NorthHawk wrote:Two points is all that matters but we didn't "Win" this game rather the Broncos lost it.
Another poster talked about Hackett's decision on the last drive and I think ASHF was probably right in implying that Hackett wasn't ready for being the HC.
The Broncos went out and got Wilson who has the most comeback wins in the last decade and then decided to play it safe to ensure a 64 yard FG. What the
hell was he thingking - maybe ASHF was right about him. As well they were down at the goal line 3 times and came away with 3 points. That leads to another
problem with them not playing their starters at all in pre season. And it came back to bite them, much to our pleasure. It might have been OK if the team had
a couple of years playing together in the new system but it's obvious that real playing time counts in the pre season games when new systems are introduced.
I think that's our Offense this year. 17 points will be the norm so our Defense better be ready to win games for us. We can't rely on penalties at crucial times
in drives to extend posessions going forward. The young Tackles played pretty well and will continue to be tested by better players, but it will only make them
better for the years to come. Geno is Geno and he won't be able to win games by himself so it will be on the Defense to hold them down.
The Defense was being gouged by huge 1st down runs most of the game, so that has to be addressed and the secondary might even be better without Adams.
For a late draft pick, Wollen looked pretty good but the youth and inexperience showed up a few times. They still have some learning to do but their development
should coincide with the OL on the other side becoming very solid. Add in a top QB and we might be a force once again.
Fnally Special Teams played pretty well last night. They looked pretty shaky in the pre season but did well when it counted.
Rookie head coaches like any rook has to learn the hard way. Now we'll see if Hackett is any good based on how he responds to adversity. The head coaches that are going to make it in NFL step up when they get stepped on.
Pete Carroll is a great head coach right now because he put his time in the trenches learning from all his mistakes and setbacks to get where he ended up. Hackett has to go through that process. If he's got the mettle and intelligence to be a head coach, then he'll get better from this. If he doesn't, then Denver will be in the market for a head coach again.
We had a lot of advantages going into this game:
1. Homefield with angry 12s.
2. Rookie head coach preparing for a game on an enemy field.
3. New defensive scheme no one had film on.
4. Geno played all preseason in a QB competition where he had to step up his game to win against Lock.
5. Denver QB Russ learning a new offense and having to build timing and touch with his receivers with no preseason games played and just practice.
6. Defensive head coach who knows the opposing QB better than anyone in the league who prepared a game plan to stop Russell.
We play Denver midseason, may have been a different story. But for this early game, we had a lot going for us and we took advantage to squeak out a 1 point win.
Then we just got some luck and a lot of penalties from an unprepared Denver offense in a noisy opponent field. All of this to squeak out a 1 point win. I'll take it, but it was not impressive. If we had a better QB, we would have blown out Denver with the same advantages.
And we won't have these advantages in any other game. So we'll see how this goes from here on out.