mon-KEYS to the Game

As the first game of the season rapidly approaches I was sharply reminded that, while there are certainly holes and weaknesses that to us as fans of the Hawks, are so easy to see with our miopic vision; every team in the NFL has their own share of holes they need to fill. These are the matchups that a good coaching staff can exploit to their advantage.

It is also easy to forget that just as our team has strengths so too do the teams we face; these strengths and weaknesses are what I am going to focus on in this article, hopefully this will offer insight, and hopefully I won't come out looking like a silly fool when all is said and done. So without further ado, here are mon-KEYS to the game week 1 edition.

As I mentioned before in another thread, my biggest worry about this game, is the Jaguars defense. When this squad is healthy, the front seven are among the leagues best, not only at putting pressure on the QB but also at stopping the run.

The Jaguars have the personnel to effectively take away one half of our offense should they choose to do so. While no defense is so dominating that it can completely take away everything that another team wants to do (at least not normally anyway, there are rare exceptions) this defense is good enough to cause severe headaches.

If the Jags decide to stack the line and take away the run, (something which they are more than capable of doing) it can go one of two ways for them. Either it can bite them in the rear, by exposing thier secondary to too many impossible situations, or it can effectively slow our offense down to the point where we become inneffective. From the Jaguars perspective, the way to absolutely destroy our offense, is to clog the running lanes, and to bump the recievers, play them physically, so as to disrupt their timing. Therefore my first few keys to the game revolve around what we must do offensively to prevent the Jags from taking away half of our weaponry.

1. We MUST stretch the field early on in the game, to force the Jaguars to respect the deep ball. Should the Jags opt to stack the line (as I suspect they will, since it is prudent strategy), we must be willing to throw deep. We MUST be able to open lanes for Alexander to run through, or we will be facing a relentless pass rush all game long.

2. Given the Jags ability to pass rush, our recievers MUST be able to get off the line quickly and get to thier spots on time, so that Matt does not have to hold onto the ball any longer than need be. Our offense is predicated on timing, and timing becomes even that much more important when facing a team that can pass rush well.

3. Forgive me for stating the obvious here, but it simply cannot be overlooked; it is absolutely IMPERATIVE that our recievers catch the ball! Especially on those key third downs. If the recievers do not hang onto the ball, the strategy of taking away our running game will work to perfection. We simply MUST make them pay for trying to stop the run.

4. Effectively picking up blitzing LBers, may be the difference between a win or a loss in this game. Del Rio, a former LB himself, loves to use his LBers to disrupt the timing of an offense, how we handle that LB pressure, may be the single most important thing we do this upcoming game.

5. In many ways our offense is perfectly suited to dealing with this defense, but if the Jags play physical with our recievers in that 5 yard bump zone, it could become a very long night for Hass, and even longer for Alexander, who won't see the light of day. Therefore, we MUST put them back on thier heals early on, this is best accomplished by doing something that our offense is best at; a quick tempo, ball control type passing attck. We MUST be the aggressor offensively, give them no time to breath so to speak, get the plays in quickly and attack, attack, attack. We must not allow them a chance to catch their breath by commiting stupid penalties. Find the soft spots in their zone, make the catch, then get up quickly, huddle quickly, get the play in quickly and do it again QUICKLY. This will set them back on their heels, taking away their ability to effectively pass rush.

Defensively, we actually may have more advantages than most media types will think. Ignore the commentary I can almost guarantee you will hear before the game, questioning our ability to stop the Jags offense, these people know nothing about our team or about the Jags offense. The simple truth is, the Jags offensive line, is below average at BEST. They still haven't decided for certain whether they will use Salaam or Pearson at left tackle! LEFT TACKLE!! If our coaching staff is willing to stop playing so conservatively, (as they have in the past), we have a real opportunity here, with blitzes, both pass and run, to screw up the Jags offense horribly. Firstly, while Jacksonville does indeed have excellent recievers, their quarterback is still young and somewhat unproven, not to mention, about as mobile as Dan Marino is right now, and their OLine shouldn't scare anyone. If we take the reigns off, and let this defense do what they are capable of doing, by mixing in blitzes, we can dominate this side of the ball. Therefore my defensive key to the game will be just one.

1. We MUST play aggressively! I cannot emphasise this enough. We MUST bump the Jags recievers at the line, forcing Leftwich to hold onto the ball longer than he likes. He is NOT Matt Hasselbeck, who is capable of scrambling around and making something happen, he is a pocket passer who relies heavily on having enough time in the pocket to find the open reciever.

Final analysis: Jacksonville will try to run the ball, no question, but the simple truth is, while Taylor is fast, elusive and flat out scary, he is also coming off of yet another big injury. Stopping thier running game may be the focal point of our defense, (at least that's what they will tell the media), but it's the recievers who have the chance to hurt us the most, if they are given time to get open. We can survive a game where Taylor gets 25 carries and 80-90 yards, but we cannot survive a game where Leftwich has time to pick apart our secondary. Our secondary has been prone to giving up leads late, so it is crucial that we pressure Leftwich often, and truthfully, we SHOULD be able to do just that, IF our coaching staff allows them to. We have the personnel, now it just comes down to trust, trust shown by the coaching staff, in allowing this defense to play aggresively.

Offensively, if we simply play our game, and hang onto the ball, pick up LB blitzes, and get off the line quickly, we should be able to overcome this very good Jags defense and win on the road.

My prediction: The little head game Del Rio is playing with the uniforms will come back to haunt him, this team will be ticked off about it, and will come out swinging and take the life out of the Jags early, by scoring quickly and stopping the Jags offense in the first quarter. From there we will build up too much of a lead for the Jags to overcome. Seahawks 31 Jags 21