2nd Pre-Season Game: Chiefs at Seahawks

[Irish Greg 2.0]

Who/what are you looking forward to seeing tonight? Supposedly, the starters (at least some of them) will get a series or two.

OFFENSE
1. I want to see Zabel take another step forward
2. I'd like to see MVS get a few touches
3. If the first team offense is in, I'd like to see a good drive with a few first downs
4. Christian Haynes seems to have lost the starting RG spot to Anthony Bradford; he needs to start showing up consistently

DEFENSE
1. Let's get some pressures and sacks
2. Looking at the back-up LBs to step up
3. Sure tackling

SPECIAL TEAMS
1. Who is going to emerge as the primary kick and punt returner?

[c_hawkbob]

I'll be paying particular attention to Olu and Sundell, both of whom are listed as first team centers on the .com depth chart. Also of interest is RG where Sundell is also listed as first team along with Anthony Bradford and Christian Haynes. It's evident from the fact that these are the only two positions on offense that have multiple names listed as 1st team that there is some serious competition going on in our interior O-line.

Defensively Boye Mafe and Derick Hall also share the first position on the depth chart at Sam LB.

[Oly]

The game starts at my bedtime on the east coast. I might watch the first series or two, but that's it.

But if I could watch, my top 2 could be bob's top 2. Certainly C and RG are the most important positions for the Hawks to get settled.

Other things I'd pay attention to if I weren't getting old man beauty rest:
—if Walker gets reps and how he looks in this offense
—how Kubiak will use the TEs. They have potential and different profiles, but they're very green
—which version of Riq shows up
—how worried should we be about the off-ball LB depth
—has Murphy made the 2nd year leap to be the kind of player we've been hoping he'd be

[NorthHawk]

Like most others I will be looking at the OL (just like I did for the entire PC/JS reign but to no avail).
I'm hoping that last week was a big step forward and not the result of the Raiders players just getting their feet under them this year.
IOL of course being of particular interest.

[Oly]

Posting after Bobo just got his TD, and now I'm off to bed.

I'm loving this run game. I've been watching Bradford a lot, and he looks...perfectly average. Which is a win. Even on the passes he's ok, although I haven't watched him every play. But the OL has this DL on its heels. And that's because...

...we have a real OC folks! Kubiak's play designs and calls are looking very good. This is good old fashioned hard-nosed football. And while the Chiefs are likely playing a vanilla scheme, I see some starters in there (maybe all of them? I don't know their roster very well). It might just be that the Hawks' offense will be good.

[River Dog]

I wasn't able to watch a whole lot of last night's game, but it was good to see Abe Lucas out there. Charbs looked great on the first drive. IMO he's a better fit for what we want to do than K9.

[4XPIPS]

It was a good game from the start till the end. I am getting excited to see how good this run game can really be going forward. As we have seen Holani consistently gets big gains from both games. I know ZC did well on the 1st drive, but this OL looks much improved. If you watch Gray on the 2nd drive, he is 5 to 7 yards deep into the 2nd level on run plays, his push is impressive, and he is showing he is a major upgrade from what we have had in recent years on the interior.

It's going to be interesting to see who and how many WRs we keep. I doubt we keep two FBs on the roster, but considering you can only dress so many on game day, it will be interesting. I have heard we may only keep 5 WRs

JSN
Kupp
Horton (looking good)
Bobo

I have not seen a lot of Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and to be honest Dareke Young looks like he has bulked up this year and put on some muscle mass. I would probably keep D Young over Marquez at this point, because I haven't seen him play as of yet.

[NorthHawk]

2 games in a row that the OL has shown the ability to produce. Like said above, it's not against all starters, but it's a big improvement in how they are working together from what we've seen the last 15 years.
The Offensive play designs are all from todays offenses playbook, and no longer held back by the Peteball philosophy. Slant blocking, lots of pre-snap motion, quick throws, using the RBs in the pass game, and more.
I only wish we had this philosophy in 2013 and beyond. The Seahawks would have won a few more SB's with Marshawn back there.

There are going to be some tough days when the season starts and as opposing defenses adjust to counter our strengths and we haven't yet seen any long ball passing game which will be needed to keep defenses honest, but the
preliminary looks make me encouraged by the changes. Sundell didn't look out of place and I thought Bradford looked pretty steady. Maybe this type of Offense is what Bradford is best suited for. What I'm really surprised at is
the OL hasn't yet looked like it's missing Charles Cross.

[c_hawkbob]

I almost wish this game hadn't gone so well. I hate getting this optimistic this early, especially based on a preseason game... but did you see the holes our RB's had to run through! Our O-line had a great game, against top tier opposition (at least early), and seemingly no matter who was in there. It looked (real time, without having digested the all 22) like all of our personnel packages worked! The same can be (and was all night) said of our RB's, but obviously your ballcarriers are gonna look better when your O-line is opening holes you could drive a truck through!

Maybe KC had an off day.

[River Dog]

I almost wish this game hadn't gone so well. I hate getting this optimistic this early, especially based on a preseason game... but did you see the holes our RB's had to run through! Our O-line had a great game, against top tier opposition (at least early), and seemingly no matter who was in there. It looked (real time, without having digested the all 22) like all of our personnel packages worked! The same can be (and was all night) said of our RB's, but obviously your ballcarriers are gonna look better when your O-line is opening holes you could drive a truck through!

Maybe KC had an off day.

Yeah, no kidding. I'll never forget in 2009, the Mora year where we went 4-0 in the preseason and ended up 5-11.

But there is a different feel about this team, especially on offense. I can't wait for September to get here.

[HawkSis]

Test…. I posted in this thread and I don’t see it.

Basically - happy to have the trenches look so good with all the preseason caveats that have already been stated.

[River Dog]

Test…. I posted in this thread and I don’t see it.

Basically - happy to have the trenches look so good with all the preseason caveats that have already been stated.

Ahh, a Sis siting! Good to see ya, Sis! Hope you stick around!

[c_hawkbob]

Test…. I posted in this thread and I don’t see it.

Basically - happy to have the trenches look so good with all the preseason caveats that have already been stated.

Well we got your test Sis, but evidently your original is lost in the ether.

Nice hearing from ya!

[NorthHawk]

Good to hear from you again, Sis. I hope you are doing well.
Many of us have been hoping the trenches would be addressed for a long time. Just maybe we can see some hope for improvement.
The cohesion along the OL is what has impressed me most even with the 2nd and later stringers in. Everyone seems to know their job and how to get it done. But the proof will be in the regular season.

[HawkSis]

It’s nice to read your comments, boys. I do miss you, too.

[Stream Hawk]

Good to hear from you again, Sis! I think most everyone is cautiously optimistic about the trenches. I for One am Very into seeing what Kubiak’s offense can do starting upfront. Excited for the regular season.
This is not the 5-11 Mora debacle, Riv. *I think?

[River Dog]

Good to hear from you again, Sis! I think most everyone is cautiously optimistic about the trenches. I for One am Very into seeing what Kubiak’s offense can do starting upfront. Excited for the regular season.
This is not the 5-11 Mora debacle, Riv. *I think?

Hehe. I sure as hell hope not.

I wasn't equating this team with the Mora squad. I was simply noting how preseason results aren't good predictors of a team's success in the regular season. But I'm with you in getting excited for the upcoming season, and that's considering that over the years, I've forced myself to take a pessimistic attitude to avoid a big letdown later on.

[NorthHawk]

But what is different this year is that there is far more cohesion along the OL and not much of a drop off in productivity as players were subbed in and out. Haven't missed Cross at all and the IOL looks much improved.