3 IN, 3 OUT – The Magic Number 12

September 20, 2017 by

By fellow 12 Clinton Bonner

Ohhhhhhh my Flockers, this week’s performance was brought to us, delivered to us, and ultimately served to us by the fabulous #12. We all know why and we don’t have to be rocket surgeons to dig too deep here now do we!?

First home game, 12s fired up.

Final score, 12 to 9 (thanks to a Walsh doink on a PAT)

And of course as you all surely knew… my wife and I celebrated our 12th anniversary, September 17th, which of course was just this past Sunday.

So, as you can see… it just had to be. But, did it have to be so dang hard??? Did we need to go 15 rounds, Balboa-Creed style, against this 49ers group??? Holy catfish no we did not!!! This game had the bleeps, sweeps, and the creeps all culminating in our ‘Hawks in the best formation possible on our home turf with 2 minutes to go… Victory Formation.

As you know by now – and if you don’t shame on you, where’ve ya been?, no excuses, jump in the water’s fine – 3 IN, 3 OUT delves into 3 things that got us 12s fired up, and 3 things that left us scratching our temples. And of course… we try to avoid the vapid, the mundane, and the obvious re-cap as we instead peel back the layers of this ogre onion, and find ‘dem nooks and crannies that satiate our fanaticism.

If we win, we start with an IN … so let’s get at it.

IN – Ifedi, the Planet Maker

I’m fascinated by science, I dig it. Any of those ‘How the Universe’ this and ‘Through the Wormhole’ that… I’m probably watching at some point. Ever catch one of the episodes that discusses the formation of planets in a system? Fascinating. All the trillions of micro-moments, permutations, collisions, creative destructions that happen in order for an actual planet to form… boggles the mind. It’s one giant game of Plinko and yet, when the dust settles, literally, something gorgeous has been created.

While the pundits will certainly discuss Russell’s houdinability on our only TD of the game, something will get overlooked. As the story of P-Rich’s bone popping through his skin, getting it sewn up like Gordy Howe, and getting back out there to haul in the game winning catch grabs bylines, the formation of the planet will have been overlooked.

This play is insane for many reasons. Watch it as many times as you’d like… I’ll wait.

First… Odhiambo AND Glowinski just fail and fail completely. This should have been a sack and a tie game at 9. Both players failed in such unison that the 2 cosmic rocks that were 49er defenders collide with one another, creating a sliver of salvation for the slippery Wilson to sneak through. He does Russell things and like a fine Knight on the warboard of chess, he moves up 2 spaces, over three and captures 6 with a dime thrown to #10. This play is why we he wins and wins and wins…

Watch it again. There is only one reason Wilson has any chance to escape up the pocket and to his left and that’s because Ifedi does a masterful job on this TD play from start to 6. Germain first executes a perfect RT pocket-creating block, heck if anyone else did their jobs on the line, this woulda been a picture perfect pocket. But planets aren’t formed quite that way.

As Wilson starts to move up, Ifedi is beat for a nano-second as his left leg gives out and he’s down on one knee still blocking the enemy. He muscles back up to two feet, stays engaged with the block and then finishes with just enough ooooomph giving Russ a chance to break left, allowing him to throw the pass.

We kill the O-line all the time. In this play where everyone’s discussing Russ' magic and Richardson’s catch after having his finger sewn back up (thatta a boy P-Rich!!!) … it’s smart to realize that for a planet to form, you need it ALL to go right.

Great job #76 … keep making this side of the ledger would ya!

OUT – Rhythm is Gonna Get Ya

As previously mentioned, my wife and I celebrated our 12-year anniversary on Sunday… she’s a fitness trainer and she’ll routinely – with proper cause – get on me about ‘my pace’… I like to meander, saunter… perhaps even mosey. Well, fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son and for our ‘Hawks, slow, plodding, and predictable is NO WAY to go through running this offense.

As Brandan and Adam routinely discuss on the pod, our offense seems to function much, much better – like actually work as a unit – when we go up tempo. Adam’s refers to this as … ‘calling the good plays’…  A few things are evident when we go up tempo and call the good plays!

  • Our explosive plays go up, mainly because it becomes more backyard ball and our QB is the best improviser in the sport
  • Russ gets chunks of yards on the ground, including chain-movers
  • It leads to better success through the air as a result of the non-predictability of it all

So let’s see. We run the ball better overall. We move the chains much more often… and it results most often in points.

Yeah… let’s not do this!!!

Pete, Bevell, anyone with influence in this inner circle… pick-up your friggin’ pace.

IN – Early, Often, Rhymes with Rocket

Wooooooooh… Tyler Lockett is good at professional football eh?

To see him back, at full speed, and dominating his position for an entire half was huge. We were dropped balls – and not by Lockett – away from this being an early blow out. Lockett did all he could to set us up for success.

The thing that is most impressive to me when you watch Lockett execute mid-range routes is just how open he tends to be. He’s so quick down field that his speed is respected and then his route running prowess takes over and he’s got 3 yards of separation on an out or curl.

While our offense decided to take a nap during the 3rd quarter – always fun! – it was Lockett’s early snags that got us out in front, and who had the first reception of what would be our game-winning drive? Rhymes with Rocket.

Lockett is back to his rookie form when he was un-hampered by any nagging knees. Lockett at full speed + our offense at full speed (at some point)… expect big things Flock!!!

OUT – Mamma Dropsies

We may as well let the wifey storytelling continue… In our cupboard, we used to have these oversized, lavender colored plastic cups that could hold probably 30 oz. They were just kinda silly and cumbersome. This was the wifey’s cup o’ choice for a good 2 to 3 years and at least once a month she’d spill this thing… and every single time my response was:

“Oh boy Mamma Dropsies did it again!!!”

She finally stopped using that stupid cup.

I didn’t care when Karen got cut. I didn’t mind seeing Kearse go, considering who we got in return.

I know it was raining, but watching Prosise n’ McEvoy drop TDs and first downs made us all cringe didn’t it? Prosise is supposed to be our sure-handed receiving back and with Kearse gone, I was hoping for more red zone looks for our trio of receivers who pretty much catch ‘em all.

This OUT was just too obvious to drop. Come on roll players #DoBetter!!!

IN – My Brother’s Keeper

There was an incredible moment in this game that took place in-between whistles and it fired me up more than anything else this season thus far!!!

After the Wagner pick, subsequent fumble, then recovery by Big Perm Big Sherm … this beautiful moment happened.

Now you might be thinking Earl is there to simply congratulate Bobby… but watch the video below. Misa thinks Earl had a different message for #54, judge for yourself:

… and exhibit B:

We’re certain Earl was there to partially congratulate Bobby – who made one heckuva play – but we’re also certain Earl was there to remind Bobby, that ball is ours.

OUT – Don’t Do it ‘Quill !!!

Penalties. So often in today’s NFL, ticky-tacky touches cause the tug on those tiny yellow towels. As much as we all love this game, it becomes hard to watch when refs take it upon themselves to determine the outcomes.

Those situations stink, but there’s actually another that’s harder to swallow. When you as an observer, at home, with pizza in one hand, and some bubbling beverage in the other have time to scream at the television… “Don’t do it Quill!!!” … and well, he does it… it’s actually worse.

4:59 left in the game.

We are leading 12 – 9, and forced the 49ers to punt it back to us after solid tackles by Reed, Lane, and KJ respectively.

Lockett fields the punt at our own 22 as Shaq Griffin stares down, sizes up, and then decides to block a 49er SQUARELY in the swell of his back. This was just unreal.

I wasn’t alone in my shock:

Very thankfully, this penalty didn’t come back to hurt us. Another IN could easily have been the 4th quarter holes our O-line eventually created and of course the clock-chewing Chris Carson work he put in, assuring we were taking that aforementioned Victory Formation.

But Shaq… Quill … Boobie … you can’t do that again man. You’re a promising pup and us 12s dig ya! Don’t be on this side of the ledger for something so dumb again!

From the Flock

We had a lot of fun this week on the Sea Hawkers Ring of Honor, on the Sea Hawkers Podcast fanpage on Facebook, and on Twitter during the game. Here are some of the INs and OUTs from you, the Flockers!

The UK Seahawkers didn’t like Wilson living the ‘High Life’:

The snark was strong from Flocktimus Prime:

And finally the Sea Hawkers Podcast used facts, logic, and reason to make us all feel better.

1,2, 3 … What’s Next!!!???

It’s the first Mamma Cleo sighting of the year Flock!!!

She’s gazing deep into some sexy deep crystal balls… what does she see???

A squeaker that is sweet Music City to our ears.

Seahawks 22 – Titans 18

#GoHawks

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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