From: jorgand@sumax.seattleu.edu (Dave Jorgan)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Seattle/Bengal Postmortem
Date: 11 Sep 92 05:28:05 GMT
Organization: Seattle University, Seattle, WA




	Seattle fell to the Bengals 21-3 Sunday. It was a disastrous loss,
at least as disastrous as a loss can be in Week 1. With all due apologies
to Bengals fans, this was one of the games Seattle should have won, given
Seattle was at home, and the Bengals still regrouping from last year's
poor showing. But, Seattle proved to be in worse shape than Cincinnati.
The Bengals defense was improved, and sacked Stouffer 6 times, this from
one of the weakest pass rushes of all last year. So, given it is unlikely
the Bengals have advanced from poor to awesome rushing the passer, in just
nine months, we may conclude Seattle has serious problems offensively (no
kidding!)

	Stouffer performed adequately. At first I felt the sacks were due to
poor protection, but after watching the game again Stouffer dudn't get
bad pass protection overall. Not great, but not horrid as I originally 
thought, at least in the 1st half. At times he had an eternity to pass. But
on several occasions, he simply did not feel the pressure and was sacked.
One instance is when Cincinnati sent 8 men on a blitz. Seattle picked up 7,
both backs picked up a pass rusher, but there was no one to handle the 8th
blitzer. Stouffer should have sensed this, shortened his drop, and dumped
off/thrown away the ball, but instead he backpedaled oblivious to the
blitzer and was sacked for a huge loss.
	To his credit, he was not rattled by the pressure that greatly
increased in the 2nd half due to the large deficit. That is to say, he
still stood strong in the pocket and did not make hurried decisions. As I
said, perhaps at times he was too relaxed, as he did not feel the pressure.
This appears to be his major weakness. He seems to be reading defenses
well and of course has a powerful arm with a quick release, and is bouncing
back from the beating he is taking. In a way, Dan McGwire should be happy
he lost the competition for the starting job- Stouffer is getting hammered
back there. Stouffer so far has primarily been a pocket passer, with only
limited mobility. The old Krieg-style scrambles and rollouts appear to
be history.
	In truth, the offense was able to move the ball adequately. They
killed themselves with horrid mistakes, such as two fumbles which led to
Bengal scores. Those people who lambasted Krieg for fumbling take note-
Stouffer also fumbled. As I've said, I think the fumbles are more a fator
of horrible pass protection than inherent fumble-proness by Seattle OB's.
Stouffer took a *severe* blind-side hit which led to the fumble.

	Ray Roberts was adequate. He was beaten for a sack, and allowed his
man to pressure Stouffer several times, but overall he didn't do a terrible
job. He should grow into the position and should play well by mid-season.
Seattle is having its biggest problems communicating and reacting as a unit
on the offensive line, in pass protection. The run blocking is OK. 
	The running game shows some promise, but he Seattle deficit took them
out of the game. John L. managed 4.8 yds a carry, and Warren ran hard.
Mayes only got one short yardage carry. Seattle is diversifying the attack,
as they did by sending Chris Warren out as a wide reciever, then hitting him
for a 33 yard gain. 
	The recieving corps was a disaster, which contributed heavily to
the Seahawk defeat. Tommy Kane could not play, Dave Daniels hurt his groin
and may be out for 1-2 weeks, injured in the 1st half, and Brian Blades broke
a collarbone on his 1st play of 1992 and is lost for 6 weeks. This meant
Seattle only had *2* wide recievers available for most of the game. Doug
Thomas had a nightmare game, fumbling twice, once as a reciever and returned
for a TD, and once as a kick returner. He is a sensitive sort, but he played
so well in pre-season, Seattle hopes he has not lost that confidence. Louis
Clark carried the recieving load, but was exhausted from running so many deep
routes. He could not get any breather due to the injuries at the WR position,
even though he himself had a injured shoulder. Once he had to hold a Bengal
defender because he was too exhausted to keep up with the DB.
	The special teams have been horrible all year. They are not covering
or blocking for returns at all well. The only bright spot has been the
kicking of Kasay. The punting was very poor in the Bengal game. Can the loss
of Rusty Tillman as special teams coach have killed the special teams? Tillman
was moved up to defensive coordinator, and Russ Purnell took over as special
teams coach. Certainly he hasn't shown much so far.


	The defense was good, giving up only one long 80 yard drive all
day. Remember, only 7 of the 21 points were yielded by the Seattle defense-
offensive turnovers were returned for the other 14 pts. Seattle got excellent
pass rush pressure from the tackles Kennedy and Millard. Millard looked like
the player who was defensive MVP in '89, taking on two blockers, bursting
through both of them, and sacking Esiason. He looked very good. Seattle will
still start Nash for the meantime, however, and use Millard as a substitute,
to ensure Millard's health, but even in this role he is making a excellent
contribution. Seattle got little pass rush from the outside save for
Rufus Porter. Jeff Bryant, subbing for injured Jacob Green, didn't do much
pass rush wise nor did Tony Woods, who got to play left end on passing downs
(normally he plays at right end.) This has always mystified me, since Woods
has ideal size, strength, and speed to be a fine rusher, but he just can't
seem to shed blocks when rushing.

	The DB's played soft and the Bengals found a lot of loose coverage
to throw at. They had little problem throwing short range passes, and did a
good job of converting 3rd downs. They would have shown even more if they
had not had so many penalties- the Seattle defense looked better than it
was due to Bengal infractions, but even so Seattle played well enough to win
- on defense. But the abysmal offensive errors once again wasted a solid 
defensive effort. Same old, same old story.



	Seattle thus faces old QB Dave Krieg at Kansas City, and they are
in trouble on both sides of the ball. If Cincy can get 6 sacks against
Seattle, in Seattle, then what will KC do at KC? Will Derrick Thomas
break his old record for sacks in a game? Seattle yielded its first
100 yard individual rushing effort in 2 years, yet here comes the KC
stable of huge bruisers. Seattle's only hope is to force turnovers, get
some sort of lead, and run the ball effectively so KC can't just set up
and rush the passer. On defense, they'll have to pressure Dave Krieg
and get to him. Seattle did pick up ex KC WR Robb Thomas- think they'll
give him a interrogation on the KC oiffense? Seattle will need it.



Dave Jorgan
jorgand@sumax.seattleu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro