Chris Simms' 5 things I like and don't like, including the Seattle Seahawks
by JAMoney14 | 7 years ago | 0 Comments
1. The Seattle Seahawks
Let me tell you something you already know -- Coach Patrick Allen loves to pass the football. He threw that ball around with Russell Wilson, he threw that sucker around when Wilson went down and he's going to threw the ol' pigskin around for the rest of the cycle with this new stud Mitchell Layow. For those of you that don't know, Layow was the Seahawks 3rd round draft pick in last Arpil's Red Zone draft and if you ask any Seattle fan this year, they'll tell you he's the second comng of Jesus Christ himself. Of course, this comparison is obviously ridiculous, considering Jesus played Wide Receiver, but regardless, those in and around the Seattle organization love Layow.
As a 4th year Senior at college park, Layow was not a guy built on effeciency, he didn't win the most games, he didn't capture a national title... but man. Big strong kid that can really sling it and has no fear about throwing into triple coverage. That one summary is both the reason he fell to the 3rd and the reason he lept to the 3rd. Coming into the preseason, Seatlle didn't name Layow the starter, but everyone knew what was going to happen.
Seattle was coming off of a simply terrible season in season 40. Management said *bleep* this all. Salary and payroll cutting began right away and no one was spared. Although they fell into dump truck loads of cap penalties, they did it in a way that will free them up for the future. So throw this season away, get your young QB and win 2 games to get a top pick.
-- or not --
The Seahawks are sitting at 4-1 with the league's top grossing passing game, and Layow is leading the charge. As he did in college, he is throwing without fear, which can sometimes be messy, as it was in his just terrible performance in Seattle's lone loss to Kansas City. No one seems to care about his in inefficiency. This Tebow-esque love for his late-game antics are fun. They are for me too! I would ask that we please not lose sight of what we're looking at. A bottom 5 defense, with little to no veteran talent on either side of the ball, overperforming against teams with a combined record of 3-15 (Green Bay, Atlanta, Oakland, LA Chargers). When faced with a serious team in Kansas City, coaching and more importantly, talent, were exposed.
I love watching these games, though and wins are wins. So let's keep cheering for these cinderella Seahawks and hope that Layow is indeed the real deal.
2. Game Managers
Players like Alex Smith and prime Russell Wilson get destroyed by gasbags on talk radio or editors in magazines trying to down talk the effectiveness of game management. Let me throw a stat at you: 17-4. That is the combined record of the top 5 teams in turnover differential.
If you're wondering, there are 3 familiar names. Ravens, Eagles, Jets. (The Rams and Cardinals are in there too). If you wanna know how these 3 teams are constantly in the super bowl, it's because of this. Chase Hillman - perfect embodiment for everything efficiency. In his 5 seasons as a Jet, he has not once thrown 20 INT's, which, somehow, is a great accomplishment in a league that loves to turn the ball over. Passer ratings over 100 all but 1 of those years. He is currently sitting at 8/3 ratio right now.
One thing these three teams have learned, especially in Philadelphia, is that when you have excellent coaching, you have excellent defense... You don't need to throw home runs every single time. Now, of course, this is more important for teams like NY and PHI who love to slow it down and force you to beat them with limited time, using their great RB's and excellent supporting cast in the trenches. Obviously I cannot apply the "game manager" label to probably the best QB in the league, right?
Wrong. Eric Haskins is so good, he is simultaneously one of the best slingers AND one of the least turnover prone players in the league. I spoke before about how uneffective gunslingers like Houston, Seattle, Miami, and Jacksonville are. It may be fun to go out and chuck the ball around willy nilly. Hell, it might even net you some big yardage.
But it won't win you ball games. Protect that damn football, Red Zone.
3. The Cincinnati Bengals
Wait! Don't close the browser! Hear me out!
The Bengals are 0-4. Yep. That's right, nothing to see here? No. Wrong. As someone who has watched all of his games closely, you need to know what I am considering. The Bengals have been playing in the hardest division in football.for an entire cycle now. They haven't been competitive in the past, obviously. In their first four games of the year, you could argue they have played about as well as possible, (perhaps better than Seattle) given their situations.
They have played a very strong Cleveland Browns team TWICE, facing a growing coaching staff and a young QB with one of the most daunting defenses in not just the NFC, but of entire football. He lost both those games by just 1 possession. He then played the last 2 super bowl champions and competed in both those games, although the latter (Jets) pulled away at the end. Even pushing forward, Cincinnati has the task of facing New Orleans (By the way, best in the league in yards allowed and sitting strong at 2-1), the Steelers TWICE, the Ravens again, and 3 middling, but strong teams in Buffalo, Miami, and Atlanta.
I can talk all day about Cincy's strength of schedule, but it's a real thing, man. Cincy has looked much improved after actually competing in the offseason, something they usually don't do. Keep an eye on them to continue to improve. Shontrelle Woods addition to the defense has been a thorn in the side of these competitive teams, the front 7 hasn't been walked over, Nagy has shown glimpses of genius, and the addition of WR's has ignited the confidence of the coach.
Who knows, if someone can get inside the head of management and the coaches, we could see a real rise in competitiveness in a division that is already at a peak in terms of interdivisional talent.
4. Winless teams
Let's look at em'
Green Bay, Carolina, Dallas, Cincinnati, and the Chargers. A combined mediocrity of 17 straight losses. Not the least of which are from Los Angeles and Carolina.
I simply cannot believe the state of affairs in Carolina. They are both crazy, considering both were playoff teams and real contenders not long ago. Getting the Chargers out of the way, they are clearly much worse than Carolina, despite neither team winning a game yet. The point differential has been awful and coach Manigault is constantly ruining his players confidence by making bad decisions and benching all kinds of players. LAC needs more structure to get back where they belong in a growing and improving division.
When I did my 1st piece, I tipped my hat to Carolina as a team that used their veterans better than almost everyone. This season, it's not happening. They are spending a lot of money on guys like Sheldon Rankins and Russell Wilson, the latter of which has been completely and utterly terrible.
The Panthers through all 4 losses have been insane trying to pass the ball. Whoda thought trading the young game manager (McClure, currently KILLING IT in Arizona) for a washed up star with 4 straight terrible seasons (Wilson) would be a terrible plan?
There remains hope, though. Despite the vocal despair from the leaders in the front office, the Panthers have not been as bad as 0-4. After an absolute stomping in LA to the Rams, they were able to bounce back to a competent team, losing 3 straight games to very good defensive teams in New Orleans, San Fran, and Tampa Bay.
I do have a theory. I think Carolina WILL bounce back. They only play poorly to teams with 2 word city names. Think about it. Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, New Orleans and San Francisco? All I'm saying is watch out DETROIT. Carolina is coming!
5. Player development at the top
One thing that has frustrated teams looking to grow is player development. It's been difficult for teams on the bottom to grow roster wide. It can be possible for a middling team to focus a particular player (see Miles Rachal). It is not difficult, however, for teams like Jets and the Ravens there is something very telling.
You ever wonder why teams that are so good are so willing to put their better players up every offseason? It's because their roster is full of 24 year old pro bowlers who just walked into a gold mine of XP. The smartest teams in the league are able to dump their 27-30 year old stars and turn your picks into 92 OVR studs the very next season. Parity is tough to achieve, as I have already touched on, but this is not a knock on the great teams.
Great teams are great teams for a reason. It would be short sighted for GM's to hang on to older players in hopes to replicate their past success, but look at teams you think are coming to break out, then fall back to earth. I'm not saying it's the only reason, but this particular skills our best GM's have is something to look at if you're ever wanting to join the elites.