Asked if he thought it would be tough to get his team emotionally ready for next Sunday’s game against Arizona, Seahawks head coach Jim Mora didn’t hesitate.
“That won’t be a problem this week,” he said. “Not with these guys. I’m talking about those guys in there (Mora pointing to the players locker room), and the guys that are coming to Qwest.”
The Seahawks have looked impressive in home shutouts against St. Louis and Jacksonville, along with a tough loss to Chicago.
But they’ve struggled on the road against San Francisco and Indianapolis, something that was not lost on linebacker Lofa Tatupu.
“I want to see us do it on the road,” Tatupu said. “You can’t be inconsistent, and doing this at home and then just going on the road and giving up points like we have. So I’m not going to be satisfied until we do it on the road.”
So even if Seattle gets a victory at home against Arizona and heads into the bye at 3-3, we really won’t learn anything about this team until after the bye week, when Seattle plays four of its next five opponents on the road in November, with dates at Dallas, Arizona, Minnesota and St. Louis.
Wide receiver Nate Burleson talked about the Seahawks changing their mental approach after the team’s the big win over Jacksonville.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I thought the team looked much more loose and relaxed during practice, and I think that translated into a nothing-to-lose attitude on Sunday.
Burleson basically echoed those sentiments after the game, saying that the team is trying to go out and have fun, and play with a loose attitude.
“We realized something today,” Burleson said. “That we don’t need to approach the game with false enthusiasm. We have a lot of passion in this locker room, a lot of guys who love this game.
“And I don’t know if you can notice it from the outside looking in, but I could definitely see there was a little more enthusiasm. Guys were having a little bit more fun, kind of toned down on being so conservative and just going out there and letting loose. And if we can approach the game like that every Sunday, it’s going to be good for us. It’s a benefit to go out there and play like you’re in middle school and have fun.”
Not only road vs home, but the 2 teams they’ve beat have been awful. let’s see if we beat Arizona for starters
They also need a running game (I consider Jones the #3 rb in terms of quality) & the o line is really getting scary.
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Moo,
The Jags may have looked awful today, but they put a serious scare into Indy a couple weeks ago…
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The Jags aren’t “awful.” They have (or had) the 10th rated offense in the league. They have some serious weapons, though we caught a break with Sims-Walker messing up.
I was most impressed with the way MJD was a complete non-factor.
We may now need to think about trading away a few draft picks for a decent LT, perhaps the Jags wouldn’t mind letting Tra Thomas go for Denver’s pick, or something, but Kyle Williams isn’t going to cut it.
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A nice little insight with a little false biased but of you take away the 2 monster runs from gore, our run defense has been absolutely dominant. We have also played some very good running backs to boot.
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HawksKD: don’t forget… Mebane, tatupu and Hill were all out. 2 of the exceptions are back. One more week and we get trufant and hill back, and possibly walter jones. This is gonna be good.
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Also, anyone notice how much better the secondary looked with josh wilson starting as opposed to kelly jennings? I think in a nickel set, trufant, lucas, and wilson is going to be a top CB trio. Plus, look at how easy it was to exploit brian russell. That used to be us.
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I think the pass rush was the key to the DBs looking better.
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All good points about the team’s energy, pass rush, mebane, tatupu, wilson, curry, it all added up.
What I really noticed between last week against Indy, and then against the Jags, was how differently the defense played. Tight vs. enthusiastic; aggressive vs. scared.
I think when they prepared for Indy, the coaches knew they were undermanned and couldn’t stop Manning, so they tried to teach the defense some new schemes. That just ended up making the players tighten up and think to much. They looked hesitant.
Against the Jags, it was the opposite. Coaches knew the scheming had not worked, they knew we had the advantage of playing at home, they know the Jags are not multi-dimensional and if you take away their running game their play-action passing game will suffer. So they just let the players practice what they had practiced all preseason: stuff the run, then disrupt the pocket, and gang tackle. The defense was having fun just playing their game and it showed.
Since we are staying at home to play the Cards, and we have sky-high incentive to beat them, I don’t see any let down coming. I think the Cardinals will walk into a hornets’ nest.
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I think Eric poses a legitimate question. I know this; all the piece are in place for it to be a turning point. The D is healthy, for the most part, and finally showed the controlled aggression we were promised. Hasselbeck looked better yesterday than he had up to his injury. Next week is as important a game as yesterday was, so the motivation (if any is necessary) is there to play with the same level of intensity. It’s at home leading into a bye. That can’t be overstated for this team. After the bye they should get Trufant back and Hill shortly thereafter. I’d be very surprised if they came out and laid an egg next week. But Lofa is right, they have to do this on the road. They go to Dallas after the bye and with an extra week to prepare, I will expect the same type of effort we all saw yesterday. I really believe yesterday will be a turning point.
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Stevo – You hit on the issue I had with the Colt game. It is reasonable to believe they would get lit up vs. a red hot Manning. It would seem to me that would free you up to play aggressive and free. Nothing to lose. But they played intimidated and the coaches installed a scheme that fed into that fear, IMO. But yesterday was beautiful; enthusiastic and aggressive. You can’t be afraid to lose. I’m so glad I’m going to that game next week. The Cards are had better come prepared because the team and the fans are going to be frenzied.
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Speaking of the D, John Morgan points out something that has been brought up here; how young the corp of this D is. (Hill and Tru notwithstanding as they are injured)
22: Nick Reed.
23: Aaron Curry,
24: Brandon Mebane, Lawrence Jackson, Josh Wilson.
25: Darryl Tapp, Red Bryant.
26: Will Herring
27: Lofa Tatupu
That is something that can be built on and play great for years to come.
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This Seahawks team is discovering itself. Its figuring out what it takes to win, and this process gets slowed down by the injuries. Sure, we don’t know much about them yet. Both road losses were to quality teams- you can argue that we took SF’s best shot possible. You can argue that they played Manning at his best.
The Chicago loss will hurt all season. There’s no reversing it. The D needs to come up big again against the Cardinals.
Yes, the young defense is an exciting thought.
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It’s like I said, get Fragileback back in the starting lineup and watch them beat teams again! Knew it all along!
But seriously, let’s not get all Cialis here, there are three things to know about Jacksonville…
1 – 31st ranked passing D
2 – David Gerrard is their QB and their “best” WR didn’t play
3 – Jacksonville’s “signature win” this season was against 0-5 Tennessee
Fun to go to a game and watch a big win, but let’s not get too excited. This win is like UW beating Idaho – it’s nice but, you know, come on.
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I wonder if the Hawks will make a move on the O line. W Jones, Locklear and Sims are out. Wrotto, Frye and Williams all got hurt in the Jags game.
There are 31 other practice squads besides the Hawks. Not one O lineman on any of those that could help the Hawks?
I guess Goddard could play tackle and DeLaPuente could play guard.
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So you’re gonna bash em when they lose and then minimize it when they win? You’re comparison of UW and Idaho is ridiculous. This is the NFL man!! Competition is close and every game is hard fought. That was a good Jax team and if you don’t think they wanted to win that game you’re kidding yourself. That was a quality win against a quality opponent, deal with it.
Loved the defensive effort(finally!) and how about OUR wideouts making some very tough catches to keep drives alive. I always thought that just happens to other teams. Very good to see it on ours.
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“I think the pass rush was the key to the DBs looking better. ”
Totally agree. Tapp, Mebane, and man, especially Aaron Curry, who is looking like he may eventually be the guy teams have to gameplan against. He was all over the field.
Look, it’s very obvious to all of us that we are a much better, much more confident team when we’ve got our leader on offense on the field. I thought a real key play early was when Hass took off on that 12-yd run for a first down, he looked fit and athletic, and showed that he was not going to be a tentative player. Apart from the slow first half start against the Rams, when he’s been on the field, he’s been as advertised in the pre-season, very sharp.
And to the continued naysayers, now saying that Jacksonville wasn’t a real challenge, aren’t you the same one who were pointing to the fact that those same Jags barely lost to the Colt in Indianapolis? Can’t have it both ways.
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Mora needs to move practices up earlier in the day during the bye week so the guys get acclimated to the time shift in Dallas. This tangible does factor with our guys, lets not forget our track record playing on the road out east. We’ve got Dallas, Minnesota, STL, Houston and Green Bay on the radar.
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Just having Matt out there also seemed to give this team so much more life (as others have stated).
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Only random downer thought on a nice day to read about the NFL highlights – damn, how are the Broncos 5-0? That draft pick continues to plummet, I thought they were a 5-win team this year . . . doesn’t look like they’re going to drop eleven in a row.
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Mouthbreather,
See my post in the Reader’s reaction section.
Also, this is a team that took Indy to the wire. A last minute drive gave the Colts a 14-12 win.
Also, this was a team that had scored over 30 pts in each of it’s last two games.
Also, last week, Gerrard piled up a 126 QB rating…
Also, take away Maurice Jones-Who?’s 18 yd ramble in garbage time, and he averaged 1.25 ypc.
Dude, learn to enjoy good things, not pick them apart…life will be much more pleasant for you.
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Mouthbreather is at least able to poke fun at himself. He brings up an interesting analogy; the Husky win over Idaho. While l agree that our enthusiasm should be tempered (just as the losses don’t signal the end of the world) the season’s outlook now looks significantly brighter than it did a week ago. And as the Huskies followed up their Idaho win with a win over USC, the ‘Hawks need to follow this up with a win over the Cards.
Yesterday was a prime example of how important the pass rush is to pass defense. It’s such a simple formula. It’s just one that’s not always easy to execute. The best was to neutralize Fitz and Boldin is to put Warner on his ass, repeatedly. They’re not going to run on the ‘Hawks.
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“Yesterday was a prime example of how important the pass rush is to pass defense. It’s such a simple formula. It’s just one that’s not always easy to execute. The best was to neutralize Fitz and Boldin is to put Warner on his ass, repeatedly. They’re not going to run on the ‘Hawks. ”
Yep, it’s all about pass rush. And sacks are just one statistical measure – hurrying the QB is just about is good. Saw your man, Tapp, just completely beat Eugene Monroe on a one-on-one move; and Curry was using his speed/athleticism all day. We need to keep turning him loose, might be his most impactful role on the team.
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With all of the injuries we’ve had, if Matt would have thrown the ball away in SF instead of playing superhero, I think we’d be 4-1. Worse case, we’d be 3-2 if we would have at SF.
Yesterday was a day where it seemed we got most of the breaks and it felt good to be on the other end of things like tipped balls.
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That’s what I’ve been saying, Bobby, we were oinly one “break” away from being 4-1. It’s not that we’re a bad team, we’ve just been going through a “character building” phase:) I like our chances for the rest of the season. Next week, the DL just needs to pin it’s collective ears back, and try to get double digit sacks AND double digit QB hurries…we do anything approaching that, and the Tards are toast…:)
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I don’t like what I saw of the character building phrase with respect to Mora blaming Mare though. That’s what losers do and that’s what Mora did. From day 1 of Mora getting the job, I was on his side. He lost a lot of me that day and crap like that is tough to get back (respect).
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Michael Bennett was picked up off waivers by the Bucs.
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Best of luck to him, except when they play us…
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Bobby, I’m giving Mora a “temporary insanity” out on that one, but he’s no probation…
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that’s “on” probation…damn the no edit feature…
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Losing Bennett isn’t fun.
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But on the other hand, it’s hardly a major blow (I hope)
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Definately false floor. Come one, the Rams and the Jaguars? And only at home? After Arizona this Sunday, the remaining schedule has 6 on the road. 2 winnable games in the next 10, Detroit and Tampa Bay. And after Sunday I’m thinking Detroit is not a gimme. Jacksonville has the worst rated pass defense in the league, and they still should have been up 7-3 or tied 3-3 at the least, if not for Del Rio coming down with GKS (Greg Knapp Syndrome, i.e. Stupid Play Calling).
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