Ut-oh.
I hope Darrell Jackson isn't right about this game setting the tone for the season. If so, we're in BIG trouble.
OK, OK, we lost. That's bad but that's not my biggest concern after watching the game today. The critical part, in my opinion, is that we didn't have the spirit to win the game. Players were quitting, completely giving up, before the play was whistled dead. As Dave Krieg said from the commentary booth, there was no sense of urgency even when we started to make a come-back in the final quarter.
One play in particular disturbs me: Hasselbeck, who was much improved over the pre-season, threw a pass to Heath Evans. The pass was a little high and hit the fingertips of Evans, making the ball squirt up into the air, ripe for an interception. Evans watched it bounce up and then...let it go, seemingly unconcerned with where it might end up. He made no attempt to go after the ball or follow through on the play. IF the Raiders had come up with an interception, they likely would have scored a touchdown because we gave up. Oooooohhhhh, I don't like seeing that.
Evans wasn't the only one I saw who didn't follow through on the plays. I recall other plays where a Seahawk missed a tackle and remained on the ground, waiting for someone else to move in to make the tackle instead of trying to get back on his feet. Sorry Pat, but Koren Robinson did it on a play too, where he dropped the pass and didn't try to cover it. It was ruled incomplete (and we were called for holding on the play anyway) but I think it's bad when we assume the ball is dead rather than covering it to make certain. Where was our second effort? I didn't see it. The score doesn't upset me as much as the lack of spirit on the field. That plain hurts.
I always like to look for the positives so I want to mention Ken Lucas. I thought he had some very good plays today. I expect him to continue to develop into a sensational player and I look forward to watching his progress. Of course the fumble recovery by Shawn Springs and the huge run down field for over 70 yards was great fun!! You've got to hand it to Gannon for bringing him down. What a great play! It's fun to see determination like that!
Rookie Morris had an awesome kick-off return for 66 yards! My heart still belongs to Charlie Rogers but if Morris has many more returns like that, he's going to be sharing space with Rogers!!
At first I was a little disappointed with Chad Brown, thinking that his new high dollar contract would be obvious by his extra effort on the field. There was one play where Chad made the tackle but the ball carrier got an extra four yards after the tackle. I'd like to think that Chad would have kept him from that extra gain. As a result of that play, I started watching Chad more often and you know what? He was awesome! He was influential on a lot of plays immediately following that one, even though his name wasn't called out as often as I expected. I was glad to see that his presence was made known.
I don't think anyone will disagree (ah, come on now!) that, as I mentioned earlier, Matt Hasselbeck has made progress since the pre-season. I'm concerned about his durability, especially since he appeared to be injured a couple of times during today's game, but I think he performed better than most of us had anticipated.
I'm sure the press will focus on Koren Robinson's dropped pass but I like the fact that his feet keep moving after the catch. We saw it in preseason -- when the easy way out is to go to the turf or to run out of bounds, but instead he turns upfield for an extra yard or two. One of these times that effort is going to pay off in a big way.
I was disappointed that Darrell Jackson didn't get more receptions. I'm not sure why we didn't see more passes going his way and I hope that he'll be more of a contributing factor in other games as the season progresses.
The big disappointment (and somewhat of a surprise to me) was our defensive line. WHAT HAPPENED? There were big holes everywhere. We know that historically we have a problem stopping the run, and that we occasionally let the big play get through but the Raiders had far too much success today. We've got to find a way to patch those holes or it's going to be a looooooong season. And we MUST get some pressure on the quarterback. Gannon had light years to pass the ball.
Penalties! Yellow flags everywhere! Such a big deal was made of our penalty-free pre-season (with the exception of the last pre-season game); such was not the case tonight. Mike Holmgren can't be pleased with our many penalties and the yardage we lost as a result. I haven't seen the stats, but at one point late in the fourth quarter we had 13 penalties for 105 yards. OUCH.
Special teams were not very special tonight. Lindell missed another field goal, making us wonder why we kept him given his on again/off again season last year. We also had some short punts and some high snaps that didn't help things.
And we were clumsy with the ball. We were able to recover most of our bobbles but it looked pretty sloppy and it had disaster written all over it. Alexander fumbled and Wunsch recovered. Stevens fumbled and Robinson recovered. Hasselbeck was pressured and fumbled the ball on a play that was ruled as an incomplete pass.
As for Coach Holmgren, do I dare say that I'm not pleased with his play-calling? (He's still calling the plays this year, right?) It is so frustrating when we have 3rd and 20 and we throw a 5 yard pass. Do we want to try to win or do we want to play it safe every single time? Air it out!!! Give our team a chance to make the play! Maybe we won't get there but we certainly won't with a 5 yard pass or a 2 yard run! I wish we would show some faith in our players. We preach confidence and yet the conservative play style speaks loudly of lack of confidence.
Dave Krieg made the comment, "I don't want to question guru Mike Holmgren..." and then proceeded to say that he thought Holmgren would have come up with a less predictable play. He then followed up his remarks with, it's "just a thought." I couldn't agree more. (Then again, I could have sworn I heard him describe the interception by Willie Williams with the sound effect, "Doink"!!!!! I love it!)
We missed Anthony Simmons who went out early in the game with an ankle injury. As I write this wrap-up, my Internet connection has gone down again so I'm unable to check his status. He was listed as "questionable" for a return in today's game, so I hope that's an indication that it's not a serious injury. Our prayers go out to Oakland's Crockett who went down with a neck injury and was taken to a hospital while the game was still in progress. Word came during the game that he was able to move his extremities, and of course that's good news.
Wasn't it great to hear Dave Krieg in the commentary booth today? I just loved getting to listen to him, particularly in the second half of the game when he talked about personal experiences with players and situations on the field. Great stuff! Thanks, Fox, for letting us hear from a beloved legend of the Seattle Seahawks! May he take his rightful place in our Ring of Honor and in the Hall of Fame one day!
On a different note, did any of you happen to catch the Browns/Chiefs game? Was that a screamer or what?!? I loved the razzle dazzle play by the Browns on the fake reverse with the unexpected pass to a wide open receiver for a TOUCHDOWN!! Now THAT is something out of Chuck Knox's playbook!! hee hee! It brought to mind the FUN days of the Seahawks early years when we'd try anything to keep the defense on their toes!! Sometimes it worked, sometimes it was disastrous, but it made for exciting times! The Browns/Chiefs game was a great offensive game anyway, but the fake reverse is a play that will stand out in my mind for the rest of the season! Love it, love it, love it!
AND...did you happen to catch the Tampa Bay game? I only saw the highlights of the end of the game, but with time running out, Brad Johnson apparently thought it was third down, only to discover it was fourth down. He hurried the offense off the field so that the field goal unit could come on, and without time for preparation as the final seconds ticked off the clock, they kicked a field goal to tie the game! It was sensational!!! Football is such a great game!! I am READY for the season!!!!!!!!!
If you have comments, send them in and I'll get them posted here!!
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