ESPN Ranks Hawks Offense 4th Worst

[burrrton]

You can post urls, ID.

[Aseahawkfan]

RW usually zones in on one receiver (primary for that play) and waits for that one to come open unless the play breaks down and they go into extended play drills. At that point he is really good at picking up the open receiver. Over the years I've documented with videos on the Blue multiple times this tendency of his. I can't post videos in this forum though.

Now to be fair, most of the years was under an offensive scheme that had all long routes (15 yards or more) before the receivers ever got to their breaks and by that time the oline was so bad that RW was scrambling for his life. Used to frustrate me so much that the Defense was getting to RW before his receivers ever got to their breaks. During that time though, RW was focused on the primary receiver only which may not have been totally his fault since he didn't know if they'd be open or not coming out of their break.

His stats say otherwise. But you keep on believing some article specifically trying to prove what you want using a few videos out of hundreds of throws. Russell will keep on building on his Hall of Fame career and making the Seahawks a perennial contender.

[RiverDog]

Agreed- I'm just saying I think it's like so many of the other RW tropes that won't go away ("He can't see over the linemen!", "He's no good from the pocket!", etc).

He's actually as good as anyone in the league at most things, and better than most in everything else.

With one exception, that being Russell's time to throw average, which is typically at or near the bottom of the league, I can agree with your statement.

[Hawktawk]

Russ had one of the more efficient seasons throwing the ball in league history last year. It was amazing that he put up 35 TDs, best passer rating, fewest picks, a perfect passer rating targeting Lockette who had 10 TDs and over 900 yards on 50 something catches. The team led the league in rushing and has 2 of those backs returning. The line is the best its been since 2013. Whoever wrote this article is high....

[RiverDog]

Russ had one of the more efficient seasons throwing the ball in league history last year. It was amazing that he put up 35 TDs, best passer rating, fewest picks, a perfect passer rating targeting Lockette who had 10 TDs and over 900 yards on 50 something catches. The team led the league in rushing and has 2 of those backs returning. The line is the best its been since 2013. Whoever wrote this article is high....

The ranking was done with Russell and the OL factored out:

To be clear, this ranking is specifically about three positions: WR, TE, and RB. It does not take into account the talent of QB, O-Line, or the offensive scheme as a whole. The assertion is that 28 other teams in the 2019 NFL have better receivers, tight ends and running backs than the Hawks, including every other team in the NFC West.

Carson was one of the better backs in the league IMO, but he's injury prone, and he doesn't have Mike Davis to share the load anymore, meaning that Penny is going to have to step up. Dissley is coming off a major knee injury. Baldwin retired. The rest of the receiving corp is thin and/or unproven.

Personally I'm more optimistic than this article than this article would lead one to believe, but the criticism is legitimate.

[obiken]

You know me Riv, I am not into Pollyannish predictions, but I really feel Penny will step up this year, or he is done as a Hawk.

[NorthHawk]

I think teams are more than ever going to focus on
stopping the run game because of the perceived view
that our pass game is suspect. I think we have to be
varied in our offensive approach early in the year to
counter it.

[obiken]

Probably true NH, but historically we have always had a harder time running the ball than passing, so I am ok with them bringing the safeties up in the box!

[RiverDog]

You know me Riv, I am not into Pollyannish predictions, but I really feel Penny will step up this year, or he is done as a Hawk.

This isn't a do-or-die season for Penny. Teams don't give up on first round picks after just two seasons.

But this is an important milestone in Penny's career and I agree with you regarding your expectations. He'll be #2 on the depth chart and will no doubt see a pretty steep increase in the number of touches over last season when both Carson and Davis played ahead of him. He only had 90-some touches last season. I'd expect him to see the ball at least 150 times or 10 times a game this year. Hopefully he doesn't turn out to be another Christine Michael.

[RiverDog]

I think teams are more than ever going to focus on stopping the run game because of the perceived view that our pass game is suspect. I think we have to be varied in our offensive approach early in the year to counter it.

Good point. That was probably one of the motivations for taking Mr. Universe, so that he can stretch the defense and keep them honest. We haven't had a true deep threat for some time, and Russell does a great job of throwing the deep ball.

[idhawkman]

I think teams are more than ever going to focus on stopping the run game because of the perceived view that our pass game is suspect. I think we have to be varied in our offensive approach early in the year to counter it.

Good point. That was probably one of the motivations for taking Mr. Universe, so that he can stretch the defense and keep them honest. We haven't had a true deep threat for some time, and Russell does a great job of throwing the deep ball.

I agree with this mostly but I also think that the first few games last year when we were trying to throw it too much was all about this same reason. So I'd be careful not to repeat the mistakes of last year if I were Shotty. (but hey, he's a pro and I'm not so there is that....)