Hawk Talk - Sunday Preview the Packers
October 10, 2008 by Terry Shilton
Filed under NFL Football, Seahawks
This has been a tough week the excitement of getting healthy was quickly dashed by a Giant drumming and the loss of Branch who is now out indefinitely only serves to further frustrate at team that at this point is struggling to find itself. On Wednesday coach Holmgren held a team “truth session” which is a polite way of saying he ripped the team a new one, “He’s definitely tense, there’s no doubt about that,” quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. “Mike got up today and really laid into the offense. I mean, he gave it to us hard today. That was tough to take.” But one can’t help but wonder how accountable the players feel to a coach that is taking a sabbatical away from football when the season ends, I have mentioned several times that I didn’t like this dynamic and the problem with it is starting to show. Coach Holmgren has a team meeting with the offense, Ok but no mention of a defensive meeting? why because Coach Mora is supposed to be taking care of it, this is a defense we thought could contend for the leagues best not the leagues worst.
This game is do or die, lose and the season’s lost, you heard it here first…
OPPONENT OVERVIEW
The Packers find themselves, in a similar situation to the Hawks but for different reasons, there team is adjusting to their new pivot Aaron Rodgers who overall has looked quite good but lost close game to Atlanta and Tampa Bay, the shadow of number 4 is not an easy one to fill it seems especially in close games. Also on the defensive side of the ball the Pack have struggled against the run, ranked 27th going into Sunday, I have to say this surprised me as Green Bay has among the most physicals corners you’ll fin anywhere and can often get away with leaving them in man coverage.
KEYS TO VICTORY
Offense
1) Sustain and Maintain, drives that is too many three and outs put our struggling D right back into the fire against the Giants.
2) Run Downhill, The Pack have troubles against the run, this is the one area where we may be able to exploit their defense we have to take advantage here, Julius is going to big
3) Big Play, the last big play came against the Rams, we haven’t attempted a throw longer than about 15 yards since, we need to take a few shots down field to one of the younger guys and give them a chance to make a play
Defense
1) Get off the field, the Giants first 5 drives resulted in points, when we are down that big you have no choice but to abandon the run we became one dimensional and in-effective the key to this game is defense
2)Pressure Aaron, QB’s have killed our secondary and I’m sick of every week making them a key to victory and them letting me down let’s give them some help, and get some pressure on Rodgers, this is the biggest game of his short career and he will be a little tight especially early.
3)No Fighting, Communication, last week maybe three or four times I saw defensive players jawwing at one another on a third down play, Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill begin to argue about where Leroy should line up the ball snaps Lofa blitz’s gets picked up easily and Eli completes a 30 yarder; these type of things turn teamates against each other in game this has to be stopped immediately; if it continues the culprits should be benched!
KEY MATCHUPS
Aaron Rodgers vs Brett Favre, Sorry Aaron but I was never a fan of letting Favre go, your team was a play away from a Super Bowl appearance last season losing to the Giants in overtime, now your a game away from possibly being right out of the Playoff picture in one of the toughest stadiums to take a win away from; you’ll have to be good or the ghost of Favre will be haunting you again.
Matt Hasselbeck vs Seneca Wallace, This has been the year of the backup with Marc Bulger, Carson Palmer, Derek Anderson, Tavarius Jackson among others that have or are currently close to losing their starting job how much longer can we wait on Matt’s 57.7 Qb Rating, which is currently the worst of any starter remaining in the NFL. It’s quite possible if this was Mora’s team Seneca starts Sunday…
Mike Holmgren vs Jim Mora, Meltdown watch, I could feel the tension on the sidelines watching the game at the Giants, and this one could be the straw that broke the back especially if one unit either offense or defense has succeess while the other faltures as Mora is tje secondary Coach at present and more of a defensive specialist where the “Big Show” has always been known for his offensive coaching ability,
THE LINE
Just a terrible line to bet The Seahawks -1, essentially just pick the winner, in a battle of desperation I’d take experience and to me the Hawks have the edge, the 12th man is the difference Hawks roll at home win by 7
THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT
To be honest I go into this game with nerves not excitement, this is the turning point or breaking point which it will be is hidden behind a teams struggle to find itself, for both teams this game could very well define the rest of the season. To rebuild or not rebuild that is the question? we will answer it Sunday and one team will be on the outside of the playoffs looking into a rebuilding process that will start with a high draft pick.
In short, Possesion is nine tenths of the law or something like that my key stat is possesion the team that keeps the ball the longest wins keep away and Sunday, the other team is left with hard questions and the reality that the palyoffs are liely out of reach.
REMAINING GAMES
| Date | Game | Time (ET) | Tickets | Network | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 12 | GB @ SEA | 4:15 PM | Tickets | FOX | ||||||
| Oct 19 | SEA @ TB | 8:15 PM | Tickets | NBC | ||||||
| Oct 26 | SEA @ SF | 4:15 PM | Tickets | FOX | ||||||
| Nov 02 | PHI @ SEA | 4:15 PM | Tickets | FOX | ||||||
| Nov 09 | SEA @ MIA | 1:00 PM | Tickets | FOX | ||||||
| Nov 16 | ARI @ SEA | 4:05 PM | Tickets | FOX | ||||||
| Nov 23 | WAS @ SEA | 4:15 PM | Tickets | FOX | ||||||
| Nov 27 | SEA @ DAL | 4:15 PM | Tickets | FOX | ||||||
| Dec 07 | NE @ SEA | 8:15 PM | Tickets | NBC | ||||||
| Dec 14 | SEA @ STL | 1:00 PM | Tickets | FOX | ||||||
| Dec 21 | NYJ @ SEA | 4:05 PM | Tickets | CBS | ||||||
| Dec 28 | SEA @ ARI | 4:15 PM | Tickets | FOX |
Last post (s) by Terry Shilton
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October 10th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Hmmm Matt is apparently out with soreness in his right knee looks like Charlie Frye is going to get the start Sunday.
He did get all the reps druing practice but it was generally thought that Matt would be healthy emough to play come Sunday.
Holmgren came short of declairng Frye the starter saying that “it will be a gameday decision”
October 10th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Revisted Key Matchup - to be put in place of the Matt Hasselbeck one if Charlie gets the Start
Charlie Frye vs Trying to do to Much, call it the Seth Rosenfaul disease as a backup if Charlie just protects the ball takes what is there and times his shots we’ll be ok but too often backups try to make plays or play outside themselves to early, if Charlie does this well we lose if he can resist we have a shot.
October 10th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Interesting with Frye starting. I dont know who to pick this weekend. Homeside is who I will probably go with.
October 11th, 2008 at 8:14 am
With regard to Hasselbeck, don’t you think that his lack of weapons is the real issue. He has been so consistent (at least from an outsider’s perspective) over the past few years, it seems that he should get a little slack here.
October 11th, 2008 at 10:56 am
I think so but also at issue seems to be a lack of confidence, this can easily be tied to the backup recievers and not having timing down and so on, but watching every game the decision making is well below the Hasselbeck standard and frankly not good enough to win regardless of weapons. The expectation here is that this team needs to make the playoffs after that all bets are off but being well short of that goal creates questions where in ares that weren’t questioned previously and oddly this year more than others seems the year coach’s in general have been willing to go away from their starting QB’s.
Do I think this is imminent in Seattle? no “how much longer can we wait on Matt’s 57.7 Qb Rating” is a real question Seattle fans are asking especially when you take into account the competition we faced Buffalo, San Francisco, and St Louis are all known to have secondary weakness but they looked lock down against Matt albeit with backup recievers.
Personally I always liked Matt, but just assume you have a healthy Seneca Wallace the pre-seasons top rated passer and scramble threat, at the end of the bench or Matt going into this game, with a 1-3 record honestly I’m not sure I’d want the ball in Matt’s hands anymore and thats the problem right now…
October 12th, 2008 at 6:04 am
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October 13th, 2008 at 11:01 am
[...] Sustain and Maintain, drives this proved to be a big factor it was NFL.com’s Key Stat The Packers defense clamped down [...]