Gravity... is working against me. Gravity... wants to bring me down... - John Mayer
I don't think John Mayer wrote that song about a disappointing Seattle Seahawks loss, but it sure seems relevant to me right now. Coming into this season opener against the Arizona Cardinals, I think it would be safe to say that fans' expectations of our team and especially our new starting QB were somewhere near the ionosphere, whereas now they probably more reasonably reside closer to Earth. It is apparent that "Hustle" Wilson is not going to perform like he did against the Chiefs this preseason in every game, or perhaps not even most games. Heck, he might have a repeat of this week for the next 15 weeks. I'm still convinced that he is our starting QB going forward and can/should turn into a very good NFL QB.
I'm going to break down the positions and grade them based off of what I saw, with the disclaimer that I only got to see most of the second half, as I was on a plane for the first half.
QB - 7.8/10
Let me be clear; I think Russell Wilson did an ok job. He didn't wow me, he didn't scare me. He flashed signs of what we are all so excited for, especially on the TD play where he changed the play at the line of scrimmage based on the defense he saw, waited for the play to develop, moved well in the pocket, and hit Sidney Rice where only he could get the ball. However, he also had a tendency to throw a bit high. If that TD throw had been to Golden Tate or Doug Baldwin, they likely wouldn't have been able to make the catch. Call it knowing the receiver's range, or call it getting bailed out by Rice's insane athletic ability, up to you. There were several other times when he forced his receivers to dive and try to make a play for him, which is nice because it minimizes interception risk, but it puts WRs at risk for injuries and makes the catches tougher.
Wilson also has a tendency to loft the balls a bit high and get too much arc on the trajectory. The throw to Braylon in the corner of the endzone might have been a TD if he had put more zip on the pass and thrown it at a lower angle... seems to me that the defender was able to bat it away because he had time to get into position before the ball arrived. Lofted balls are nice for dropping over a receivers shoulder as he is on the run, but for jump balls it allows the defense to swarm to the spot for the jump.
Having said all that, it was his very first NFL game. And he was under pressure the entire time, which will obviously be talked about in a bit. As the year progresses, he is able to watch more tape, dissect more defenses, and the protection (hopefully) improves, there is no reason to believe that he will not drastically improve.
RB - 8.25/10
I'm rating Marshawn slightly higher than Russell because even though his numbers don't jump off the page, they are very good considering the circumstances. We weren't even sure that he would be able to play, and he took almost every snap. He ran tough as he always does, was rarely taken down by the first tackler, and averaged 4 yards a carry, which is respectable. Factor in that he hadn't practiced in over a week due to the back spasms, and that the offensive line gave him little if any running lanes, and I'd say I was very happy with Marshawn's performance. I expect he'll top 1,000 yards and 10 TDs this year.
TE - 6.5/10
This was a hard section to grade, as I didn't get to see much from the TEs, surprise surprise. Evan Moore didn't play, and McCoy didn't register a catch. Zach Miller had a decent game with 3 catches for 40 yards, good for second in receiving on the day. The TE group was only targeted 4 times, compared to 27 times for the WRs. This is largely due to the fact that Arizona was blitzing so many defenders each down, leaving Miller and McCoy on the line to help block. So considering that there was so much pressure all game from the outside edge, it would seem that neither of them were very effective in buying Wilson time.
WR - 6/10
On the positive side, Sidney Rice appears healthy. He had that nice TD catch, showing his huge catch radius. Had one drop that he knew he should've caught. Braylon Edwards seemed at times like he didn't care, on replays it showed the receivers running their routes, and on more than one occasion after finishing his route BE would stand around and watch the play. I'm no expert on the position, but it seems to me that if the play is alive and the QB is trying to make something happen, so should the receivers. Edwards had 5 catches for 43 yards, on 9 targets. One of the incompletions thrown to him would've been the game winner had he caught it, but he was unable to bring it in even though it hit his hands.
Doug Baldwin had an uncharacteristically bad game, only catching 2 of the 6 passes thrown to him, one of them also being a potential game winner in the endzone. He was at full extension and wasn't able to tuck the ball and keep it, and to be honest I don't expect that catch to be made every time, though I was surprised he couldn't keep it. Charly Martin was mostly absent, minus a big 3rd down conversion catch and a throw to the corner of the endzone where he ended up bruising a lung on his fall.
Overall it was a very disappointing day even considering that many pundits predicted that WR would be a weak spot for this team. None of the receivers could get much separation or come up with the crucial catches. Undoubtedly it was in part due to good coverage but these guys need to find a way to get open.
OL - 5.5/10
In my opinion the offensive line play was... offensive. There were far too many penalties, especially on our LT Russell Okung. Okung appeared to be hurt early in the game, which affected his play until he was taken out in the 4th quarter after asking to be taken out due to injury. This surely affected his play, however even considering this he was too easily drawn into false starts and was beaten on the edge too easily. The offensive line was often outnumbered and was unable to handle the blitz that the Cardinals sent, even with the tight ends blocking. There were no running lanes to speak of, Marshawn Lynch had to make his own luck by breaking tackles and eluding defenders. It seemed like Arizona targeted the rookie JR Sweezy and exposed his green-ness often and with ease. Would Moffit have played better? Who knows? But the fact that Cable is comfortable with Sweezy in that position gives me hope. I'm scared about the prospects of this new Okung injury, and with the prospect that he may never play a full healthy season.
DL - 7/10
Chris Clemons showed why he is worth big time DE money, Jason Jones showed why we went out and signed him despite underwhelming career numbers, and Brandon Mebane continues to make a case for being one of the best DTs at stuffing the run. I didn't hear much about Red Bryant, but thats usually a good thing as it means that the defense isn't running it near him. The defensive line allowed the Cardinals a paltry 43 yards rushing, which is obviously a very good sign and I hope to see more results like that. However, they also managed only one sack, from Clemons who also knocked the ball loose. That is plain ol' unacceptable against an offensive line even poorer than our own. By comparison Arizona had 3 sacks and hit Wilson a total of 7 times. Bruce Irvin was a ghost, completely unable to beat the tackle and get into thepocket. Compare that to Von Miller who sacked Ben Roesthlisberger twice in a row last night. Bruce has the speed, he just needs to develop the moves to get by his man and to beat double teams.
LB - 7/10
To be honest, I didn't see much action from the linebackers. In the days of Lofa Tatupu, it seemed like every play he was around the ball, hitting a hole, or chasing a ballcarrier. I didn't see or hear from our linebackers very much, and the only time I focused on them KJ Wright allowed a preventable throw right in the middle of his zone coverage in the middle. However Wright also had a forced fumble and tied Kam Chancellor for tackles with 5. The linebackers helped the defensive line prevent big gains on the ground by the cardinals, but were not able to get much pressure on the QB.
DB - 7/10
If I were to give individual grades for this group I would definitely give Richard Sherman a high 8 or 9 out of 10. He not only had that interception with the ridiculous display of athleticism, he was responsible for covering Larry Fitzgerald, and did a very good job of it. He had 2 passes deflected, tied for first on the team with... Brandon Mebane. Brandon Browner was not a factor, which could be a good sign if that means they are afraid to throw near him. Chancellor was tied for first with 5 tackles, and had one pass defended, not on pace with last year but he was visible out there. Earl Thomas was not a huge factor, 3 tackles with no passes defended. Overall as a group they looked good but not great, and gave the WRs far too much room on Kevin Kolb's touchdown drive.
ST - 9/10
How could you NOT give the special teams play the highest grade? Neon Leon gave the offense great field position with both an 83 yard kickoff return and a 52 yard punt return. He looks obviously slower than he was in his heyday but he still has the great vision and slippery-ness. And of course the runs wouldn't have been possible without solid blocking from the special teams, including Charly Martin, which is why I think he made the team over Ricardo Lockette. Just as big as the returns was the absence of returns, that is returns from Patrick Peterson. PP was held to 9.3 yards averaged on 4 punt returns, and if you remember last year he tied the record for punts returned for touchdowns with 4. Jon Ryan was great as usual, he helped out the ST a ton by pinning PP near the sideline and the endzone. Haushcka has a nice leg on him, he missed a 50 yard field goal but hit the other 3.
Play Calling - 7/10
Everyone's going to have an opinion on this, but I would have liked to have seen a draw with ML or a QB draw ran on a 2nd down once or twice in the 4th quarter when we were trying to drive the football. With the Cardinals sending the outside blitzes that they were it would have been very effective. Also I would have liked to have seen some more play action on first down as well as bootlegs for short passes to move the chains. The receivers were rarely open and that can't be 100% because of good coverage or poor route running.
Overall, I am disappointed. It wasn't the season opener that I had wanted. I wanted Russell to throw for 200+ and look flawless, however that was in retrospect a naive expectation. They looked like the young team going through growing pains that I should have expected. The defense hasn't quite picked up where they left off last year, but I have no doubt that they'll improve. The offense will as well, as Wilson grows, so shall we.
If you've stuck with me this far and are still reading, feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
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