Game Thread: PSW1: @ Los Angeles (AFC), 7/4, Kong and TSN2

[Judge Fudge]

depth shows on offense thats for sure. Just a lot of WR and RB and scrappy TE's.

Defense is having a easy time of it but I kind of expected that. There are a lot of guys on the defense that saw what has happened to them lately. They all have something to prove.

I'm loving it now

 

[Screamin12th]

I will take that 1st half.

Hawks gave up 71 yards to 143 gained and their Offense held the ball for almost 20 minutes. Also 7-12 3rd downs because many of them were shorter as the running game looks good.

20 carries in the first half!!! Did not expect that and im loving it.

 

[Judge Fudge]

Prichett catches that and pick 6

 

[Judge Fudge]

Was that a hand-off to Dee?

 

[Judge Fudge]

 

[Judge Fudge]

I want to see more of Okada

 

[Screamin12th]

I'll take that for the first Preseason game and win for Mike Macdonald.

Greatest part was the defenses 3rd down stops. LOVED that.

 

[Judge Fudge]

I'll take that for the first Preseason game and win for Mike Macdonald.

Greatest part was the defenses 3rd down stops. LOVED that.

Same. Finished my walk with a lil pep in my step.

I thought near the end of the game we seemed to Flex armstong and bend alot.

Offensely. We need to find something because they looked Really Stagent sometimes.

 

[Screamin12th]

Same. Finished my walk with a lil pep in my step.

I thought near the end of the game we seemed to Flex armstong and bend alot.

Offensely. We need to find something because they looked Really Stagent sometimes.

Its preseason game one and defenses are always ahead of the offenses this time of year. But yes the offense was very meh but they ran the sheet out of the ball with 39 rushes. lol a little over correction XD.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'm not gonna get too concerned about the offense, tbh. As you say, pre-season and all but understandably, they really didn't want to show any of the playbook and it was pretty much ground and pound with very few starters in the game. I was impressed with Shenault. He has serious speed and moves. Mostly second string O-line so not gonna get too critical but giving them reps is good for depth. Haynes stood out on a couple of running plays. The RB depth is nice to see. It will be interesting to see who they keep after the top 3.
I liked the intensity of the defense though. Again, they really didn't open the playbook to much but the guys were in their gaps and really good on 3rd down and they mostly shut down any run game. Gotta be hopeful about that. Murphy looks legit. He was pushing blockers back and disruptive. And early on, good to see Woolen travelling and he looks like he's ready for a really good year. Liked what little I saw of Knight as well.
All in all, a solid effort to start pre-season but the Chargers aren't very good so can't pretend it means a lot. Looking forward to the Titans to see if a couple of other things come out. Also want to see the starters a bit but that might be game 3.

 

[JMR]

These early pre-season games often seem to be more about who didn't play than who did. I'm in the middle of Montana in the RV, set my Starlink up last night and was able to watch the game this morning. A few of my takeaways:

• Sam Howell didn't have a statistically impressive game, but he looked pretty good. He sure doesn't take long to deliver the ball; sometimes I thought his trigger was actually a little too quick and didn't let things fully open up. Made good use of his legs here and there. Narrowly avoided a couple pics. PJ Walker also had a really bad near-INT around the goal line.
• Encouraging to see all those 3rd down conversions. We started 5 for 7, with the 5th one being a TD pass to a guy I've never heard of before. If we are able to get better in this area, that will go a long way toward overall team improvement.
• McIntosh showed something for sure, but he won't be more than RB3 unless there's an injury. Still good to have that depth. Seems like he was talked about a lot last pre-season but hasn't been healthy enough to do much.
• Not sure how far you can take it just yet, but it was an encouraging debut for the new defense. LAC really struggled to do much on offense the 1st half. Just when I was wondering if Murphy played, he showed up with a TFL in the middle of the 2nd qtr. His stature sure is different than everyone else. Not tall but still big. Legs like telephone poles.
• Will we keep 6 WRs? I am assuming Bobo is a lock for WR4; so if we only keep 5, it's probably a battle between Shenault and Eskridge. They both had their moments in this game. Eskridge has that physical ability that makes you want to give him more chances. Shenault might be the guy who can finally help us succeed better on those swing passes and WR screens. Whether it's 5 or 6, that last WR spot is going to be a battle.

As far as 1st pre-season games go, it wasn't bad. I lost out on a lot of info that's helpful this time of year because I had the Chargers announcers, but you take what you can get.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

I'm glad Derick Hall had a nice game (we spent almost a 1st on him - seems like a lot of Hawks fans forgot about the guy because despite injuries Carroll didn't put him on the fuckin' field) and also Bryant with the INT. I'm actually nervous if Seattle moves on from Bryant because I think he'll catch on somewhere else and be a great player. I'd love to see him at strong safety. It was really interesting that whenever we took out Bryant and put in Barton teams quickly called a run play lol.

 

[MrS]

put in Barton teams quickly called a run play lol.

you need to let it go

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

you need to let it go

 

[Judge Fudge]

I'm glad Derick Hall had a nice game (we spent almost a 1st on him - seems like a lot of Hawks fans forgot about the guy because despite injuries Carroll didn't put him on the fuckin' field) and also Bryant with the INT. I'm actually nervous if Seattle moves on from Bryant because I think he'll catch on somewhere else and be a great player. I'd love to see him at strong safety. It was really interesting that whenever we took out Bryant and put in Barton teams quickly called a run play lol.

I thought hall was pick 5?

2) How dare you mention that Civ's name?

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Can't read too much into things in pre-season. Obviously, offenses keep things very vanilla to not put anything on tape for when it matters and neither team played their starters, for the most part. But always good to just watch the team pay attention to detail and do their job properly on defense. It's far from perfect but some good signs like gap discipline and tackling. Rhattigan had a solid game too and probably could have been credited for the sack that Hall got or at least 1/2 sack for both. We might need him at some point, given the injury situation and question marks at LB. I really hope Knight turns out as good as his projections. The kid is fast to the ball and can tackle though. Showed some flashes but need to see him in real games.

 

[Anointed One]

you need to let it go

 

[Anointed One]

Can't read too much into things in pre-season. Obviously, offenses keep things very vanilla to not put anything on tape for when it matters and neither team played their starters, for the most part. But always good to just watch the team pay attention to detail and do their job properly on defense. It's far from perfect but some good signs like gap discipline and tackling. Rhattigan had a solid game too and probably could have been credited for the sack that Hall got or at least 1/2 sack for both. We might need him at some point, given the injury situation and question marks at LB. I really hope Knight turns out as good as his projections. The kid is fast to the ball and can tackle though. Showed some flashes but need to see him in real games.

Yeah, great recap by ya'll... I was at the M's game Saturday night so I wasn't able to watch the Hawks... I did watch them when I got back last night and here are a few take-a-ways I had...

1. Are teams going to have to carry a backup kicker on their roster? There were quite a few tackles this weekend from the Kickers during kickoffs... I can see them going dropping like flies if they're going to have to tackle that often...
2. New Kickoff Rule: I like it... It's something different and innovative... I like the fact that we'll probably see less injuries on kickoffs but opportunities for more scoring and better returns/field position... The only think we'll have to endure the first few games are the potential penalties on kickoffs until teams get use to the new concept in real time...
3. I felt like we dominated in every facet of the game... Not really going to put too much emphasis into preseason but that was definitely a sight for sore eyes... Our defensive LOS is going to be a handful... Chargers couldn't do anything, albeit it was our starters vs their backups but the outcome is what should happen when put in that situation... I would've been concerned if their backups had their way with our defense...
4. Toughness and Discipline: Looks like that was our MO Saturday... We were punching people in the mouth... Only 6 penalties? What? Not 10+ like the Pete Carroll led teams...
5. JSN! That guy is a smooth operator... Honestly reminded me of Jerry Rice w/ how smooth he likes in and out of the breaks... And his run blocking was key as well... That block he had on the safety to spring our RB for a large gain was huge... Glad to see he's not afraid to get his hands dirty... (And no... I'm not saying he's going to be Jerry Rice )...

All in all, this game gives us hope at least that the new philosophy and regime will put us back on track moving forward...

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Yeah, great recap by ya'll... I was at the M's game Saturday night so I wasn't able to watch the Hawks... I did watch them when I got back last night and here are a few take-a-ways I had...

1. Are teams going to have to carry a backup kicker on their roster? There were quite a few tackles this weekend from the Kickers during kickoffs... I can see them going dropping like flies if they're going to have to tackle that often...
2. New Kickoff Rule: I like it... It's something different and innovative... I like the fact that we'll probably see less injuries on kickoffs but opportunities for more scoring and better returns/field position... The only think we'll have to endure the first few games are the potential penalties on kickoffs until teams get use to the new concept in real time...
3. I felt like we dominated in every facet of the game... Not really going to put too much emphasis into preseason but that was definitely a sight for sore eyes... Our defensive LOS is going to be a handful... Chargers couldn't do anything, albeit it was our starters vs their backups but the outcome is what should happen when put in that situation... I would've been concerned if their backups had their way with our defense...
4. Toughness and Discipline: Looks like that was our MO Saturday... We were punching people in the mouth... Only 6 penalties? What? Not 10+ like the Pete Carroll led teams...
5. JSN! That guy is a smooth operator... Honestly reminded me of Jerry Rice w/ how smooth he likes in and out of the breaks... And his run blocking was key as well... That block he had on the safety to spring our RB for a large gain was huge... Glad to see he's not afraid to get his hands dirty... (And no... I'm not saying he's going to be Jerry Rice )...

All in all, this game gives us hope at least that the new philosophy and regime will put us back on track moving forward...

On your take away number one.. I was thinking this all offseason. A kicker became DAMN value this offseason with the kickoff change and if you can boot one routinely within the 5 yard line that is a HUGE factor. Myers THAT FUCK already screwed it up this weekend....

 

[Screamin12th]

I would like to see the Hawks Run Defense do better. Yes they gave up only 77 yards but it was on 18 carries or a 4.3 YPC average. That would have them ranked 19th in YPC average against last year and 0.3 YPC better than they were in 2023. SO the next game I want to see the rushing YPC below 4. Rushing defense 100% needs to be good this year because we punted 7 times against the Chargers. Had They stuck to the run more they could have evened up that TOP.

Still I saw a lot i liked about Preseason game #1 and some stuff to build on going forward.