Hawks @ Patriots

[Aseahawkfan]

Nice win.

[Oly]

I like to make the statement and say I believe this the best Geno Smith game I have ever seen him play as a Seahawk. I know he has better statistical games(Lion vs Hawks), but I am talking the overall body of work of how Geno performed today. His is my argument on it.

He showed throws in this game that I have never seen him attempt before with these side arm angle throws to avoid blitzes. He looked poised, and there were some drops in this game that would have gone for big gains. DK had a couple of drops, the deep out to JSN was right in hands, and Noah Fant had two critical drops, and yet he still finished with 75% completion. His accuracy was evident in this game. His ability to make audibles at the line, and change the formations is something we didn't see much of last year. If there was any indicator he can return to his 2022 form this game certainly proved me that he can.

I believe this was his best performance, and if we can't get the running game going he can make up for it in this short passing game with the up-tempo offense. Geno is playing for an extension, and he is playing better than I expected.

100% agree, and like you it was all about two things for me: pocket poise and accuracy. With no run game and bad guard play (plus Williams being beat a few times, including one really bad sack allowed), Geno was facing a defense that knew the pass was coming and was often collapsing the pocket. His ability to find room to pass while keeping his eyes downfield was hugely impressive, as was his accuracy even when pressured. With this WR group and Grubb's impressive start to the season, if Geno keeps playing this way I would expect the Hawks to be top-10 in passing by the end of the year (assuming the run game comes back and can take pressure off the passing game...the quality in skill players is high enough for a top-5 finish but I think Macdonald would want better balance than that).

[NorthHawk]

A modern day Offense and using the RBs in the pass game can't hurt. It's something we should have been doing 10 years ago, but we are now seeing things open up a bit.
I expect the pass game to get a bit better as the playbook is expanded throughout the year.
On the other side of the coin, nobody knows Grubbs tendencies yet, so the pass game will have to evolve if they want continued success.

[Aseahawkfan]

A modern day Offense and using the RBs in the pass game can't hurt. It's something we should have been doing 10 years ago, but we are now seeing things open up a bit.
I expect the pass game to get a bit better as the playbook is expanded throughout the year.
On the other side of the coin, nobody knows Grubbs tendencies yet, so the pass game will have to evolve if they want continued success.

So what differences do you notice about Grubb's offense versus our old one? Do you like it?

[4XPIPS]

So what differences do you notice about Grubb's offense versus our old one? Do you like it?

I am not answering for NorthHawk, but I can see a drastic change when it comes to the freedom that Geno has at the line. Geno seems to be given more authority to make line/formation adjustments to the way the defense is showing. Also, there is a lot more pre snap motion to determine man vs zone. When it comes to play selection, it's very short underneath passing, hence the high amount of attempts and completed passes in the Patriots game. I think the constant adjustments puts defenses in a 2 deep soft cover zone, which exposes a lot in the middle and off the tackles, and that is the area where Geno and JSN and DK were carving up the Patriots. Let's not forget the up-tempo offense, which prevents defensive subbing. We saw none of this with Pete Carroll and his revolving door of OCs.

This is far from what Grubb was doing at U-Dub, Penix was throwing bombs what seemed like game after game. A lot of deep passes by Penix, but then again Rome Odunze was serious deep threat for the Huskies. I think this is a very underrated characteristic of Grubb as he has shown to make adjustments when and where needed. If it ain't broke, why fix it. In the Bronco's Game, after that historically horrible first half, Grubb adjusted and went to a strong running game and it worked. That 2nd half against the Broncos looked like a completely different offense than what we saw against the Patriots. I know K9 made a big difference, but his ability to adjust his play calling and personal grouping and have success is going to put Grubb on the radar.

[River Dog]

Next week will be a good test for our new defense. Miami was the #1 offense in the league last year and even though they sputtered a bit in the first two games this season and haven't scored much, they still rank #8 in total offense. Plus, we have a history of making backup quarterbacks look like HOF'ers.

Speaking of stats, we're currently ranked 3rd in total yards defense, 8th in points scored by opponent. It's only two games and our opponents were somewhat less than SB contenders, but we haven't seen those kinds of rankings since the LOB days.

[4XPIPS]

Next week will be a good test for our new defense. Miami was the #1 offense in the league last year and even though they sputtered a bit in the first two games this season and haven't scored much, they still rank #8 in total offense. Plus, we have a history of making backup quarterbacks look like HOF'ers.

Speaking of stats, we're currently ranked 3rd in total yards defense, 8th in points scored by opponent. It's only two games and our opponents were somewhat less than SB contenders, but we haven't seen those kinds of rankings since the LOB days.

Miami does have a lot of speed on their offense. If the league was measured on track speed, the Dolphins would be the Superbowl champs. I figured the Dolphins will try and run the ball a lot with out Tua. Last year the Ravens with Mike Macdonald as their DC shut down the high flying Dolphins, and the Ravens smoked them 56-19, and Tua through 2 tds, and 2 ints. It will be a close game again, but I think we win this one.

[River Dog]

It will be interesting to see if the 12th man starts to rear its head again. Since the demise of the LOB, the crowd noise hasn't been near as loud as it was during those years, at least not on the occasions I've been in attendance. Now that we have a good defense again, I'd love to see that atmosphere in the stadium return to what it once was. It could really have an effect on a backup quarterback who is probably a bit nervous and unfamiliar anyway.

[Irish Greg 2.0]

Better shore up that run defense for this week. Skylar Thompson (who sounds like a porn star) + Devon Achane tells me we are going to see a LOT of runs.

[Stream Hawk]

I can't figure out the running like a porn star analogy. Are they fast? Achane runs better than any RB in the league is my biggest concern. Except he's great for one of my fantasy teams.

[River Dog]

I can't figure out the running like a porn star analogy. Are they fast?

Here ya go!

https://celebtalkshow.net/top-actress/s ... biography/

[Agent 86]

I thought it was interesting that Macdonald opted to kick that game winning FG in OT on 2nd down. It was 2nd down and 1 from the 13 yards line when he trotted out the FG team to end it. I personally loved the decision as so much could go wrong at that point if you ran another play:

- bad snap fumble
- RB fumble on hand off
- RB fumble on carry
- holding penalty to take us 10 yards back
- risking injury running another play
- could have gotten another 1st down and then run another set of plays bringing the risks above into play

Your FG team should be able to hit a 31 yarder pretty much 100% of the time, so I thought the decision to kick on 2nd down was sound. I don't remember Pete ever doing that but I could be wrong. I really thought that decision spoke to Macdonald's mindset. I have seen plenty other teams do that as well and always thought it was the right call. Why risk anything other than your kicker botching an easy game winning FG. If that happened, he would have been second guessed for sure.

Anyways, it maybe seemed like a minor thing, but I thought it was a great decision. Makes me think he knows how to handle game situations as they happen, he has already thought out scenarios. It has to be one of the toughest jobs as a HC to make decisions on the fly in game type situations where consequences are looming. So far, so good for Macdonald through 2 games.

[River Dog]

I thought it was interesting that Macdonald opted to kick that game winning FG in OT on 2nd down. It was 2nd down and 1 from the 13 yards line when he trotted out the FG team to end it. I personally loved the decision as so much could go wrong at that point if you ran another play:

- bad snap fumble
- RB fumble on hand off
- RB fumble on carry
- holding penalty to take us 10 yards back
- risking injury running another play
- could have gotten another 1st down and then run another set of plays bringing the risks above into play

Your FG team should be able to hit a 31 yarder pretty much 100% of the time, so I thought the decision to kick on 2nd down was sound. I don't remember Pete ever doing that but I could be wrong. I really thought that decision spoke to Macdonald's mindset. I have seen plenty other teams do that as well and always thought it was the right call. Why risk anything other than your kicker botching an easy game winning FG. If that happened, he would have been second guessed for sure.

Anyways, it maybe seemed like a minor thing, but I thought it was a great decision. Makes me think he knows how to handle game situations as they happen, he has already thought out scenarios. It has to be one of the toughest jobs as a HC to make decisions on the fly in game type situations where consequences are looming. So far, so good for Macdonald through 2 games.

I was calling on him to kick the FG on the play before, which would have been a 40-yard attempt. Kicking it on 2nd down from about 30 yard is a no brainer. A bad snap and the holder can easily just fall on it and try it again from 40.

Speaking of game/clock management, I can't remember a game where we had 3 timeouts going into the last minute of a half, which allowed us to kick an important FG while running the clock all the way down to zero at the end of the first half.