=== Seneca Wallace ===

If Mare hits his 30-odd yarder to make the game 16-7 in the first half, the Seahawks win the game against a rough opponent, and we're counting up his spectacular 3rd-down conversions (on two hands).  So let's not get crazy on the man.

But the Bears were getting scary pressure, and early in the third quarter (!), Wallace was well into happy-feet mode.   D-O-V slo-mo'ed one pass in which Wallace lurched forward, then slide-stepped left, and flipped a feeble little pass up the middle off his back foot ... despite nobody being within 5 yards of him.

As the TV pointed out, Wallace throws badly off his back foot, and he was going off his back foot even when he did not need to.

The Bears saw this, in-game, and constantly used Wallace's skittishness as the Grand Theme of their game plan.  Those kinds of games are no fun to watch, when your home QB is shrill and panicky against a vicious pash rush that's coming every down.  ... sigh.

..............

Wallace had excellent escapability ... he throws well when gliding to his right ... and given an extra tick on the clock, he runs the offense just fine.   He's got a career TD/INT ratio of 23/13, and how many backups can say that?

Big credit in that he can escape the pocket, and if then in space, can pick up receivers midrange downfield.

Just the same, the dude seriously flips out when under scary pressure, throwing the ball late, high, and into the middle of huge traffic jams.  

Mora and Knapp did a good job of getting him passes he could hit -- but was there even ONE seven-step drop, thrown in the air for a 15+ yard completion at the point of reception?   ... in 44 passes, was there even one dropback that resulted in a 10+ yard connection?   Never mind a single "GO" pattern even attempted.

..............

He is a very good backup, especially against non-pressure teams.  That's my $0.02.

.

=== Julius Jones ===

Dude is really surprising me this year.   I thought his running ability was well below average for a starting NFL tailback, but .... you might be able to sweet-talk me into revising that to average between-the-tackles runner.

In my day you used to call this a fullback-type runner, a Lawrence McCutcheon type to some extent.   And considering that Jones is a pass blocker and receiver first, well, fine.  That puts him a bit in the class of a Chuck Foreman, .... jack-of-all-trades, get you 4.0 tough yards per carry.   I've got zero problem with that.

Maybe Knapp is unlocking the run potential a bit, and when Hass gets back, the Hawks will actually roll with a legit backfield to go with the passing offense.

.

=== Offensive Line ===

Missing Jones and Locklear, the Hawks still got Jones off for a 20-100* day, and the Bears needed to bring blitzers in order to knock Wallace off kilter.

It's unreal how deep the Hawks' O-Line has played.  I wasn't a fan of the Unger draft pick, but where are the Hawks without that.   .... huh.

346 yards against a bigtime Chicago defense ... starting to look pretty nice to add Hass and Walter Jones to this offense?

.

=== Aaron Curry ===

Got a big sack, a forced fumble, and more tackles than any Hawk other than Hawthorne ...  but my favorite play was the play right before the sack-fumble.  It was a toss right in which Curry, from the far weak side, blasted through traffic to blur over and bring down the tailback for a loss.  Wow.

Had a spotty first couple of weeks, is missing tackles and getting burned out of position, but hey, now he's showing the serious flashes already.   He's got me excited again.

Cheers,

Dr D