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A couple take aways:

1- Our defense is SO F**KING cool! gawd I love watching these guys play! And BamBam going all #29 on Megatron was an EPIC way to top that performance off!

2- That defensive performance was so sweet that it's truly a shame about KJ's brain fart (thank god the back judge didn't see it as "overt") being the only thing people will remember about the game, but it's OK, we know!

3- That may have been the worst O-line performance I've seen since the early 90's. Just deplorable. Justin Britt's playing like his feet are in concrete. We can't continue like this, for Russ' sake we've GOT to get this sorted out. If We don't he'll be used up before time to negotiate his next contract.

4a- Graham gives up on plays way too early. Hopefully it's just a matter of adjusting to Wilson, but he can't stop and stand straight up while Russ is still scrambling.

4b- On the other hand, Russ needs to trust Jimmy more. I've seen him do incredible things with balls you'd swear Breeze should never have thrown and here Russ is deciding to run for a couple yards rather than throw it to Jimmy while he's more wide open than I've seen a receiver be without a D-back falling down. That play to the near side (you know which one I'm talking about) would been at least 30 if he'd tossed it to Jimmy if not a TD ... maybe he didn't see him till he was already over the LOS (that looked like what might have happened), but even so, that's on Russ too. He's usually so aware of everything that's going on around him ...

4c- The two of them need to spend some quality time together working this sh!t out.

At least it's a win. We'll take it.

It looked to me like Jackson will be done - unless by some miracle he's only going to miss time. That was an ugly roll-up onto his leg.
I think many if not most of us learned something about batting balls in the end zone.
As usual, the Defense won the game for us, but we can't count on a great game saving play every game.
The Offense is in real trouble. It would have been a massacre if Wilson wasn't so mobile. He can't do that every game and expect to make it through the year intact.
The Bengals with Peco and Atkins might spend most of the day in the Seahawk backfield blowing plays up if things don't improve.
I keep hearing how Cable thinks this OL is very talented. I wonder if the plan is to ride out this year while they develop while hoping for the best and come on strong next year.
I can't believe that would be the case, but how else can this lack of performance be justified?

I was one of those that said, with no happiness being a prophet, that picking up a 34 year old RB was a huge waste. I like Rawls and it Lynch comes back for Cincy we will be fine.
We have to win this game otherwise we could be 2-4 in a hurry, and too far behind to catch up. Our OL has to improve, period.

5. Bevell's personnel packages need some oversight and tinkering. I was complaining about this earlier in the season when Ricardo Lockette keeps getting meaningful snaps even though he's by far the least polished receiver we have (exception of maybe Daniels and that's a maybe). Last night though he was driving me crazy.

Unless he's tapping out to get a breather, there is absolutely no conceivable reason for a package to exist where we go five wide with 4 WRs and 1 TE split out and that TE is not Jimmy Graham. Not only were they running that package last night but they took Graham off the field to do it.

What was the point of that trade if you're not going to use the weapon you got out of it? It's like Percy Harvin all over again. How do you have trouble figuring out how to use Jimmy Graham? There is no excuse for this one, you can't claim he's an unconventional player that's hard to fit into a system. Graham can fit in any system, even with his blocking deficiencies.

The play Russ made on the single TD drive....OMG.
Like Gruden said hes the terminator. Running for 15 seconds then throwing a dart then a bomb for a TD next play and he isn't even sweating. Getting smashed for 4 quarters then calmly eating the clock at the end. MOF the way they were moving the ball against a do or die Detroit Defense at the end there is no guarantee we would not have hung up a winning TD anyway.With anyone but Russ dealing with the 60 minute jailbreak we would have lost 3-0.
Defense what can you say, unbelievable.
2 and 2 I'm relieved and I can enjoy my Tuesday just fine thanks.

4 games and 0 iNT's

Uppercut wrote:4 games and 0 iNT's

One of the few positives on the "O" side.

He means no INTs for our defense.

Uppercut wrote:4 games and 0 iNT's

Yeah, I'm not too concerned with that stat. Teams simply are not testing our D downfield in tight windows. IMO, it's sort of like looking at Sherms drop in INT's last year and saying he's not playing very well. Teams have decided to not give our D an opportunity to change the game with at Turnover. They want to keep the game close because they don't fear our Offense at all. The only way to start getting INT's, IMO, is to get our offense clicking so teams have to start taking risks.

What can I add, everyone brought up the same issues I have. I said during the game that it appeared that O-Line -wise we are in a "rebuilding" mode. 3 out of our 5 starters on the O-Line are new and how many on the line are not natural O-Lineman but were converted from either the defense or in Gilliam's case he was a T.E. It would be nice if we had more than one O-Lineman who was natural instead of a project.

Tom Cable must be great at his "projects" but can he scout and draft an O-Lineman out of the college ranks??? Can he even coach players who have been O-Lineman for a bit longer than 10 minutes???

I am disappointed that our drafts have been bereft of quality offensive linemen.

The other night I watched Drew Brees throw the ball at will against the Dallas defense. Brees KNOWS how to "throw open" seemingly covered receivers, that is an area that Wilson needs to work on and quite frankly I am shocked that it isn't second nature by now.

RW likes to say "the separation is in the preparation". Well, he needs to work more on learning what a QB like Brees has known for a while now. I think things came to Russell a bit too easy his first couple of seasons and he has hit a plateau. He needs to puch past that plateau, but, he also needs the TIME in the pocket to continue to do the growing properly.

The poor execution on offense, how much is it the fault of a too immature O-Line? How much is it Wilson's fault? How much is it the fault of the receiving core? How much is it the fault of Darrell Bevell?

OK, we know it is all of the above, but to what degree is each to blame?? It doesn't matter, I am sure they are all going to work hard to get better and get their timing down pat and to get their blocking assignments correct.

Nothing can be done about Bevell until after the season, but I BEG Pete to consider bringing in a better O.C.

I believe it would do Russell a world of good to not only have a better play caller but a better coach too. I forget, just who is the QB coach anyhow? We could make a change there too. I know that sounds crazy, but Wilson needs to grow and I don't think Wilson's QB coach is doing as good a job as Russell needs.

I thought Fred Jackson was playing really well, up until he got hurt. I know some are going lament trading away CM. But, after I read about how he wasn't following his blockers and that he had not really developed as they had expected I am still glad he was traded.

It is rotten the way we have lots a lot of players at the RB position. It happens, go raid the practice squads of other teams.

Having the ability to be go out get replacement players and having the money and Cap Space was a big reason the F/O couldn't cave in to Kam's salary demands. Make no mistake about it though, as soon as the season is over and we hoist the Lombardi Trophy again K.C. is going to get a new contract and he will be the highest paid Safety if not DB in the NFL.

*sigh*

Wilson passed for almost 300 yards on a night he was sacked 6 times (remember when we used to be appalled by such things?) and pressured constantly.

There are times to criticize him, and nobody is saying he's played perfectly, but for gawd's sake, after the way our line looked last night, now is *not* the time to start waxing intellectual about how much of the struggle should be pinned on him- he's one of the few bright spots in that offense at the moment.

I'd also like to post this here, since it's not really worth its own thread:

Why the hell did Bennett bring up Paul Allen's personal worth while hollering "PAY HIM!" during Kam's interview? Does he think the issue is Paul Allen claiming he's too broke to pay Kam?

I was baffled by that. Michael is usually such an intelligent commenter- seemed out of character.

It is what it is.
I'm just glad we got the W, no matter what the network pundits say.

As for Cincy, the Chiefs did manage to move the ball on them pretty well. At least good enough to kick 7 FG's for the game.

We'll need more than 3 pts on possessions to win this thing, but we should be able to move the ball against them better than some would think. The Bengals also will be facing a tougher defense than they're used to.

This will be a very tough game, but if we can avoid turnovers, we have a decent shot here.

4a- Graham gives up on plays way too early. Hopefully it's just a matter of adjusting to Wilson, but he can't stop and stand straight up while Russ is still scrambling.

Graham is a major Liability when it comes to blocking. I don't care how good of a receiver you are... BLOCK! for F sake. I was disgusted by his lack of effort on nearly every block he attempted. He's gonna get Wilson killed. What pisses me off is he wants the ball so much but doesn't seem interested in helping someone else out. Dude doesn't seem like a team player to me and IMO isn't a good fit for the Hawks.

I think this shows that our FO doesn't "get" Offense to the same degree they do Defense.
It could be expected to a point considering Pete is a Defensive HC, but it should be obvious that a top notch OC is required to counter that Defensive bias.

What I think we are seeing with Graham is they are expecting him to be something he is not. Specifically a traditional TE who understands the position completely and is at the very minimum competent at each part. In this case, Graham is a Receiver, and not a blocking TE. If they want to change him, they will marginalize his biggest advantage and we will end up with a TE who is non productive. If they want him to chip a DE then go out on a pass route, that could work, but his primary role should be that of a WR frequently lined up in the TE position. He's already a polished diamond that doesn't need to be re-cut. Just use his strengths to the best advantage.

Distant Relative wrote:
Graham is a major Liability when it comes to blocking. I don't care how good of a receiver you are... BLOCK! for F sake. I was disgusted by his lack of effort on nearly every block he attempted. He's gonna get Wilson killed. What pisses me off is he wants the ball so much but doesn't seem interested in helping someone else out. Dude doesn't seem like a team player to me and IMO isn't a good fit for the Hawks.

If they watched tape on Graham and wanted him to block well consistently that's the fault of the front office not Graham. He needs to be out in the pattern.

Steven A Smith called our offense anemic, bland, pedestrian, vanilla.

What? Inept was taken?......

Yeah that was Skip Bayless

obiken wrote:I was one of those that said, with no happiness being a prophet, that picking up a 34 year old RB was a huge waste. I like Rawls and it Lynch comes back for Cincy we will be fine.
We have to win this game otherwise we could be 2-4 in a hurry, and too far behind to catch up. Our OL has to improve, period.

The very fact that Lynch is now hurt, and Jackson (who is a terrific third down back because of his terrific hands/route running, and his blocking) is one of the now only, two backups we have at RB, pretty much disproves your point that obtaining him was a waste though...
Imagine if Rawls got hurt. Getting Jackson was anything but a waste IMO.

How bad is Jacksons ankle?
It sure looked like it could have been a season or career jeopardizing situation the way he was rolled up on.

Ok, maybe you are right on that.

Just to clarify, we DO get to count last night as a 'win'...

If I had just landed from the moon, and read this blog, you sure wouldn't think so.

Positives:
WE didn't lose the game. A few years ago we never got any breaks, then along came Pete. Now we get breaks. I'll take it.
The back 7 of the D is playing like the back 7 of the past two years. They alone are worth 3 - 4 wins.
Our Kicking game rocks, even with the muff.
Thomas Rawls looked pretty good as a starter.
We have the best record in the NFL on Monday Night and it keeps getting better.
The "North End" of the stadium gets national recognition for having magical power over the officiating crews.
The NFL can't call our game 'boring', which was what they called our constant blowout wins, so next year we should get more home Prime Time games.


js

The good news is that we won the game, one that we should have won much easier, and that could be a wakeup call for the team that you can't just mail it in against a team you are expected to beat.

I don't think we mailed anything in- we simply had an overmatched offensive line.

It's concerning to be sure, but I think the gloomy feeling surrounding the game is due to that single weakness. If they can manage to be merely mediocre against Cincy, I think we win.

burrrton wrote:I don't think we mailed anything in- we simply had an overmatched offensive line.

It's concerning to be sure, but I think the gloomy feeling surrounding the game is due to that single weakness. If they can manage to be merely mediocre against Cincy, I think we win.

That's a pretty damn big weakness. We're talking about 6 positions, not one or two. In previous years, we could get by with a patchwork OL as we could hold in a RB or a TE to help on one or two over matched positions. We could call plays that avoided a right tackle that was getting man handled by his opponent, but we have 4 or 5 guys that are overmatched on every play, and no strong blocking TE to help. It's pathetic.

I didn't get the feeling that we mailed anything in, either. We're simply not as good of a football team as we have been in the past 3 years. The defense is as strong as ever, but we can't expect them to pitch a shutout in every game. Even against weaker opponents like the Lions, our margin for error is much smaller than it used to be. Previous year's teams would have had no problem disposing a team like the Lions.

I'm a little less optimistic about the Cincy game than you are. I think we get beat, badly, by at least two touchdowns, probably more. Unless this offense, particularly the OL, undergoes some sort of metamorphous, we are not currently a playoff team, let alone a SB contender. Pete's years long neglect of a progressive problem along the OL has finally caught up with us. As the saying goes, the chickens have come home to roost.

I hope I'm wrong, but that's the feeling I get at this moment.

obiken wrote:Steven A Smith called our offense anemic, bland, pedestrian, vanilla.

Yeah Steven A. Smith also used 11 minutes of their show to go on a diatribe about his journalistic integrity and then proceeded to threaten Kevin Durant, as if he could do anything to him

Can we finally decide just to not watch that show. They are just a couple of trolls with TV cameras.

I'm a little less optimistic about the Cincy game than you are.

Let me be more clear- I'm not that optimistic about going into Cincy, either, because I don't think the o-line is capable of performing at that mediocre level I mentioned.

In other words, I'm down on this game, too, but it's not because I doubt Russell's or Rawls' or our receivers' ability to perform- it's 100% due to the o-line.

Hope I'm wrong.

I was watching the OL last game and they did show some improvement at times, but the consistency wasn't there.
Maybe in time they will be pretty good, but will that time be early enough to help this year?
As well, if they finally do start to play well, what effect will the inevitable injuries have on the progress that might have been made to date?

It's an interesting situation in that we don't often see Championship teams do an almost total rebuild on the OL. That's usually reserved for teams that are undergoing a total team rebuild or have new coaching staffs and expectations aren't particularly high.

In the mean time, the play calling has to get better to help out and they have to give up on Graham as a blocking TE. His talents are as a receiver, so they have to use him as such otherwise they will have wasted the value in the trade.

I think we will need Lady Luck to smile on us to win this week.
Better play calling to try to compensate or take the pressure off of the OL could be a big factor providing they aren't hard headed about playing like they have for the last 2 years.
They have to forget about Graham as a blocking TE and use him for his best quality.
If they need help on the OL, use Bailey as an extra TE to help Gilliam and maybe run to that side to keep them honest. At the same time split Graham out.
I think most of us thought of Graham on pass routes to open up the 2nd level for Lynch or other RB when he was traded for.
Anything to try to get the Offense moving should be on the table.