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I don't understand how Cable seems to get a free ride (for the most part) in regards to The poor performance of the O-line. He has had success with his zone blocking schemes in the run game, but it appears he can't seem to coach anybody how to block in the passing game. He is in his fourth year and the pass blocking is no better than it was in year one and probably has regressed. Sure we won a SB, but the defense was able to pick up the slack last year and that enabled the team to get by on the running game and a limited pass attack. This year the defense has dropped off and the need to be 2 dimensional on offense is clear. Better o-line play would definitely help. Cable appears to be a 1 dimensional o-line coach (run game) and it shows in the performance of the offense. Take beast mode and his tackle breaking ability out of the mix and this offense ain't got sh**t, with the exception of Russell. Dam lucky he hasn't been injured yet.

If the Hawks were operating with a typical pocket passer they would probably be on the 3rd string QB by now. Thank god for Russell.
Combine poor pass protection, Bevel and some of his asinine schemes/calls and a less than stellar receiving corps and the Hawks are lucky to be 6-4.
However, all is not lost. Keep the faith for miracles do happen and the Hawks could go on a run for the playoffs. Now I have to go sprinkle some holy water on Cable and Bevell and hope for a miracle.

the Pope

I've been harping about the OL the last couple of years, too but I don't know how much emphasis they put on it from a big picture point of view.
Certainly they can get better along the line and health is a big part of it, but even when relatively healthy they have been a weak spot of this team.

Perhaps it has to do with the general philosophy of a Defensive HC, just like Defense wasn't a priority with Holmgren.

NorthHawk wrote:I've been harping about the OL the last couple of years, too but I don't know how much emphasis they put on it from a big picture point of view.
Certainly they can get better along the line and health is a big part of it, but even when relatively healthy they have been a weak spot of this team.

Perhaps it has to do with the general philosophy of a Defensive HC, just like Defense wasn't a priority with Holmgren.

Agreed on the oline but last year before the draft PC and JS were asked about what they look for in oline men and the only thing they mentioned was run blocking. So there you go.

Ugh. I guess that says a lot, but without Lynch I doubt they would be very successful running, either.

When you run the ball 65% of the time, I would say it makes perfect sense to make sure your lineman excel at that aspect,doubt they don't want good pass blocking, but can understand why that is the dominant trait in what they draft and look for.

We have less than half the sacks we had at this point last year. I'm an oline girl and I'd love nothing better than to see the likes of the early 2000s line, @ least a hint of that.

I'm afraid the bigger problem is the lack of offensive weapons not named RW or Beast Mode. Much of that is nobody's fault. Injuries to Zach, Anthony McCoy, Coleman - along w/ a banged up line. Harvin/Rice or Tate along w/ Miller & McCoy and all of a sudden, baldwin/kearse look miles better. Not that they are bad, but 2 young UFAs represent the veteran leadership of our offensive play makers. We all love Marshawn, but he's no leader. I know I'm all over the map w/ this post - just saying we need playmakers. And.... An M-Rob type as a stabilizing force would also help.

I think we're gonna finally see some coaching changes after this season, especially if we miss the playoffs.

Dan Quinn is a name that was thrown out down here in the bay area of CA as a possible replacement candidate for Harbaugh should he be gone. You can bet the 49ers will definitely be looking for a new HC if they fail to get in as well.

This is purely local radio guys throwing out possibilities, so no link, but it's not far fetched that Dan may be ready to take the next step. He has previous ties to the 49ers anyway.

Would Fangio stay if Quinn was hired?
It seems to me that with the success of the 49ers D, he might be upset he didn't get the chance.

O line troubles. Consistently year after year.
The knock may come on Cables office door next off-season if this keeps up.
Good post Pope.

Somewhere out there Mike Martz is waiting!

Winning cures all ills, and when we were winning the coaching staff figured that their personell on the O-Line were "adequate". I am going to keep beating that poor old dead horse, but this is what happens when you draft poorly at the top of the draft and trade draft picks for whom you get little to no return on. It had to catch up to our Seahawks and it has. It has not only affected the O-Line though it has affected the D-Line and Wr's too.

How many people remember Chicago bear Bob Avelinni?? He was a QB for the Bears in the 1970's and man could that run the ball, couldn't pass worth a darn but he set all kinds of NFL records for QB's running the ball in his short stint in the NFL. Records that are in danger of being surpassed by Russell Wilson.

I might be the only one in here who believes that our pass blocking has been as "adequate" as our run blocking this season. We were told that the reason RW didn't throw the ball more was that he didn't need to because we had the best defense in the league. But, rest assured, if we NEEDED RW to throw the ball more he could and would do so. It turns out, no he can't. All he could muster for last Sunday's game was 178 yards, A BUCK SEVENTY-EIGHT!!! He couldn't even approach the "Mendoza" Line for goodness sakes! Were we sold a false bill of goods? I know our pass blocking hasn't been great but you give a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady the same amount of time and they will pick your team apart. RW is just missing too many open receivers either by throwing a bad pass or in many cases just not seeing them.

I am NOT the only one saying these seemingly traitorous things, all of the sports radio shows have been talking about our QB's lack of effectiveness too.

I am so depressed about this season because right now, the way they have played, I don't see another win on their schedule, not even at home. I knew this stretch was going to be brutal but with all of the injuries and a QB who seems to be in a permanent funk I just don't see how they can win. The games will be close, but close but no cigar.

LMFAO. The bridge is over there. Be my guest. SMDH. Waaaaaaaaaaaaa..... Yeah it won a Lombardi but waaaaaaaaaaa...... sure the 'top' of the draft was actually the bottom of the first round, and not a single Olineman drafted ahead of ours has done squat but waaaaaaaaaaa..... Keyriste. Get a binky.

Seahawks4Ever wrote:Winning cures all ills, and when we were winning the coaching staff figured that their personell on the O-Line were "adequate". I am going to keep beating that poor old dead horse, but this is what happens when you draft poorly at the top of the draft and trade draft picks for whom you get little to no return on. It had to catch up to our Seahawks and it has. It has not only affected the O-Line though it has affected the D-Line and Wr's too.

How many people remember Chicago bear Bob Avelinni?? He was a QB for the Bears in the 1970's and man could that run the ball, couldn't pass worth a darn but he set all kinds of NFL records for QB's running the ball in his short stint in the NFL. Records that are in danger of being surpassed by Russell Wilson.

I might be the only one in here who believes that our pass blocking has been as "adequate" as our run blocking this season. We were told that the reason RW didn't throw the ball more was that he didn't need to because we had the best defense in the league. But, rest assured, if we NEEDED RW to throw the ball more he could and would do so. It turns out, no he can't. All he could muster for last Sunday's game was 178 yards, A BUCK SEVENTY-EIGHT!!! He couldn't even approach the "Mendoza" Line for goodness sakes! Were we sold a false bill of goods? I know our pass blocking hasn't been great but you give a Peyton Manning or a Tom Brady the same amount of time and they will pick your team apart. RW is just missing too many open receivers either by throwing a bad pass or in many cases just not seeing them.

I am NOT the only one saying these seemingly traitorous things, all of the sports radio shows have been talking about our QB's lack of effectiveness too.

I am so depressed about this season because right now, the way they have played, I don't see another win on their schedule, not even at home. I knew this stretch was going to be brutal but with all of the injuries and a QB who seems to be in a permanent funk I just don't see how they can win. The games will be close, but close but no cigar.

I think it's probably time to jump off the cliff then. Stop falling into the yardage trap. You have to compare yards/comp %/attempts/etc to get an accurate picture. If you must look at yards, take it a step a further and look at other things like receivers YAC and things like our #1 YAC receiver is ADB and he is ranked 52nd in the NFL in YAC. Our 2nd is Kearse at 94 and 3rd is Lockette ranked 226. We have all seen how RW has been 'off' this year but look at things beyond just yards, it's a volume stat. Take away any teams #1 WR and top 2 TE and they are going to struggle a bit. Combine that with losing Tate and a beat up OL and there is no wonder his numbers are down. Lets look at this logically. He has 2 years of good stats and now he has a few bad games back to back which just happen to correlate with the above mentioned issues and you want us to believe that the previous two years and start to this season are the outliner, come on. Get a grip. In the end you might be right. He might end up becoming a mediocre starter in the NFL. I highly doubt it based on what we've seen, but it COULD happen. What I don't get is how you could jump off the ship so quickly. Look at the facts and relax! R-E-L-A-X! Give him a healthy OL (like the start of the season). Give him a true #1 (which he hasn't had yet, but he did look pretty good with Tate and even Harvin out there as he had around a 70% completion percentage, around a 115 QBR, 8 TD to 1 INT, and was a legitimate MVP candidate through the first 4 games of this season). Take away D Thomas and JThomas from Manning, he would still have better receivers than Wilson, but his numbers would still drop drastically. By the way Manning has 3 receivers in the top 120 in YAC, 2 in the top 50 and that's not even counting TE or RB's.

I'm not really concerned too much about Russ this year - or going forward.
That is as long as he wants to be here.
He's done a lot his first few years and now has leveled off for a bit while the rest of the Offense gets its act together.

It's natural for a team emotional letdown after pointing to last year to give everything they had as well some leadership is gone through FA, cuts, or retirement.
There's still a good nucleus to build on for another run at the title - it may not be this year, but we will be a serious challenge for every team we play even with a bunch of second stringers.

The bonus is those second string players are getting some real experience and the coaches can now get some tape on how well they play at the NFL level. That can only help us in the seasons to come as they can evaluate who should stay and who should be cut going forward. We might actually be building some quality depth.

I think Russell will be fine if he is given time to throw the ball and weapons to throw to. The biggest concern for me is the almost total dependency on the run game. I do not advocate a Green Bay style offense where we throw 70+ percent of the time. Just the ability to be a little more balanced. Yes they draft o-line for the ability to run block and the 'hope' Mr. Cable can teach them to pass block. The problem is that this has not happened. Sure the injuries don't help, but the pass blocking is not much better when the starting line is all together. Like I said earlier the defense was able to pick up the slack last year, this year not. This makes the o-line issues are even more apparent since the Hawks can't convert 3rd down at an efficient rate. Thus all those games that the Hawks won last year by minimal margins have gone away this year. Throughout it all the one major weakness has been o-line play. This is why I question Mr Cable. It's his responsibility. If we look back at his time in Oakland I'm pretty sure the same analysis could be made--good run game, poor pass protection. Cmon Tom, teach these guys to pass block. And Pete/John ain't off the hook for this either, they r ultimately responsible.

For those of you contemplating Seahawks suicide give me a call at 1-800-Vatican. We will give guidance to your troubled souls.

pope--out

The POPE wrote:I think Russell will be fine if he is given time to throw the ball and weapons to throw to. The biggest concern for me is the almost total dependency on the run game. I do not advocate a Green Bay style offense where we throw 70+ percent of the time. Just the ability to be a little more balanced. Yes they draft o-line for the ability to run block and the 'hope' Mr. Cable can teach them to pass block. The problem is that this has not happened. Sure the injuries don't help, but the pass blocking is not much better when the starting line is all together. Like I said earlier the defense was able to pick up the slack last year, this year not. This makes the o-line issues are even more apparent since the Hawks can't convert 3rd down at an efficient rate. Thus all those games that the Hawks won last year by minimal margins have gone away this year. Throughout it all the one major weakness has been o-line play. This is why I question Mr Cable. It's his responsibility. If we look back at his time in Oakland I'm pretty sure the same analysis could be made--good run game, poor pass protection. Cmon Tom, teach these guys to pass block. And Pete/John ain't off the hook for this either, they r ultimately responsible.

For those of you contemplating Seahawks suicide give me a call at 1-800-Vatican. We will give guidance to your troubled souls.

pope--out

Obviously the pass blocking has been poor, to say the least, but it would have been interesting to see how well they could have played if they all would have stayed healthy and in our post-Percy offense. I think the base OL Okung, Carp, Unger, Sweezy, and Britt has the potential to be a decent OL in our league. Okung is a good run-blocking OT and has been good at pass-blocking when healthy (that is a huge ? with him obviously) IMO, an above average pass blocking T. Carp is great at Run blocking and probably our worst pass blocker, but he has been improving in that area IMO, below average pass blocking G. Unger good run and pass blocking, maybe constantly our best OL over the past 3 years (when healthy). Above average against the Run and Pass, IMO. Sweezy this year has been really, really good. IMO he has developed into a very good run blocker and above average pass blocking G. Britt rookie has been ok at run/pass blocking. IMO an average run blocker and below average pass blocking RT. Take all of those things into consideration and you have at worst an average to slightly above average OL, IMO. I feel like the play calling with Harvin and the subsequent injuries have jaded our view of this crew. In other words, although I never mind drafting an OL early or signing a good veteran IMO we don't need a total OL overhaul this offseason. Another way to look at it would be who to replace:

Okung- Keep. He is under contract next year and I wouldn't mind trying to keep him. Certainly an above average LT when healthy.
Carp- Possible Upgrade. Here is an area where we can get better, but I also wouldn't mind re-singing him if the price is right.
Unger- Keep. He is under contract and is a very good center in this league.
Sweezy- Keep. Under contract and really is developing into an elite G in this league.
Britt- Keep. Under contract and has had a good rookie season. He has the makings of a very good RT in this league.

So basically we have the framework for, when healthy, an above average OL.

We miss Tate. RW misses Tate. Ashton misses him more....(Sorry couldn't resist). Seriously though. I called GT the "beast mode" of the wr corps. He had the elusiveness and POWER to run after the catch and the muscle to catch a contested ball. ADB is the receiver with the most attitude left on the squad but he is suffering from being the center of attention. He's a 3, slot receiver type guy and on 4th and goal he got a ball that was a #1 receiver type ball with predictably bad results because there is no better option right now. Last year he had a lot of single coverage and could get wide open because of some of the other guys including Tate who were on the field. Richardson looks like he has potential but he's killing us with inconsistent hands including a drop on 4th and 19 that Russ put right on him.Kearse has absolutely stalled. The TE corps is trash bin type players.

And the line is dreadful. I actually credit Cable for being able to field any sort of lineup with this bunch of misfits. The blame for personnel has to lie with PC and JS doesn't it? If Cable is in the war room on draft day I see no evidence of it looking at the higher draft picks.

Wilson is the best thing Seattle has going for it on offense, plain and simple. I stand by what I said. Without Wilson this is a 7-9 6-10 club on a regular basis.

NorthHawk wrote:Would Fangio stay if Quinn was hired?
It seems to me that with the success of the 49ers D, he might be upset he didn't get the chance.

Good question - and one that was overlooked by both the radio guys and myself.

It would make more sense for them to hire within and go with Fangio.