Preseason Game 2: Donkey Show

[Danny Darko]

VS.



Game thread sponsored by: the future nostalgia of the year we had TJack at Quarterback

Game threads are back! New unis, a pair of QB upgrade options, and expectations of grandeur!


Injury update:



Seahawks-

Moffit (G)- elbow surgery sentenced to 3 weeks of the stranger while he recovers. Speaking of the stranger, (G) Jeanpierre pulled a groin. Miller (TE) concussion watch. The good news Rice is practicing again.


Doncos

we care not

Things to Watch:

1. QB's of course.
After game 1 Flynn looked ultra conservative but fairly efficient. Let's see if Danger Russ's spectacularity pushes him to open up his game a little more. Wilson of course stole the show and we shall see if he can do it again and make Pete go "hmmmmm"

2. Turbin
Not bad last week, but nothing to write home about. Would like to see him make the 1 step quick cut that turned around lynch's year last season. Really would like to see a hulk smash stiff arm and breakaway.

3. Wagner
You know what?- beyond QB this could be the single biggest position for us this year. We need the rook to call a good game or all those monsters on our D aren't going to be able to show off how good they are.

4. Bruuuuuuuce
It would be nice to see him play a little more and to seal his first preseason sack. I think it's funny how hard people railed on PC for this pick and how even before the titans opening game the media changed their mind and declared him a 10 sack rookie. I hope they see something that happens, though. get em Bruuuuuce!

Predictions-
Capn Danger Russ either has a big let down game with multiple int's or he steal the show again. If he steals the show again I'm going with "He'll start by week 3"

[Sweezo]

All eyes will be focused on the QB competition, I think. If that's what you want to call it. I thought T-Jack was likely headed towards being 3rd on the depth chart heading into the season, but then a couple interested items of note [1] T-Jack suddenly got the reps with the first team for a day of practice this week, and [2] Eric Williams noted T-Jack spent the entire pre-season game doing his own thing, while Portis/Flynn/Wilson discussed what was happening with each other/the coaching staff.

I'm am hoping for strong performances from Flynn and Wilson so Carroll can formally announce a decision already. The season's fast approaching and whoever's going to start needs to get regular reps with the receivers. Shuttling WR in left and right while changing QBs doesn't seem to foster continuity. I think it's in the team's best interest to name Flynn the starter, Wilson the back-up, and move Jackson along.

[Bulltalk]

Just looking forward to some more football. And there just is more intrigue to this preseason than any preseason I can remember off the top of my head in recent years. Do we finally have a QB (or two) to move forward with? Do we have that pass rush that will make our defense one of the premier and most exciting defenses in the league? Who are going to make the squad as pass receivers? Are we going to end the preseason with the feeling that we're a real playoff contender, a 9,10, or 11 win team? Can we really dream such a thing?

I'm digging the Hawk drama this summer more than I have in some time.

[Danny Darko]

it's the pass rush thing I feel least confident in. It scares me a little that our best option at QB could be a rookie, but it scares me more that we have a fragile balance in the pass rush that relies on no injuries to clem, Bruce, or jones, and that Bruce has to live up to his expectations early even if he's not a finished product by any means.

[Sweezo]

it's the pass rush thing I feel least confident in. It scares me a little that our best option at QB could be a rookie, but it scares me more that we have a fragile balance in the pass rush that relies on no injuries to clem, Bruce, or jones, and that Bruce has to live up to his expectations early even if he's not a finished product by any means.

Keep in mind though that our pass rush last year was not great. Clemons had around 11 sack I believe, and the person with the next highest total had 3-4. By adding Irvin and Jones we're certainly increasing our chance of having an effective pass rush IMO.

Plus, even without a particularly great pass rush last year...our defense was still fantastic. Our defensive backfield will make our pass rush look better.

[Bulltalk]

Alright. Let's see some positive things happen tonight. Got the beer, pizza, and the rest.

[Sweezo]

So far, so good on defense as they force a 3 and out; KJ Wright was active.

Not so good so far on the first two offensive plays; T.O. and Flynn weren't on the same page on 1st down, and now there's a hold. The line's giving up a lot of pressure on Flynn...let's see how he handles it.

Ugh. Not well. Pocket collapse, he steps into pressure and goes down. And then a 3rd and forward Holmgren-esque draw play.

And now a blocked punt! What a terrible block by Winston Guy. Jesus Christ...

[Sweezo]

YES! Bryant swats [another] pass, and Wright picks it off [and with a nice little return too]. DEFENSE!!!!

Now come on...get Flynn some time to pass and let's see how he does with these wideouts.

[Sweezo]

That's three attempts to T.O. where they looked completely out of sync. I wonder how much of that we are going to see...with the QB competition still ongoing [apparently] and the team rotating in a ton of WR, I'm not surprised they look a bit off.

[asdf1223]

Defense looks good obvious they are holding a lot back but creative blitzing. Sherman's an absolute boss.
I hope they make Flynn the starter and let him get some sync with the WRs. Much better than the stat line. Leon looks great, Turbin looks good. Playcalling wasn't that great. Clock management and Timeout Management is still awful.

[Sweezo]

HALFTIME: Well...some good, some bad. The defense looked fairly good but the lack of a pass rush allowed Manning to pick us apart a bit. Thankfully some turnovers and Manning's lack of arm strength kept the Broncos from doing too much damage.

The combination/rotation of Lynch and Turbin looked dynamite.

Flynn looked good enough...when you take out his five attempts to Owens [which would make him 6/8 for 31 yards]. He threw two deep passes, once which sailed over Braylon Edwards and one which hit T.O. right in the goddamned breadbasket in the end zone but he couldn't haul it in.

I'm willing to cut T.O. some slack since he didn't play in the NFL last year and only has about a week of practice under his belt, but that drop and his body language on missed plays reminded me waaaaay too much of why I am not really a T.O. fan. I think he can help this team but not if he's doing that kind of ****.

[Sweezo]

I am still fully on board with Flynn as the starting QB [and wish Carroll would just be done with this whole competition thing already], but boy does Wilson look like he's got a bright future ahead of him. Just so much talent and good decision making on display so far.

I know he's been playing against second and third stringers, but his pocket awareness and escapability is astounding. And sometimes his size helps him! He escaped a couple sacks that probably 95% of NFL QBs would not have been able to because he's so quick and able to duck under the reach of the defender.

He still needs to do more out of the pocket. I like the improvisation but scrambling and bootlegs won't always work. Especially against 1st defenses over the course of a whole game. But even when I was thinking that tonight he still managed to stand in and deliver off of play action to find Hefelt for a TD in the back of the end zone.

[Bulltalk]

Shyt. I got called away at halftime and missed the entire 2nd half. Family business. What the hell happened, besides 21 unanswered points for the Hawks? Damn...of the half I did see, I wish I could say that I was impressed with Flynn. Then when I see what happened (statistically) in the 2nd half, I think to myself "well maybe Wilson is the guy to go with". I mean, I want performance. But I didn't see the 2nd half, and TO did drop that TD pass in the first, and was out of sorts on a few other plays.

If Flynn is our guy, I want to see more than what he's showing me so far. I haven't been wowed by him yet, seen him enough perform in such a way that I say to myself "he's our guy". He doesn't look he's winning the QB competition on the TV screen to me, on the action that I've been privy to see as a fan.

Our D is good. Damn good. I think they are going to keep us in most games, give us a chance to win most games. We could go 9-7 or 10-6 and make the playoffs on the back of the defense and adequate play from the offense. Kind of like the 49ers last year. I guess our offense is just going to be a work in progress, something I hope improves with time and repetition.

I don't know.

[wiff]

Hello everyone.

So I have seen part of both preseason games. So far I think Flynn has looked really good but Wilson looks GREAT. It's hard to believe the Hawks could have not 1 but 2 quarterbacks who are actually good.

I was pretty impressed listening to Wilson being interviewed pre-draft. I heard Mel Kiper talking about how he loved the kid but he was a little short. That being said Wilson addressed his height in an interview and he pointed out that he had zero balls batted down at the line of scrimmage his last year at Wisconsin. Which to me says he has figured out a way to compensate for his lack of height. That 3rd and 17 last night was pretty impressive.

I'd like to see Wilson and Flynn swap halves to see if Wilson can be as effective as Flynn has been going against 1st team defenses.

But honestly either way I'll be happy as long as Jackson is nowhere close to center.

And for TO, I'm not a fan of TO and I hope he doesn't make the team. I've tired of his dog and pony show over the last 6 or 7 years. Just go away.

[asdf1223]

Is there a better back who can get skinny like Marshawn right now? Wow, he's finding some impossible creases right now. If this was a regular season they have would have pounded the crap out of the ball. He's easing my concerns that he was going to slack off after a new contract.

[Sweezo]

Then when I see what happened (statistically) in the 2nd half, I think to myself "well maybe Wilson is the guy to go with". I mean, I want performance. But I didn't see the 2nd half, and TO did drop that TD pass in the first, and was out of sorts on a few other plays.

To me this was a game where, really, two passes made all the difference. The drop by T.O. cost Flynn a 7/13, 81 yard, TD line. Wheres with Wilson one of his TDs came on a simply dump off to a RB in the flat that Sutton turned into a 34 yard TD scamper. Assume T.O. makes the catch and assume Sutton is stopped by a competent defense and the two QBs lines look very similar.

If Flynn is our guy, I want to see more than what he's showing me so far. I haven't been wowed by him yet, seen him enough perform in such a way that I say to myself "he's our guy". He doesn't look he's winning the QB competition on the TV screen to me, on the action that I've been privy to see as a fan.

It's a bit like reading tea leaves. Why was Flynn forcing so many passes to T.O. last night? Was that Flynn making a bad decision? Or was that what the game plan was so the team would have a better idea what T.O. brings them?

Bases on Carroll's comments after the game, it sounds like they really wanted to get T.O. involved early. When Flynn went to Butler, whom he worked with over the offseason, he clicked with him on two quick completions.

Some may think the two preseason games show why Wilson should get increased reps and a chance to start in the 3rd game, but I think it shows the opposite: Flynn needs to get as many reps with the expected starters as possible between now and the beginning of the season.

Our D is good. Damn good. I think they are going to keep us in most games, give us a chance to win most games. We could go 9-7 or 10-6 and make the playoffs on the back of the defense and adequate play from the offense. Kind of like the 49ers last year. I guess our offense is just going to be a work in progress, something I hope improves with time and repetition.

Agreed. The defense and the running game alone will keep us competitive. The QB situation is still a question mark, but not really in a BAD way.

What about special teams? Holy cow did our punt blocking look bad last night.

[Sweezo]

I'm currently re-watching the game right now; I had it on last night but missed much of the 1st half while making dinner.

Two things about the 1st string offense: [1] While the offensive line is opening holes for the runners, they are not doing a great job protecting the passer, and [2] Flynn sure seems to like to tuck the ball and scramble when the pocket collapses. Flynn has some mobility but he's not Russell Wilson. I'd much rather he throw the ball away or step into the pocket.

On two consecutive plays in the first drive he attempted to scramble with no positive result. On the first attempt as he started to tuck the ball you could see Winslow cut and streak open in the middle of the field as the camera angle was behind Flynn, showing the same thing he would have seen for the most part.

That causes me concern. But then again the offensive game plan the team started off with seems antithetical to what Carroll normally wants to do. They came out throwing and the results were poor. Coming out gunning agains the pass-rush heavy Broncos was probably not the best game plan.

On the second drive they came out, established the run, mixed in play-action successfully, and had better results. Flynn also looked dramatically better. He hit Butler for a short completion for a first down. He stepped up in the pocket and hit Winslow for a mid-range completion for a first down. He stepped up in the pocket and threw a deep pass to Edwards [which sailed a little long]. He threw behind T.O. on a route where T.O. broke to the middle but Flynn looked like he was throwing a curl route. He stood in against pressure and threw a back shoulder route to T.O. where T.O. tried to run past the coverage. Team settles for a field goal.

If you look at that drive and have T.O. on the same page as his QB, it's a quick, efficient drive where Flynn was decisive and the run game was dominant. I totally believe this offense can not only succeed but thrive, but boy do these issues have to be sorted out soon.

[buckybadgerfan]

I'm not a Seahawks fan but watching RW play QB makes me and my friends want to jump on your bandwagon. Anyone who understands football can sense he's no fluke. The rookie is truly prepared and knows where he wants to go with the ball--making it look so easy. Yea it's against the 2 and 3s but how many times can a "short" QB get "lucky" evading pressure and throwing a strike on this level? Easy it's not by chance. It's like saying Mike Tyson has a lucky counter punch.
Yea he's short but if an inch or two is so important--he makes it up with his huge hands, long arms, high release and great arm strength. Not to mention his intelligence, work ethic and huge heart. His detractors point to his size, his willingness to run, or that Flynn has a higher Wonderlick score then Wilson. What they don't admit is that Russell Wilson is smart enough to leave the pocket as it collapses (avoiding sacks usually is key to good QB health), use his elusiveness to keep defenses honest and almost certainly slides or rolls out to throw a strike downfield. They also dont tell you is that Flynn took the Wonderlich twice and the first score was worse then Wilson's only test score.
Nice to see DangeRuss Wilson is staking a claim so early rather than letting others dictate his time in the NFL. FORCE is definitely strong with this one.

[buckybadgerfan]

By the way the Flynn fans giving him so much credit for his conservativism and "what if" plays really need to give Russell Wilson more credit for his maturity and playmaking against the 2 and 3s. Especially when they already peg Russell as inferior due to his size, lack of experience and propensity to quit on pocket passing. It is the NFL after all, LOL.

[Sweezo]

By the way the Flynn fans giving him so much credit for his conservativism and "what if" plays really need to give Russell Wilson more credit for his maturity and playmaking against the 2 and 3s. Especially when they already peg Russell as inferior due to his size, lack of experience and propensity to quit on pocket passing. It is the NFL after all, LOL.

The people who post on here have been generally pretty happy with the Wilson pick, I think. I was pretty thrilled with it and am genuinely excited to see him do well.

That said, I don't really want to see him starting yet. I want Flynn to get his shot first to see what he can do. Wilson will get his turn at some point.