| 23 September 2009
Midway Illustrated: At 33-years-old Matt Hasselbeck is slowly heading into the twilight of his career. Assuming he does play against the Bears, is he a threat to make plays with his arm that he once was?
Hasselbeck is an interesting case of quarterbackery. He doesn't have great mobility and he doesn't have a great arm. He's played at an elite level in the past (03, 05, 07) based largely on his decision making and rapport and timing with his receivers. His top target, Bobby Engram, was allowed to leave in free agency as the team moves to get younger. Matt is also learning a new offense under Greg Knapp after playing his whole career under Mike Holmgren save for a few months in Green Bay. He still has the skills that have made him a Pro-Bowler, but whether his health and other weapons will allow it are another case (lets be honest, Julius Jones in 2009 ain't Shaun Alexander in 2005, right?).
The Seahawks whipped what is arguably the worst team in the NFL in the St Louis Rams in week one, and then were promptly whipped by the San Francisco 49ers. Which team is a better representation of what the Bears can expect to see on Sunday?
For the second consecutive year, injuries are befalling the Seahawks in nearly unprecedented levels. ESPN's John Clayton just called it "by far the worst" injury situation in the NFL already. We have 11 starters injured right now, literally half of our team. In the sense of personnel, the Seahawks of the 49ers game is a much more realistic representation, but, while that game was ugly, it was made entirely on two eighty-yard touchdown runs on terrible gap control by the Seahawks. Gap control is all about technique and discipline, both of which are coachable. I don't look for the Bears to run over the Seahawks like they let Gore do, but if Brandon Mebane (3-tech DT) isn't ready to come back by Sunday, Matt Forte is going to have a decent amount of success.
How is TJ Houshmandzadeh fitting in with the offense thus far?
Houshmandzadeh is fitting in well, but there is plenty of work left to do. Him and Hasselbeck don't yet have that rapport you dream of between your QB and top WR, but especially when Housh is working out of the slot he's been having a decent amount of success. One thing that has been overlooked with Housh thus far is his ability to pull the safety off the real target to free up our stud young tight end John Carlson or one of the other wide outs.
What level of rushing attack do the Seahawks have with Julius Jones?
On a scale of 1-10, I'd say a 5 at this point. Jones fits the one-cut zone blocking scheme that Greg Knapp has installed very well (as does Edgerrin James, our #2 at the moment). Unfortunately, the linemen don't all get it yet. It seems pretty clear that the focus has been more on pass protection after Hasselbeck's bad back last year. The offensive line -- which is a fairly hodge podge group currently made up of our #3 LT #1/2 LG #2 C #2/3 RG #2 RT -- has primarily played in power man-blocking schemes in the NFL, though a number have zone-blocking experience in college. Jones is fine, but the O-Line is more important to this particular running game. They haven't quite got the cut block down to the point that they need to in order to be successful consistently. It might not happen this year.
What is the strongest position group on the field for the Seahawks?
The obvious answer is our linebacking corps -- Lofa Tatupu and Leroy Hill are both incredible and Aaron Curry could be one of the top defensive talents in the league within a year or two. Still, Tatupu and Hill are both injured right now, and Curry is thinking too hard and playing too fast. Instead, I'll go with our defensive line. We actually kept an unprecedented 11 D-Linemen (Derek Walker has since slid onto the practice squad). Our DEs are former Pro-Bowlers Patrick Kerney and Cory Redding, with first and second round picks Darryl Tapp and Lawrence Jackson rotating in frequently and finally living up to their potential. The best player on our team may well be defensive tackle Brandon Mebane who has one of the quickest first steps in the league. Colin Cole was brought in as our 1-tech run-stopper and has been decent thus far in that role. Behind him is the enormous Red Bryant. The list goes on. We're very high on our D-Line.
What type of pass rush can we expect from the Seahawks?
That's going to be up to your Offensive Line. The Seahawks will likely keep most of the pressure to our front four who have been good so far, but nothing terrifying to date. Our main blitzing linebackers (Hill and Tatupu) are both injured and our best blitzing DB has a high ankle sprain (Josh Wilson). Don't be shocked to see the Hawks slide into 3-3-5 nickel (if we can find a fifth defensive back amongst the strewn out bodies), with Curry sliding into a defensive end position and both Kerney and Darryl Tapp lining up as linebackers. In the first two games our blitzing has been pretty vanilla, but we've still managed to get, I think, 8 sacks in the first two games.
Is Seneca Wallace a competent back up QB and capable of leading the offense?
He is. Wallace is a great backup in that he does not mess up a lot (3 interceptions to his 12 touchdowns last year) and he generally gives you about a 50% shot of winning. Wallace was decent under Holmgren, but Holmy was his own fiercest ally - he wouldn't deviate from his offense regardless of what was thrown his way. Greg Knapp knows how to use a mobile quarterback better than anyone in the league, and unlike Vick, Wallace can throw the ball too (and doesn't kill dogs. Often.) Of all the replacement guys, Wallace is probably the closest thing to a known quantity for the Seahawks. Replacing the defensive injuries is the real question (currently, our top four CBs are injured or limited in practice, two of our three LBs are out, and our best DT is out).
How has the pass protection been thus far?
As I mentioned earlier, that's probably one of the highlights of this team so far. Despite a rag-tag group of linemen, only one sack has been surrendered thus far when rookie Max Unger was just straight-up over-powered against the 49ers.
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