Random thoughts on the game... (Seahawks)

[Crown Royal]

Note - I was at work, and the folk who set the record on TIVO did so late, so I came in during the second quarter (beginning of touchdown drive).

- Not gonna bother mentioning Ware. We all saw him.


- Petitti was horrible. I'm amazed I actually saw two threads titled "Petitti holding his own". What game were those guys watching? He was horrible.

Ray Rhodes game planned around Petitti. Almost every stunt and blitz they ran was right at Petitti, and he screwed up (didn't block the right guy) almost every time. Our offense can't function with Petitti at RT. Not this year anyway.

I agree - but I am not shocked. I don't expect a first year tackle to be all that successful. As much as people want results from young linemen, I think that it is forgotten that the OL takes YEARS to develop.

- Tucker played ok. Better then Petitti did anyway.

- Despite JuJo gaining 55 yards (5.5 per carry) our running game was bad. Most of those yards were gained by JuJo on his own. I only saw one play where the OL opened up a "clean" hole for the RB to run through, and that was in the 4th quarter. I hate that Parcells runs a bunch of those slow developing run plays. I HATE those types of runs. I like the quick hitters and the stretch plays, but those slow developing "tricky" counter plays have to go. I'm sick of seeing them.

Didnt notice Tucker - which is a good thing.

Regarding running game - it wasn't great, but wasn't bad either. I think a lot of Jones' yard had a bit to do with the fact that Seattle's run defense is abhorrent (note - that is not to take anything away from Jones - he is very, very good). Barber has some fumble-itis, but he also had a nice run here and there. He is quicker and shiftier than I thought, but he needs to work on squaring his pads better. He has happy feet and is a bit squirrly. I like him, though.

- Patrick Crayton... I like this player. Hope he continues to develop, but if he carries the ball ever again like he did on that one catch, I'll personally hold the bull horn in front of BP's face so he can yell at him.

HAHAHA! I noticed that. I have two theories on that: 1) It is the old QB in him - he is used to holding it that way when getting pressure and 2) I think he may have actually been baiting the guy. He was being held at the waist by two hands - I think he wanted the guy to go for the strip, which would mean he would have to let go - and Crayton was betting that he would break the tackle before the strip came.

Either way - Parcells is gonna have a little chew session in film study this week.

- I don't care who did better, Henson or Romo. The only thing that matters to me is that they both looked below average. Disappointing appearance for both QBs. Both made dumb decisions.

Henson has a flaw in his dropback he needs to correct. Sometimes he pauses when he takes the handoff. The whole OL and everything has started doing their thing, and Henson is still just starting his dropback. It needs to be fixed. That's one reason it appears he isn't getting much time. He's young though, and still getting better. I'm sure it'll be corrected.

Romo... that pass when he was pressured was just stupid. That crap needs to stop.

Yeah - neither impressed. I noticed the whole Henson snap/backdrop last week, and it was no better this time. The INT was a young player mistake - often times QBs with little NFL experience get caught trying to beat the cover 2, only to find that DBs are really, really fast in the league. Not an excuse, but it happens. Regarding Romo's throw that was nearly an INT- I thought of one thing:

Quincy's jump throw when he got into trouble. I screamed. Out Loud.

- I think the reason we didn't see TyTo is cuz BP wanted to see how Barber did with a "Heavy" workload. Barber failed the test, IMO. Fumbling twice (he recovered the other one in the air). Barber may be on the bubble. Don't be surprised if the roles are reversed next game, and TyTo is the one getting a "heavy" workload.

I still Barber has ability - the guy is fluid, perhaps even too quick for his own good. I like him as a spell. But I agree - he has to get that fumble thing under control.

Regarding Thompson - has it occurred to anyone that perhaps Parcells wants to see Thompson's reaction? He does have a history of attitude (bad ones) - perhaps Parcells is curious about what his tude will be after tonight.

- We can't run screens for s**t.

Rack=Rocket Scientist

- I think Polite makes this team.

I do too - he has ability with the ball in his hands. I'd like to see him as a replacement to Anderson, who I thought was a weapon. I like those utility guys, and he is learning the art of blocking very well.

- Crowder right on teh bubble. I don't think he'll make the team though cuz he didn't get many reps at WR.

I'd love to keep him, because he is a beast with speed on STs. But I worry that we won't have a place for him - our offense is gonna be tight with the RBs and TEs we will want to keep - we can't afford that many WRs.

- If we keep 4 TEs and 1 FB, then we're either only keeping 3 RBs or 5 WRs. I think we'll end up keeping 4 RBs so Key, TG, Crayton, Copper, and ??? are you WRs. Yes, I'm saying Morgan gets cut. He's running as the 4th WR right now, and he doesn't play special teams. All that speed, all that size... doesn't matter if he can't catch the friggin' football. Half of me thinks Crowder will make it, the other half thinks he won't. It's probably gonna depend on what he does in the next two games. I bet that's a position Parcells won't make a decision on till the very end.

I'd like to see Merritt and Crowder make it - but Copper is better at Gunner than anything Merritt does at STs, so I think it is Copper and Crowder as 4 and 5. No, I am NOT comfortable with that, but Crayton makes it palatable.

- Bledsoe looked better. That pass to Witten should of come WAY earlier though. It wasn't almost INT'd cuz the safety "baited" him as Madden said, it was almost INT'd cuz it was late. That pass should of been in the air before Witten made that move on Trufant (and made him look silly). Bledsoe needs to do a better job anticipating when his WRs/TEs are gonna get open.

Only saw that last drive, but his footwork was much improved.

- I see all this talk about Ware, and rightfully so, but Thornton had a good game too. A real good game IMO. I think we'll be fine with Ware and Thornton at WOLB.

I hope his knee holds up - I like him. He seems more comfortable as a LB than Ware, at least at this point, and stays in the backfield. His technique is solid, he just doesn't have the high octane motor that Ware has. Very good that we got him though, because he will spell Ware nicely.

- Thomas Johnson looked good again. I think he makes the team, and Carson is sent packing. Carson has more experience, but I still think "Pepper" is a better NG.

I can agree with that - but another observation - Kenyon Coleman looked good as well. I am very, very impressed with his ability as a 5-tech end in the 3-4. It makes it MUCH easier to stomach the temp loss of Spears. He holds blocks and STILL gets into the backfield.

- Dat had a good game, but he needs to be more in control when he's about to get a sack. We need to get the QB on the ground when we get a hand on him.

I agree - but that is just Dat being Dat. The pressures may be all we can hope for - he may just never be a true blitzer. Hopefully he sneaks back into coverage more often than he runs forward....

- Overall, the pass rush still needs work. Hasselback still tore our secondary apary, mainly in the middle of the field. Which means our LBs need to get into their drops faster then they are.

Sure it does, but it is light years ahead of where it was last year. I also think we are keeping it vanilla for preseason (at least I hope). I expect more zone blitzing/stunts, etc. during the season. Even technique on rushers was vanilla (LOTS of bullrushing).

[/quote]
- Another good game by McBriar.[/quote]
If he stays this way for a while, he will be a probowler.

- Don't get excited about Cortez. He WILL choke when it counts.

Don't worry...I'm not.

- Ware was exhausted at the end of the game. It's understandable being that he played the whole game, but we need him to be able to be 3rd string tackles for sacks in the 4th quarter. BP needs to let up on him a bit in the next couple of preseason games, IMO.

It's also understandable because we played a lot more 4-3 this game (note - last game, we played a lot of four down lineman, but that was mostly nickel, not 4-3, and Ware wasn't down). Ware played end quite a bit in this game, and bull rushed more than he didn't. I hope that isn't the plan for him in the reg season, though I suspect it isn't. Parcells has already made mention of that. I think this was more some sort of evaluation.....I'm not concerned.

 

[big dog cowboy]

I say either Tucker starts or we sign a FA.

I'm not to crazy about either option.

 

[Sarge]

I thought Petitti did hold his own. I only saw 2 plays where he missed the block on a stunt. This was his 1st game to start. I thought he did pretty good.

Agreed, Pettiti was not 'horrible.' When he had his man - he blocked him. He needs to learn how to pick up the blitz better and recognize stunts better but the fact is, when he was one on one, he blocked his man well.

This is going to happen - you can't expect miracles from this kid. He showed me, at least, that he has the intagibles to make it.

 

[Natedawg44]

The drop back is one of the biggest things that separates how Romo and Henson look in the pocket. Romo just gets back there so much faster. All in all though I don't think anyone can be completely confident in the QB situation.
MB3 runs with a good forward lean and is shifty but fumbling is the quickest way to Parcells dog house. It seems Julius had a very similar outing last year in the preseason. Barber definitely deserves a little more patience.
I'm not sure who was more invisible last night Greg Ellis or Al Singleton.

 

[Longboysfan]

The Excellent - Ware.

The Good - Julias - when he got into the flow of the game.
Petitti - when not facing the stunts.
Beriault - on a mission
Crayton - effort - good routes - gets open
A Train - but it was against the second stringers
Glover - too quick for most Centers

The bad - Defense against the pass.
Quincy Morgan

And still to come Canty, Spears, Burnett.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Yea, right, how disappointing !

Our 6th or 7th round rookie, playing in just his second pre-season game, after switching from his normal left tackle to the right, didn't play a perfect game.

Man, he sucks, he needs to pick it up.

 

[Little Jr]

I thought I heard Al Michaels say it was 3rd and long. Either way, it doesn't excuse Polite from dropping that pass.








Taking it to the extreme, huh? Who said anything about perfection? I wouldn't of minded Petitti getting beat PHYSICALLY a couple of times, but when you completely blow your assignment and don't even KNOW who you're supposed to block and it results in a defender coming full speed at our statue for a QB then it tends to bother me a bit. At least KNOW who to block. That's the most important thing.






And any team that has on OL person missing 2 assignments per half on a regular basis doesn't have a very good offense and/or that OL got his a** benched. Which is what will happen to Petitti if he doesn't get it together. I still don't think he's good enough to start the season at this point. Maybe he'll make a dramatic improvement over the next couple of weeks. Who knows. IMO, Tucker played better then him today (although Tucker did go against backups). But that doesn't make any difference when referring to the kind of mistakes were made. Those mental mistakes would of showed up vs starters, backups, whatever.


You think Bledsoe will have any time to throw the ball against the Giants or Eagles with Strahan and Kearse coming off the edge with Petitti out there? And if we have to keep an extra blocker in too often to help him out it already hurts our offense, plus that extra blocker can be nullified if the blitz at him, just to help free up Strahan/Kearse.


I say either Tucker starts or we sign a FA.

I'm the oppposite. I rather see a rookie make a few mental mistakes than to get beat physically. It doesnt do no good to know who to block if you cant block them anyway.


I wouldnt call a rookie missing 2 assiginments in the 2nd preseason game a regular basis. I'll wait a couple of more games before I make full judgement on him. I still thought he played well.

 

[Rack]

Petitti didn't play "well". Period. If Flozell played exactly like Petitti played would you say he played "Well"? No.

Yes I expect mistakes like that from a rookie, but I'm not gonna say he played "Well" just because he's a rookie. Bad play is bad play, regardless of who it comes from. He needs to step it up mentally if he's gonna start at RT.

 

[Crown Royal]

Petitti didn't play "well". Period. If Flozell played exactly like Petitti played would you say he played "Well"? No.

Yes I expect mistakes like that from a rookie, but I'm not gonna say he played "Well" just because he's a rookie. Bad play is bad play, regardless of who it comes from. He needs to step it up mentally if he's gonna start at RT.

I think he played poorly too, but better than I would expect from a rookie LT playing RT. I am firm in my belief that it takes years for a lineman to develop on offense, but I think we found a player in him. I don't, however, think we have fixed the RT position just yet.

 

[Little Jr]

Petitti didn't play "well". Period. If Flozell played exactly like Petitti played would you say he played "Well"? No.

Yes I expect mistakes like that from a rookie, but I'm not gonna say he played "Well" just because he's a rookie. Bad play is bad play, regardless of who it comes from. He needs to step it up mentally if he's gonna start at RT.

Well I guess they should bench him. Put Tucker in and when he makes 2 mental mistakes bench him as well. Find the next on and bench him to if he makes a mental mistake. While we'er at it bech LA and Flo if they make mental mistake.


Jesus. It was a couple of mental mistakes by a rookie in a preseason game. The 2nd on at that. If Flo made the same mistakes I would be a little more harsh on him because he is a vet and knows better. I still would say he played well or ok.

 

[Rack]

Well I guess they should bench him. Put Tucker in and when he makes 2 mental mistakes bench him as well. Find the next on and bench him to if he makes a mental mistake. While we'er at it bech LA and Flo if they make mental mistake.

Did you have to lace your post with such and extreme amount of exhaggeration?

Doesn't really make your post desireable to respond to when you overdo it like that.

And incase you haven't been paying attention, Tucker has made like 2 total mental mistakes all training camp. YES, I'd rather have him there then Petitti. He may not be as good physicall (and that is highly debateable) but at least you won't see guys running through completely untouched very often with him in there. And I guarantee you a QB would rather have a guy that at least knows what to do, then to allow defenders coming at them full speed w/o being touched.

Jesus. It was a couple of mental mistakes by a rookie in a preseason game.

You seem to be having trouble getting the point. I'll try to make this as simple as possible for you, mkay?


I like Petitti. He's a hard worker and has some potential. But that doesn't mean he's READY to start at RT. GOT IT? Comprende? Just like I'm against throwing a QB to the wolves, I"m against throwing a RT to the wolves (which could in turn cause you to HAVE to throw one of your backups to the wolves cuz that rookie RT could get your starting QB hurt).


Of course rookies are gonna make mistakes. That doesn't make it ok if they're starters though. Starters, veterans or rookies, need to be reliable. And guys that make a ton of mental mistakes are not reliable.

Again, incase you still don't get it, I like Petitti, but if he's not ready to handle the job mentally, then he shouldn't be in there.

You guys wanna keep cutting him slack with this "he played well for a rookie" BS. I don't give a crap how long he's been in the league. Come gameday, we get ZERO points on the scoreboard for starting rookies that make mental mistakes. COme gameday he has to be relied upon. I would of rather he HELD someone then to just not know who the f**k he's supposed to block. At least with holding you have a chance to get away with it. BUt if you miss your man completely, the QB is toast. Especially our STATUE of a QB.


If you still don't understand what I'm trying to say, then you're hopeless.

 

[Little Jr]

Did you have to lace your post with such and extreme amount of exhaggeration?

Doesn't really make your post desireable to respond to when you overdo it like that.

And incase you haven't been paying attention, Tucker has made like 2 total mental mistakes all training camp. YES, I'd rather have him there then Petitti. He may not be as good physicall (and that is highly debateable) but at least you won't see guys running through completely untouched very often with him in there. And I guarantee you a QB would rather have a guy that at least knows what to do, then to allow defenders coming at them full speed w/o being touched.





You seem to be having trouble getting the point. I'll try to make this as simple as possible for you, mkay?


I like Petitti. He's a hard worker and has some potential. But that doesn't mean he's READY to start at RT. GOT IT? Comprende? Just like I'm against throwing a QB to the wolves, I"m against throwing a RT to the wolves (which could in turn cause you to HAVE to throw one of your backups to the wolves cuz that rookie RT could get your starting QB hurt).


Of course rookies are gonna make mistakes. That doesn't make it ok if they're starters though. Starters, veterans or rookies, need to be reliable. And guys that make a ton of mental mistakes are not reliable.

Again, incase you still don't get it, I like Petitti, but if he's not ready to handle the job mentally, then he shouldn't be in there.

You guys wanna keep cutting him slack with this "he played well for a rookie" BS. I don't give a crap how long he's been in the league. Come gameday, we get ZERO points on the scoreboard for starting rookies that make mental mistakes. COme gameday he has to be relied upon. I would of rather he HELD someone then to just not know who the f**k he's supposed to block. At least with holding you have a chance to get away with it. BUt if you miss your man completely, the QB is toast. Especially our STATUE of a QB.


If you still don't understand what I'm trying to say, then you're hopeless.

My post had extreme sarcasim becasue your post are little extreme.

It's a preseason game. That is what preseason games are for. To get ready for the regular season. If he is the starting RT and he's making the same mistakes in the regular season then I will be more harsh.

As far as Tucker goes. I have no problem with Tucker starting. I agree it's debateable who is more physical. Lets just say Petitti is the more physical one. I go back to what I said ealier. I rather have someone who can block than someone who knows who to block. It does no one no good if you have a RT who knows who to block but just gets man handled. It's hard to teach someone to be physical. Someone who makes a few mental errors can always watch film, read play book and other things to help them. Just like Ware. He has all the physical tools he just needs to learn the mental part of the game. That goes for all rookies. It just takes them time to adjust to the mental part of the game. They have a lot on thier plate.



BTW. If it's hard to respond to my post because of the exhaggeration. Then dont. I just think you went to extreme on this whole thread about Petitti.