Game 2: Steelers vs Seahawks

[Danny Darko]

VS.


Bring on the Super Bowl XL rematch, complete with referee Bill Leavy!

Sundays forecast is partly suck for Luck with a chance of bounce-back statement game.
The Steelers will be coming home after an embarrassing performance to host the Pacific Northwest Youth Squadron.

Seattle will get Robert Gallery back just in time to help with a blitz happy Steelers D that should be salivating over the well tenderized Tarvaris Jackson who took 5 sacks last weekend while either running from unblocked rushers, or holding the ball long enough to be waiting for the rookies to have a few birthdays.

Common Sense would say the Hawks have no chance, but given that common sense got whooped last time the Seahawks met the Saints in the playoffs and that Weapon X (Bill Leavy) owes Seattle a favor, you never know what can happen.


Injury update:



Seahawks-

Sidney Rice (WR) is looking iffy again with a nagging shoulder injury, Michael Robinson (fb) is doubtful with an ankle sprain.

Steelers-

Willie Colon (T) knee

Things to Watch:

1-Carpenter back at RT
Blitzburg is going to test him on the edge, they are going to test him on the bullrush, and they are going to test him on geography. If he struggles, he probably won't have a long leash before Giacomini comes back in.

2-Vertical Passing game.
Last week the Steelers secondary was shown to have some issues. If Tarvaris can toss it up for Williams and company they should have the ability move the ball.

3-Clem, Brock, and Bryant
No sacks last week, these guys need to break the seal

4-Referee Bill Leavy
He admitted to feelings of guilt years after botching the 'Hawks Super Bowl chances. I doubt he's looking to win a game for the Seahawks, but you can bet he'll be a side show for the announcers. I would expect the commentators to be quick on the reference every time he throws a flag that isn't an obvious call.

5-FB
New Fullback Eddie Williams will need to play better than his practice squad resume to keep Z Miller playing TE where he belongs.

6-Do the Dougie
Doug Baldwin has been clutch for the Seahawks. Golden Tate grabbed a TD in game 1, as well. It's an interesting positional battle and something that Seattle hopes will continue to be competitive.

Predictions-

After the Seahawks.com article glamorizing Jackson's toughness came out and Steeler Coach Mike Tomlin praised Jackson's grit, I'm guessing he is pretty much jinxed out of making it through the game.
Charlie leads the Seahawks to a rousing 31-20 loss. Luck starts imagining himself in Blue.

[Bulltalk]

Let me see...I've got UW at Nebraska on Saturday, and then the Hawks at Pittsburgh on Sunday. This could be a brutal weekend of football for me.

[Sweezo]

I expect us to get killed this week. Tomlin's comments are a nice way of saying 'we're going to pound the crap out of Jackson this week.'

But they've been harping on the 'the Steelers defense is old' angle a lot on KIRO this week, which makes me wonder about how our O-line matches up with them. Maybe Carpenter might show moments of not being completely overwhelmed.

[TTown]

Looks like 134-0 Steeler win to me, but that's okay, 'cause every loss is really a win!

[Brandon-Clyde]

Wish the Seahawks some(Andrew) Luck

[Sweezo]

Brandon Browner just had about as bad a first series as one can have; He got beat by Sander's speed on a 30 yard completion over the middle, and then got burned for a 39 yard PI call where he got hands happy when he didn't really need to.

At least the 'Hawks have hit Roethlisberger hard twice. Maybe they can end his career early.

What a goal line stand by the 'Hawks D!

[Sweezo]

Goddammit.

Jay Glazer reported on the NFL on Fox Pregame Show that Sidney Rice's shoulder injury is believed to be a torn labrum. Rice will try to play through the painful injury, hoping to postpone surgery until after the season. The risk of aggravation leaves Rice as even more of a dice roll as a WR3 once he returns to the lineup. Though supremely talented, the 25-year-old threatens to have a third season in five ruined by major injury -- the others being knee and hip ailments. We'd label Rice a fine "buy low" in Dynasty if we had confidence that he could stay healthy in 2012 and beyond. We don't.

http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nfl/4188/sidney-rice

[bennith13]

Rice should just have surgery now and miss the season this year so he can be healthy when our line is better and we have a real QB.

[Sweezo]

Rice should just have surgery now and miss the season this year so he can be healthy when our line is better and we have a real QB.

Agreed. A healthy Sidney Rice would've done absolutely nothing to help the team's fortunes today. Shut out 24-0 by a Steelers team that looked 'off' offensively all day.

[TTown]

Yep, shut it down, son. Be 100% for OTAs and mini-camps when Luck needs someone to throw the ball to.

[Bulltalk]

I actually had to miss the entire Hawk game because of an engagement. If I was going to miss one, however, this one certain;y looks on paper to have been a leading candidate.

Am I wrong? Was it as hideous as it looks on paper?

[Bulltalk]

On another note, Andrew Luck, Matt Barkley, and Nick Foles all look good so far this year in the college game. I think Foles looks better than Landry Jones at the moment. I watched Foles vs. Luck last night. Foles completed something like 15 passes in a row at one point. This guy just completes passes.

Barkley also had a huge day yesterday, something like 350 yds, 5 TD passes, and no INT's.

Luck, of course, has done nothing to alter my opinion that he's the clear #1 of the bunch. But I think there may be 3-4 QB's in the next draft that could start in the NFL quite effectively over the course of time.

[TTown]

I hate Foles. He started off very well yesterday, I agree, but he's never met a pressure or redzone situation he couldn't blow. Foles has been Pac-10 fool's gold for three years now.

I like Landry Jones' arm and the fact that he can make all the throws, if we end up with him I just hope our OL makes some serious strides. Oklahoma's OL is stout, and he could write a term paper in the amount of time he has to go through his reads and make a throw. He reminds me of a Matt Leinart with a much stronger arm... they never get their jerseys dirty so you don't really know what you're getting until he arrives.

[Bulltalk]

I hate Foles. He started off very well yesterday, I agree, but he's never met a pressure or redzone situation he couldn't blow. Foles has been Pac-10 fool's gold for three years now.

I like Landry Jones' arm and the fact that he can make all the throws, if we end up with him I just hope our OL makes some serious strides. Oklahoma's OL is stout, and he could write a term paper in the amount of time he has to go through his reads and make a throw. He reminds me of a Matt Leinart with a much stronger arm... they never get their jerseys dirty so you don't really know what you're getting until he arrives.

Fair enough. Though sometimes I wonder if he had better personnel around him how he might be in all such situations. He does know how to throw the ball, however. It's hard not to notice that.

These QB's, along with a few others, will be under constant scrutiny for the upcoming draft. We'll see how they grow and respond under such scrutiny.

[Sweezo]

I actually had to miss the entire Hawk game because of an engagement. If I was going to miss one, however, this one certain;y looks on paper to have been a leading candidate.

Am I wrong? Was it as hideous as it looks on paper?

It certainly was that hideous. Here's the important things I took from today:

[1] The running game: It doesn't exist. Lynch seems to get frustrated and tries to bounce runs outside, which means the defense catches up and stops him for little to no gain. Washington is getting little to no touches despite looking good [to me] in the backfield. We decided to build this offense to be a power running team with a mauling line, and we ended up with the worst rushing attack in the league. Every elite team in the league is finding success by throwing for 400 yards per game, and our offense is built on completely different principles.

[2] Pass protection: It looked mostly fine today. You look at the box score and see five sacks and think Tarvaris was running for his life all day, but he really wasn't. Carpenter didn't stand out as awful, which seems like a good thing.

[3] Tarvaris is the worst QB in the league. Indecisive and inaccurate. Baldwin's open five yards out for a first down? Well, time to throw the ball too high for him to catch. The entire Steelers defensive backfield is running towards you as you scramble leaving a TE free over the middle? Well...better dance around the line of scrimmage and go down for a sack.

[4] Our defensive plan is flawed: The Steelers spent all day putting Wallace on Browner and doing things to slow Browner, leaving Wallace wide open. Our scheme means there is a defined RCB and LCB, so instead of moving players around we just kept doing the same thing all game. We kept giving Wallace a cushion instead of pressing, and they made us pay routinely for that strategy. Wallace was responsible for more than 150 yards gained [if you include drawn penalties], and it would have been more if the Steelers had actually been in sync.

But that's just one facet of the defense. Our scheme seems modeled on something that worked well 10-15 years ago.

I don't know what to make of this. It felt like every member of the Seahawks organization went in today expecting to lose.

[Bulltalk]

I actually had to miss the entire Hawk game because of an engagement. If I was going to miss one, however, this one certain;y looks on paper to have been a leading candidate.

Am I wrong? Was it as hideous as it looks on paper?

It certainly was that hideous. Here's the important things I took from today:

[1] The running game: It doesn't exist. Lynch seems to get frustrated and tries to bounce runs outside, which means the defense catches up and stops him for little to no gain. Washington is getting little to no touches despite looking good [to me] in the backfield. We decided to build this offense to be a power running team with a mauling line, and we ended up with the worst rushing attack in the league. Every elite team in the league is finding success by throwing for 400 yards per game, and our offense is built on completely different principles.

[2] Pass protection: It looked mostly fine today. You look at the box score and see five sacks and think Tarvaris was running for his life all day, but he really wasn't. Carpenter didn't stand out as awful, which seems like a good thing.

[3] Tarvaris is the worst QB in the league. Indecisive and inaccurate. Baldwin's open five yards out for a first down? Well, time to throw the ball too high for him to catch. The entire Steelers defensive backfield is running towards you as you scramble leaving a TE free over the middle? Well...better dance around the line of scrimmage and go down for a sack.

[4] Our defensive plan is flawed: The Steelers spent all day putting Wallace on Browner and doing things to slow Browner, leaving Wallace wide open. Our scheme means there is a defined RCB and LCB, so instead of moving players around we just kept doing the same thing all game. We kept giving Wallace a cushion instead of pressing, and they made us pay routinely for that strategy. Wallace was responsible for more than 150 yards gained [if you include drawn penalties], and it would have been more if the Steelers had actually been in sync.

But that's just one facet of the defense. Our scheme seems modeled on something that worked well 10-15 years ago.

I don't know what to make of this. It felt like every member of the Seahawks organization went in today expecting to lose.

Good post. Thanks. A few thoughts of mine in regards to your response:

--I think you pretty much got the main reason why I quickly realized that Tarvaris was NOT our QB of the future, let alone a very good stopgap till we at least thought we had our guy. He's simply neither a quick nor a good decision maker. That is just too important of a quality for a QB to have for me to ignore it in him.

There were too many times in the preseason and the first game where he could come up with nothing. Yes, I know the OL was young and sucked for this reason. But I've seen far too many QB's in my time able to adjust their thought processes, their decision making, their games to such a situation and come up more with something, rather than mostly nothing. I thought the announcers/analysts were being too easy on him in this regard, always blaming everything on the OL.

Besides that, I just don't think he's that good. He's a good athlete. He has a decent arm. But he's not much of a playmaker from all I've seen this season and previous to it as a Viking.

--I love your description of Lynch. It reminded me of Alexander after Hutch left, and Jones and others got old or retired. At least Lynch isn't a p*ssy about it, though. He's just too slow to make anything happen in that more lateral/turn/and burst running style. Oh God. The thought of us reverting to "Ground-Chuck" is utter madness to me. Depressing too.

--I am willing to be patient with our OL. I still think we much improved in that area, and it will show up more and more over time.

--Interesting observations about our defensive schemes. I'll have to think and watch more closely about some of the things you mentioned. I remember last year how we refused to play tighter near the line even when teams were absolutely eating us alive with the short passing game. I know that our talent was weak for such a thing, but at some point you have to try something different. Adjust.

Next week is a HUGE game IMO in terms of casting the dye as to whether or not we are officially in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes. I think if we lose next week, we start out 0-5. Such a horrible start could bring the team psychologically down when after the bye week we face two other rather hideous teams back to back in Cleveland and Cincinnati. Lose those games and we are in the driver's seat in the Luck Derby.

PS> When you see Cliff Branch go 7 catches for 93 yards in the first game of the season, and then go 8 catches for 129 yards in the second game of the season, you really realize how much a very good to great QB can make everyone around them so much better.

[asdf1223]

With regards to defensive scheme though, I think this defense really needs an elite 3-tech. Clemons keeps blowing past OT's yet there's no pressure up the middle and QB's can step up and simply avoid the rush. Problem is that next year's draft isn't that great for 3tech's. One guy is a first rounder, Jerel Worthy from MSU according to draft reports(I haven't seen him personally). He's also more a potential guy rather than a finished product at this stage.

QB is first though. If Tarvaris starts next year the organization failed miserably.

[Danny Darko]

Dang, now i want to amend my motto to "Don't suck quite that bad for Luck"

[Sweezo]

With regards to defensive scheme though, I think this defense really needs an elite 3-tech. Clemons keeps blowing past OT's yet there's no pressure up the middle and QB's can step up and simply avoid the rush. Problem is that next year's draft isn't that great for 3tech's. One guy is a first rounder, Jerel Worthy from MSU according to draft reports(I haven't seen him personally). He's also more a potential guy rather than a finished product at this stage.

It's a thought. So, let me see if I have your thought right:

Clemons/Brock/Whomever: LEO
Mebane: 1-Tech
Draft pick: 3-Tech
Bryant: 5-Tech

That makes some sense. Mebane's most effective when he's getting penetration and not being double teamed. I haven't watched the D-line closely to know how things are looking, but the pass rush we had last year just isn't there this year. Which leads me to conclude that swapping Branch for Cole really didn't do us any favors. We're pretty good against the run, but that only takes you so far.

[Sweezo]

I hate Foles. He started off very well yesterday, I agree, but he's never met a pressure or redzone situation he couldn't blow. Foles has been Pac-10 fool's gold for three years now.

I kept this quote in mind when I sat down to as a 'neutral observer' to watch Foles against the Ducks. *cough* go ducks *cough*

I've certainly seen Foles play many times but I've not really looked at him wondering if he's future Seahawks QB material. He's able to throw a decent deep ball and he's sharp towards the sidelines. As Bulltalk mentioned he seems hampered by the combination of having to move around in the pocket alot due to UofA's line, and his WR having butterfingers. Seemingly each offensive playcall being 'throw it deep!' which confuses me about his overall abilities in a shorter, precision based game. How is his accuracy in the short game? He can throw deep but does he throw a good deep ball by NFL standards?

I've noticed when he's being moving around in the pocket he's seemed prone to throwing without his feet being set, and I swear he attempted one deep ball off his backfoot when he really didn't need to. Is that something he typically struggles with?

There was a time not long ago when I was more willing to buy into drafting that 'QB with the rocket arm who has flaws with his fundamentals' thinking perhaps they could be coached away at the next level, but I don't know that I'm so eager to do that any more. The star QBs in the NFL like Manning, Brady, Rogers, and Brees are all QBs that came out with their fundamentals mostly intact, right? The primary questions were about athleticism more than anything else.

Do I trust someone like Bevell to take a young, athletically gifted QB, straighten out his mechanics, and mold him into a star QB in his version of the WCO? Not in the slightest.

I don't think Foles is either a 1st round guy or a good fit for us. For someone with dreams of getting Luck and Cliff Harris in the first two rounds, settling for Foles in either round would be a big fat lump of coal in my stocking.