The Blue Bird Herd

The Good:

First-team (patchwork) offensive line – Pass Protection
There was a lot of warranted fear going into this game with the thought of Jared Allen matched up on Mansfield Wrotto for three quaters, and a seemingly fragile Matt Hasselbeck taking the majority of the snaps. Wrotto answered the call though, and did a better-than-admirable job protecting Matt’s blindside. Carlson helped him on a few plays, but Jared Allen was pretty much a non-factor, mostly due to Wrotto’s ability to get off the snap quickly and slide-step into a balanced stance where he got his hands up and displayed an effective punch. Mike Gibson also played well against Kevin Williams, and Chris Spencer held his own at center.

As for the few instances of the Vikings getting pressure on Matt, the majority of it came again from the right side of the O-line, where Sean Locklear and Max Unger seem to be having problems getting on the same page. I still see Locklear getting beat to the edge which often puts him in an off-balance position. I will say that he did look better this week than last, so any improvement is good.

Big-play defense
It was good to see some big-play potential come to life with the first-team defense this weekend, with a notable 4th-down short-yardage run stop against Minnesota’s first-team offense, and a spectacular interception return for a touchdown by Earl Thomas on a juggled pass from Favre to Bernard Berrian. Thomas is unbelievably fast. I thought I had hit fast-forward on the recorder for a second. If you didn’t see it, find a friend who DVR’d it or check Youtube, because it’s probably up there by now.

Marcus Trufant picked off a third-quarter pass from Brett Favre on an impressive route-jump where Trufant simply read the route and throw, then beat the receiver down the sideline and made the play. He basically stole the receiver’s route and ran it better.

Chris Clemons, who had two sacks in the game, forced a turnover when he out-quicked Bryant McKinney on a nice inside move and jarred the ball loose with a hit on Favre. And speaking of big hits, Earl Thomas wasn’t done after the interception return. He laid a bone-jarring hit on Percy Harvin to break up a pass over the middle. Thomas appeared to be hurt on the play as well, but popped up after rolling around for a few seconds.

Aaron Curry nearly intercepted a pass as he dove to deflect a throw from Favre to Shianco near the end zone, and Lawyer Milloy sniffed out a WR screen pass to Harvin, and dropped the second year receiver for a two yard loss.

First-team passing offense
Play-action works. And with this unit, it’s beginning to work well. It certainly helps Matt’s protection, as it causes the D-line to hesitate and allows for him to scan the field and take some longer shots. He connected with Mike Williams and Deion Branch for a couple of nice looking 42-yard catch and run plays, and was able to find T.J. Housmandzadeh underneath a couple of times as well.

Though his rating and completion percentage were down this week, Matt still has yet to throw an interception this preseason, and with a few exceptions, seems to be finding the right guy on each play, to throw to. This should only improve as the season progresses and the players continue to learn their assignments.

First-team defensive pass rush
Right from the start on Saturday, the Seahawks front four were getting much better push and pressure on Favre than they have in the previous two weeks. Chris Clemons displayed great quickness on the aforementioned sack and forced fumble of Favre in the first quarter, and Brandon Mebane was getting off the line extremely fast. Lawyer Milloy came in on a couple of safetly blitzes that hurried Favre, and Aaron Curry again showed some progress in pass-rush situations.

The rush needs to be more consistent for sure, as there were still a few plays (particularly in 3rd down situations) where Favre had a lot of time to throw and pick apart the secondary, but it was a much better effort this week from that front four against a more-than-capable Vikings O-line which features Steve Hutchison and McKinney on that left side.

Red Bryant, who has shown some surprising pass-rush push from the strong side, also got to Favre for a near sack and continued to make plays against the run.

First-team run defense
Other than the 24-yard TD run, Adrian Peterson had 10 rushes for 13 yards, and Toby Gerhart’s 30 yards on 7 carries came mostly against the second-team defense. It’s looking more and more like offenses could have a tough time running between the tackles against Seattle, and over the right side where Red Bryant continues to get push, and close running lanes.

Having Lofa Tatupu back was certainly helpful as he came up to make some plays against the run near the line of scrimmage, and Will Herring’s speed was effective on the weakside edge. Aaron Curry was again close to making a couple of big plays and looks to be getting his feet back under him at the line of scrimmage. If he doesn’t over-think everything and begins to rely more on his speed, power and natural gifts, he’ll play better. I think he’s under a lot of pressure to perform, and thus far has shown that he’s effected by it.

Golden Tate’s big-play ability
Working mostly with the second-team offense, Tate displayed the speed and ball-tracking ability that he was drafted for, when he caught a beautifully thrown Charlie Whitehurst 41-yard toss down the right sideline after blowing by the defender on a fly route.

He also caught 6-yard pass from Whitehurst on a hitch route, and was open on another fly route and hitch route, but Whitehurst over-threw him both times. It’s nice to see him getting involved in the offense, and it’s particularly encouraging to see him executing the big play opportunities that he is getting.

He’s still in a competition for that fourth receiver spot with Deon Butler who had another decent game, but as for the top three receivers, Housh, Branch and Williams seem to have secured these spots, at least for now.

These were a few of the good things I saw on Saturday after one viewing thus far, of the game. I’ll be watching it again this evening and offering more analysis throughout the week, assuming that I missed some things.

I’ll put together a list of “The Bad” from Saturday’s game and post it shortly.