped one pass I saw and did at least 2 semi-sidearms that were nice plays. Romo's poise was evident. He rarely if ever needed help from sideline. In terms of Bus Driving, it was great. Managed game well. Best of all, Romo seemed very quick in his decision making without focusing on just one option. He improvised a number of times as well, escaping from pressure. He also seems to have a sense of when to run for yardage, and is quite evasive. I was very impressed with him.
Crayton. Crayton is back (as long as he hasn't reinjured that ankle which I read a reporter say he strained before halftime). Crayton is a very strong route runner now and he continued to pluck ball out of air with those big mitts of his. What impresses me most about him is his crisp routes and focus. He isn't super fast but cuts very well and is extremely strong going for ball and running after catch. His touchdown catch and the long sideline grab (the latter right in front of me about 30 feet away) were awesome. They had tight coverage on him and his focus/concentration were excellent. Only negative I can say about Crayton is that he sometimes holds ball like a loaf of bread way out to the side after catching it. He forgets about it. This did NOT happen on his fumble after the long sideline grab, as he dropped it with two hands on it, trying to get his balance and struggle forward for YAC! He was trying to bring it into a safe hold. Romo and Crayton have chemistry and Crayton got hit right on the money each time, but he was well positioned each time to make catch, shielding defenders nicely a couple of times.
RB's. Julius looked decent. He sometimes gets thrown off balance when hit low still. He made 2 very nice moves after recovering nicely from a hard collission during a chip block and then scooting forward to receive a short pass up the middle. Still falling he dodged one tackle while spinning around, ran 2 steps and then cut back making another tackler miss before being swarmed. It was a very nice play and he also showed good hands.
Barber continues to impress. He is quick and strong to the hole. He is our hardest runner, churning his legs better and exploding into tacklers or the pile better than Julius or Thompson. He has quick changes of direction too. I just like how hard he runs, getting an extra yard or even 2 after contact often, for not that big a guy. Thompson has excellent straight ahead speed and power. Still doesn't have the moves the other 2 have, but has the size and gets ahead in the hurry with no monkey business. We have a good rotation here and I expect all will play quite a bit this year. Kincade shows a bit of vision and can dance a bit, but seems to run soft, not hitting hole hard or finishing his runs against tackles. Polite showed much better focus on his routes and trying to catch ball.
Hurd and Rector are way ahead of anyone else in running for 4th and or 5th receiver spots. Both need work but show lots of talent. Decent size, speed, and hands, although Hurd dropped 2 catchable balls. On first play of game he had huge cushion from defender and dropped a quick out. In his defense it seemed to be more from looking upfield right before ball got there and already taking a step trying to get yardage than from fear of getting plastered while hearing footsteps (it was right in front of me, and he looked like he just took off trying to run down sideline before he even got ball). Hurd also dropped a pass on a crossing pattern over the middle but in this case Romo narrowly avoided a sack by a Dline guy that was all alone on him and Romo dodged and improvised a sidearm pass that was behind Hurd as he was running. He got both hands on it but couldn't hold on. Probably should have had it, but it was tough catch. Hurd made up for it later on another mobile throw from Romo that was real wide (was smart though because it looked improvised and he put it where receiver had a chance but no DB would be able to close fast enough). Hurd made a nice leaping one hander, drew ball and and turned up field for a few extra yards and first down.
Rector caught two nice sideline balls showing excellent hands and concentration as well. He seemed to run decent routes and has ok size/speed. He was a bonehead twice though with 2 costly penalties. One he lined up in an illegal formation and the other time he cost us a first down on 2 and 1 (I think Barber got decent yardage on a run or it was a short pass, can't remember). Play got called back on a Rector block in back that wasn't needed and turned a 1st into a 2nd and 11. In his defense when I saw the replay (it was a bad angle and only showed end of block) it looked like a really iffy call, with Rector hardly touching guy as the defender was already diving and it sure wasn't in middle of his back. Albeit he could have shoved him in back before what the replay showed. Very costly penalty though.
More in bit.
Larry