Game Thread: Seattle Seahawks @ Green Bay Packers

[JMR]

Crazy that the Hawks have only won a season opener under Carroll 1 time over the past 8 seasons...

Not true.

 

[JMR]

On the road @ GB is a tough way to start the season. Obviously a rough day for the O with pretty much no ability to run the ball and limited success throwing it. Felt ok being up 3-0 at the half with the way the D was playing and seemed like the O was picking it up a little, but they just couldn't make the plays they needed to make. Frustrating. I really didn't get the Lane ejection, but Avril's dumb penalty on that play brings the TD back anyway. Graham completely mugged in the end zone with no call hurt too. You gotta play a clean game to go into Lambeau and come out with a W, and they just weren't able to do it.

Gets easier from here. The D is legit -- really only gave up 2 drives and 10 points to Rodgers in his house. I think the O line will get better. New starters at 4 of those positions, and usually that means you're not good immediately. Hopefully we came out of this one healthy. Ugly game but bluer skies ahead.

 

[MrS]

Good talent on offense? Can't just focus on the skill positions... How many teams do you know that has won a SB with one of the worst offensive lines that year?

ya there is enough talent on offense outside of OL. even a mediocre OL should have this offense rolling. instead we have a devolving OL year after year.

Gets easier from here. The D is legit -- really only gave up 2 drives and 10 points to Rodgers in his house. I think the O line will get better. New starters at 4 of those positions, and usually that means you're not good immediately. Hopefully we came out of this one healthy. Ugly game but bluer skies ahead.

so tired of this same old BS. "the OL will get better". year 7 and cable is, yet again, back to square one. pitiful.

 

[JMR]

so tired of this same old BS. "the OL will get better". year 7 and cable is, yet again, back to square one. pitiful.

Be tired of it all you want, but that doesn't make it any more or less so. The line should improve as we go. Newly put together this camp with draft picks from the last couple years and a free agent newcomer. It doesn't start off as a finished product from day 1.

 

[pittpnthrs]

Do you even listen to Petes press conferences? He wants to get back to a power running game. He's said it over and over.

I think this is a big reason why the offense struggles. We dont have the horses up front to execute that philosophy. Not sure why we continue to try.

This picture tells all about our offensive line.

 

[JMR]

We dont have the horses up front to execute that philosophy.

Could be. What I didn't really get yesterday was the side to side running plays. I think we need more n/s, just straight at 'em. One other thing I couldn't help thinking when it was in the 4th qtr and I was seeing Lacy on the sideline is whether he's already fallen out of favor and lost his job to Chris Carson. Even though most of his yards came on one run, he was still a lot more effective than Lacy.

 

[JMR]

No doubt the OL had a bad day, but moving to some positives:

Shaq Griffin looked really good. He was tested a ton and held up very nicely in a tough matchup for a pro debut. Very encouraged going forward with him based on that performance vs Aaron Rodgers.

The run D was stifling. Montgomery isn't a world beater or anything, but you hold a back to under 3 per carry on the road and that's something.

RW & Lockett both appear to be firmly beyond last year's injuries.

The D line was as advertised. Rodgers may have ended up with another 300 yard game, but he was not having an easy time back here. First time he was sacked 4 times in the first half since 2012 in Seattle; I also believe it's the first time he's ever been held scoreless with an INT in the first half at home in his career. This D is going to absolutely demolish average NFL QBs/offenses.

I know it's disappointing to start with a loss, but the reality of the season is you're going to lose a few games. If you look at the schedule and rank them based on chance to win, this one was probably leading the way in terms of degree of difficulty. I still think this is likely to be a 12 or 13 win team.

 

[flyerhawk]

We need to sit Lacy down. He looks super slow. Carson looked far better. Rawls likely will once he's back as well.

Prosise was invisible.

Defense looked great. If the OL can become merely below average, this team is a 12-13 win team.

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Lambeau on a season opener is tough, no getting around that. I gave Seattle a pretty slim chance of winning this and it required a fumble at our own 5 yard line, an ejection to our 2nd best corner, and a negated INT TD return. Refs are clearly getting us back for the stupid fail Mary thing. Rodgers needed all the help he could get there.

As for the offense, Seattle's power running game just isn't there right now. They need to do a more up tempo offense and go for some quicker slants/passes. I feel like Seattle is trying to sport an offense that has our 05' line. Methodical, let plays develop, some power running... but that's a bit of a problem when your O-Line is so new let alone not THAT talented. Certainly not seeing any Walter Jones or Steve Hutchinson lineman out there at the moment.

Good thing is it appears no injuries. Some cramps, etc. but that's expected first game, it happens. Defense looked great against Rodgers. He finally made some adjustments at the end and REALLY picked on Coleman, man he was getting torched.

49ers should be a good win.

Lacy looked like an offensive lineman carrying the football. Jeez. Might as well start Carson next game lol.

 

[chf]

Lacy WILL have his moments to contribute this year (barring some injury).

I too think that Carson should get the nod moving forward, but as usual the rush to judgment is in high gear around here.

 

[MrS]

Gets easier from here. The D is legit -- really only gave up 2 drives and 10 points to Rodgers in his house. I think the O line will get better. New starters at 4 of those positions, and usually that means you're not good immediately. Hopefully we came out of this one healthy. Ugly game but bluer skies ahead.

No doubt the OL had a bad day, but moving to some positives:

Shaq Griffin looked really good. He was tested a ton and held up very nicely in a tough matchup for a pro debut. Very encouraged going forward with him based on that performance vs Aaron Rodgers.

The run D was stifling. Montgomery isn't a world beater or anything, but you hold a back to under 3 per carry on the road and that's something.

RW & Lockett both appear to be firmly beyond last year's injuries.

The D line was as advertised. Rodgers may have ended up with another 300 yard game, but he was not having an easy time back here. First time he was sacked 4 times in the first half since 2012 in Seattle; I also believe it's the first time he's ever been held scoreless with an INT in the first half at home in his career. This D is going to absolutely demolish average NFL QBs/offenses.

I know it's disappointing to start with a loss, but the reality of the season is you're going to lose a few games. If you look at the schedule and rank them based on chance to win, this one was probably leading the way in terms of degree of difficulty. I still think this is likely to be a 12 or 13 win team.

10-6 bro, lets be realistic here.

 

[JMR]

10-6 bro, lets be realistic here.

You mean pessimistic? Unless you're telling me winning 12 games this year was contingent upon winning the toughest matchup on the entire schedule? That's "realistic" all right. Jeezus.

 

[MrS]

Any team with a good dline is going to crush our offense. Tennessee is a L, rams on road is a L cards on road is a L, at dallas is a L, giants is probably a L.

thats 6 losses right there. All we need is one blow up at home and we are 9-7.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Any team with a good dline is going to crush our offense. Tennessee is a L, rams on road is a L cards on road is a L, at dallas is a L, giants is probably a L.

thats 6 losses right there. All we need is one blow up at home and we are 9-7.

I do think the Seahawks will struggle against teams with good Dline, but not ready to mark it down as a lost. Those games will be defensive battle. Kind of like our D this year. Think I'll wait and see how it goes.

 

[Mariners_44]

Does it suck we lost, yes. Is the season over, not even close.

We started on the road in GB with both teams pretty much at full strength, and lost by less than 10 points to the best QB in the league. On top of that, it was a game that we could have very easily won if we didn't trip over ourselves.

Did the O-line suck, yep. It's been the same for years, was expected to be the same this year, and showed up as advertised. We've all beat this to a pulp over the years, Bevell and Cable need to fix this.

In the limited touches provided Chris Carson looks like our best option at tailback. Lacy just doesn't look good, nor did he give any reason to believe he should retain the #1 spot while Rawls is out. It's time to start with Carson moving forward, and I'm really excited to see what he can do.

Some silver linings:

Our defense is absolutely ridiculous. As I stated before the season started, we won't lose a game by double digits all year.

Walsh made his kicks, good to see.

Special teams looked great as well, putting the Packers in rough position all game.

Lastly, we will be fine.

 

[MrS]

I do think the Seahawks will struggle against teams with good Dline, but not ready to mark it down as a lost. Those games will be defensive battle. Kind of like our D this year. Think I'll wait and see how it goes.

Defense will be on the field 40 minutes in quite a few games.

 

[JMR]

Any team with a good dline is going to crush our offense. Tennessee is a L, rams on road is a L cards on road is a L, at dallas is a L, giants is probably a L.

thats 6 losses right there. All we need is one blow up at home and we are 9-7.

Well damn. There's always next year!

 

[JMR]

Some silver linings:

Our defense is absolutely ridiculous. As I stated before the season started, we won't lose a game by double digits all year.

Yep, truth. Shutting Rodgers out in the first half in his yard with 4 sacks and a pick is telling. Their O really scored 10 points on our D, which is impressive on its own but even moreso when you consider how they got zero help from the offense.

Lastly, we will be fine.

I think so. Even if you saw the record as 13-3, it probably included a loss at GB. But now that it has indeed turned out that way, some people want to now pile on more losses. It's sorta easy to dump all over the punching bag of the team and say the line is going to hold us down, but I think they'll be better than this. Should get a bit of a confidence booster in this next game, and then probably again vs Indy who is absolutely atrocious.

 

[packerzrule]

Lots of knee jerk reactions here gents

Let me use the now famous phrase R E L A X

The Hawks will be fine. See you in the playoffs

 

[MrS]

Indy? You mean after we see a replay of our hirrendous offense against TEN?