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A few random thoughts after the Seahawk game...

September 19, 2016 05:50AM
First, it must have been beyond exciting to have attended that cliffhanger with 91,000 other screaming fans, huh?

The Coliseum sure looked great on my flatscreen, that's for sure. Brought back lots of wonderful memories to this old timer. Jack Youngblood wasn't the only one a little choked up by game's end,

Haven't yet rewatched the game yet, but here goes with a few first impressions...

Case Keenum made just enough plays to secure the win. But I would expect a vet QB to be poised enough to avoid at least a couple of those needless sacks by throwing the damned ball away. One sack cost us a shot at a semi clinching FG attempt late in the 4th qtr. Having a 12-3 lead there would have been sooooo much more comfortable, right?

Another thing. Before we get too carried away with this dramatic win, 9 total points in two combined games is not gonna get the job done. Yeah, that was a tough Seahawk D. But 9 points? Dang! We still have miles to go just to elevate our O to halfway decent status.

Gurley has to improve his pass pro skills so that he can become a 3 down RB. I love Benny, but Gurley is our franchise RB and he needs to be a threat on all 3 downs, don't you think? His one passing target resulted in a nice gain. I look forward to seeing a helluva lot more of that.

When our OL was being assembled last year, I think most of us foresaw a beastly run blocking unit. The pass pro is coming along nicely, but where are those running lanes we expected? Gurley's gotta be frustrated. I certainly am.

A word about GRob. I've seen some criticism about his 2 holding penalties, but I'm taking a slightly different view. To me, the mental mistake penalties like false starts and illegal formations are more troubling. For GRob, those have stopped. A holding penalty that saves the life of his QB is far more acceptable to me. The other holding penalty was a "phantom" call, IMHO. Not the first phantom call against GRob in his short career, btw. But I digress...

Wichmann had a couple of WTF snaps, but overall I see OL progress. By mid season this could be a very nice unit both in pass pro and run blocking.

Saffold remains healthy after 2 games! Perhaps the docs got both of his shoulders completely fixed? If so, that bodes very well. Knock on wood, fellas.

Kendricks is rounding into a nice all around TE weapon. I'm guilty of underestimating his impact. I am disappointed in Higbee's impact, however. I expected more from him by now, frankly.

Speaking of disappointment, the only time I noticed Cooper yesterday was when he was dropping a Keenum pass that hit him in his hands. And it would have been for a critical 3rd down drive sustaining conversion while in a verrrrry tight ballgame. WTH?

While on the subject of rookie WR's, Spruce has now missed 5 games. Serious injury or is he injury prone? Very disappointing.

Tavon Austin doesn't look like a $42 million player to me. Had a poll about him possibly being our most overrated player recently. He still makes questionable decisions when receiving punts. Seems like more than half the time, TBH. One of them really put us in a bad hole in a tight game yesterday. And frankly, I don't see the WR value, either. Even his runs have underwhelmed, so far. Is it Tavon or is it coaching? Or both?

Thank goodness for "clutch" Kenny Britt yesterday. Without him, we lose this game.

Is there a better punter than Hekker in the league? Don't bother answering that, lol. Hekker is a beast. Not sure we win this game without him, either. He's a field position nightmare for our opponents.

I may owe GZ an apology, since I've been a critic after his 60% year in '15. But he nailed all 3 of his opportunities yesterday, and each was dead solid perfect, TBH. Heck, he was our ONLY scorer. But I'm gonna wait to see more than just his performance in 2 games before I abase myself.

It was wonderful to see Quinn have a bounce back game. Took away a big worry of mine.

Hayes is having a terrific start to his season, huh? Our senior citizen D lineman is really bringing it. Chris Long who?

Ogletree is easing my MLB fears, too. He and Barron are a couple of playmaking mofo's. By game 6 we might really have something with those two. On track for 250 tackles between them, don't you think?

Boy, do we need a healthy Gaines. Happy to see Hill get his snaps (and a couple of lumps). He's gonna be a good one, I think, if we're a bit patient. The less Sensabaugh I see, the better I like it.

Gotta agree with Aikman about the excessive penalties. Teams that commit lots of penalties are usually beating themselves. But I fear that it's a Fisher trademark. Sigh...

In summary:

Anytime your D holds an opponent the caliber of the Seahawks to 3 points, they've done their job. That's a stellar bottom line. Kudos to the D players and to GW.

Anytime your O puts up only 9 points, you know that it's a work in process. But I see glimpses here and there. And I'm encouraged by apparent progress with Boras' play calling. Once our OL gets it's feet on the ground, I do believe that we will see Gurley unleashed. But let's face it. The sooner Goff get's established, the better. Not that I favor rushing it, mind you. But only with a functional Goff will our O truly be able to start firing on all cylinders.

What did I miss?
SubjectAuthorViewsPosted

  A few random thoughts after the Seahawk game...

Rams43682September 19, 2016 05:50AM

  I didn't realize that Brown got no snaps...

max325September 19, 2016 06:11AM

  Re: A few random thoughts after the Seahawk game...

Rampage2K-355September 19, 2016 06:12AM

  two bad offenses...

wv ram311September 19, 2016 06:18AM