TAKEN TO SCHOOL

Seahawks Dominate Packers in Season Opener

It’s a long season. After one game some conclusions can be drawn.

The Packers still have a pretty good team.

The Seattle Seahawks have a much better team.

The opener of the NFL season was a decent game until halftime. The Pack practiced the art of routinely shooting themselves in the foot along the way. Injuries also put a crimp in the Packers debut. And another tired old nemesis reared its ugly head yet again. The tackling was weak and not by NFL standards. It was as weak a performance defensively the Packers put on in some time.

Take nothing away from the Seahawks. The Packers did not lose this game; the Hawks won it -

handily. QB Russell Wilson is as cool as they get and one area the Packers appeared to have improved is pocket pressure. Even newbie Julius Peppers got his first sack, a sandwich of Wilson along with Clay Matthews. But just about the time they were fist bumping Brad Jones was being called for holding. Jones was particularly inefficient in his play drawing another holding call the type of which did not need a rule change. As Jones lost his man over the middle his jersey yanking antics would have been flagged in any era.

Jones even had an interception slapped away from him, a play that gets lost but is the kind of play that is more forgivable in that it was a physical battle lost and not a mental mistake.

The much improved Packer run defense needs to be much improved. RB Marshawn Lynch gashed the Pack for 109 yards and also scored a big TD. His running and ability to get into the second level only made Wilson’s job easier. Give the Hawks credit on game planning well. After establishing the run Wilson has the legs and field vision to go under, over and around almost anyone.  Add the talents of blazing WR Percy Harvin and the Hawks became that much more potent. Harvin was used at wideout and also lined up in the backfield. Getting the ball into Harvin’s hands also helped open up Wilson and his bag of tricks even more. On a key early drive Wilson faked a rollout read-option, a move CB Sam Shields bit hard on. As soon as Wilson pulled up however Shields was left with “Uh oh” on his face as Wilson lobbed a soft toss to rookie WR Ricardo Lockette who slipped past the Pack’s top cover CB.

The parade of mistakes was highlighted by vaunted rookie Ha Ha Clinton- Dix’s ‘welcome to the

NFL’ moment. Clinton- Dix is a good safety and in time he’ll develop into a good NFL safety. He is not there yet. As Lockette pulled down the toss Clinton- Dix was caught flat footed and lunged desperately at Lockette’s legs. Lockette calmly pulled up short and ever so gingerly shoved the would-be tackler face first into the CenturyLink Field turf.

Brad Jones was not alone in the whiff department. Clinton-Dix looked out of place at times and had a few miscues in an auspicious debut. Bu Ha Ha did register a sack as well as recover a key fumble from an ill-fated attempt by Earl Thomas to grab a punt in traffic without the benefit of a fair catch. The ball hit Thomas who was then smacked hard by Davon House as the ball popped loose. The Packers do possess a potent offense and Aaron Rodgers made the Hawks pay for one of their few mistakes. FB John Kuhn drove it home form the 2 to give the Packers a lead at 7- 3.

But Wilson and the Hawks responded with a matching drive that saw Wilson hit back to back 33 yard completions, one to Harvin that preceded the Lockette touchdown. The Hawks defended their title well by continuing to match the Packs point production while establishing and imposing their will on the game. Injuries from the hard hitting began to take their toll. RT Bryan Bulaga and rookie TE Richard Rodgers went out on the same play, Bulaga with a L knee MCL sprain and Eddie Lacy with a concussion. While Rodgers eventually returned to the filed he remained a non-factor. Mike McCarthy described Bulaga’s hit to the surgically repaired knee as an injury that was not a major injury. Bulaga will be sore but his loss exposed the thinness of the Packers’ offensive line. Former first rounder Derricks Sherrod filled in for Bulaga and was caught flat footed on more than one occasion.

In the 3^rd quarter Arod had a throw bounce off Jordy Nelson’s hands into Seattle CB Byron Maxwell’s. The Hawks took the field at the Packer 7 and although the Packer D forced a 3 and out it was nothing more than a chip shot for K Steven Hauschka to open up a 10 point lead.

McCarthy made an ill-fated decision at the Hawks 45 to go for it on 4^th down. In a sequence that

looked like a Chinese Fire Drill Rodgers was forced to burn a timeout when rookie Corey Linsley, forced into action by the injury to C J.C. Tretter did not get the ball off quickly enough to Rodgers who then tore into the rookie. Sherrod was beaten by DE Cliff Avril, who sacked Rodgers for a loss of 4 that gave the ball right back in decent filed position. While the Pack’s D responded in forcing a 4 play punt Sherrod was whipped by DE Michael Bennett who stripped the ball from Aaron Rodgers’ hands in the end zone where Sherrod recovered it for a safety. Sherrod looked slow in returning to a real NFL game at a meaningful time for the first time in almost 2 years. With starting C JC Tretter out with a knee injury and Bulaga hobbling suddenly the depth on the Packers OLine is very, very thin. The only healthy body left was Lane Taylor, not exactly a household name. In spite of the gaffes both Linsley and Sherrod did not play badly; their mistakes just happened to be the biggies that draw the most notice.

The Seahawks gradually but definitively put their stamp on this game defensively. CB Richard Sherman played a huge role in the game without seeing a single ball thrown his way. New England’s Darrelle Revis might be the gold standard of the NFL these days but a strong case can be made for Sherman. He basically cut the field in half as even Aaron Rodgers did not attempt to challenge him. Jordy Nelson did not match up against Sherman once and yet Sherman’s mere presence was enough to alter the Pack’s vaunted passing attack. Any corner who can force Aaron Rodgers into not challenging him is a CB worthy of merit.

If there is good news to be culled from this game it is the fact that this is only 1 game and not a

defining moment of a season – yet. There is still plenty of time to play the season and there are few, if any, teams that are on Seattle’s level. The injuries to Bulaga, Lacy and Richard Rodgers do not look to be long term. Rodgers will not have many 189 yard/ 1 TD/ 1 INT games. If the Packers are to get back into the conversation of playoff teams they will need to put their stamp on a few of the upcoming games. There were communication issues in getting the right personnel on the field that haven to be addressed. In the end it is the players themselves. Afterwards Micah Hyde said “Yeah, there were communication issues. But the coaches can only do so much. We (the players) just have to make the plays.” The New York Jets are next and with Rex Ryan it is a soft offense/ string defense, the type of game the Packers will need to show that they do belong in that mix.

Essentially this is not a “what’s wrong with the Packers?” retrospective.

It is more about what is right with Seattle and right now just about everything is perfect in the Emerald City.

And they, too, have another 15 games to play. It’s a long season.