49ers vs NFC West

Originally posted by Psinex:
It will be interesting to see what happens when defenses don't allow Russell Wilson to bootleg and roll out of the pocket on every play. Remember Troy Smith? Out of the pocket, he looked like a superstar, took over for Alex for awhile. Trapped in the pocket? Different story. One play I would watch out for is the midget-to-midget pass from Wilson to Harvin. A lot of the non-midget defenders might have a hard time seeing the play develop underneath.

Some Hawks fans will contend that defenses saw enough of Wilson that they could have done that last year, but couldn't. I'm not so sure about that. I think defensive schemes are built in the off-season and during the season, only tweaking takes place. Now, Wilson is definitely on everyone's radar and he deserves to be, but that means teams will spend the off season figuring out how to do exactly what you suggested. Now, other fans will say that defenses will be doing exactly the same thing with Kaepernick, but what exactly is the strategy for a player like Kaepernick? I'm not sure you get the same bang for the buck confining him to the pocket that you would with Wilson. The other thing is that last season, Wilson was statistically as effective from the pocket, but I think that's because play-action allows him to get extra deep in the pocket. There are ways to scheme for that as well, but one thing is for sure - the Niners have simply got to stop the Seahawks running game.

Originally posted by GNielsen:

Harvin had 9 catches for 89 yards and no touchdowns. That's a decent day, but it's not like he took the game over.

Be interesting to see how PH does with RW as his QB as compared to CP . . . not to mention how hit fits in with the rest of the Hawks O

Originally posted by LisaTwelve:

Originally posted by GNielsen:
Harvin had 9 catches for 89 yards and no touchdowns. That's a decent day, but it's not like he took the game over.

Be interesting to see how PH does with RW as his QB as compared to CP . . . not to mention how hit fits in with the rest of the Hawks O

Yes, it will, but keep in mind that Harvin was on a Vikings offense which featured the league's best running back and that particular game was Christian Ponder's best of the season. He was out of his mind in that game. So, all I'm saying is that in one of Ponder's best games against a team that was clearly centered on stopping Peterson with Harvin as a secondary threat, Harvin had zero touchdowns and no significantly big plays. And, of course, I'm just hoping the Niners defense can be as effective against him during the two Seahawks games. It will be very similar in my mind - first, stop Marshawn Lynch from just wearing you down and then make sure Harvin doesn't gouge you for big yardage and TD's. And, as opposed to playing Ponder, they will EXPECT the QB to be real good.

The "Harvin had no QB" argument is so weak. Before Ponder and Jackson he had Brett Favre. And his numbers were actually worse that year.

Back on topic, the Rams aren't much of a threat. It's not like they can bank out kicker missing five FG's a year, and receivers dropping wide open TD's. 'Ish happens.

Originally posted by baltien:
The "Harvin had no QB" argument is so weak. Before Ponder and Jackson he had Brett Favre. And his numbers were actually worse that year.

Back on topic, the Rams aren't much of a threat. It's not like they can bank out kicker missing five FG's a year, and receivers dropping wide open TD's. 'Ish happens.

Good point. The year that he had the most TD's, his first year, Farvre threw for over 4200 yards and Harvin had 790 of them. His average per catch has gone down each season to where it was about 11 yards per reception last year. Both Boldin and Crabtree were better than that. The last two years he's averaged over 30 yards per kickoff return, so that's an area of concern. But, he's also fumbled twice in each of the last two seasons. He's obviously a real good football player, but I don't see him as anything close to a world-beater and I really don't think he's worth anything close to a $63 million contract.

And, you're right about the Rams. Everyone is making it seem like the Rams have the Niners' number. I think that's heavily overstating the situation. I don't agree that the Niners were heavily out-coached. I would say slightly out-coached and I think both games were squeakers that the Rams were lucky not to lose.

Originally posted by baltien:
The "Harvin had no QB" argument is so weak. Before Ponder and Jackson he had Brett Favre. And his numbers were actually worse that year.

Back on topic, the Rams aren't much of a threat. It's not like they can bank out kicker missing five FG's a year, and receivers dropping wide open TD's. 'Ish happens.

I wasn't arguing.
Just genuinely curious and anticipatory about how Harvin will fit in with RW specifically and the Hawks receiving core generally.
Sometimes adding a piece such as that can help make everyone better - other times, it just doesn't "click" . . . here's hoping for the former

Lisa, in my personal life, I actually have five or six long-time friends who are diehard Seahawks fans because I used to spend a lot of time in the Seattle area doing vendor work for Microsoft. I've got to say that you are the most even-tempered and mellow Seahawk fan I've ever seen.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
Lisa, in my personal life, I actually have five or six long-time friends who are diehard Seahawks fans because I used to spend a lot of time in the Seattle area doing vendor work for Microsoft. I've got to say that you are the most even-tempered and mellow Seahawk fan I've ever seen.

Well, guess you just hang with a different crowd, GN
Most of the Hawks fans I know are plenty diehard but, just as "mellow" as me (and NONE are like the examples constantly cited here from .net)
They love their team (and have since the very beginning) and, while they are excited about the upcoming season, they are only cautiously optimistic, not over-confident.

I think the key is what you said there - "since the very beginning." Most of the ones I know were originally transplanted from the Silicon Valley to work at Microsoft. I've found that in the Northwest, the majority of people who seem to have a rabid dislike for Californians were actually once Californians themselves. Whereas long-time Northwestern natives are usually pretty mellow individuals. My wife and I lived on Bainbridge Island for a couple years in the late 70's and everybody was incredibly nice and we never got any bad vibes for coming up from California.

I think harvin will fit in fine. Maybe not $55mil fine but fine nonetheless. I also think that long term jeff fisher will be a Ram, don't know if Pete sticks around for more than another 2 to 3 years. If seattle doesn't overtake us in this division the ownership will move on because this is going into his 4th season and most coaches only get 3 to 4 years max to get to the 'chip. Just my opinion, but the next 2 or 3 seasons are critical for Pete. He needs to win this division soon because this is what they have been building for the last couple of seasons. The arrow is pointing up and it better stay that way for his sake

Originally posted by Pillbusta:
I think harvin will fit in fine. Maybe not $55mil fine but fine nonetheless. I also think that long term jeff fisher will be a Ram, don't know if Pete sticks around for more than another 2 to 3 years. If seattle doesn't overtake us in this division the ownership will move on because this is going into his 4th season and most coaches only get 3 to 4 years max to get to the 'chip. Just my opinion, but the next 2 or 3 seasons are critical for Pete. He needs to win this division soon because this is what they have been building for the last couple of seasons. The arrow is pointing up and it better stay that way for his sake

Paul Allen is not a patient man. I've pointed this out before, but the Harvin deal is not really the way Carroll has advocated building a team. He's always been more like Harbaalke in that he has said he wanted to build from within through the draft. I think this Harvin deal has Paul Allen written all over it. I think Harvin will be fine too. But, like with the Vikings, I don't think he'll be that much of a difference-maker. I think he'll add a dynamic element to their offense and he'll definitely be a player defenses have to account for just like he was with the Vikings. I guess their thinking is that one dynamic element was all they needed to push their offense over the top. We'll see.

As far as this thread is concerned, I think it's kind of a good thing for the Niners defense that the Rams Tavon Austin is basically the same player as Harvin. Austin is probably the player Carroll would have wanted in a perfect world but he knew there was no way to get him. But the nice thing for the Niners defense is that they can scheme to control basically the same player in two different offenses. They can put a lot of work and strategy in for four games as opposed to two.

Originally posted by GNielsen:
Good point. The year that he had the most TD's, his first year, Farvre threw for over 4200 yards and Harvin had 790 of them. His average per catch has gone down each season to where it was about 11 yards per reception last year. Both Boldin and Crabtree were better than that. The last two years he's averaged over 30 yards per kickoff return, so that's an area of concern. But, he's also fumbled twice in each of the last two seasons. He's obviously a real good football player, but I don't see him as anything close to a world-beater and I really don't think he's worth anything close to a $63 million contract.

And, you're right about the Rams. Everyone is making it seem like the Rams have the Niners' number. I think that's heavily overstating the situation. I don't agree that the Niners were heavily out-coached. I would say slightly out-coached and I think both games were squeakers that the Rams were lucky not to lose.

I'm excited to see the Kaepernick/Boldin chemistry. I'm also glad Droptimus Prime signed with TN because this Vance fellow looks promising. Granted, I'm cautiously optimistic. I just think that our offense will blow up opposing defenses, despite our losing Crabtree. Boldin is a play-maker through and through.

Originally posted by PrisonOfGlass:
I'm excited to see the Kaepernick/Boldin chemistry. I'm also glad Droptimus Prime signed with TN because this Vance fellow looks promising. Granted, I'm cautiously optimistic. I just think that our offense will blow up opposing defenses, despite our losing Crabtree. Boldin is a play-maker through and through.

"Droptimus Prime"??!! Hilarious.