Week 9: Hawks vs Commanders

[4XPIPS]

I hate FedEx Field, it is one of the worst fields to play on, and I am hoping we can come out of this without any injuries.

Well damn, not looking too good for Love, as it has been reported he had a setback with his recovery, and there are talks that they might put him back on IR. At least we should get Spoon, Ouzts, and D. Young back for this game. I would rather have Love 100%, than lose him to a re-injury. I think he is the heartbeat of our defense, and as it looks, we are most likely playoff bound so it would make sense to shut him down for another month, with the schedule being light as it, with the only real competition from the Rams and Colts left to play, we should hold up fine for the next 10 games and have him ready. Hawkblogger believes that with the weak schedule we have, we could go 8-2, losing once to the Rams, and the Colts, and finish 13-4.

[NorthHawk]

If Love gets healthy, he can be a difference maker but hamstring injuries can linger far too long and a gut feeling from me in sports is that teams rush players back too soon in many cases so it becomes a season long issue.
I hope he heals soon.

[River Dog]

I hate FedEx Field, it is one of the worst fields to play on, and I am hoping we can come out of this without any injuries.

Well damn, not looking too good for Love, as it has been reported he had a setback with his recovery, and there are talks that they might put him back on IR. At least we should get Spoon, Ouzts, and D. Young back for this game. I would rather have Love 100%, than lose him to a re-injury. I think he is the heartbeat of our defense, and as it looks, we are most likely playoff bound so it would make sense to shut him down for another month, with the schedule being light as it, with the only real competition from the Rams and Colts left to play, we should hold up fine for the next 10 games and have him ready. Hawkblogger believes that with the weak schedule we have, we could go 8-2, losing once to the Rams, and the Colts, and finish 13-4.

The Commanders have been ravaged by injuries and are in much worse shape than we are. They're also coming off a short week having played on MNF and on the road last week while we're coming off a bye. This should be a slam dunk win for us: Hawks 24, Commanders 10.

I'm not getting my hopes up yet, but we're in a very good position heading into the backstretch.

[NorthHawk]

NFL Live talked about the game yesterday and they said the Seattle Defense is top 5 in most categories except against a hurry up Offense where the Seattle Defense is bottom 5. The Commanders use a hurry up Offense on a regular basis so we can expect them to do it a lot against our Defense. And with Daniels back it might be a tighter game than we expect.

[River Dog]

NFL Live talked about the game yesterday and they said the Seattle Defense is top 5 in most categories except against a hurry up Offense where the Seattle Defense is bottom 5. The Commanders use a hurry up Offense on a regular basis so we can expect them to do it a lot against our Defense. And with Daniels back it might be a tighter game than we expect.

Is Daniels back for sure? Here's the latest I've heard:

He (Daniels) didn’t play vs the Chiefs, but said he felt good at the end of last week, and could have played if needed. Quinn said the plan is for Daniels to practice fully all week, and then he will be evaluated to return to play.

Yesterday was the first day he was a full participant, so if he was supposed to "practice fully all week", he might be behind schedule.

[Aseahawkfan]

I think we can take them. They are not very good.

[4XPIPS]

NFL Live talked about the game yesterday and they said the Seattle Defense is top 5 in most categories except against a hurry up Offense where the Seattle Defense is bottom 5. The Commanders use a hurry up Offense on a regular basis so we can expect them to do it a lot against our Defense. And with Daniels back it might be a tighter game than we expect.

Is Daniels back for sure? Here's the latest I've heard:

He (Daniels) didn’t play vs the Chiefs, but said he felt good at the end of last week, and could have played if needed. Quinn said the plan is for Daniels to practice fully all week, and then he will be evaluated to return to play.

Yesterday was the first day he was a full participant, so if he was supposed to "practice fully all week", he might be behind schedule.

It has been confirmed he will start this Sunday Night, and on that shitty turf they put out, it would be risky for him, but he will start. They are also without Terry McLaurin, who is a very underrated WR. Laremy Tunsil, their starting LT may miss the game with a hamstring.

My hope in this game is to get more from the running game, as it appears Ouzts is a go, and limit the holding calls. So many good runs from K9, as they were called back from holding penalties. Also, are defensive front led by Big Cat is going to wreck their blocking and force Daniels/Mariotta to have to make plays on the run. Here are the Commanders' team rankings.

Commanders:
Offensive Passing they are 24th in the League
Offensive Rushing they are T 3rd in the League

Seahawks:
Defensive Passing we are 23rd in the League
Defensive Rushing we are 1st in the league

So our strength matches up well with their strength. Should be interesting. However, we do play better on the road.

[River Dog]

I'm not sure what that turf is like at FedEx Field. I know that it used to be horrible, but I doubt that it's in any worse shape than any other natural grass field.

I'm also not sure if the Commanders wouldn't be better off starting Mariota. The Commanders started off the season fairly decent, but have since lost 4 of their last 5 games, including their last 3 in a row.

[c_hawkbob]

Latest from Coach Mac:

Coop is out
Dereke Young is out
Soubert is out
Christian Haynes is out
BoBo is out
Coop and Jerran Reed are questionable.

Coop and BoBo just happened in practice.

*Taken from his presser so I just wrote it the way he said it, which is why not all the last names were used, not sure why he mentioned Coop as both out and questionable ...

[4XPIPS]

Latest from Coach Mac:

Coop is out
Dereke Young is out
Soubert is out
Christian Haynes is out
BoBo is out
Coop and Jerran Reed are questionable.

Coop and BoBo just happened in practice.

*Taken from his presser so I just wrote it the way he said it, which is why not all the last names were used, not sure why he mentioned Coop as both out and questionable ...

Yeah, this is sort of a weird situation we are in at the moment. We went from having a pretty healthy WR corp, to now having 2 for sure out in Dareke Young, who actually might go back on IR, and Bobo out and possibly Kupp. Not sure how after being relatively healthy all year at this position group, that after a bye week we are in worse shape. At this point, it appears Horton and JSN are the only healthy WRs that have been active to this point to dress for the game. What else is strange is that we cut Eric Saubert, and the we resigned him 2 days later, and now he is ruled out for this game. He was never listed with an injury up to this point, so we must have had a wreck of hard-hitting practices lately that got players banged up.

Not to mention some interesting things happened this week with our practice squad. Earlier this month, we signed Myles Gaskin, and then released him 2 days ago to make room for Velus Jones, who we signed off the Saints, and then yesterday we released Velus Jones and re-signed Myles Gaskin. However, earlier in the week, we signed WR Tyler Scott to our practice squad, and 2 days ago, he was signed off our practice squad to the Rams. We also had WR John Rhys Plumlee signed off of our practice squad to the Steelers yesterday. So in a 48-hour period we had two WRs signed off our practice squad.

With only have JSN and Horton(assuming Kupp is out) as the only active WRs, two of these WRs from our current practice squad will have to step up and play, it will be;

Ricky White III
Cody White
Courtney Jackson
Tyrone Broden

Not sure if it was on the radar, but having a veteran like Lockett out there unsigned this week before he signed with the Raiders, would have been a nice return to bring him back.

[c_hawkbob]

NFL Live talked about the game yesterday and they said the Seattle Defense is top 5 in most categories except against a hurry up Offense where the Seattle Defense is bottom 5. The Commanders use a hurry up Offense on a regular basis so we can expect them to do it a lot against our Defense. And with Daniels back it might be a tighter game than we expect.

Just watching NFL Live from last night and Mina is saying the opposite; that we are top three in success rate against a hurry up because we don't need to change personnel, we already play a nickel D 88% of the time because we're able to get pressure rushing 4 on a consistent basis.

Almost as hard to reconcile being top 3 in success rate while being bottom 5 overall as it is that we are getting both tidbits from the same program.

[NorthHawk]

That's interesting. They showed a graphic of the success rate and went on about it's because we tend to rotate players quite often and don't have time when a hurry up is used.
It'll be interesting to see what happens.

[burrrton]

...after a bye week we are in worse shape...

That's what's bugging me, too. This was supposed to act as a 'get healthy' period, not turn the VMAC into the land of the walking dead.

[Aseahawkfan]

How did that many people get hurt during a bye week?

[4XPIPS]

How did that many people get hurt during a bye week?

So strange, nothing was reported last week or early in the week, but all the injury designations started acting up after Wednesday's practice. Really strange, and just got an update that Love is going back on IR and is out a minimum of 4 weeks. If there ever is a time for Horton and JSN to show up, it will be this game against the Commanders. Bobo's run blocking will be missed. Maybe see a lot more Arroyo in that passing game, as he is built like a bigger WR.

[Aseahawkfan]

At least it's the Commanders, we can beat them short-handed. We'll need all hands on deck against the Rams I'm thinking.

[River Dog]

How did that many people get hurt during a bye week?

So strange, nothing was reported last week or early in the week, but all the injury designations started acting up after Wednesday's practice. Really strange, and just got an update that Love is going back on IR and is out a minimum of 4 weeks. If there ever is a time for Horton and JSN to show up, it will be this game against the Commanders. Bobo's run blocking will be missed. Maybe see a lot more Arroyo in that passing game, as he is built like a bigger WR.

All of those injuries were of the non-contact, muscle strain variety. Love was nursing a hamstring injury. It's odd that it all happened at once and in practices, but I don't think it should be interpreted as our preparation is somehow to blame.

Despite the injuries, I still like our chances in this game.

[4XPIPS]

All of those injuries were of the non-contact, muscle strain variety. Love was nursing a hamstring injury. It's odd that it all happened at once and in practices, but I don't think it should be interpreted as our preparation is somehow to blame.

Despite the injuries, I still like our chances in this game.

This even adds more to the "weirdness" of it, as you have an extra week of healing. With Kupp still unlikely to play, it's just odd to have 2 wide receivers who were healthy to play two weeks ago, and now 3 WRs are out for a game. Also, we cut and signed Eric Saubert, and he goes on IR. So the Eric Saubert thing will have to rest for another 4 weeks at least. I guess the mindset of coming off a bye week, most guys should be getting healthy and ready to play, but having a wide receiving group lose half of its depth after a bye week is strange.

Regardless, I agree our chances of winning are high, as we play better on the road. By the way, there was a report that Jalen Milroe was seen in practices running simple short routes at WR. So there may be a wrinkle to use him to help in the passing game as a short-yardage receiver. Most QBs should have good hands, and he is built like a WR. I'd rather use him that way than have him line up at QB in a gadget play that never seems to fool any defense.

[burrrton]

Man I love these throwback unis.

[c_hawkbob]

Well this is fun eh?

[Aseahawkfan]

Commanders are getting crushed. Nice. Next week is when we get a tough game.

We should let Jalen play in the fourth quarter. Rest up Darnold and get Jalen some play time. Commanders are getting crushed.

[c_hawkbob]

That's ugly injury on Daniels.

[c_hawkbob]

Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle)
Sam Darnold completed 21 of 24 passes for 330 yards.
He tied his season high with 4 touchdowns and threw 1 interception.
His passer rating for the game was 141.0, which was the second-highest rating of his season.
This was his second game in the last four with 4 touchdown passes, bringing his total to 11 touchdown passes over those four games.

I'm getting pretty comfortable with Sam as our QB myself.

[4XPIPS]

I'm getting pretty comfortable with Sam as our QB myself.

I couldn't agree more. The real test is when we take on the Rams, but as for right now, there is no question he is doing everything a franchise QB is asked to do. He has been consistently stellar thus far.

[River Dog]

I'm getting pretty comfortable with Sam as our QB myself.

I couldn't agree more. The real test is when we take on the Rams, but as for right now, there is no question he is doing everything a franchise QB is asked to do. He has been consistently stellar thus far.

I've been comfortable with Sam for the past several games. Is he our future? Probably not. Can he take us to a Super Bowl? Maybe, maybe not. But you can't complain about the job he's done so far. He's done all that we can ask for and is a big upgrade from Geno.

Irish Greg and I attended the game last night and were able to get a good panoramic view of the field, and outside a few questionable decisions, Sam's performance was spot on.

Jayden Daniels suffered a dislocated elbow on is non-throwing arm and might have ended the season. They're roasting Dan Quinn because he left a running quarterback, his franchise QB, in the game when his team was trailing 38-7 halfway through the 3rd quarter.

[NorthHawk]

It was nice to sit back and watch a game without thinking this could go either way. The Defense played great again and the WR corps really did well. I'm hoping that some of Kupps experience is rubbing off on this young group. It looks like it might be with how they got off the LoS throughout the game. I keep saying this but it's sure nice to see a proper offense instead of Peteball.

It sucks that Daniels got hurt, but it's a fine line between not giving up and protecting your franchise QB. If he wasn't injured there wouldn't be much of a discussion and even 2nd year QBs need experience.

[River Dog]

It was nice to sit back and watch a game without thinking this could go either way. The Defense played great again and the WR corps really did well. I'm hoping that some of Kupps experience is rubbing off on this young group. It looks like it might be with how they got off the LoS throughout the game. I keep saying this but it's sure nice to see a proper offense instead of Peteball.

It sucks that Daniels got hurt, but it's a fine line between not giving up and protecting your franchise QB. If he wasn't injured there wouldn't be much of a discussion and even 2nd year QBs need experience.

IMO the 'fine line' wasn't that fine. Daniels was just coming off a hamstring injury where he had missed multiple games, and he has an inbred instinct to run, indeed carried the ball 10 times last night. The Commanders were down by 31 points midway through the 3rd quarter. The game was effectively over at halftime. I wouldn't have pulled the entire starting lineup, but certainly those who were either dealing with injuries or were judged to be overly susceptible to them should have come out. Daniels is their franchise quarterback and wasn't playing all that well anyway. IMO Quinn should have sit him at the start of the 2nd half and put in Mariota.

After Daniels left the game, his replacement Marcus Mariota didn't attempt a single pass, and that's considering that they scored a TD jsut a few plays after Mariota entered the game. That tells me that Quinn had given up on the game well before Daniels sustained his injury.

Viewing the game from the upper level and knowing that he was coming off a hamstring pull, at first, I thought he had sustained a leg injury, which could have been career altering if not career ending. Fortunately for him and the Commanders, it was his left or non-throwing elbow that he injured. He may not play the rest of the season, but it shouldn't affect his career.

As I knew he would, Quinn is taking a huge amount of heat today for his ignorance, and it might end up costing him his job. When Daniels went down, the fans in the stands were livid and calling for Quinn's head, and I don't blame them a bit.

[River Dog]

Just to follow up the comment about the Daniels injury as it relates to Dan Quinn, to his credit, Quinn manned up and took complete responsibility for Daniel's injury:

While Quinn initially talked around the issue Sunday, the coach took a more direct approach Monday, telling reporters, "I've been thinking about it nonstop too, and, man, I missed it. ... That is 100 percent on me."

"The hindsight, you don't want to think that way where an injury could take place," Quinn said. "We were more conservative in that spot, to run and handoff and not have reads to go. Just the end result, I'm bummed."

The quarterback sustained the injury on what appeared to be a run-pass option (RPO) play. Daniels faked the handoff to running Chris Rodriguez. While it looked as if Daniels would try and pass for a touchdown, his plans may have changed after Seahawks linebacker Boye Mafe blew past the line and got into the backfield. Mafe's pressure caused Daniels to run the ball. He was tackled by linebacker Drake Thomas short of the goal line. As Daniels went to the ground, he put out his left arm to brace his fall. That's when Daniels sustained the gruesome injury.

https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/breaking-n ... 38638.html

[Aseahawkfan]

Looks like Riverdog and Irish Greg keep their streak alive. Must have a been a great team to watch besides the ugly injury.

[River Dog]

Looks like Riverdog and Irish Greg keep their streak alive. Must have a been a great team to watch besides the ugly injury.

We were pretty far away and only saw the injury on replay. Knowing that Daniels was coming off an injured hamstring, I assumed that he had a leg injury and didn't realize until the next morning that he had dislocated his left elbow.

And I'll say this about the venue. In comparison to some of the NFL stadiums we've been to, Seattle fans have it great. The Commander's stadium, formerly FedEx Field and now called Northwest Stadium, was essentially in the middle of nowhere, with very few restaurants/bars/hotels within walking distance of the stadium, and getting to and from it was a b!tch. Seattle's venue is great, with lots of stuff in the downtown area, with light rail that goes directly to the airport and Amtrak a few minutes' walk away, a ferry terminal within a 1/4 mile, and two major freeways converging at the stadium district.

And yes, IG and I kept our streak alive, now up to 10 in a row. But we'll likely have to wait until next season to extend it.

I'm pretty excited about this team. I'm trying to bridle my optimism, telling myself that I'm waiting to see what happens in 1.5 weeks after we face the Cards and the Rams. If we go 8-2, I'll have both feet on the bandwagon.

[Aseahawkfan]

We were pretty far away and only saw the injury on replay. Knowing that Daniels was coming off an injured hamstring, I assumed that he had a leg injury and didn't realize until the next morning that he had dislocated his left elbow.

And I'll say this about the venue. In comparison to some of the NFL stadiums we've been to, Seattle fans have it great. The Commander's stadium, formerly FedEx Field and now called Northwest Stadium, was essentially in the middle of nowhere, with very few restaurants/bars/hotels within walking distance of the stadium, and getting to and from it was a b!tch. Seattle's venue is great, with lots of stuff in the downtown area, with light rail that goes directly to the airport and Amtrak a few minutes' walk away, a ferry terminal within a 1/4 mile, and two major freeways converging at the stadium district.

And yes, IG and I kept our streak alive, now up to 10 in a row. But we'll likely have to wait until next season to extend it.

I'm pretty excited about this team. I'm trying to bridle my optimism, telling myself that I'm waiting to see what happens in 1.5 weeks after we face the Cards and the Rams. If we go 8-2, I'll have both feet on the bandwagon.

Cardinals I'm not worried about at all. If they can beat the Rams with a healthy or mostly healthy Stafford, that will improve my view. We're playing a super weak schedule getting wins against some of the worst teams in the NFL. Rams are a much better team. If you want to contend, you gotta beat the other contenders or play them real tight. Feasting on weaklings doesn't make you strong.

[burrrton]

I assumed that he had a leg injury and didn't realize until the next morning that he had dislocated his left elbow.

Watching on TV, you could tell something happened in real time (awkward movements or something), then they replayed it and it was stomach turning (not Theismann bad, but bad).

[Aseahawkfan]

Watching on TV, you could tell something happened in real time (awkward movements or something), then they replayed it and it was stomach turning (not Theismann bad, but bad).

I did not want to see this at all. I heard about it and did not look for the video. That type of stuff makes me sick.

[burrrton]

I did not want to see this at all. I heard about it and did not look for the video. That type of stuff makes me sick.

Man, I hear ya. I regretted seeing it.

[River Dog]

I assumed that he had a leg injury and didn't realize until the next morning that he had dislocated his left elbow.

Watching on TV, you could tell something happened in real time (awkward movements or something), then they replayed it and it was stomach turning (not Theismann bad, but bad).

I remember Lawrence Taylor when Theisman suffered his gruesome injury immediately waiving for the medical staff to come onto the field. He said later that he could hear the bone snap.

When I first saw the replay on Daniel's injury, I wasn't paying any attention to his arms. I was focused on his legs, and I think it was his left ankle looked like it got twisted so I assumed that it was his ankle that was injured. But the other guys with me all saw the elbow getting dislocated, so I was the only one that was out to lunch.

Tyler Lockett suffered a pretty gruesome leg injury a number of years back and came back from it.