Seattle - Detroit Observations and Ramifications

[RedRob]

Just finished watching DirecTV's shortcuts - a few thoughts:

Seattle:

Hasselbeck's game is eerily similar to Tom Brady's. He goes through his progressions extremely quick and if there's nothing there he still maximizes the play by knowing exactly where the proper dump off is. It's almost as if the plays are designed to run off the secondary for this purpose. Hopefully our ineffectiveness displayed in the Patriot pre-season game is not an indication of what's to come.

Alexander was hit often and hard in this game. Detroit's run defense was impressive. Shaun Rogers was especially disruptive.

The Seahawk's play calling was quite conservative. For those thinking the Card's game plan was to only show vanilla in hopes of unveiling a few wrinkles next weekend it appears Seattle was operating under the same premise.

Seattle's defense, while not flashy, was quite stout.

Detroit:

Prediction time - get ready for Josh McCown. Kitna flat out stunk up the joint. His passes were weak and off target. Hang this loss on his inability to hit receivers in stride, heck for the matter to hit his receivers at all. If it weren't for a few great catches Kitna's performance would have been even worse if that's possible.

Kevin Jones is an absolute stud. Hard to bring down, great vision, and ready to take on the world. He carried the Lions offense all day. Three to four more plays that involved Jones catching the ball out of the back field and the Lions would have won the game.

Detroit's defense was impressive. Good penetration, hard hitting, and solid tackling.

What does it mean for us??? Screwball prediction time:

4 sacks for Cards; 2 from Berry, 1 Wilson, and one you pick em.

Hasselbeck still throws for 250+, 150 of which will be attributed to 15 and under dump offs.

Alexander gains 100 to 115 - which considering his past performances against us would be a godsend.

Cards put up 275 in the air - 100 on the ground.

Final score - we lose a close one 24 - 20.

 

[AZ Shocker]

Sounds about right. Good analysis man!

 

[Crazy Canuck]

Nice work... but based on your analysis, I'll reverse the final score...

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Nice read ... if we can get a helmet on Alexander everytime he touches the ball and we don't have any turnovers or excessive penalties then we have a chance at a victory ...

 

[Duckjake]

Cards defensive front four did not play well against the 49ers. If they get pushed around by the Seahawks like they did against SF Alexander is going to have a huge day.

 

[Big Red Line]

Cards defensive front four did not play well against the 49ers. If they get pushed around by the Seahawks like they did against SF Alexander is going to have a huge day.

This is my big concern. Does Clancy have an answer, either through scheme or substitution pattern? Why is he sticking with Dockett so much? Can Watson be effective? What kind of blitzes? When?

 

[JeffGollin]

Cards defensive front four did not play well against the 49ers. If they get pushed around by the Seahawks like they did against SF Alexander is going to have a huge day.

We may be making a mistake when - under Pendergast's system - our D-line seems to disappear at times.

Their role much of the time may be to occupy enemy run blockers in order to free up the LB's and occasionally A-Dub from blocks so they can flow into the gaps and to the ball.

I will say that - one on one - when we rushed 4 in the 4Q (when we knew SF was going to pass), you never saw any of our defensive linemen beat their man cleanly to have an easy shot at the QB (Something I did see in other NFL games last Sunday).

But I don't recall our linemen getting pushed around or blown out too often - it was more a matter of Gore whistling through the gaps, and our LB's or DB's often failing to stop him cold but instead being moved backward.

 

[fball13]

Did you happen to see if Alexander was as dominant on the left side? I remember every game I saw him play, he'd get all of his TDs and big runs on Hutchinson's side... now that he's gone, I hope that means Alexander's numbers will be down... Any insight to this from last week's game?

 

[Duckjake]

But I don't recall our linemen getting pushed around or blown out too often

From the replays I've watched so far they were getting moved around plenty.

I'm going to watch some more tonight to see just how bad it was.

 

[SeaChicken]

Alexander was hit often and hard in this game. Detroit's run defense was impressive. Shaun Rogers was especially disruptive.

This may be the understatement of the year. Rogers was a freak.

On a separate note, anybody who doesn't have NFL Shortcuts, you seriously need to get it. It's the only way to watch a 3-4 hour game in half an hour. Thing of beauty.

 

[CardinalChris]

I thought the first team defense played pretty well against NE. Am I mistaken or wasn't it 6-3 at halftime? Our offense stunk it up, but I seem to remember our defense playing well until the second unit came in .

 

[MigratingOsprey]

i love shortcuts - i get sucked into watching so many more games because the pace is so good

i also love rewatching the seahawks games - really shows how few plays there actually are in the game and how a little here or there can make such a huge difference - to me some of that gets lost over the course of 3 hours, but smacks me in the face for 30 minutes

 

[Scot1]

I don't think it's likely myself, but is it possible that if Seattle was vanilla last week, they'll be vanilla again Sunday? Looking past us to, say, the Rams?

 

[SeaChicken]

I don't think it's likely myself, but is it possible that if Seattle was vanilla last week, they'll be vanilla again Sunday? Looking past us to, say, the Rams?

If they're looking that far away, they're gonna get trounced by the Giants next week.

 

[cdex99]

Nice read ... if we can get a helmet on Alexander everytime he touches the ball and we don't have any turnovers or excessive penalties then we have a chance at a victory ...

I think this is the game where we'll see just how good Gerald Hayes really is.