Darrell Bevell's Week 1 Grade

[SeattleOspreys]

Even though the game went fairly close to predicted in a previous Hawk vs Carolina thread, it was more of what I thought would be poor play calling on Bevell.

I was wrong about Bevell and glad he called a nice game. I give him an "A". What? How does Bevell get an A when the O had 12 points.

He came out and ran those 11 alignments in the gun with Lynch to the side of RWill like I wanted. He wasn't stubborn with his run play calling. No chit, I was hoping we'd be closer to 20 rushing attempts and wanted 37 RWill pass plays. Although that would signify we'd be losing or close, that was the game I thought it'd be. Thus the under 45.5 for 125 monopoly $$.

Bevell can't help that the OL wasn't playing well but Carolina's front 7 is the real deal. He mixed it up as best he could and needed the execution on the field.

The only play I can remember that I was shaking my head on was when we went empty backfield and RWill had no chance to get rid of the ball on the Carolina Blitz. Splat.

Bevell got Coleman involved with 3 nice catch and runs. If Coleman plays a similar game in week 2, there's no need to bring back MRob. None.

The 1 play that catipulted Bevell from a B+ to an A was the 9 route that Stephen Williams slowed down for and then had to dive. Had SW just kept running, that ball wouldn't been a bunny in the basket and TD.

So we send in Kearse and the very next play, Bevell dials up the same 9 route and RWill hits Kearse for the lead changing 40+ yd TD pass. You rarely see that from an O-Co. They take that shot and with a fail, they come back to it but not the very next play.

Our OL has to protect much better and it'll be another challenge against SF but I hope Bevell calls a very similar game early with the 11 alignments but get Beast another 5 - 7 touches. I'd like to see a few more screen passes with the aggressive 9er defense. Green Bay should've set up the screen far more often than they did. Lacy torched 'em for a 30 ydr on the screen but GB didn't work it nearly enough. That play is open and I'll be looking for it.

Good job, Bevell. Keep proving me wrong about you and I'll be

 

[dude82]

I didn't get to see much of the game, but as I mentioned in another thread, the parts that I did get to see didn't leave me with a good impression of the offensive line play. Part of that certainly has to do with what Carolina can do with its front-7, but Wilson got hung out to dry too often and we clearly didn't get any push on running plays. If I had any concern heading into the season, it was the offensive line play in pass protection. It didn't look particularly good in the preseason and based on what I saw of yesterday's game and what I've heard about it since, they didn't do anything to ease that concern. They're gonna have to step it up next week for sure. If they can do that, it should make Bevell's job easier.