Official Preseason SEA vs KC Game Thread

[burrrton]

Feels like the clouds are clearing (psychologically- we haven't had an actual cloud here in about 3 days, and won't again today) with the actual start of football season.

Win or lose today doesn't matter, but can't wait to see how a few guys look- Frank Clark, the O-line, etc.

What's everyone watching for today?

[NorthHawk]

Ifedi and Jarran Reed will be who I'm looking at.
Other than Rawls and Graham, where can we find out who isn't playing today?

[burrrton]

Not sure how comprehensive this is, but Kapada's list from espn.com:

"Seahawks that won't play tomorrow: OT J'Marcus Webb (twisted knee), RB Thomas Rawls, RB C.J. Prosise, RB Zac Brooks, TE Jimmy Graham, WR Kasen Williams, WR Kevin Smith, WR Deshon Foxx, DT Jordan Hill, SS Kam Chancellor, DT Sealver Siliga."

[NorthHawk]

Thanks Burrrton!
I'd also like to take a look at Evans if he gets playing time.

[MackStrongIsMyHero]

I'm curious to see how Brandon Williams and Nick Vannett perform. Both are reported to be having a good camp thus far. With Luke Willson and Jimmy Graham still there, I wonder if they try to keep all four and maybe not a fullback. It also sounds like Jimmy won't be 100% even though he is practicing. I'd hate to see him go the route of Victor Cruz, so maybe they use him sparingly.

[c_hawkbob]

We let Smith get some good work in ...

[jshawaii22]

First thing I noticed are the ex-Seahawks are on the Chiefs... at least Ware and Jaye Howard, both starters. Shows how deep we were a couple years ago.

Doesn't it seem that every year our starting D gives up a TD on the first drive?

[c_hawkbob]

Bad toss Russ

[Rambo2014]

LOL, I see nothing here, should be an easy cruise for the Rams through the division.

[c_hawkbob]

yeah, 1st quarter of the 1st preseason game, all you need to see ...

[jshawaii22]

Boykin does look like a young Russell. Except unlike Russell who played in an "NFL" offense at Wisconsin, Boykin has never been in a huddle... never called a play and seems to be doing pretty good for a UFA QB. Fast learner.

[Rambo2014]

Pretty obvious that the D is struggling.

[c_hawkbob]

Boykin, Michael and Ifedi look promising. defense looks a bit soft, but we're not scheming yet, just evaluating talent, so it's nothing to worry about.

[c_hawkbob]

Collins needs to just hit the hole, his 360 is not an asset ...

[c_hawkbob]

What's up with our DB's not getting their heads around to locate the ball?

C'mon Andre, coach these boys up!

[PTHawker]

Ifedi looks good
I like how Britt snaps the ball on shotgun.. Snappy and right to the chest.

[burrrton]

LOL, I see nothing here, should be an easy cruise for the Rams through the division.

Oh jeezus- another Preseason Lombardi guy...

Next tell us how much better KC obviously is than SEA based on this game.

[Rambo2014]

KC always has Seattles number. Sort of like the Rams. Since the Rams moved west and left me in sorrow my backup is KC.

[c_hawkbob]

Nice Hail Mary by Boykin, and I'm glad we went for two!

[c_hawkbob]

It looked like they were playing Fant at LT for a few plays ... he's the only guy I saw getting beat consistently. O-line was a pleasant surprise over all.

Chris Michael was a major bright spot!

[monkey]

I need to look again, but it seemed to me that Odhiambo got beat ugly several times as well, which is disappointing.
Still Ifedi looks very good, Britt snapped the ball well, run blocked very well, and overall did a very nice job, and our line wasn't awful.
What's more, I was pleasantly surprised by C Mike. Everyone always geeks over his pre seasons but I've never been impressed by him. Until today. He actually tried to block! He wasn't horrible at it either.
He even tried to switch the bank to the far hand a couple times... He has always looked extremely athletic, quick and elusive but today he also looked competent.
Cassius Marsh looked terrific today, as did Tyvis Powell.
I really liked what I saw from a few players today, even if overall the game w was pretty blah.

[savvyman]

Yes from what I could tell Ifedi looked very good.

Christine Michael's looked great. I really liked how he was wrapping two arms around the ball near the end of each of his runs.

There were probably other standouts - but Pete & John have me spoiled from all the big games we have participated in for the last 3 years. I found myself losing concentration on the game and surfing the internet......

[Hawktawk]

I must confess that with the 1:30 start time on a 95 degree day and being a boat owner we went on the lake and missed the game. My recording malfunctioned. The kid watched it and gave me some highlights but I appreciate any observations any of you have.
Its awesome to hear how Cmike is playing. I thought he had earned the start in Carolina last postseason. He and Rawls could be devastating.

[RiverDog]

Hey, guys, I saw this game in person from the 2nd row up from the field 20 yard line behind the Hawks bench. That last TD pass/2 point conversion happened right in front of us. Too bad it was only a preseason game!

[Hawk Sista]

Awesome, RD. Anything to report? Points of interest? I watched it, but with the Chiefs commentators. Filming was awful. Zero dialogue about our peeps (I get why, it's just hard for me to separate the wheat from the chaf on that kind of broadcast.)

A. I saw one minor injury. Any details? B. I Was pleasantly pleased w/ the 1st outing for the O line. C. Russ was just there to shake some rust off...no way he throws that lame duck pass in real life. No real shocker there. D. It looked like a NO scheming pre season game....big time. E. C-Mike, Boykin, Haushka, Ryan, Ifedi looked good. Tough to tell on some of that as they were going against pre season 3rd stringers likely to miss the team & again, no scheming/game planning. F. Special teams (receiving punts & KOs) were understandably BAD.

Other observations??

[jshawaii22]

One observation. Watching the game with the KC feed and announcers is very annoying! We usually get the preseason on one of our local stations, but I guess with the NFL network picking up the game, we get crap. I also wish you could switch camera's (like in NASCAR's web site) l'd see some of the game from the endzone, so I could see the #'s. Some of the plays, they talked right through the play and didn't give us the Seahawks players involved in plays.

[RiverDog]

Awesome, RD. Anything to report? Points of interest? I watched it, but with the Chiefs commentators. Filming was awful. Zero dialogue about our peeps (I get why, it's just hard for me to separate the wheat from the chaf on that kind of broadcast.)

A. I saw one minor injury. Any details? B. I Was pleasantly pleased w/ the 1st outing for the O line. C. Russ was just there to shake some rust off...no way he throws that lame duck pass in real life. No real shocker there. D. It looked like a NO scheming pre season game....big time. E. C-Mike, Boykin, Haushka, Ryan, Ifedi looked good. Tough to tell on some of that as they were going against pre season 3rd stringers likely to miss the team & again, no scheming/game planning. F. Special teams (receiving punts & KOs) were understandably BAD.

Other observations??

OL wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated but need to watch the replay, Russell looked great except for that one bad decision, Michael was very impressive, defense spotty but without a lot of starters (Bennett didn't even suit up but was on the sidelines). All the kickers on both teams were booming the ball, probably due to the warm temps and relatively low humidity. Very hot sitting in the direct sun but not as bad as it could have been. KC fans were awesome, would seek us out to say hello to a stranger. More 12's in the crowd than I expected. The team exploded when we scored that 2 point conversion, nice emotional boost that hopefully will carry over into camp in the coming weeks. Russell looks to be in fantastic shape, body with more definition to it and more noticeable muscle tone than in the past, I just hope he isn't too muscle bound. I want a gymnast as our QB, not a weight lifter.

I'm staying with friends, Irish Greg and his brother. Today I'm going to visit either the Negro Leagues Baseball museum or the WW1 museum, tomorrow the Truman library, head home early Tuesday. Ate some great KC BBQ last night. I've been extremely busy the last week or so, which explains my relatively few recent postings.

[obiken]

Have Fun River!!

CM looked great. I was impressed with Boykin to get the ball to people with a guy in his face. He looks good to me, how do we keep him if he improves? Its nice to know we have IMHO, a really good back up.

[burrrton]

Nothing really to add to the observations, but I just heard some of the KC feed you guys are talking about (I had the SEA announcers)- wow.

Like someone else said, you don't expect non-biased announcing when it's the other team's feed, but they seemed to be trying to referee the game from their booth, complaining about non-calls incessantly, and sounding worse than drunk superfans, like they really, *really* wanted their team to get that all-important preseason win.

That couldn't have been fun to sit through for 60 minutes...

[NorthHawk]

The OL looked surprisingly good for the first action of the year, but there were some issues with pass blocking.
Ifedi looked pretty good, but needs some work on his pass blocking which is what you would expect from a rookie. He's a mauler that can move the DL, and that's something we haven't had for a while.
On the DL, Reed looked like he's going to be a pretty good replacement for Mebane. He was rarely pushed back and seemed to always be around the ball on KC running plays up the middle.

It looks like there's going to be some tough cuts and a lot of good players going to other teams this year since we can't keep them all.

[burrrton]

The OL looked surprisingly good for the first action of the year, but there were some issues with pass blocking.

Fant was an absolute turnstile.

[Hawk Sista]

YES! The biased commentary was expected, but man it was tough to sit through. They should do 1/2 & 1/2 for national audiences as I really wanted to watch the damn game, not listen to them talk about Peters like he won the super bowl. Amazing INT, or really bad pass from RW? Depends on one's perspective and I certainly grew weary of hearing theirs.

I know the names, #s and bodies of our 53 ish guys, but wanted to see who else was contributing...or not. From the production I saw... I couldn't experience what I wanted to.

RD. Have fun; say hi to Greg

[MackStrongIsMyHero]

Fant was an absolute turnstile.[/quote]

He was, but he's never played OT before. I'm sure you are with me in thinking he's not being looked at as a starter any time soon.

[burrrton]

He was, but he's never played OT before. I'm sure you are with me in thinking he's not being looked at as a starter any time soon.

I'll cut him slack for being new to the position, but bad is bad, and yeah, I don't want him anywhere near our starting lineup (don't know how seriously he's being considered).

[NorthHawk]

One thing I wish the camera directors would stop is giving us close-ups of a player until just before the snap. I get the feeling that they think they are being real good trying to time it right, but I for one just want to see the game.
And I don't think I'm alone in wanting to see the formations and personnel before the play, especially so during preseason when I don't always know who is on the field.

[burrrton]

YES! The biased commentary was expected, but man it was tough to sit through. They should do 1/2 & 1/2 for national audiences as I really wanted to watch the damn game, not listen to them talk about Peters like he won the super bowl. Amazing INT, or really bad pass from RW? Depends on one's perspective and I certainly grew weary of hearing theirs.

Right. They were crestfallen after the hail mary, and kept complaining about some hold they saw on our RT (and I think I agree), but were strangely silent about the hold Peters put on Kearse (it was Kearse, right?) as he tried to cut before the INT.

It's preseason, guys- get a grip.

[RiverDog]

Fant was an absolute turnstile.

Fant's not a starter, I was referring to the first unit.

[monkey]

OL wasn't nearly as bad as I had anticipated but need to watch the replay, Russell looked great except for that one bad decision,

Not to pick nits but, I just have to ask, did you really mean to say that it was a bad decision, or do you just mean it was a bad throw?
I ask because, clearly it was a bad throw. It was late and behind Kearse,which was caused by Wilson quickly stepping forward and to his right just before throwing (I really am not quite sure why he did that, whether he was trying to see better, or trying to stay ahead of the pass rusher who was coming at him...I don't quite know, but it cost him his accuracy on that throw).
I definitely disagree that it was a bad decision though.

It was absolutely the right throw to make, Kearse had his guy beaten, easily. Peters was very lucky that pass was off target or that's a touchdown, because there's no way that he makes up for his getting beat if the throw was on target.
Again, not entirely sure just why Wilson held the ball, and moved to his forward/right like he did just before throwing, it screwed up his mechanics and timing. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that from his vantage, he couldn't see Kearse all that well, and was trying to get a better view before throwing.

I doubt that's a throw he makes in the regular season, or if he does, I doubt he throws it that late.
It seemed to me that the play was clearly designed to get Kearse, as the primary target, open, which he did.
After hitting Baldwin twice, and hitting a BEAUTIFUL back shoulder throw and catch to Lockett (he's going to be a star!), it seemed like Wilson was trying to force one to his buddy Kearse who hadn't caught a pass to that point.
I don't think Wilson throws that in the regular season. Though again, Kearse was open, and it was the right throw to make, but Wilson shouldn't have made it after (for whatever reason) moving to his right like he did. He should have thrown it right when Kearse broke free from Peters. If he had, it would have been a PRETTY touchdown.

Oh well, this is why they play pre season games, get those wrinkles ironed out.
For the most part though, Wilson looked good.
That back shoulder throw to Lockett was spot on! Lockett made a terrific athletic move to catch it, and then push the ball forward as he was coming down as well. A great play by those two. Can't wait to see more of that all season long!

[monkey]

The one player who I was most impressed with, was Cassius Marsh.
I was very impressed!
Marsh didn't play a lot of SLB, which makes an overall guess as to who is in the lead for that starting job, very difficult to gauge, but what he did as a pass rusher was impressive.
The weight he has lost to play LB, has made him faster. All last season, he was always a step slow on everything. I could have summed up his entire season by saying, a day late, and a dollar short.
But yesterday, he was easily our best pass rusher. Clark showed a little bit as well, though not the same as he did last year in preseason (I'm expecting big things from him this year though) , but Marsh was very, very solid.
He looked like a very nice replacement for Irvin.
I was going into it actually hoping to see Pinkins just blow everyone away, and become the obvious starter. I just want to see a guy at SLB who can play in coverage the way Pinkins ought to be able to play, since he was a safety.
Unfortunately, Pinkins wasn't very good in coverage on a couple of occasions, (where he ought to have shined), and was a mixed bag in run support.
I don't think he did enough to either cost himself the job, or to gain a foothold on it. He was just sort of up and down.
Morgan was what Morgan always seems to be, smart, good at knowing where to be and when, because of all the years in the system, but not a truly special player...sort of just a generic guy, replacement level talent wise.
Marsh, on the other hand, he was the guy I thought had the most ground to make up, because of his relative inexperience playing in coverage, but I thought that what he did as a pass rusher, must have turned some heads.
To be fair to the other two though, most of Marsh's snaps were not at SLB...which again, makes the competition difficult to call.
My best guess is, this race goes right down to the wire, and in the end, they use all three players situationally.
I highly doubt that we will miss Irvin much if at all to be honest. For some reason, the media collectively decided that losing him was going to be a big deal, but I have to be honest here, I never felt that Irvin was much more than a decent player at best. He never lived up to his draft status, and except for his rookie season, never really provided the pass rush we had all hoped. When he did get sacks, they came in bunches, which meant, he couldn't be counted on to provide steady pass rush. In run support he was usually very solid, and his speed was a nice benefit, as he was often seen running down guys from behind, but his overall play at SLB was just sort of...meh. He wasn't special in coverage, he was adequate most of the time.
I dunno guys, I think between Pinkins, Marsh and Morgan, we'll be just fine. The three together can easily replicate what Irvin did, though admittedly, it would be nice to get all three's skill sets together in just one package that wouldn't have to leave the field.
Still, I'm just not at all worried. Not even a little.
And after yesterdays showing from Marsh, I'm now slightly hoping that he ends up the starter. He'll be tough against the run, easily able to set the edge and hold it. If he can just show that he is at least adequate in pass coverage, (which I haven't seen yet either way) then he has a chance to be an UPGRADE over Irvin, because he's not as fast as Irvin certainly, but he's got the ability to become a more polished pass rusher, because he has more refined technique, better hand fighting, etc... For some reason, Irvin never really learned the finer points of pass rushing, otherwise he'd have become an absolute monster.

[monkey]

Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask you guys what you all thought it meant that Collins got so few carries?
Personally I think it's reflective of two things. 1. They've just about run his wheels off in training camp, so they needed to give him a break. 2. They already know he's making the team, he's a lock, whereas Michael still has so much more to prove.
Disagree? I can definitely see reasons to think otherwise, but that's my best guess as to why he only got like three or four carries.
What say you guys?