Second quarter, Seahawks down 13-0. Seattle's efficient march into the red zone has bogged down. We have the ball, 4th and one on the Atlanta 11.
Decision time.
Just kick the field goal, Pete. End the shutout. Erase that goose egg. Get some points on the board. If we go for it and fail, it will only embolden Atlanta and demoralize our team.
Uh oh, the offense is staying in. We're going for the first down. Carroll is going hormonal and rolling the dice.
That's OK, we have a lot of ways to pick up a yard. Just don't call the fullback dive to Michael Robinson. That has worked reliably several times in similar situations this season, because everyone keys on Marshawn Lynch in short yardage situations, but the Falcons must have done film study, so they'll expect the fullback dive and key on Rob instead. Call anything but the fullback dive.
$#!+. We're running the fullback dive. Atlanta knew it was coming and stopped Rob for a loss. Falcons ball on downs.
Fourth quarter, Seahawks up 28-27 late in a heroic second half.
With a half-minute to go, the best defense in football needs to stop one of the better offenses from getting within field goal range. We've been stopping them routinely for most of the half.
Atlanta has their best kickoff return of the game, to their own 28.
Matt Ryan completes a long pass to midfield.
First down on the fifty for the Falcons. Thirteen seconds remain in the game.
Seahawk defenders crowd near the line of scrimmage, bluffing blitz. I hope it's a bluff. Don't blitz! We haven't successfully pressured Ryan all game. Our best defense is a swarm of defensive backs and linebackers in coverage. That's what has shut down the Atlanta offense here in the second half. Stick with what's working.
Oh, no. It's not a bluff. Pete's gone hormonal again, and we're blitzing two defensive backs. I love that when it works, but it hasn't been working today. The Falcons ably defend the blitz, just as they've done all game. Ryan completes yet another pass to Tony Gonzalez, this one for 18 yards. We could have used more defenders in coverage.
Atlanta's lining up to attempt a 49-yard field goal. Wide right! Yes! Seahawks win!
Timeout? Hormonal Carroll called a timeout to ice the kicker? Does that ever work? Their kicker gets a do-over. Splits the uprights. Seahawks lose.
There was a lot of sloppy execution throughout the game, and the defense on the final drive of the Falcons (for the winning FG) was no exception. The blocking was terrible for Lynch, the tackling was terrible against the run, and we gave up 165 yards on the ground to a team that ranked 29th in the NFL.
ReplyDeleteThat 4th-and-1 play was a stand-out poor decision, but the defense giving up 20 points in the half and and allowing the Falcons to stomp all over us was by far the most disgusting part of the whole mess. It's too bad...it really does feel like a wasted opportunity for a team that (otherwise) seemed poised to go all the way this year.
Yes, our defense was mysteriously poor throughout the first half, and then again at the end of the game. There was poor execution, but we were also outcoached. The Falcons ran more than expected, and our defense failed to adjust to that in the first half. For most of the second half, our defense effectively stopped the run and the pass. We finally forced the Atlanta punter to make a few appearances. But we couldn't stop them in the last 31 seconds, when it counted most.
ReplyDeleteThe offensive line did not dominate on running downs, but I attribute that partly to predictable play-calling. It's harder to stop defenders when they know what you're going to run. If Lynch had been at full strength, that would have helped. If we had run more read option, and if Wilson had kept the ball and run on some of them, that would have helped keep the Atlanta defense honest against the run.
Otherwise, Wilson's performance was phenomenal.
I couldn't believe the end of that game. I'm not a Seahawks fan at all, but I was rooting for them in this game, and was horrified to see that timeout come from the Seahawks. What a terrible call. It is sad to see a coach just give away a game like that. The Seahawks fucking won that game, as far as I'm concerned.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Unknown. Carroll wasn't trying to give away the game. In keeping with a questionable but persistent strategic tradition, he was trying to psych out the opposing kicker. If Atlanta's kicker had nailed his practice kick and then shanked the real one, people would be proclaiming Carroll a genius for using a time out to ice the kicker.
ReplyDeleteThe italics in the post above reflect my thoughts and reactions in real time during the game. Ultimately, they're unfair to Carroll. The Seahawks advanced to the divisional round of the playoffs for the second time in his 3 years as Seattle's coach because Carroll has made many more good decisions than bad ones.
Carroll is a great motivator, but a poor game manager. He needs cooler, wiser heads to help him make solid decisions in real time. Consider, for example, his very poor record challenging refs' rulings with his little red flag...