Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Week 9: Seahawks 16, Raiders 0 - R.I.P. Andrew Walter


The Seahawks' defense finally stepped up today, pitching their first shutout since their last Monday Night game in Philly. They buried Raiders' QB Andrew Walter with 9 sacks, with three players each getting more than one.


With the rain at Qwest Field, the running game became even more important than usual, and the 'Hawks responded. Shaun Alexander Mo Morris finally broke 100 yards in a game for the first time this season, rushing for 138 yards.

I had to work tonight, so I couldn't watch the game. On a positive note, I missed the Theisman/Kornheisher experiment, and the Seahawks D finally produced big for my fantasy football team.

I trust my fellow Street members will provide their excellent analysis in the comments. I'm already looking forward to next week, when the Lambs come up to Seattle to receive another loss. I am also excited that the Lambs know their place, and have given us clear first in the NFC West with their loss to the Chiefs.

(to comment, click the green number to the right of the title above)

18 comments:

  1. Impresive game. Yes, against the Raiders, but really...what more can you ask? (I guess you could ask for 1 Int, and for the refs to give us one of the many fumbles we caused and were about to return for tds...but hey, false starts on QBs and Inc passes are good too, I guess)

    Lets see...where to start. Whether people wanna say we murdered the Raiders offense or not...truth is, our performance would hurt any team. Our defense was flying around, playing VERY aggressive. Lots of blitzing and pressuring from Marshall this time around, and look at the results. Bentley stepped in for Hill who took a stinger in the shoulder...and Bentley broke up some passes. Lofa was awesome. The secondary was awesome...there was a deep pass where Randy Moss outjumped Trufant for a catch, and Hamlin dropped the hammer on him, forcing him to drop the ball. That play was awesome for the result, for the hit, and because of what Trufant did. Although Trufant didn't make the play, at least he went for the Int on a play he could of came up with. Im very happy they decided to go for turnovers...when you do that, you tend to get to the WR faster laying pass dropping hits. Speaking of the secondary...

    SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET PRESSURE ON THE QB??? Ive long been defending our secondary because people place too much blame on them. The defensive schemes aren't too great back there, and when there s no pressure, its impossible to cover a superfast receiver, especially with you having to guess everywhere he goes. Make no mistake, I never said our secondary was awesome, and this was the Raiders...but seriously, I hope people give it a rest after this. Pressure up front affects the secondary, hince the whole 'team effort' concept.

    Crowd was awesome, real loud. Im starting to think when they boo collectively, it sounds louder then the cheers. They should try that more! Kornheiser said they dont know the NFL Rules when they booed a good call by the refs, not thinking that the crowd doesn't get the immediate replay like tv viewers do. Refs were all or nothing. Some plays they drilled perfectly, and others make me scratch my head. Is it possible that all those drops from hits were incompletions and not fumbles? You'd think with the long time the ball was held onto for 4 or 5 'drops' at least 1 or 2 would be called fumbles...either way, most of them were sure TDs. And what was with the QB False Start play on the terrible snap? The refs were so confused they threw the flag out there just to ignore what happened. There was no false start on the QB, AND the flag was thrown after we already recovered the ball inside the 5. Wtf man? Im officially adding on 14 points to our score, via the strange calls. : ). 30 - 0! How you like that Raiders? Huh huh?

    The knee in the groin was classless. Stevens was getting in their head with basic smacktalk and they took it too far. He was shoved, grappled, then knee'd by Brayton right in the nuts. I lost all respect for Warren Sapp, a guy I had no problem with...after his comments in the postgame. He ripped into Stevens calling him a sissy and a punk...I can understand backing your teammates and defending them...but how can you possibly defend that act? Might guess is, he wont be suspended since it was against Seattle. Yup, I went there, and Jimmy cracks corn...and I dont care.

    Im very proud of Seneca. Very happy for him. I want him locked up long term as our backup and possible future starter. Im gonna say it folks...he is just as good as Michael Vick. His arm is on the same level, his athleticism is on the same level. Both their accuracies are average. Seneca is a little smarter in the pocket, and trusts his receivers more. Honestly, Id take Seneca over him. I dont care who disagrees. : ).

    Mo Morris was good, got huge gains when they were there...hit the whole semi-fast. It was when he tried to run to the outside where he ran into trouble. He looked like a pinball bouncing off behind different blockers. Very impressive, and with this being national tv, he could end up being a semi-hot commodity this offseason.

    Plackemeir struggled. When he needed to boom punts, he was facing the wind, which hurt him badly. When he needed to gooch them, he hit them too far. Id personally like to see him pin the guy in the corner, via out of bounds...you're 13-0 at home against a desperate team...dont give them a chance for a return. The wind and rain PROLLY played a big role in his struggles, but he still could of done better.

    Finally, Nate Burleson. Finally a good punt returner. He was pretty good the whole game, and didnt call many if any fair catches. He would of done a LOT better had he not hesitate on some of the returns, resulting into quick tackles after 3-4 yards gained, but that will stop the more he gets used to it. I really think he could be special back there.

    Questions for the next game: Can the defense do it again against another pourous line? Can the secondary keep up? They can if the pressure is there. What happens to Mighty Joe Tafoya after Marshall said Terrill is staying active for the rest of the year? Can the crowd repeat its grade A performance? Can Seneca do it again with his legs and quick thinking against a lesser defense? Can Morris do it again? He will at least be splitting carries with Shaun, if he doesnt get the nod again.

    For all this and more to be answered on the next addition of the Real Seahawks Return, tune in next week for an asskicking on the Rams!

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  2. Oh, and if you're in college, you can turn in my 50 yard-long report to your professor for a sure A!

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  3. Too many drops, particularly Stevens. And the blitz scheme, while entertaining and effective here, man, the Lambs could burn you doing that.

    I'll continue to maintain that Morris is not a NFL feature back.

    Anybody else notice when Alexander was getting interviewed, and whoever (Tafoya?) said looking forward to see you play in the future SA said "hopefully"? Man, that ain't cool. I'm real worried about the press conf today.

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  4. Finally, all of you who were blaming Maurice for the last loss can be quiet. I don't care if he's a "feature" running back or not as long as he runs for 138 yards and we win. You guys must be bored and have nothing to write about. How about if we hand you the ball, and you try to run in this league? Look, Maurice and Seneca both need a good offensive line and a defensive performance to hold up the fort. It's that simple. If everyone does the job, we win the game. All the linemen (offensive and defensive) played excellent yesterday. That's what we need for the rest of the season.

    If we lose, try asking these questions: why aren't we leading the league in sacks like last year? Why isn't the offensive line cohesive? What injuries are holding us back?

    Too many people think that only the skill players (running back, QB, WR) win games. That is complete bogus. Linemen make skill players into stars. Yesterday, either MoMo or Alexander would have had a big day behind the offensive line. On day 1 of the season neither would have. That's how it works.

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  5. Great re-cap of the game. I agree 100% on the Burlesqueson as a punt returner subject. He was great he isn't makin it happen as a reciever and in my opinion Hackett is better anyways, so punt and kick returner are great spots for Nate he still get s to contribute to the team he grew up watching and doesn't have to feel like a total jackass for dropping passes because he won't be gettin them thrown his way anymore hopefully. Speaking of dropped passes, I know it was raining but what the hell D. Jack? That game would've been like 54 - 0 if he would have caught some of those and we would've gotten a fumble recovery called like you mentioned. I thought it was a great win, who cares if it was the Raiders we needed a win and we got it convincingly. I like when it rains at Qwest, it should be one of the biggest HFA's in the league except we practice indoors so it's pretty much equally difficult for both teams, they should practice in the rain as much as possible to account for the local climate during football season. Bring on the lambs. Oh and Tony K. gets much points for his endless harrassing of Joey T. I love it, he questions every single thing that flies out of Theeeeesmans dumbass. BTW, what the hell is up w/ Christian Slater being in the booth, he was asked if he was a football fan and responded "oh yeah, some of my friends are huge into football" That doesn''t really answer the question but whatever, he mentioned he was a Jets fan from way back, then Tirico mentioned that the Jets were playing the Patriots next week and Slater was like "The Patriots????? Who are they???" Worst actor to be in a great movie, ever.

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  6. While I agree with IJB about our lines were improved - I also feel that our O-line still wasn't up to par. Ashworth got 2 false starts (that I can remember), and Seneca was under pressure quite a bit. Our O-line wasn't consistent - and yes, I am aware that it is impossible to stop the opposing D-line from making plays all game - but we were too up and down. We should have dominated both sides of the ball, putting together long drives to score TD's. Instead, we punted 8 times and only scored 1 TD. Mo had trouble running to the outside - and I still do not understand why Holmgren keeps trying to run to the left - Hutch is not there knocking people to the ground.

    Mo had much better success running straight ahead, ducking and weaving like Rocky in training to fight Ivan.

    Then there are the dropped passes. Jackson, Stevens ... these are supposed to be our key guys, our go-to guys, our playmakers. I've said this before, and I'll say it again: Jackson should not be our #1 anymore. He drops too many passes that would keep drives alive AND that would go for a TD. Branch should be our #1, Nate should be #2 (or we should be developing him to be #2 and letting Branch teach him how to catch), Hackett #3 - let Engram and Jackson fight it out with Nate to be #2. Maybe if there is a little fire under Jacksons ass, he might start catching those passes.

    Damnit Jurevicius, why'd you have to leave for Cle?

    But I'll take a win, and our defense came up huge. I hope that we can keep that defensive level of play up. Now we need our offense to stay ON the field longer and let our D have a rest from time to time. We won't be able to rely on our D like that against St. Louis. We need to be able to sustain drives of 70, 80 yards and finish them with a score.

    But damnit, Mack didn't hurdle anyone. He came close, but didn't get any vertical. Come on Mack, us South End Zoners love it when you hurdle. Do it next week, please?

    (pardon any mistakes I made - I kept trying to remind myself while I was at the game to remember this certain play or that key play to write about...but I got lost in the game and cheering - I didn't even see what Brayton did to get kicked out until this morning when I looked at KSK)

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  7. Two things:

    Even if some say it was the Raiders, like I and BigO said, the bottomline is...what do you expect us to do? Shutting them out is pretty much the best you can do to a team regardless as to how anemic their offense is.

    As for Jackson not being #1...thats ludicrous. TO gets all kinds of credit, but he drops more passes than DJack does. Djack is widely one of the 3 most consistently dangerous receivers in the NFL, behind Holt, and give or take Marvin Harrison. Branch has done nothing in his career nor now to warrant being ahead of a superior receiver in pretty much every way. Jackson may drop passes, but maybe its because he gets open more than the others, so its thrown his way more. Like said, the rain is a factor. The timing with Seneca is a factor, as DJack always practiced with 1st teamers all year until Hass got injured. Branch had to ease into things, and probably had to work with 2nd teamers early on to learn the playbook. (Then again, he worked with Hass extensively to get rythym down).

    I agree with most of your points, Pirate (and welcome to the Street by the way, I have seen you've been posting lately). But seriously, Branch has done nothing to win the job...not in his career, nor in his tenure with Seattle. I will say this though...its a pretty moot point being both of them are starters. But still...Jackson is easily a top 10 receiver, and should be in the top 8 on most people's lists...I would venture to say he is even in the top 6. I keep moving him up and down between 6 and 8 myself. Branch is around 15-20. Keep in mind Jackson's production has been consistent year in and year out...in an offense that involves other receivers who take a chunk of the load. (From Krob to Engram). I honestly think Jackson would make a candidate for a top 5 spot should he stay healthy more often. I even have ranked ahead of the great 'TO'.

    I think Branch got too much hype regarding his location, and the success his team had. Another guy I have sitting near the top 10, Chris Chambers, is virtually unknown, and I'd still take him over nearly every receiver out there.

    Either way, welcome to the Street and enjoy, keep in mind disagreements around here are not heated---just friendly discussions, so dont take my disagreement as an argument. :).

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  8. eh, you're more right than I am.

    I just get tired of seeing missed opportunities because Stevens and Jackson drop the damned ball - and I know its been an issue in the past. grrrrrr

    And no worries, I won't take offense to any disagreements.

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  9. My biggest worry after this game is that Seneca will get an offer to start somewhere next year. He played a hell of a game, and it was national. He's plenty accurate, delivers the ball quickly, has amazingly quick feet, can throw while on the move, plays exceptionally smart for his experience, and is nearly impossible to tackle unless he gets buried by an imploding pocket. His only drawbacks are that he's short and his hands are too small to do a real pump-fake - kinda like another Seahawk QB I remember well.

    He'd be an upgrade at starting QB for at least a third of the teams out there - especially the Raiders. He's going to be EXPENSIVE to keep.

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  10. Finally, all of you who were blaming Maurice for the last loss can be quiet.

    IJB = Mo Morris? We gots us a celebrity here.

    Thanks for the post. Now I have to go home and kick my dog.

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  11. Lol...just making sure you know I wasnt attacking you...I tend to go on rants so yeah, just wanted tog et that clear since you are relatively new.

    And J-Bag, Mo Morris is too quiet to come on here and talk...might want to get used to him on the field though, because the initial word is looking worse and worse...but again, heres hoping...

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  12. I ain't being quiet, and I don't like Mo Morris. All I wanna know is where is the miracle? Crap like this makes me want to convert to Buddism. Hear that SA? Rub a budda belly, Jesus ain't listening!

    For those that don't understand, the above is a cynical attempt at humor... at least I didn't break out a Jew joke.

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  13. A shtickle of humor, anyone?

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  14. Seems a little much, perhaps a shizzle of humor instead?

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  15. Whew, Good thing the Raiders came to town! Any other high school team would have destroyed the Pigeons. The "genius" is still in shock over his eight year probation period and the luck of drawing Az/SF every year.

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  16. Ya, Mo-arginal had his break out game, I just hope that it will make him more valuable to any other team. The Hawks need a bruiser to complement SA!! In the mean time, I will eat my laptop if Mo-arginal breaks a c-note against the lambs.

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  17. That'll probably be the first time your laptop's been eaten, eh?

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