3 In, 3 Out – Same As It Ever Was

September 13, 2017 by

By fellow 12 Clinton Bonner

“And you may ask yourself – Well… how did I get here?”

Way back in 1981 the very unnatural and wildly underrated band Talking Heads released perhaps their most popular tune of all time, Once in a Lifetime. This song couldn’t be more poignant to us ‘Hawks fans right here, and right now. This meandering melody laced with gestures of remorse and mourning lead us down this free-flowing body of thought that repeat THE line over and over again in our heads…

Same as it ever was…. Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was.

To be so solid and so poor. To be constrained by this binary prison. It’s self-inflicted, and it sucks. There was so much great that was shown to us on Sunday but unfortunately there were equal parts catfish!

I usually enjoy being right … but in this case I can’t stand it. It’s one game. We are a VERY good team. It’s just disappointing that we all saw it coming and did nothing (effective) about it.

We’ll cover the ugly and the craptastic in a hot second… but, let’s for a minute ditch the sober yin, to examine the raging yang of optimism we also saw on Sunday! Chunks of our play were outstandingly good, so let’s bury the lead if only to feel better about sub-plots… because ohhhhhhhh ‘dem sub-plots ran deep… and they were glorious.

IN – 3rd and 7th… Yes Please !!!

No… no, no no… this has nothing to do with our 3rd down conversion ‘success’ on Sunday… no… no not at all.

This is about a 2017 3rd round pick and a recently acquired player who cost us nothing but a 7th rounder next season. Ladies and gentlemen of the Flock … how happy were you with both Shaq Griffin and Justin Coleman?

The Packers are going to get theirs through the air, it’s just what they do. With that, how many times did we witness Shaq Griffin or Justin Coleman blanket a Packers receiver??? There were crossing routes smothered, back shoulder fades disrupted, and sideline outs defended as if we were watching Big Sherm do his thing.

Listen, Rodgers is going to get his, but these 2 CBs did NOT make it easy on most occassions. Some of the Packers most crucial conversions were on routes covered exceptionally well where Jordy or Davante or others simply made some great plays.

Losing always sucks. No silver lining required. But we can parse out really strong (and somewhat surprising) performances like we saw from Shaq and Justin and say, well done boys!

Knowing how good our line and linebacker core is … if the young’en DBs can do their thing… oooooof… this unit is siiiiiick and win, lose, or draw last Sunday… that fires me up beyond belief.

OUT – Where to Start!?

We could just blanket this whole darn thing and just say, “The O-Line was dreadful!!!” but we know this already right? So, let’s put down the hatchet and pick up a scalpel and really cut into one performance ‘over’ them all.

I feel we could pick on Rees or Ifedi and it would be totally fair game. We can blast Britt for getting blown off the ball numerous times in crucial spots… and no one would argue it!

With that Joeckel out-performed them all in my book! Perhaps it’s because he is guaranteed to make $7M this year… or maybe it’s due to this:

Or perhaps what Brian Baldinger captured on this coach’s film:

I know it’s cliche and the ‘easy’ thing to rip about the Seahawks, but how the catfish are we supposed to ignore it !!!

Mike Daniels is a good DT. He’s not Aaron Donald.

IN – Most ImP-Ressive

If you’re like the millions and millions of Flock-a-Maniacs who wait with bated breath for each issue of #3I3O to hit the stands – and we know you are – then you already know where this is going.

The last article to to drop just before the start of the season focused on 3 Seahawks that are the key to our 2017 success. My breakout player of the year for the Seahawks was, is, and remains none other than Paul Richardson.

The offense was pu-pu platter poor due to the aforementioned O-line struggles. However, when P-Rich got his opportunities, he was really solid.

4 Receptions, 59 yards, good for an avg. of near 15 yards per catch! That’s quite good Flock! If we ran an appropriate # of offensive plays, P-Rich ends a game like this in the 6 to 8 catch range, pushing up against 100 yards … we can expect days like this ahead because the man knows how to get separation (when Russell has time) and can go up and get it, like he did on this snag!

Keep in mind Mamma Cleo’s secret to Seahawks success metrics for P-Rich. We called for 62 receptions for #10 … he’s on pace to hit, and I think exceed it. Go get ‘em!!!

OUT – Terribly Timed Threesome

Get your mind out of the cinema gutter would ya Flock… no I’m not discussing the 1994 flick starring one Stephen Baldwin here… instead I’m throwing a red flag on one Kris Richard. The truthful consensus is that our defense played one heck of a game… and we did!!!

But you read #3I3O for the nooks and the crannies … well, here’s one heck of a cranny Flock.

On this BIG occasion, for reasons unbeknownst to me, or you… or you… Richard dialed up a 3-man rush at the oddest of times.

6:35 to go in the 1st Quarter

3rd and 4

From the Packers 8

What the flin, flarn, filth is this Richard!!!??? Why!!!!? So we can spy on Rodgers? This is as dumb as it gets… and oh … play it forward 6 more seconds and watch Rodgers scramble – rather easily – for a first down. Pathetic play calling here. Just dreadful and it deserves to be singled out.

IN – 29 is Flyin’

If you have a chance to go back and watch this tilt and you want the warm and fuzzies about the Ghost of Christmas Future, go watch Earl Thomas play this ball game. You don’t need to be Mamma Cleo – though it never does hurt – to see that this man is back in every single aspect of his game.

If you watch Earl, you’re watching a future HOF. No one in the game has the combination of his recognition, speed, and tackle-ability. This vid below was perhaps his best hit, but actually probably his 3rd or 4th best play of the game.

He made at least 3 plays very, very similar to this beaut!

Area 29 was back in full strut mode. He was fearless, he was fast, and he was once again, awesome.

OUT – Marry Tyler More!!!

You know who else was back and who looked really, really fast… here’s a hint, rhymes with rocket.

Indeed, Tyler Lockett was back in his first meaningful game since his ugly leg break late last season. He wasted no time making a big impact, providing the Seahawks with solid field position on the opening kickoff!!!

But wait you say… this is an OUT, so what did Tyler do wrong?

It’s a nit-picky combo, one part he has no control over and the other he has complete control over. The truly nit-picky part is that we all just NEED more Tyler in this offense. This game was, hopefully, an anomaly in terms of the volume of offensive plays we ran and even with that Lockett was about a yard and a half away from what would have been a 56-yard SDB from Russ. Lockett blows by his partner here and if it wasn’t for Britt getting owned on this play, this is 6 … This hurts to watch:

But beyond just wanting more of a great thing, I noticed that as the game wore on Lockett got a wee bit too conservative for my liking when it came to fair catching punts. I understand the man is back, week 1, after a gruesome injury. But, we need #16 to crank it up to 11 each and every chance against a team like the Packers on the road.

There will be times this year when we are up 17+ points mid-way through the 4th quarter at home, and it will be the right play to make – the fair catch – at that time.

Week 1, tight game, on the road where your offense has struggled to put it together all day and you are likely THE most dynamic player on the field… you have got to take your shots in those situations.

In a game where clearly Jimmy coulda ‘earned’ an OUT or our Tackles or even Britt… I’m going to single out Lockett because we all know what he is capable of. Like Earl, Tyler looked very, very healthy. Though he gets the OUT here, I am fired up to see a healthy Lockett in week 2 and beyond!

1,2,3… What's Next!???

Flock, I'm not worried about our team. The sky is not falling. We are a VERY good team. We won't be great with this line performing at this level, not championship great at least.

We have 15 weeks to get a lot, lot stronger.

Home opener, vs. the Niners who were just dominated by the Panthers… the bottom line is we need to dominate this game. To quell our angst – which is legit – we need to start fast and outperform the Niners at each turn.

We need Rawls to ball, Dougie to get angry, and Jimmy to show up. And of course, it all starts up front. In games past I've said all we need to do is get the W and move on … not here… the W is of course paramount, but we need to beat an inferior team in our home opener, and do so soundly.

No dilly-dallying… no tip-toe-ing through the tulips as Coach Husak used to say … nope… we need to dominate and get our season back on track.

We are ALWAYS interested in your opinions, your nooks, your crannies and your INs and OUTs of each game, so let's hear it Flock!!!

Go ‘Hawks!!!

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