Seahawks post mortem - offense

What can you say - about as close as you can come to a perfect half of football. Running lanes were open and our RBs found them. Pass blocking was good and we decided to throw the ball down the field instead of throwing short stuff. Eli was scary good. Hixon loooks like a star in the making.

You can question the quality of the Seahawks, but this is a team that went to the playoffs last year, has made the playoffs for 4 or 5 years in a row and is only 2 years removed from going to the Superbowl. They may have declined a little, but they are still a solid team. They struggled the first two games because of WR injuries, but they got their starters back this past week. We are just way better than they are.

Permit me to make two comments on two particular offensive plays:

The first TD pass to Hixon was gorgeous. Double move by Hixon, but he was only behind the DB by a step or two. Eli not only led him perfectly, but the ball positioning was perfect, throwing it slightly to the outside where Hixon had position, and arced it perfectly so that it dropped into Hixon's hands out of the reach of DB.

Second comment is on the pass to Toomer before second TD. It was about a 30 yard play. Our OL gets lots of credit for being one of best in the league. I think they are a superior run blocking group and certainly above average in pass blocking, but not great in that aspect of the game. Eli does not get enough credit for the pocket presence he has developed, for anticipating where the rush is coming from and for taking a few quick steps to avoid a rusher, which makes the OL look better than they really are. (Anybody remember the David Tyree play?) He did this on that play, turning his front shoulder to avoid the rush and then stepping forward and to his right - just a step or two - to make some space. He still had a guy running right at him and got hit as he threw the ball but still the throw was perfect. Toomer was not really open - the DB got called for PI on the play and was holding Toomer so he could stay close to him. But the pass fell into the basket just like the one to Hixon. It was a remarkable throw.

Boss is not a crushing blocker, especially in close quarters on inside running plays, but he is a fine blocker on the perimeter and this is reflected in the number of long runs we seem to be breaking. His weakness on the inside power blocking shows in us occasionally not making short yardage plays, which we certainly should with a bruiser like Jacobs back there.