CowboyChris
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I was visiting a Seahawk site to see what they are saying about yesterday, ran across this excellent post.
I think we just saw the defining game of the 2014 NFL season. Not a passing of the torch per se, but a reminder that every NFL season is a new year and that you should never trust preseason predictions too heavily.
Dallas came into one of the hardest places to play in NFL history. They had a punt blocked for a TD. They had two turnovers. Those three plays basically spotted Seattle 17 points. The Cowboys had some brutal penalties too. They had two holding calls that wiped out big plays, (the second of which was overcome with a game altering 3rd and 20 conversion). And they had another penalty at the very end of the game that gave Seattle a last gasp they should have never had.
Seattle was relatively mistake free. Penalties were basically around their season average, and they didn't turn the ball over for the first 59 minutes.
And the Dallas Cowboys still won by a TD despite all that.
I don't know what it is that I hate the most about NFL fandom. But if I were to make a top five list, somewhere on that list would be fans complaining about playcalling after a loss and then calling coaches geniuses after a win. It's often pretty dumb and unfailingly annoying. There are, occasionally, moments when playcalling really truly was a big reason the Hawks lost, and today was one of those days.
Bevell has been trying too hard for some time now, and finally against a well prepared team it finally bit him in the ***. It felt like a game like this on offense was coming for some time, despite the effectiveness of the offense in previous games. You can only be cute on offense for so long before a well coached team solves it.
I would really hope that this game forces Pete to look in the mirror and get the offense back to the fundamentals. Lynch had just 2 carries at halftime, and just 10 carries for the game. Lynch averaged 6.1 yards per carry, over a yard more than Russell Wilson averaged per pass attempt. If that doesn't scream for a meat and potatoes offense, I don't know what would.
I don't want to blame Harvin. To the eyeball test, he looks just fine. But the results this year have been mostly awful. He can't even get kickoffs to the 20 yard line.
I think it's fine to hit the panic button on Seattle's secondary, especially with Maxwell having a high ankle sprain. This pass defense just hasn't been the same under the new rules emphasis, as was widely predicted. I applaud Carroll for putting Sherman on Dez after the Maxwell injury. Unfortunately, the move exposed Sherman as a player that is now clearly having a down season.
It also appears in my highly amateur analysis that pretty much every NFL team seems to have solved Seattle's cover 3 at this point. Even the teams that lost to Seattle were running cover 3 beaters pretty effectively.
But at the end of the day, I think Seahawks fans have largely been guilty of underestimating what very well might be the NFC's best team in 2014. They have an elite RB, a very efficient QB, a true #1 WR, a good TE, the consensus best OL in the NFL, and a vastly improved pass defense. Make no mistake, the Cowboys stunk before 2014, and they might stink in 2015, but in 2014 they are a powerhouse in the NFC landscape. In the NFL, a lot can happen in any given season.
Even if you disagree and still don't buy into Dallas (I don't know what it would take to convince you, but anyway), you have to give their coaching staff a ton of credit for attacking the weaknesses of Seattle's defense and having the perfect game plan to counter Seattle's triple threat offense. In particular, I was very impressed by the play of their secondary. It seemed as if every Wilson pass was to a well covered target. Now, part of that is Wilson visually missing open receivers (and at least a few times today, that was a problem). That said, I suspect that the all-22 won't show a ton of Seattle receivers being wide open in this game. It seemed like Dallas just ran with man coverage, spied the QB with a LB, and did a great job of it.
It's rare that I'll put most of a loss on the coaches, but this was one of those rare times. Even though the score was a lot higher, this game reminded me a lot of the Arizona loss last year. Arizona dominated and barely won thanks to a ton of turnvers, and they dominated because they won the coaching battle so decisively. Pete and his staff have a lot to answer for after this game no doubt. But I am thankful that this is a fairly uncommon occurrence, and I think the Dallas coaching staff deserves all the praise they get this week. Hell of a job by them.
Last year, there were four games that felt like a loss the whole way. At Houston, At St. Louis, Tampa, and Arizona. Seattle was 3-1 in those games. Which is a miracle.
This year they've had two of those kind of games that felt like a loss the whole way. San Diego and Dallas. Seattle is 0-2 in those games.
I have a theory for this discrepancy. Last year, Seattle could lean on their defense to win games. This year, they simply cannot, and their offense, while pretty good, is not currently built to score on command. Seattle had three chances to win or tie in both losses at the end of those games, and failed to produce almost any offense on any of those possessions.
The part about being unable to score on command is yet another reason why I think Seattle needs to get back to the fundamentals. Run the ball. And take shots a little more often in the passing game.
As long as Seattle strays from the fundamentals and plays pourous pass D, I can't see this team being any better than 10-6. These concerns are not new, and if the whole season plays out without things changing, I would honestly welcome a wildcard berth.
I think we just saw the defining game of the 2014 NFL season. Not a passing of the torch per se, but a reminder that every NFL season is a new year and that you should never trust preseason predictions too heavily.
Dallas came into one of the hardest places to play in NFL history. They had a punt blocked for a TD. They had two turnovers. Those three plays basically spotted Seattle 17 points. The Cowboys had some brutal penalties too. They had two holding calls that wiped out big plays, (the second of which was overcome with a game altering 3rd and 20 conversion). And they had another penalty at the very end of the game that gave Seattle a last gasp they should have never had.
Seattle was relatively mistake free. Penalties were basically around their season average, and they didn't turn the ball over for the first 59 minutes.
And the Dallas Cowboys still won by a TD despite all that.
I don't know what it is that I hate the most about NFL fandom. But if I were to make a top five list, somewhere on that list would be fans complaining about playcalling after a loss and then calling coaches geniuses after a win. It's often pretty dumb and unfailingly annoying. There are, occasionally, moments when playcalling really truly was a big reason the Hawks lost, and today was one of those days.
Bevell has been trying too hard for some time now, and finally against a well prepared team it finally bit him in the ***. It felt like a game like this on offense was coming for some time, despite the effectiveness of the offense in previous games. You can only be cute on offense for so long before a well coached team solves it.
I would really hope that this game forces Pete to look in the mirror and get the offense back to the fundamentals. Lynch had just 2 carries at halftime, and just 10 carries for the game. Lynch averaged 6.1 yards per carry, over a yard more than Russell Wilson averaged per pass attempt. If that doesn't scream for a meat and potatoes offense, I don't know what would.
I don't want to blame Harvin. To the eyeball test, he looks just fine. But the results this year have been mostly awful. He can't even get kickoffs to the 20 yard line.
I think it's fine to hit the panic button on Seattle's secondary, especially with Maxwell having a high ankle sprain. This pass defense just hasn't been the same under the new rules emphasis, as was widely predicted. I applaud Carroll for putting Sherman on Dez after the Maxwell injury. Unfortunately, the move exposed Sherman as a player that is now clearly having a down season.
It also appears in my highly amateur analysis that pretty much every NFL team seems to have solved Seattle's cover 3 at this point. Even the teams that lost to Seattle were running cover 3 beaters pretty effectively.
But at the end of the day, I think Seahawks fans have largely been guilty of underestimating what very well might be the NFC's best team in 2014. They have an elite RB, a very efficient QB, a true #1 WR, a good TE, the consensus best OL in the NFL, and a vastly improved pass defense. Make no mistake, the Cowboys stunk before 2014, and they might stink in 2015, but in 2014 they are a powerhouse in the NFC landscape. In the NFL, a lot can happen in any given season.
Even if you disagree and still don't buy into Dallas (I don't know what it would take to convince you, but anyway), you have to give their coaching staff a ton of credit for attacking the weaknesses of Seattle's defense and having the perfect game plan to counter Seattle's triple threat offense. In particular, I was very impressed by the play of their secondary. It seemed as if every Wilson pass was to a well covered target. Now, part of that is Wilson visually missing open receivers (and at least a few times today, that was a problem). That said, I suspect that the all-22 won't show a ton of Seattle receivers being wide open in this game. It seemed like Dallas just ran with man coverage, spied the QB with a LB, and did a great job of it.
It's rare that I'll put most of a loss on the coaches, but this was one of those rare times. Even though the score was a lot higher, this game reminded me a lot of the Arizona loss last year. Arizona dominated and barely won thanks to a ton of turnvers, and they dominated because they won the coaching battle so decisively. Pete and his staff have a lot to answer for after this game no doubt. But I am thankful that this is a fairly uncommon occurrence, and I think the Dallas coaching staff deserves all the praise they get this week. Hell of a job by them.
Last year, there were four games that felt like a loss the whole way. At Houston, At St. Louis, Tampa, and Arizona. Seattle was 3-1 in those games. Which is a miracle.
This year they've had two of those kind of games that felt like a loss the whole way. San Diego and Dallas. Seattle is 0-2 in those games.
I have a theory for this discrepancy. Last year, Seattle could lean on their defense to win games. This year, they simply cannot, and their offense, while pretty good, is not currently built to score on command. Seattle had three chances to win or tie in both losses at the end of those games, and failed to produce almost any offense on any of those possessions.
The part about being unable to score on command is yet another reason why I think Seattle needs to get back to the fundamentals. Run the ball. And take shots a little more often in the passing game.
As long as Seattle strays from the fundamentals and plays pourous pass D, I can't see this team being any better than 10-6. These concerns are not new, and if the whole season plays out without things changing, I would honestly welcome a wildcard berth.
