I was dreading this game, given the way Wilson has been playing. The defense didn’t make me enthused, either. But this might have been the best game they’ve played as a team. Well, this might be the best the defense has looked, even though they didn’t get any turnovers. And the offense was way more balanced.
I’m not sure about the injury situation with the Cardinals, including Murray, but the Seahawk DL got good pressure on Murray, especially compared to the previous encounter.
If they can play like this the rest of the way, they’ll have a chance. I’m more worried about Wilson and him trying too hard (to get the MVP).
By the way, I think this game was turning point moment–i.e., one that could determine what kind of season they had. If they played badly, I could see the team going for a nosedive. Who knows how far they’ll go now, but at least they avoided going in the wrong direction.
I was looking forward to seeing the terrible Seattle defense people have been talking about these past few weeks, but they looked pretty good to me.
Thursday’s ESPN Daily podcast was about D.K. Metcalf, by the way. An interview with the writer who wrote that long piece about him on ESPN.com. Which I guess you’re likely to have read already.
The defense was pretty good–maybe the best I’ve seen all year, which in a way, might be damning with feint praise. They had some penalties that hurt them and one or two big mistakes, but they pressure Murray and sacked him. They have a chance of going far, if they can play a similar level from here on out (and if they can run the ball decently).
But I’m pretty sure if you saw all of their games, you’d say they were horrid. Statistically, I think they’re still pretty bad.
I did have see the podcast with Metcalf, but didn’t listen to it. I was so down on Russ’s play that I didn’t want to think much about football. (I didn’t watch many of the games last week because of this.)
Murray seem to have hurt his shoulder, but it could have made him tentative running the ball, but he hardly ran at all. That really hurt his effectiveness.
I heard something like that, too, but I wasn’t sure.
I think I mentioned this before, but it’s sort of worth mentioning again how fast and quick Murray is. He had one play where he spun away from a blitzing Jamaal Adams, and made Adams look slow. Vick, Lamar, and Murray–are probably the fastest, most elusive QBs I’ve seen–and Murray has a chance of being the best of the three. (It could be that teams haven’t figured out a way to defend him, as the Cardinals intentionally incorporated Murray’s running this year–at least that’s my impression.)
Also, Russell Wilson has been great at avoiding hits, but I think Murray is better than Russ, especially when he’s behind the line of scrimmage. He doesn’t take many hits. That sack to end the game–he almost never gets sacked like that. It’s possible he never did, or you could count them on one hand.
While watching this, I thought, “Tannehill is playing well–not just in this game, but the season overall. He just has to prove…” and then he throws a pick. I don’t know if he got hurt, but his throws were off after that for a while.
The Titans ST seems shaky, but they had a nice fake punt near the end of the half which was a big play.
High snap by the Titans in the red zone, forced them to a FG.
Lamar make a costly INT at the end of the 3rd, leading eventually to a Titans FG.
Titans down by 5 with 7 minutes in the game. Big time for Tannehill. He leads them down, and after bobbling a snap, leading to snack, on 3rd and 10, he dumps it off to AJ Brown, who breaks like five tackles to get into the end zone.
One thing: You don’t want to play the Titans in the playoffs. They keep hammering the ball, and I think they were wearing out the Ravens (although I think the Ravens were wearing out the Titans, too.)
On a side note, Jackson is taking way more hits this year while carrying the ball.
Now, Jackson has to show he can lead them back in the two minute drill. Titans D looks completely gassed, especially their DL.
OT
Titans D had a huge sack. When they got the ball, the damn broke–Henry with the TD. Beautiful.
Although I didn’t see the games, the Cowboys at least in terms of their rush defense seems to be getting better. Well they were the worse in the league against the run, so they only had one way to move. I think if Dak was playing the Cowboys could have won the last few games against the Eagles and Steelers.
Rivers had an INT that lead to a quick Packer TD, and I thought that might have been the decisive play. (In fairness to Rivers, the ball might have been tipped.)
But the Colts came out in the second half running the ball down the Packers throat, and came back with a lead. The problem is that near the end, they had like nine holding calls, almost all in a row. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. The Packers got the ball back and tied the game up.
Luckily for the Colts, the Packers fumbled, and the Colts kicked the FG to win it.
Falcons OL looked overwhelmed. The Saints defense has looked really good–like one of the best in the league. Kwon Alexander might be the reason for this.
Chiefs-Raiders
I can’t complain too much. The Raiders didn’t have a lot of mistakes. I feel like the Chiefs just beat them. The Raiders played well overall. Josh Jacobs is becoming one of my favorite players. I like Alex Ingold, too, although he had a few drops (one was not an easy catch, though).
You talked about Tannehill being the best you’ve ever seen him, this is the best that I’ve seen Carr look since his great run he had in his third (?) year. And it’s not this game, but just about every game that I saw the Raiders play this year. Every time I think he’s going to blow it, he almost never does.
Carr was good in this game. But I can’t say the same for the entire season. It’s not that he’s completely terrible–but it’s a few boneheaded plays or errant passes–that made me give up on him. In this game, though, he really didn’t have those plays, or not much. (I don’t really count the last INT.)
Rasenfrasen Brady. The two picks, particularly the last one–so annoying.
The Rams did two things that were important in my view:
1. They totally shut down the Bucs run game;
2. They used more passing, via a quick-hitting spread attack. They seemed to a hit a lot of 5 yard passes real near the has marks, especially in the game. (Near the end the Bucs seemed to get wise to this and they eventually picked off Goff.) They also had a nice bubble screen. Had they run their normal, pro-style offense, I think they might have been in trouble. Against a DC like Bowles, this is the way an effective counter. (Had they done this against the Dolphins, the Rams might have won.)
McVay is one of the best coaches in the league.
On another note, is it me or is the Buccaneers offense really vanilla? (Seahawks, with Schottenheimer, also like this–although instead of a run-based offense, they’re now a vanilla, pass-based offense.) There are no constraint plays or different types of runs or passes.
Cardinals-Seahawks
I was dreading this game, given the way Wilson has been playing. The defense didn’t make me enthused, either. But this might have been the best game they’ve played as a team. Well, this might be the best the defense has looked, even though they didn’t get any turnovers. And the offense was way more balanced.
I’m not sure about the injury situation with the Cardinals, including Murray, but the Seahawk DL got good pressure on Murray, especially compared to the previous encounter.
If they can play like this the rest of the way, they’ll have a chance. I’m more worried about Wilson and him trying too hard (to get the MVP).
By the way, I think this game was turning point moment–i.e., one that could determine what kind of season they had. If they played badly, I could see the team going for a nosedive. Who knows how far they’ll go now, but at least they avoided going in the wrong direction.
I was looking forward to seeing the terrible Seattle defense people have been talking about these past few weeks, but they looked pretty good to me.
Thursday’s ESPN Daily podcast was about D.K. Metcalf, by the way. An interview with the writer who wrote that long piece about him on ESPN.com. Which I guess you’re likely to have read already.
The defense was pretty good–maybe the best I’ve seen all year, which in a way, might be damning with feint praise. They had some penalties that hurt them and one or two big mistakes, but they pressure Murray and sacked him. They have a chance of going far, if they can play a similar level from here on out (and if they can run the ball decently).
But I’m pretty sure if you saw all of their games, you’d say they were horrid. Statistically, I think they’re still pretty bad.
I did have see the podcast with Metcalf, but didn’t listen to it. I was so down on Russ’s play that I didn’t want to think much about football. (I didn’t watch many of the games last week because of this.)
Murray seem to have hurt his shoulder, but it could have made him tentative running the ball, but he hardly ran at all. That really hurt his effectiveness.
I heard something like that, too, but I wasn’t sure.
I think I mentioned this before, but it’s sort of worth mentioning again how fast and quick Murray is. He had one play where he spun away from a blitzing Jamaal Adams, and made Adams look slow. Vick, Lamar, and Murray–are probably the fastest, most elusive QBs I’ve seen–and Murray has a chance of being the best of the three. (It could be that teams haven’t figured out a way to defend him, as the Cardinals intentionally incorporated Murray’s running this year–at least that’s my impression.)
Also, Russell Wilson has been great at avoiding hits, but I think Murray is better than Russ, especially when he’s behind the line of scrimmage. He doesn’t take many hits. That sack to end the game–he almost never gets sacked like that. It’s possible he never did, or you could count them on one hand.
Titans-Ravens
While watching this, I thought, “Tannehill is playing well–not just in this game, but the season overall. He just has to prove…” and then he throws a pick. I don’t know if he got hurt, but his throws were off after that for a while.
The Titans ST seems shaky, but they had a nice fake punt near the end of the half which was a big play.
High snap by the Titans in the red zone, forced them to a FG.
Lamar make a costly INT at the end of the 3rd, leading eventually to a Titans FG.
Titans down by 5 with 7 minutes in the game. Big time for Tannehill. He leads them down, and after bobbling a snap, leading to snack, on 3rd and 10, he dumps it off to AJ Brown, who breaks like five tackles to get into the end zone.
One thing: You don’t want to play the Titans in the playoffs. They keep hammering the ball, and I think they were wearing out the Ravens (although I think the Ravens were wearing out the Titans, too.)
On a side note, Jackson is taking way more hits this year while carrying the ball.
Now, Jackson has to show he can lead them back in the two minute drill. Titans D looks completely gassed, especially their DL.
OT
Titans D had a huge sack. When they got the ball, the damn broke–Henry with the TD. Beautiful.
Cowboys-Vikings
I don’t know if the Vikings had injuries or took the Cowboys lightly, but this is the best the Cowboys have looked all season.
The Vikings need to upgrade their OL.
Although I didn’t see the games, the Cowboys at least in terms of their rush defense seems to be getting better. Well they were the worse in the league against the run, so they only had one way to move. I think if Dak was playing the Cowboys could have won the last few games against the Eagles and Steelers.
Packers-Colts
Rivers had an INT that lead to a quick Packer TD, and I thought that might have been the decisive play. (In fairness to Rivers, the ball might have been tipped.)
But the Colts came out in the second half running the ball down the Packers throat, and came back with a lead. The problem is that near the end, they had like nine holding calls, almost all in a row. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before. The Packers got the ball back and tied the game up.
Luckily for the Colts, the Packers fumbled, and the Colts kicked the FG to win it.
Falcons-Saints
Falcons OL looked overwhelmed. The Saints defense has looked really good–like one of the best in the league. Kwon Alexander might be the reason for this.
Chiefs-Raiders
I can’t complain too much. The Raiders didn’t have a lot of mistakes. I feel like the Chiefs just beat them. The Raiders played well overall. Josh Jacobs is becoming one of my favorite players. I like Alex Ingold, too, although he had a few drops (one was not an easy catch, though).
You talked about Tannehill being the best you’ve ever seen him, this is the best that I’ve seen Carr look since his great run he had in his third (?) year. And it’s not this game, but just about every game that I saw the Raiders play this year. Every time I think he’s going to blow it, he almost never does.
Carr was good in this game. But I can’t say the same for the entire season. It’s not that he’s completely terrible–but it’s a few boneheaded plays or errant passes–that made me give up on him. In this game, though, he really didn’t have those plays, or not much. (I don’t really count the last INT.)
Buccaneers-Rams
Rasenfrasen Brady. The two picks, particularly the last one–so annoying.
The Rams did two things that were important in my view:
1. They totally shut down the Bucs run game;
2. They used more passing, via a quick-hitting spread attack. They seemed to a hit a lot of 5 yard passes real near the has marks, especially in the game. (Near the end the Bucs seemed to get wise to this and they eventually picked off Goff.) They also had a nice bubble screen. Had they run their normal, pro-style offense, I think they might have been in trouble. Against a DC like Bowles, this is the way an effective counter. (Had they done this against the Dolphins, the Rams might have won.)
McVay is one of the best coaches in the league.
On another note, is it me or is the Buccaneers offense really vanilla? (Seahawks, with Schottenheimer, also like this–although instead of a run-based offense, they’re now a vanilla, pass-based offense.) There are no constraint plays or different types of runs or passes.