Last play

[Hawktawk]

Another read option play fail. I really dont like that formation in a must have short yardage situation. The hand off is delayed by the read then Lynch has no initial momentum. Did Russ ever carry the ball out of that formation yesterday?Teams seemed to be keying on Lynch all day.

Anyway, they all look like a clunker when they fail that badly. Any thoughts on that call?

[RiverDog]

I don't like that formation on short yardage plays if we're going to run it. There's too much opportunity for a defense to get penetration. In addition, we ran that play before in short yardage situations, so it would have been a good guess that the Rams would have been expecting that play, and they did. The Rams players claimed that they knew Beast was going to get the ball. I'd much rather see Russell under center in those situations.

But as in all close games, it was one bad play out of a number that had we done something differently we might have gotten a different end result.

[Hawktawk]

Earlier in the game on 1 to go they lined up in the I and did a wraparound to Coleman that worked easily. Id like to see the ball in the QBs hands frankly in a 4th down game ending call I don't think you should ever chance a run. But if you are running load up and run don't dance around.

[Seahawks4Ever]

Wilson could have faked the hand off to Lynch and easily picked up the 1st. down.

Is it my imagination or did Russell pass up a few plays where he could have run the ball and at the last second threw a pass that fell incomplete? Wilson also looks to be a bit slower, running out of bounds before the 1st. down marker.

I know Russell said he wanted to get faster but he not only looked slower he looks bulkier, like he muscled up in the off season. Nothing wrong with bulking up considering the hits he takes.

Looking at both the Giants and Cowboy O-Lines which are both filled with 1st. and 2nd. rd. draft choices made me sick looking at our putrid O-line filled with also rans and cross overs. Will Pete ever draft some quality linemen???

[obiken]

I agree, but a better play is to line up in an old I formation with Jackson blocking and let ML have the ball that way but a slow developing offset Single back is bad.

[Hawktawk]

Wilson could have faked the hand off to Lynch and easily picked up the 1st. down.

At first glance I thought he would have too but the illusion is when everyone collapses on Lynch RW looks all alone.But if you watch the play closely the end holds his position and actually flashes outside and doesn't crash inside till Russ makes the hand off. Russ would have had to juke him at a minimum.Its almost like they are faking covering Russ and then switching off at the moment he makes his decision to hand it off I think teams are coaching up the read option better and the Rams surely are.And the ball handling on the play seemed off, very little disguise and hiding the ball.

Is it my imagination or did Russell pass up a few plays where he could have run the ball and at the last second threw a pass that fell incomplete? Wilson also looks to be a bit slower, running out of bounds before the 1st. down marker.

I wondered about that as well. It seemed like there were a few times he could have pulled it down although he had a couple of key scrambles. But if the read option is basically going to be a run play to Lynch formation I think there are better and more efficient ways to do that. Russ isn't going to be much of a decoy if he never keeps it.As for him being slower I didn't see that. That was a fast defense that takes excellent angles and clearly was more willing to let Wilson throw than get out and run.

Will Pete ever draft some quality linemen???

I hope so. And the only "quality" lineman Okung got absolutely abused anyway.

[Futureite]

I think it's a good call. You get your 2 best players in space and a great decision maker with the ball. At some point the coaches can only call the play with a yd to go and the entire team has to make it work.

[RiverDog]

If he picks up the first down, it would have been a great call. But being that he got stuffed, it was a horrible call. Typical armchair, Monday morning quarterbacks we are.

But I reserve the right to b****, so I'll go on record and say that I hated the formation more than I hated the call itself. Unless we come out in some sort of passing formation to spread the field, I want my QB under center, such as obi suggested. CBob pointed out in one of the threads our giving the ball to Lynch when he was stationary and already surrounded. But no running play between the tackles would have worked with the way that play was blocked.

[Hawktawk]

The play was not blocked at all. It was blown up. I just watched it in slo mo. As I thought the end flashes outside to entice Wilson to hand it off but his eyes are always inside and the defenders are literally in the backfield when Lynch gets the ball. It was a complete sellout on #24, like the defense was in the huddle.The line was absolutely overwhelmed.

I read some interesting comments from PC this morning where he seemed to indicate he wished Wilson would have ran more, same as a few of us watching observed.

I completely agree with RD. This team has a short yardage problem and its time for Bevfool and PC to go back to the drawing board to either correct that or make this offense so explosive a yard isn't a factor in crunch time..

[Hawktown]

I wish that the hawks would pick up the tempo just a little bit so they wouldn't have to worry so much about the crunch time battle for the W. I asked my wife, I think sometime in the first quarter, if the hawks seemed to be moving in slow mo or if it was just me. Anyone else see it that way?