Week 1 - Cats vs Seachickens GAME THREAD - prediction and disco

[Exile]

I listened to the game, and although there were things to be frustrated about, thanks to the magic of low expectations, I'm not feeling terrible about this loss. There are definitely good things to build on this season.

[stripesincarolina]

I said in the schedule prediction thread that I could see us at 9-6 with this game being the deciding factor. Even though we lost, they played so far above my expectations that I can see us winning a game we arent supposed to win. So I'm not down.

Keep in mind the following:

Fat Albert was mediocre and was at fault for a key penalty and a couple of tipped balls.

Mixon didnt play the 2nd half.

Bobby Hart got destroyed on a couple of bull rushes late in the game. Plays that seriously mattered.

We dont have AJG in the mix yet.

I submit to you that if we had Jonah at LT and Michael Jordan at LG, we could move Glenn to RT and replace Hart. That gives you Hart, Price, Smith and Redmond as backups. Unfortunately we will have to wait until Dec to see that possibility. In the meantime, we need Glenn back asap.

[Mag]

I said in the schedule prediction thread that I could see us at 9-6 with this game being the deciding factor. Even though we lost, they played so far above my expectations that I can see us winning a game we arent supposed to win. So I'm not down.

Keep in mind the following:

Fat Albert was mediocre and was at fault for a key penalty and a couple of tipped balls.

Mixon didnt play the 2nd half.

Bobby Hart got destroyed on a couple of bull rushes late in the game. Plays that seriously mattered.

We dont have AJG in the mix yet.

I submit to you that if we had Jonah at LT and Michael Jordan at LG, we could move Glenn to RT and replace Hart. That gives you Hart, Price, Smith and Redmond as backups. Unfortunately we will have to wait until Dec to see that possibility. In the meantime, we need Glenn back asap.

So far, I have only watched highlights. Under the circumstances, Smith looked OK at LT. On many of the long passes, I even saw him pancake the DE at least twice. While not an ideal starter, I'm less uneasy about that spot.

Jordan, I hear, struggled. Might be worth trying Price a LG.

[stripesincarolina]

I dont know Mag. I wasnt focused on Jordan every play but he looked pretty damn good to me. And conversely, every time I was watching Smith he was getting torched around the end. I'll certainly look to the usual pundits tomorrow for additional thoughts.

Edit, I did just read an article that talked about Jordan's run blocking being poor. No way am I going to hold that against him when Mixon couldnt find a hole anywhere. Even the announcers acknowledged that Seattle was stacking the box to stop Mixon. Zac went to the passing game early and never looked back. If Jordan's run blocking was bad, he's got plenty of company today. But I think his pass blocking was sufficient to get him another start or two.

[Jmble]

Clowney pretty much destroyed Andre Smith in the first quarter, but he kind of settled down after that. He wasn't great. I mean he's still Andre Smith, but he didn't play that bad after the first quarter.

Frankly I don't know how you could watch that game and not have a higher expectation for this team than you did going into it. I don't think anybody is expecting playoffs this year, but it's at least fun to think that it might not be out of the range of possibility. This team actually came out ready to play. Moved the ball a little on the first drive and got the Seahawks out 1,2,3 on their first drive. When have you ever seen a Marvin team that ready to go in the first game of the season?

Dalton looked mostly good... John Ross looks on the verge of finally living up to that pick. Granted, he did have a few "John Ross" plays mixed in there.

The Browns still looked like the Browns... The Steelers pretty much got blown out by the Pats... The Ravens looked damn good, but I'm going to need to see them do that against somebody other than the Dolphins before I'm a believer in them. Will be interesting to see how we bounce back next week at home.

[MeatHeadbengal]

I'm applying my almost 24 hour rule to the game. I watched some of the game and the entire 4th quarter. My take aways;

1) I was honestly surprised we were in the game in the 4th quarter. I was very disappointed when we needed a play we didn't get it. Someone somewhere messed up and it was usually the O-line that did it, allowing a bull rush and a batted down pass or a sack.

2) Defense was good enough to keep us in the game, didn't realize there was a review now on PI's but whatever they keep pussifying this game anyway.

3) Ross looked good at times and bad at other times, would love to see him more consistent and hopefully as he gains confidence he may do that.

4) Offense impressed me although I would like to see more of the running game. I understand that what Seattle was trying to do defensively I'm just surprised the new coaching staff took what was available instead of trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.

5) This year is probably still going to suck, granted we looked good in this game, I reason that with no one really knew what we were going to look like on offense or D. With more game tape of this team we'll be easier to predict.

6) We still lack that killer instinct. I wanna see them finish off games like they did on their last playoff run. Any close games they seemed to find a way to win except for the Playoff game of course.

Overall we'll see what happens but I'm still thinking 4 to 6 wins this season.

[skycruiser]

Frankly I don't know how you could watch that game and not have a higher expectation for this team than you did going into it.
Will be interesting to see how we bounce back next week at home.

you nailed it with these 2 points

i came into the game thinking it would be like 42-6. no way would we go to the west coast with this offensive line and D, missing AJ and compete. i was REALLY impressed with the way the coaching staff called the game. great game plan, great aggressiveness, and for the most part, great game management. now if we can get people like dre to stop being a complete and total toolbag, we'll be in good shape

can i just state for the record how ridiculous reviewing pass interference is?

[Jmble]

The only thing the coaching staff did that I really didn't like was not going for it on fourth down at the end of the game. I know he was trying to trust his defense and I understand why... But in that situation, you are only down by one. If you go for it and miss you can still rely on your defense to stop them and even if they score you will likely be down one score counting the 2 point conversion. And you'd probably have more time on the clock.

I think the benefits outweighed the risk in that situation and I hope it's a point he learns from and not a view of how he is going to treat these situations in the future. The way Dalton was playing, he could just as easily said he trusts his offense to get the yards.

My opinion. I don't know if others feel the same way but it's stuck with me.

[Andysbigfateyebrows]

Seattle is a horrible place to play. Our boys did me proud.

That's for you B1!

[Ryno]

I'm cautiously optimistic after week 1. Get AJ and Mix healthy and this offense is pretty scary.

D was solid all game.