Seahawks face off with the Cardinals on Thursday. I hope the OL’s run-blocking can improve, and they can maintain decent pass-protection, in general and during play-action plays. In the last game, Darnold didn’t have any turnover prone throws or plays, and I hope he can continue that.
I’ve heard Pete Carroll talk about certain moments in a seasons where the team can fall a part or turn the corner. If they don’t win or at least play well against the Bears, the Raiders may be facing that. I have a hard time watching the offense. The OL isn’t playing well, but even if it did, I just don’t care for what I’ve seen from Kelly’s offense. The OL does need to improve, though. One thing that I really didn’t like was Pete hiring his son to be the OL coach. I heard Mike Holmgren say that the OL coach was the most important assistant coach. I’m sure not every head coach agrees, but I personally think that coach among the top three coaches, if not #1, in terms of importance. And I’m skeptical that Pete’s son is really good.
Seahawks@Cardinals
Specific Seahawk errors stand out–Bryant fumbling after intercepting the ball; Walker’s penalty taking them out of FG range and basically ending the drive; JSN’s holding that nullified a TD; a missed FG at a crucial moment. (There was also a dropped INT.) A bigger failure is the defensive collapse at the end of the game, after dominating the Cardinals for three quarters.
The OL is really shaky. They look OK at times, and at other times they look pretty bad.
On the positive side, Darnold looks good. He really didn’t make any foolish decisions or errant throws. And he made a handful of difficult throws in a big situations. These are the type of plays that a QB needs to be able to make if a team wants to win a Super Bowl.
I’m liking what I see from Klint Kubiak so far as well.
Bears@Raiders
Raiders defense–lead by Maxx Crosby–came out with their hair on fire! They didn’t just play good defense, they played great defense. Three turnovers, two in Raiders territory, and the Raiders defenses either forces the Bears to kick FGs or punt. It was one of the better defensive performances.
Too bad, Geno couldn’t match that, having a pretty horrible game. On the bright side Jeanty looked good, and the OL bounced back–maybe not winning in the trenches, but looking way better.
I just wished the made the FG at the end to win the game.
Eagles@Bucs
The Bucs defense turned it up on the second half, and allowed the Bucs to make a game of it.
Colts@Rams
Frustrating game, as I was hoping the Colts could beat the Rams. That Colts WR losing the ball before getting into the end zone was annoying.
Colts are real–although I’m not entirely convinced on Daniel Jones. But he’s looking a lot better. Tyler Warren is looking as advertised, and I believe the Bears passed on him for Loveland (?).
Packers@Cowboys
I saw the score before the game, and that deterred me from watching this. I expected a lack of defense. While watching this, I didn’t feel like this was the case. It was more like better offense. Or, let me put it this way: it wasn’t like both offenses just moved the ball easily up and down the field. Well, I didn’t think so, anyway.
I thought this was one of the better games I’ve seen from Schotty’s offense–really good balance, with really physical run-blocking and running. I feel like they did this early on to establish the run, pound the Packers a little, and maybe most important, not let Parsons get a good start. This lead to shorter drives, but I feel like this might softened the Packer defense a little. I would have been content if this how the Seahawks offense looked. (There more diversity in runs, too, including end around type plays.) One last thing. I’m assuming the Schotty modified the offense because they didn’t have Lamb. They should just stick to this style, even when he comes back.
(Edit: One thing I forgot to mention. Josh Jacobs wasn’t playing on the last drive. That was a big deal in my opinion. I assume he got hurt.)
I’m guessing the Packers are no longer a top tier team to you or you still have them up there? The Packers didn’t have Jayden Reed, who’s on IR, but I still think they might not have enough receiving talent.
The Cowboys defense is horrid. The Packers did well moving the ball, especially the underneath stuff and eventually running the ball, but overall the Packer offense didn’t look all that explosive.
Schotty’s offense did look different, but I thought it had more to do with blocking Micah. They had a lot of two tight end sets and the running backs almost never went out to pass. But the type of running plays and the type of motion looked the same. To me that’s where the Cowboys look better than they have under McCarthy. One simple example is the TD throw to Ferguson. He was lined up inside next to the tackle. It looked like a running play all the way. The Cowboys motion him to the outside and get a one-on-one with him and the CB. They throw the slant for the TD. If Ferguson starts the play lined up on the outside, the LB shifts wider to help take away the slant. But the LB was reading run so was more inside. He probably should have adjusted on the motion, but he didn’t seem to.
Oh I forgot to add, that after week 1 I was praising the lack of penalties by the Cowboys. That was a fluke. They have been penalized a bunch since week 1.
The thought of downgrading the Packers didn’t occur to me, while watching the game. I feel like the defense wasn’t so bad as the Cowboy offense played well. I feel similar to the Cowboys defense, although in other games they looked bad. I think I need to some more to downgrade the Packers. (I don’t really trust Love, but in terms of ball security, I don’t think he had any bad throws.)
As for the Cowboys offense, they looked more run-first or at least more balanced than pass-first. I thought there was more diversity of runs and plays overall.
By the way, I think Dak is playing at a high level–he’s playing in the top tier so far.