Whats up with the D?

[LTH]

Clearly the D has picked it up a bit... No question about that... Im not an X's and O's guy but it looks to me as though they have made some adjustments to the scheme...I think Carroll is showing our division a different looks... Might be something to the Seahawks play up to there competition..

Thoughts?

LTH

[RiverDog]

For one, we've been getting some bodies back and healthy. Reed was out for the first 6 games. Jefferson and Ziggy are now healthy. The recent addition of Diggs has helped, too.

It hasn't hurt that the last two games we've played some pretty pedestrian quarterbacks. That performance out of Wentz yesterday was horrible.

[c_hawkbob]

It looks like he may be mixing up his zones on the back end a bit, but much of that, at least for yesterday, may be specific to the team we went up against. They were without any zone busting players at WR so we could slip into an occasional Tampa 2 without worrying about getting torched down the seam.

It'll be interesting to watch going forward though, maybe Quandre Diggs is the factor Pete was building him up to be in his post game:

“He’s doing stuff. I’m really excited about him,” Carroll said. “As a good player that’s got experience and good wherewithal and all that, he helps other players. He’s doing it. The confidence that comes from knowing he knows the game and knows what’s going on.”

Carroll said the rest of the defense is feeding off what Diggs brings to the table.

“It’s the factor that really good players bring. Guys around them play better,” Carroll said.

Diggs cost the Seahawks only a fifth-round draft pick. Some fifth-round picks don’t even make the team, or play only sparingly. The Seahawks’ 2020 fifth-round pick has already made an impact.

https://sports.yahoo.com/quandre-diggs- ... 56641.html

[trents]

"He's doing stuff" and . . . "he's a player that's got good where with all."

What does any of that mean? Pete is the master of imprecise, no real content communication. It must mean something in his own mind but doesn't communicate anything with substance in mine.

[c_hawkbob]

Wherewithal is one word and it means basically that he has what it takes to accomplish what needs to be done. He's getting things done that the defense has been needing done and he's raising the level of play around him.

Pete's talks in simple terms but I don't think he's that hard to decipher.

[NorthHawk]

I think it's 2 things.
1) Diggs settling the Safety positions and DB's in general
2) Jarran Reed rounding into form on the DL.

This has allowed the younger DBs to be confident in their coverages and given the DL a chance to get a push up front
that they didn't have earlier in the season.

[jshawaii22]

Ziggy had his best game yesterday, too. First time all year his name was called a bunch of times near the QB. If Clowney comes back healthy, which is now questionable, the D could be a force at the end of the year.

[RiverDog]

"He's doing stuff" and . . . "he's a player that's got good where with all."

What does any of that mean? Pete is the master of imprecise, no real content communication. It must mean something in his own mind but doesn't communicate anything with substance in mine.

You're right, on a lot of occasions, Pete will talk a lot but not say anything. Unlike someone like Belichick, he has an aversion to giving simple 3 or 4 word answers (The Cleveland press used to complain about Belichick answering "I don't know" or "yea, maybe" and leaving it at that) and feels the need to juice things up.

But as Cbob pointed out, after you've listened to him as long as we have, you can decipher his code and figure out what he's saying. Sometimes it requires listening to his tone of voice or witnessing his body language. He rarely says anything even slightly critical of a player, and when he does, he'll phrase it like "he has some work to do on ball security". Sometimes, particularly immediately following a big win, you have to take what he says with a grain of salt as he can be like a 5 year old on a sugar high, my favorite example being "we're going to build around Tavaris (Jackson)" which he told a national audience following a regular season win during his 2nd season with us.

[Hawktawk]

The D has been night and day last 2 weeks. They were somewhat opportunistic all year in terms of trying to turn people over but now they are raising hell in the backfield. The new safety Diggs has been in on some plays and safety play is so key in Pete's scheme. Flowers had a great game. Shaq has been really good. Mcdougal obviously.The linebackers are starting to earn their money.

I was shocked how well they played without Clowney. What is the latest on his injury? I haven't heard an update.

To be fair to Wentz and Russ for that matter that wind was playing hell with the passes, more down wind than into the wind it looked like, perhaps causing some of the overthrows like the horrible one to Hollister and the one Wentz air mailed on that little wheel route in the red zone.

Either way 9-2 bring on the Vikings. Its going to take a similar defensive effort and a lot better offensive game to win this. Im glad its here on Monday night!

[RiverDog]

The D has been night and day last 2 weeks. They were somewhat opportunistic all year in terms of trying to turn people over but now they are raising hell in the backfield. The new safety Diggs has been in on some plays and safety play is so key in Pete's scheme. Flowers had a great game. Shaq has been really good. Mcdougal obviously.The linebackers are starting to earn their money.

I was shocked how well they played without Clowney. What is the latest on his injury? I haven't heard an update.

To be fair to Wentz and Russ for that matter that wind was playing hell with the passes, more down wind than into the wind it looked like, perhaps causing some of the overthrows like the horrible one to Hollister and the one Wentz air mailed on that little wheel route in the red zone.

Either way 9-2 bring on the Vikings. Its going to take a similar defensive effort and a lot better offensive game to win this. Im glad its here on Monday night!

You can't blame the wind for some of those overthrows that Wentz made. He was overthrowing little swing passes of 10 yards. Russell didn't seem to have near the trouble that Wentz was having.

The Philly fans went ballistic after Sunday's game, lighting up social media. The fans at the game were constantly booing and a lot of them were pissed (as I was laughing at their stupidity) at the Philly defense when they got a gift turnover during the a 4th quarter on an unforced fumble recovery then head into the end zone for a group celebration when they were two TD's behind. If I were the Philly DC, I would have chewed their arses royally. That team is really dysfunctional at the moment.

[jshawaii22]

He was overthrowing little swing passes of 10 yards. Russell didn't seem to have near the trouble that Wentz was having.

...except for that 'little swing pass' that Russ through 10 yards over our TE in the same end zone. I'll blame it on the wind!

[Hawktawk]

No way Russ misses Hollister by 10 feet over his head when the guy has nobody near him and Russ isn’t under particular duress. Russ throws that little soft wrist flick catchable ball with some air under it and it looked to me like the wind just carried it . Probably should have thrown a heavy dart in there keeping it under the wind .

Overall I agree with riverdog, Russ threw it better than Wentz. The TD throw was unbelievable into the wind fitting it in there. If DK doesn’t have a horrible game it’s a whole different story . That guy is starting to remind me of Darryl Turner. A big fast receiver with feast or famine hands. It’s worrisome .

[RiverDog]

No way Russ misses Hollister by 10 feet over his head when the guy has nobody near him and Russ isn’t under particular duress. Russ throws that little soft wrist flick catchable ball with some air under it and it looked to me like the wind just carried it . Probably should have thrown a heavy dart in there keeping it under the wind .

Overall I agree with riverdog, Russ threw it better than Wentz. The TD throw was unbelievable into the wind fitting it in there. If DK doesn’t have a horrible game it’s a whole different story . That guy is starting to remind me of Darryl Turner. A big fast receiver with feast or famine hands. It’s worrisome .

There's a big difference between Metcalf and DT Deep Threat Daryl Turner. The latter used to piss me off to no end with his penchant for giving up on balls. Metcalf doesn't share that attribute.

We have to give Metcalf a little bit of a break due to his not having played much in college. Once he gets a little bit more experience under his belt, he might develop more consistency in his pass catching. Jerry Rice was like that. In his first year or two, Rice was very inconsistent and dropped a lot of catchable balls, but by the middle of his career, he had as good of hands as anyone in the business.

[Hawktawk]

Good points. Metcalf never gives up which has cost a couple of turnovers. If he did wind up with Rice hands good lord
Turner wasn't put together like DK either but he could take the top off when he wanted to.

[Aseahawkfan]

DK Metcalf is going to be good I think. If he can avoid injury, I think he going to be one of Russ's go to guys. He has the physical attributes to be good. He needs more practice and work.

It's nice to have a big receiver that can run. 6'4" and 220 plus pounds with that kind of speed is rare. He puts that work, he'll be one of the best soon.

[RiverDog]

DK Metcalf is going to be good I think. If he can avoid injury, I think he going to be one of Russ's go to guys. He has the physical attributes to be good. He needs more practice and work.

It's nice to have a big receiver that can run. 6'4" and 220 plus pounds with that kind of speed is rare. He puts that work, he'll be one of the best soon.

He has a chance of being a Julio Jones/Megatron-type receiver, but as several of us noted, he needs to work on those hands. He drops too many catchable balls and has a couple of fumbles, one of them resulting in a TD the opposite way. It's something that can't be coached.

But it is exciting to have that big, physical receiver that has top end speed. Finally, JS got one of his top picks right.

[jshawaii22]

There's a big difference between Metcalf and DT Deep Threat Daryl Turner. The latter used to piss me off to no end with his penchant for giving up on balls. Metcalf doesn't share that attribute.

DK just needs to learn where he need to be body and hands wise, when the ball is coming. He's a few inches off and not getting extension to the ball. It's something that he needs to learn.

On the other side of the field, I was a little surprised we didn't utilize Josh Gordon more in the offense with Tyler Lockett obviously just a 'decoy' against the Eagles. He looks in shape and doesn't mind going over the middle, at least from his first 3 catches.

[I-5]

From what I have been seeing and reading, having a guy like Diggs back there is almost the way they describe Earl. I'm not saying Earl is replaceable (he's not, neither is Kam), but Diggs and McDougald is a pretty good facsimile.

[Aseahawkfan]

From what I have been seeing and reading, having a guy like Diggs back there is almost the way they describe Earl. I'm not saying Earl is replaceable (he's not, neither is Kam), but Diggs and McDougald is a pretty good facsimile.

Safety play is huge in the type of defense we run where we try to funnel everything to the middle middle of the field.

[RiverDog]

From what I have been seeing and reading, having a guy like Diggs back there is almost the way they describe Earl. I'm not saying Earl is replaceable (he's not, neither is Kam), but Diggs and McDougald is a pretty good facsimile.

As much grief as we've given him over some of our draft picks, we can thank John Schneider for the moves he's pulled off over the last few months that have been instrumental in our success.

[Hawktawk]

The safety Blair looks great as well although the first rounder hasnt done squat yet.With DK its all about the hands. If he doesn't become reliable catching the ball he's another physique model track star, fools gold. I hope he learns to catch because the potential is incredible but he's bobbled even some balls he catches and he cost us probably 21 points with his drops last Sunday.

As for Penney It was interesting to realize that last weekend his 13 carries were a career high. It's tough to evaluate a starting caliber back with a carry here and there because even the great ones need to warm up most of the time. But as he had shown in flashes and suddenly broke out, he has an explosiveness at the second level that few backs in the league can match. PC was gushing with praise for Penney after last week's game, said he's earned more touches so who knows, he may wind up being a great pick and putting Carson on the pine for a while to think about ball security.

I love me some Chris Carson but he's been involved with 10 fumbles in 11 games and I'm sick of it. Im guessing Carroll is too, especially if Penney can even somewhat replicate his recent performance.

[NorthHawk]

I'm beginning to notice Rasheem Green lately. He's starting to come on with pressure and making some good run defense not to mention creating turnovers.
It bodes well in the future if he can keep progressing.
I think a lot of it starts with Reed rounding into mid season form and giving the others some added juice.
It was nice to see Ansah being a bit of a factor the last couple of weeks, too.
We have a chance of having a good DL this year after all if we don't have any devastating injuries.

[Hawktawk]

Other than the one horrible lapse on the blown coverage the d played pretty well. We gave up some points but really only 23 on offense with the bizarre pick 6.That's not too bad considering we were playing a back in the top 5 in rushing and the hottest QB in the league over the last couple of months .The stats were far more dominating than the actual score.

This team is peaking at exactly the right time. 2 more road warrior games and I anticipate a 9er loss this weekend in New Orleans although I think the Rams will want to exact some revenge as the Seattle loss is where their season started to slide.Should be a fun last quarter season.

[RiverDog]

Other than the one horrible lapse on the blown coverage the d played pretty well. We gave up some points but really only 23 on offense with the bizarre pick 6.That's not too bad considering we were playing a back in the top 5 in rushing and the hottest QB in the league over the last couple of months .The stats were far more dominating than the actual score.

This team is peaking at exactly the right time. 2 more road warrior games and I anticipate a 9er loss this weekend in New Orleans although I think the Rams will want to exact some revenge as the Seattle loss is where their season started to slide.Should be a fun last quarter season.

I wasn't too impressed with our D on the Vikings opening drive of the game. I was thinking that the 8 players affected by the flu must have all been on our starting defense.

We have to clean up these mental mistakes: Last week, it was penalties, this week it was Russell's batting a blocked pass forward, clock management, poor use of timeouts, fumbles, blown coverages. Everyone has their to-do list.

Having said that, I've become increasingly optimistic with each game we've played. We can compete with any team in the league.

[LTH]

@ Riverdog

It's a loss of focus..their greatest strength is their greatest weakness...Really the difference between 10-2 and 8-4 is two missed field goals by their opponents...granted a win is a win but the mental mistakes or loss of focus is a bigger issue than most think... I think they have lots of room to grow.

That busted coverage in the 4th was a ridiculous mental mistake and the tip by Wilson was just a crazy play that should have never happened... that put 14 points on the board for the Vikes.. In a playoffs it's hard to win with plays like that...But for some reason they are able to win I think they are crazy good a team that is not playing to its potential at this point..

I share your optimism especially with the D... This D Line is picking up intensity, very tough against the run... starting to see consistent QB pressure and the secondary is starting to play well... things are coming together... this team seems to really work through adversity very well.

Really tough Game against the Rams coming up... Your right Riverdog gotta clean up those mental mistakes...Every week is a championship game( Carroll loves every second of it) the Hawks are rolling 5-0 in the last 5 games... 6-0 on the road..And they are not even playing as good as they can play they just keep getting better...

LTH