If you ever wanted to see a game that perfectly illustrated why winning in the trenches is still key in football, then this was the matchup to watch. Both the Seattle and Arizona defensive lines simply obliterated their counterparts on the offensive line, and ensured that neither offense could establish a consistent presence on the ground or through the air. That dominance made this divisional game one of the grittiest, chippiest and ugliest of Week 1.
The disruption up front saw to it that the pair of inexperienced starting quarterbacks never settled into the game, with both struggling throughout and leaving the star turn at QB to Arizona backup Kevin Kolb, who rescued the victory. Coming in for the injured John Skelton, he put together arguably the most clinical drive of the game to establish a lead that the Cardinals’ defense refused to surrender on the goal-line.
Moving forward, both teams will be ecstatic with the showing of their defensive lines, but equally terrified by the way their offensive lines were completely manhandled. Both teams will need more from their o-lines if they are to avoid being among the worst offenses in the league this season.
Seattle – Three Performances of Note
Dominating in the Trenches
All three of the Seahawks’ ‘performances of note' could easily be defensive linemen. This unit was the star turn for the Seahawks, and there were at least three genuinely terrific performances as they put a substandard Cardinals’ offensive line to the sword. Defensive end Red Bryant (+4.9) picked up where he left off last season by making his presence felt in the running game and getting his hand to the football in the passing game, batting two passes. On the inside, Brandon Mebane (+7.2) was a constant presence in the running game, and registered four stops. However, his biggest, and most inadvertent, contribution to the game may have been the hit he laid on John Skelton that knocked the Cardinals' starter out of the game , and brought bring in game-winner Kevin Kolb. There were also excellent contributions from Jason Jones (+3.8 on debut) and Chris Clemons (+7.2)–the latter absolutely dominated D’Anthony Batiste on the edge in what must have been one of the most lopsided matchups of Week 1.
Difficult Debuts on Offense
There has been a real buzz in Seattle around the pair of rookies starting on offense at quarterback and at right guard. After their NFL debuts that excitement may be dampened a little as both players did little to impress in Arizona. Right guard J.R. Sweezy is a converted defensive tackle, and he would have been pining for his former position Sunday as he was one of the offensive linemen chiefly victimized by the dominant performance of Darnell Dockett. Allowing three pressures in the passing game was disappointing, but it was his work in the running game that was most alarming (-6.4 run blocking). Sweezy was beaten for five stops and another two tackles were missed by defenders who beat Sweezy’s blocks. Growing pains were always likely for Sweezy, but he won’t be allowed too many more performances like this one before he continues his learning process on the bench.
The poor display by Sweezy and his line mates had a knock-on effect on rookie starter Russell Wilson (-3.1), who looked uncomfortable in the pocket from extremely early in the game. Pressured on almost half of his 43 dropbacks, Wilson looked to move out of the pocket too early and was himself responsible for being hit twice and pressured twice. If Seahawks fans are looking for a positive then it would be that, in spite of his struggles, Wilson had their team in position to win the game late but his receivers couldn’t finish a pair of plays in the Cardinals’ end zone.
Mixed Bag in the Secondary
Last season the Seahawks had one of the best defensive backfields in the entire league, with a group of largely unheralded players. Not all of them played up to that level in Week 1 this year however, with some inconsistent play from Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman in particular. Thomas missed a tackle on Andre Roberts in the first quarter and was AWOL on more than one occasion in coverage. For all that, the former Texas Longhorn does make plays based on instincts at times–although those same ‘instincts' can get him into some truly horrible positions at other times. Meanwhile Sherman, starting his second season, mixed in a pass defense and a sideline interception with a pair of unnecessary pass interference penalties. This was the main weakness in his play last season (nine penalties for the year), and two penalties on opening day isn’t the best way to show the development on this front that Pete Carroll has demanded from his defense.
Arizona – Three Performances of Note
Dockett Dominates
You couldn’t watch this game and fail to notice that the absolute star was Darnell Dockett. Here at PFF, we have often been frustrated by Dockett’s inconsistency, and feel he relies too much on the big play without doing the dirty work from down to down. Well, this week he simply decided to take over the game and take full advantage of the mismatch he found himself with against rookie J.R. Sweezy and RT Breno Giacomini. Dominant in both run defense (+4.5, six stops) and as a pass rusher (+5.4, 3 Ht, 7 Hu) Dockett didn’t settle for dirty work, he just took over plays on a regular basis. Toward the end of the game the Seahawks made the baffling decision not to block Dockett when the Cardinals brought overload pressure to the right side of the Seattle offensive line. As a result, in the last two minutes of the game Dockett collected three hits in this manner. The Patriots should take note and consider at least trying to block Dockett in key situations next week.
An Offense Built on Weak Foundations
The offensive line is the foundation of any offense, and against Seattle the Cardinals’ offensive line gave their skill position players almost no chance to succeed. In one-on-one situations, every single player, except perhaps for Daryn Colledge, appeared to be outmatched and they struggled even to make double team and combo blocks work correctly. On the edge, D’Anthony Batiste in particular was victimized by Chris Clemons. Inside, the Cardinals simply couldn’t contain the Seahawks’ defensive tackles or stop them from making plays, and so subsequently couldn’t work up to the second level to make blocks on linebackers. It is only Week 1, but it is difficult at this point to see how this offensive line can move forward without getting some unexpected performances from backups or some fortuitous pickups on the waiver wire.
Peterson’s Potential
While we at Pro Football Focus didn’t agree with the widely held perception from last season that Patrick Peterson was already an excellent corner, he did show some real potential and in Week 1 Peterson re-emphasized that potential. The pair of pass interference penalties against him proved how close he was playing receivers all day, and when he was on the right side of the line in terms of discipline Seattle’s receivers got nothing from him. When shadowing Sidney Rice he was targeted four times and didn’t allow a single completion–he even broke up one pass in the end zone that he might have intercepted had Rice not fought back in to the play. If he can maintain this sort of performance, and the sort of pressure Dockett and Calais Campbell applied in this game will certainly help, then Peterson should be one of the breakout defenders of the 2012 season
Game Notes
– Pressure is a killer for many quarterbacks, but it seems to affect John Skelton more than most. Facing pressure on 13 of his 30 dropbacks, Skelton completed only 3 of his 11 passes (1 scramble, 1 sack) for 49 yards and an interception. That is an NFL QB rating of 7.8 when pressured.
– In his NFL debut, Bruce Irvin registered 35 snaps, rushed the passer on 27 of those snaps and playing principally on the left side of the formation. Only three of his snaps were to the right of the Seahawks’ defensive formation.
– On designed backfield runs, the Cardinals averaged an utterly miserable 1.6 yards per carry. Their longest run was an end around by Andre Roberts, while their trio of running backs combined for a mere 27 yards on 17 carries behind some extremely poor run blocking.
Game Ball
This was not a typically inconsistent game from Darnell Dockett. This was a game in which he found himself with a favorable matchup and simply took apart anyone who dared line up across from him.
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