Thursday, December 28, 2006

It's All Brandon Marshall's Fault

I came neither to praise Michael Boulware nor bury him. He certainly has his limitations as a safety but it's funny how the "great nose for the ball" he had two seasons ago now apparently suffers from a major sinus infection. (Remember the game-saving pick against the Dolphins; the huge forced fumble against Tom Brady in what eventually turned into a loss at New England?)

Rhythm and momentum are fickle things, both within the context of a single game and within the context of a season. Except for one play, what would the press be writing about "Marty Ball" and "trying to win with a young quarterback in crunch time" in San Diego? What would they be writing about the Seahawks “rounding into playoff form?” The reality is that Seattle's secondary has played poorly virtually since game three. This is in part an indictment of the overall talent in that group and in part an indictment of the defensive line’s step backward this season.

Continued on Page Two...

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11 comments:

  1. Another gem, Dave. :)

    Sando touched on this "prevent offense" thought a few minutes ago in his blog"

    http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/seahawks/?title=answers_to_your_questions_vol_80&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

    He had something to add, though:

    "To review, Holmgren called a running play to Shaun Alexander on third-and-5. The play gained three yards and Seattle punted while leading 17-13.

    "A pass would have been more aggressive and perhaps it even would have been a wiser decision (although that is debatable given the problems with dropped passes, interceptions and sacks; if he calls a pass and the Chargers pick it off, we have visions of the fourth quarter against the Giants, when Matt Hasselbeck tossed three fourth-quarter INTs while being "aggressive" in defense of a lead).

    "Back to the SD game. Seattle faced a third-and-5 situation a short time before the one that gained three yards. The Hawks handed off to Alexander on this one and the result was an 11-yard gain. So, if we're going to criticize the third-and-5 run that gained only three yards, we need to tell the rest of the story, too. And the rest of the story says a running play on third-and-5 produced an 11-yard gain a few minutes earlier, and that a running play on third-and-8 produced a 33-yard TD in the same game."

    When Seattle got the ball with 3:40 or something left at that point, my brother was cheering, because he thought we were going to get a good drive and seal the deal. I've watched this team close enough that I knew that wasn't going to happen. Holmgren is one of the many NFL coaches that will run three straight running plays, no matter what, and try to take a chunk of time off the clock, rather than, at slighlty higher risk, call plays that will move the chains and take even more time off the clock.

    I told my brother, "Nope. this is going to be a three and out. Holmgren will call three running plays to give the ball to the Bolts with two minutes left. They won't get a first down with three running plays, because San Diego wants the ball back, they KNOW that Seattle will run three times, and the defense will cheat everyone to the line to make sure that happens. And Holmgren hill be OK with it, because the game will be in the rookie's hands, and not LT."

    Personally there is NO WAY OF KNOWING FOR SURE if that was the right decision. But one thing I do know -- If one of those plays was an incomplete pass (and there were a lot of them up to that point), then SD had a lot more time. ANd if SD has a lot more time, then guess what, it takes pressure off of Rivers, and gives LT more of a chance to make the game winning play. Personally, I'd rather see the pressure on the QB than the up-and-coming league MVP.

    Which is why I don't have a problem with Holmgren's play calling in this case.

    Could you imagine how derided some folks on this team would be if this three-and-out featured an incomplete pass?

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  2. I don't blame Holmgren I don't even play Boulware anymore because that was just one crazy game.

    One we should have won but lost hopefully the team will take the posotives out of the game and not the loss.

    I wish that we blitzed a LB just to get a little more pressue than the 4 man line but things happen what the hell. We played a good game.

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  3. Who the hell is Brandon Marshall?

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  4. Are we so hard up we're blaming Coach's kids now? ;)

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  5. Brandon is John Marshall's bastard son, from an illicit affair with Penny Marshall. ;-)

    Actually, Brandon is the guy who took a short out in the Denver game 71 yards to pay dirt against the same defense a few weeks ago. The deep pass to Vincent Jackson just "squared the circle" so to speak on one weirdo flippin' season.

    Bloof - to your point. Exactly. I hadn't seen Sando's blog today but, yup. Philosophically, I'm all for being aggressive there (even at the risk of an incomplete pass). But in that game, as I said, Holmgren basically had no choice but to go with Alexander three times. Nobody else had really demonstrated that they could be trusted with the ball. I really feel kinda sorry for Holmgren this year. In a season where Walter Jones and Mack Strong BOTH miss key blocks on a 4th and short to seal a loss (@ SF) Holmgren has no idea what (or who) he can go to in key situations. The defense had been the most consistent unit all game. So he went with them. I raise the philosophical point because it's an interesting little irony, and so apropos of this season. The WCO was basically created to resolve that end-of-game dilemma in favor of passing the ball--which I think, somewhat disagreeing with the blurb you posted from Sando, Holmgren would have done last year (at least on 1st down). But, Holmgren, having no feel whatsoever for this team (and how could he?), plays it like he's Lou Holtz.

    Who the hell can figure this season out? Not me.

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  6. Sando and Huard offer some "must listen" perspective on this whole deal:

    Brock Breaks it Down

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  7. Brandon Marshall is also the rookie kick returned who Josh Brown Jacked DOWN in Denver.

    Dave, that was pretty awesome take. I still think it leads back to the holds that teams are getting away with. Its a cycle...they hold, the refs look the other way, we get no pass rush, the secondary has to play perfect, they get burned, we lose.

    I know, I know, in Adpland EVERYTHING is the refs' fault. But im right on the aforementioned point.

    I was questioning about why Babs was not put in under those circumstances, but it occurred to me that Trufant was injured. That means Babs switches to corner in that situation. (I still have no idea if he was on the field for that play though).

    Trufant has played really well this season. Hamlin has been ok at times. Herndon has been unimpressive, but does make big plays once in awhile. (like tipped passes and dropped interceptions).

    I blame the whole season, along with the Sonics, on freak plays and referees! Yeah, thats the ticket!

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  8. something weird is going on with the background. i can't see nuffin'.

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  9. I'm right here, dude!

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  10. Wow, I see what's going on... You use Firefox, don't you?!?!?

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