Offense or Defense

[Captain 97]

Obviously until you play a perfect game there are always things you can complain about but I have a hard time criticizing the offense when they hung 28 on the Steelers on the road. Only caveat there would be the fumble which handed them 7 points and gave them a shot when you basically just needed to sit on it to win.

[ThePro]

Well, he's better than Bevel anyway. All the same, i don't know why he couldn't see fairly early on that the Steelers were doing shit at the LOS that was resulting in players running unblocked into the backfield and make some adjustments then.

Right, but you do get how this works, right? The defensive coordinator draws up schemes to stop Seattle's strengths and tendencies. They know what Seattle likes to do, it's not rocket science. Sometimes they are doing things that we haven't seen before. You cannot adjust in seconds - it takes a beat to figure out what they are doing (differently) and then figure out your best counter measure. It's a total chess match. It's the most interesting part of the games, IMO. Wilson also has a long leash to make adjustments on the fly as well. Give Pitt props for having a good scheme out of the gate, and credit Seattle for making the proper adjustments.

Looks like teams are going to 5 and 6 man fronts to take away Seattle's powerful run game. For the most part it's working. The counter to that is to pass. Which goes away from the Hawks offensive identity. The line is shaky on pass pro anyways. If a defense goes exotic all hell breaks loose. They didn't give up a sack 2nd half.

As IstilllovetheMs pointed out. The TEs in the seam is goi g to be the key going forward. Once the Hawks made that adjustment the Steelers looked quite foolish on D. It would be nice to see them open up the game like that withbthe quick passing game. 83% comp and ball out in 1.89 sec. How do you stop that?

[D-train]

I am about as happy as this guy to be 2-0

https://twitter.com/espn/status/1173272108518060033

[Sibelius Hindemith]

They have to be more flexible to abandon the script early on. Four sacks in the first quarter is utterly ridiculous. It's not like the word hasn't been out for... what....let me see... oh yeah... four or five years that they have major deficiencies in pass protection. It shouldn't come as a shock, then, when opponents are dialing up blitzes and stunts to mess them up.

[ThePro]

They have to be more flexible to abandon the script early on. Four sacks in the first quarter is utterly ridiculous. It's not like the word hasn't been out for... what....let me see... oh yeah... four or five years that they have major deficiencies in pass protection. It shouldn't come as a shock, then, when opponents are dialing up blitzes and stunts to mess them up.

They prepare all week. They can't abandon their gameplan that quickly and how do you know they have a script they are following?

[Donn Beach]

here is Shotty's attitude to scripting plays, his reasons for following a script of sorts is pretty typical...

Brian Schottenheimer doesn’t script plays, per se.

They’re more like strong suggestions

Thursday, the Seahawks’ first-year offensive coordinator discussed his play-calling philosophy, which includes an ever-changing list of six runs and six passes Schottenheimer tentatively uses as a plan to open games.

And, yes, sometimes those plans change. But what are the benefits in following a loose offensive script?

“There’s certainly things you want to look at from a formation (standpoint), personnel groupings, how the (defense is) going to treat certain players,” Schottenheimer said. “There’s a little bit of trying to get people involved. Some of it is as simple as trying to say, ‘Hey, we really liked this play during the week, and this is something we want to see.’ It really is different each week.

“But you’re not married to it. We’re not so married to the script that you say, ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.’ I’ve done that before a long time ago. If you run for 9 yards on first down and then the second play is supposed to be a pass, you’re almost crazy if you do that.

“So we have opening thoughts, is what we would call them — top runs, top passes that we want to get to early in the game.”

Inevitably, those top runs and passes sometimes result in few yards or points. The Seahawks have gone three-and-out or committed a turnover in their opening drive six times this season (including four consecutive weeks), while they’ve scored on their opening drive just three times (all touchdowns).

Still, a scoring drive isn’t the only thing an opening script accomplishes.

“You obviously don’t want to go three-and-out, ever,” Schottenheimer acknowledged. “We have a philosophy here — and I’ve learned a lot from Pete (Carroll) — about how you can’t win the game in the first quarter. You’ve got to just play the game out. We’re in the business of solving problems and creating solutions as a staff.

“The game rarely goes exactly how you envision it. We all have a vision of how the game might go. I didn’t think that game would be 3-0 going into (the fourth quarter) last week. But you’re always gathering information.”

[auroraave]

They have to be more flexible to abandon the script early on. Four sacks in the first quarter is utterly ridiculous. It's not like the word hasn't been out for... what....let me see... oh yeah... four or five years that they have major deficiencies in pass protection. It shouldn't come as a shock, then, when opponents are dialing up blitzes and stunts to mess them up.

Not all defenses run the same scheme - and not all blitzes are the same - what hurt Seattle most was the stunts and delayed blitzes. There is no tape to study on a new wrinkle - so no way to prepare for it. Also, if you are blitzing - you are immediately creating a mismatch FOR the offense - and QB's like Brees, Brady, Rivers can usually exploit it quickly. RW has become a QB of that caliber now. Blitzing = risk. Remember the LOB years? Seattle rarely blitzed. Scripting plays is a byproduct of preparation. You don't do the same thing against every team - so Shotty has to go into Carroll with a game plan to go against the opponent's specific defense's strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. Scripting plays is a way to do that - if you are successful, you keep going until the defense adjusts and vice versa. Pitt threw stuff at Seattle they had not seen before. Also, you use some plays to set up others. Wilson never ran - so late in the game, the D was lulled to sleep on his running ability - so the D didn't use a spy on him - then when he did - the d wasn't prepared. It's not as cut and dried as what you are watching on TV. You do not run the same game plan every week - you can't, because the d's are all different, and you also don't want to show too much - you want to have surprises in the tank for later in the season - stuff teams haven't seen on tape.

[Donn Beach]

and when it comes to blitzes isn't that more the QB's responsibility to check out of the play that was called?

[DavidGee24]

Obviously until you play a perfect game there are always things you can complain about but I have a hard time criticizing the offense when they hung 28 on the Steelers on the road. Only caveat there would be the fumble which handed them 7 points and gave them a shot when you basically just needed to sit on it to win.

It was two fumbles that led to 14 points, with the first one being helped by the horrible PI call against Hendricks on a pass that the receiver caught with both feet out of bounds strictly on his own momentum. That's my big complaint, reviewing it on replay and not realizing that this would fall under the "uncatchable" rule.

[ThePro]

and when it comes to blitzes isn't that more the QB's responsibility to check out of the play that was called?

Bingo