The Blue Bird Herd

The Bad

3rd-down defense
Good Lord the ‘Hawks got killed on third downs. The pass-rush seemed to go away during those plays, with linebackers showing blitz then dropping into coverage. Guys like Percy Harvin and Greg Camarillo found holes in the zone, and Favre had time to stand in the pocket to find them.
The pass-rush simply has to get better on third down, however, like most teams, the Seahawks have run few blitzes this preseason and will be much more aggressive during the regular season as the full scheme is unfurled.

Running game
This is still a huge area of concern. Everything takes time to learn, and the Alex Gibbs zone scheme is no exception, however, this week, after watching some more video of the game, it appeared that the blocks were there in several cases and the ‘backs simply missed their cuts. That’s not to say that the blocking was perfect or even consistently good, but when the opportunities are there, the ‘backs absolutely have to spot the hole and burst through it, and I saw some hesitation. This was mainly with Justin Forsett and Julius Jones. Leon Washington didn’t have a ton of reps and I didn’t see a whole lot of opportunity for him to gain anything significant. I will say that for the most part, he did gain positive yardage and his first step is still the quickest and most explosive among the current backs.

But as for Jeremy Bates’s plan to be a run-first offense that sets up the pass, the Seahawks are a long way off the plan and need to find some help, quickly. I was hoping to see Quinton Ganther more as the featured back on Saturday but his fullback duties have become more prominent with Owen Schmitt quickly falling into anonymity as he continues to miss blocks and look confused.

When teams are forced to cut down to 53 players next week, there should be a few running backs worth pursuing, and guys like Julius Jones and Louis Rankin could be replaced relatively quickly. Justin Fargas was cut yesterday by Denver and could be an option as the pounding runner that could fit nicely here. Seattle had interest in Fargas earlier this year, before he opted for Denver.

Charlie Whitehurst
Whitehurst had a case of what we call, the “receivers look 8 feet tall” syndrome. He was firing high on pretty much everything. I mean everything.

Other than the nice pass down the sideline to Tate on a 41-yard fly route, Charlie was missing on everything from 8-yard slants to 6-yard hooks. He was throwing flat footed or from his heels a lot of the time, and it appeared that it was more out of anticipation of pressure than actual pressure. He didn’t appear too confident in his protection.

Whithurst has been up and down this preseason, but this was clearly his worst performance. He just didn’t look comfortable. He showed some grit in converting on a fourth down during the last drive, and he found a way to keep that drive going despite the fact that he wasn’t on his game, but for any of us to feel confident in his ability to run the offense, he’s going to need to be more consistent.

I would say that the second team defense was also less impressive, however, I wanted to mainly touch on first team units and Charlie Whitehurst, simply because there’s a realistic possibility that Whitehurst could play significant time this year.

What did you see, that you didn’t like?