You can't have coherence in offensive play-calling when you're not on the field to call the plays. The Seahawks offense was better on a per play basis than the Chargers. Not being able to get off the field on defensive 3rd downs was your killer.
As you say, I don't know if Rivers can play any better. Although I whined loudly at home about the holding being allowed by their line (2 separate blatant holds for example on the play you reference), it still looked to me like the Chargers were ready and the 'Hawks were not. Even still, it's been 40-something years since a team hasn't lost. If the 'Hawks are going to lose a couple or three games, this is certainly one you would point at on the schedule and say, "maybe this one".
There are other really good teams in the NFL. Denver isn't an automatic with Cincy and SD in the mix - both of whom I think are better than the Pats.
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The 1985 Chicago Bears were the scariest, most dominant team I've seen in the NFL. They went 15-1 that year, and the loss was almost a Perfect Storm of events going against them. Dan Marino, one of the greatest passers of all time, had one of his greatest days of all time, and the Dolphins put up 38 points.
This against a team that then won in the playoffs by 21-0, 24-0, and 46-10. Dan Marino's unbelievable day meant nothing whatsoever, to any OTHER team that tried to avoid getting embarrassed by Chicago.
During the game Sunday, Dr. D felt he had been time-looped 30 years. Reasons for the Seahawk loss:
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Philip Rivers was unconscious. That throw he made, under pressure, to the right corner of the end zone ... it was like a Porsche Turbo Carrera careening around mountain passes with the gas pedal stuck at 130 MPH. Sometimes we're just blown away by NFL plays that are made at breakneck speeds, in mere fractions of a second.
Rivers is a top QB, and I seriously doubt that he ever played better in his life. It happens.
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The Seahawks were physically a step slow in the heat. No excuse. The takeaway is that ---> it is precisely that one step, that is the difference. Kam Chancellor isn't three steps faster than some other strong safety; he's one step faster. That's the Seahawk defense.
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The Seahawks' anticipation was another step slow in the heat. As Vince Lombardi said, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." It's just harder to think when you're sick. You can't concentrate when you have a heatstroke headache.
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The offensive playcalling was incoherent. As a chess match, you had the feeling that the Chargers' playcallers were wayyyyyy ahead of the Seahawks all day.
The Green Bay play calling was not only brilliant, it read like a novel from start to finish. This was virtually the opposite.
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The fumbles didn't go the Seahawks' way. The Chargers fumbled 3 times and got them all back; the Seahawks fumbled once, and it led to an immediate Charger touchdown.
The Chargers won the fumbles 4-0; had those gone 2-2, the Seahawks win. Had they gone 3-1 Chargers, the Seahawks also might easily have won.
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etc.
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We'll say this: Richard Sherman is magical to his left, but not unbeatable to his right. That's probably part of Carroll's system, to give up contained pass plays. But still, it lends a bit of credence to Neon Deion's opinion that Sherman is more of an "intelligent" corner than a physically dominant one. :: shrug :: I dunno.
He also diminished himself by not taking postgame Q's. This guy's a talker. It's not nearly as impressive if you bail after a loss.
But! Sherman was the only member of the LOB that never came off the field in the heat-storm. He stayed in there every single play, then went back to the bench and collapsed in misery. No complaints here as to his warrior spirit.
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Standing ovation to the Chargers, but a rawhide-tough loss on the road --- > changes our opinion of this Seahawks' roster not one whit. ... now, the PLAYCALLING, that stands in serious question this morning.
My $0.02,
Dr D
Comments
Agreed here, definitely proud of the effort they put in on the field. I can't imagine the toll those conditions must take on the human body. Nearly unbelievable.
I'm with you, that the playcalling stands out as decidedly weird. Beast Mode had what, 6 touches all game? We were obviously picking up big gains through the air, but at some point you think you'd start running it just to give your defense some time to catch their breath and cool down. I dunno. It seemed like we didn't know who we were.
The refereeing was also pretty weird throughout the day. We got luck on that Percy TD when he stepped out of bounds. And I saw probably 2 or 3 false starts by Okung that weren't called. But then we got a couple VERY suspect defensive holding calls against us. This ain't a new complaint, but the NFL, for me, is teetering on the precipice of unwatchable with regard to penalties. That Bruce Irvin call, when he gave Rivers a shove at the sideline. Unnecessary? Sure. A personal foul? No way. Did Rivers flop like Pau Gasol? Yes he did.
Anyways. I'm looking ahead to playing Denver at home. Maybe this humbles the boys a bit. Percy is amazing, but he's not untouchable, nor is Sherman or our freakish LBs. I still think we're the best team in the NFL.
Although in hindsight I won't blame the refs for the loss and reiterate that SD played a great game, that Irvin PF was a crucial and huge play in that game. Rivers certainly did flop, and if you watch that play, you'll see that Irvin's eyes were fixed on Rivers, and although he (Rivers) had stepped out of bounds, Irvin was actually still in bounds. His arms were mostly fully extended, while going almost the same direction. He could not have hit him hard enough to hurt a 10-year-old.
I understand why they called it, but it was not as cut and dried as it first appeared.
It was obvious that the Hawks' defense was a step slow all game. As I watched them get taken apart, I could only come to one explanation: the heat. Apparently San Diego was better prepared for it, the Hawks' defense got pushed back on their heels early and never recovered because they were on the field two thirds of the time.
brought on by Colin' Kaepernick's interceptions was much more telling, coming as it did at home. They will get healthier, and they will still be a formidable team, but I'm wonder if the "play angry" zeitgeist absorbed from Jim Harbaugh can stand up to the "play edgy but joyful" spirit absorbed from Pete Carroll.
That's a great point Russ, about coherency being tougher when you're interrupted so much. Hard to give a coherent speech if you're going 4 minutes, and then there's a scuffle in the back, and then a half hour later you get 5 more minutes, and then a fire breaks out on a table... :- )
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As a completely separate issue, the Seahawks' yards per play were terrific. Right.
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That said, why so few touches for Lynch and Harvin? Why so little misdirection?
I had the same emotional reaction ... in the 1970's and 1980's there is no way in the world they even consider calling that.
That said ... a soccer player once explained to me that the refs add up "hit points" along the way ... a talking-to equals 1/3 of a yellow card, the second warning is the next 1/3, and then the incident that actually draws the yellow may look ticky-tack...
Bobby Wagner did the same thing to Rivers, earlier, though Wagner more obviously tried to hold up. ... Hard to say.
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Nice to see you commenting! Do I need to write more Seahawks stuff to get you in here? ;- )
On the postgame show ... what's the one with Deion and Michael Irvin? ... they were saying the 49'er defense isn't nearly what it used to be.
Not sure how much of that (all of it?) is the players they're missing? Bowman and Smith or are there others too?
I tuned in early in the second half. But what I saw was some superb work by Cutler and his gimpy receivers. 'Frisco (I enjoy framing the city name that way because Bay Area people HATE it!) was simply unable to get to Cutler once he got going. Apparently Forte is hurt also, and was a non-factor. But SF could...not...stop...them. Precision passes, receivers who used the techniques of rebounders in basketball to prevent defenders from preventing the catch, on and on it went. And I should add, Da Bears were missing a ton of key defensive players due to injury, so the 49ers' offense had every opportunity to capitalize. And all this at home. No doubt Bowman and Smith were missed. Patrick Willis was doing everything he could, but he couldn't be the whole defense. I gotta admit, 'twas FUN to watch Harbaugh's reactions on the sidelines as the game slipped away.
The SF D held up reasonably well, especially the run D against a good RB like Forte. (They also held up well against Murray in week 1.) Missing Bowman and Smith...those are two of the best defenders in the NFL. I can't speak too knowledgeably, but I assume it's as if the Hawks were missing Wagner and Bennett or something like that. That is going to hurt.
Kaepernick on the other hand...pretty much lost that game on his own IMO. He looked terrible, throwing multiple killer picks on risky passes, to give the Bears short fields when SF had a lead and should have been protecting it. No team is going to have an easy time defending the Bears awesome WR's on a short field. Man am I glad we have Dangeruss instead of Kaep...Kaep's got a cannon and runs better, but his decision making is often very questionable. Not committing TO's is the most underrated QB skill by the masses of fantasy minded fans and the "QB should man up and carry the team to glory" view of ex players. Note all the mediocre risk averse QB's who've won Super Bowls over the years...
SF also had a flukey, absurd number of penalties. I think 16 that were accepted in the game. Could be first game new stadium jitters, would not expect that to happen again.
It was a weird offensive "flow" in that game. Either 3-and-outs where Wilson was running backward for his life, or dominant looking drives where they put quick chunks of yards on the board. (Neither of which helped the exhausted D.) I think it will take some time for the offense to gel, especially with the mostly new O-line. But we've already seen several TD's in two games where a Hawks player walks into the end zone with nobody close enough to even try to tackle them. I don't remember seeing that last year. If they can keep the grind it out approach and add a poached TD each game through Bevell playcalling sneakery, we'll be in good shape.
It is obvious to me, seeing Harvin in more extended action that he is just a fragile guy. He is small and always moving faster than a human should, and seems to have a high CG - so he gets absolutely crushed on tackles when his plays don't go well. Eg the 4th quarter jet sweep vs SD that got blown up and lost 6 yards, or the hit that Clay Matthews put on him last week. I expect the Hawks to use him sparingly throughout the regular season.
Carroll said after the game that Lynch's back was acting up, and I assume he wanted to play it extra safe for him (and the O-line) in those conditions.