Northwest Pro Sports 12
Posts tagged Marcus Trufant
Seahawks vs Saints First Half Thoughts
Nov 21st
After each team went 3 and out the Seahawks offense started to move the ball including a 68 yard completion from Matt Hasselbeck to Mike Williams but unfortunately the drive would stall at the goal line do to Seattle’s inability to run the football in short yardage situations. Olindo Mare kicked a field goal and the Seahawks took the early lead 3-0.
When the Saints got the ball the Seattle defense forgot how to tackle and watched Saints RB Chris Ivory run over them during and took the lead 7-3. He would spend the rest of the half looking like, as Lou Holts would say, “The best running back in the history of football” until he got injured and the Saints switched to passing all over the field.
The Seahawks offense continued using the big pass plays to move the ball and got another Mare field goal making it Seahawks 6 Saints 7. The Saints followed with two straight TD’s and it was Saints 21 Seahawks 6 with 2:51 remaining in the 2nd quarter on a 3rd and 9 pass to Brandon Stokley to the 10. At the 2:00 warning the Seahawks had the ball 3rd and goal at the 1 yard line. Matt threw a TD pass to Ben Obamanu for Ben’s third TD of the Season. Olindo made the extra point making it 21-13 with 1:54 seconds in the first half.
The Seahawks Defense had the Saints stopped before a bogus roughing the passer call on Raheem Brock. Drew Breese would make them pay on a 22 yard TD pass to Colston with 1:00 left. They would fail on a 2 pt conversion attempt due to a botched snap on the extra point. Seattle got the ball back and was driving before Chester Pitts got bull rushed and got called for holding followed by a Hasselbeck intentional grounding. Mare Made his third field goal attempt and we went into the half with the Seahawks trailing 27-16 and needing to make a defensive adjustment during the half.
Marcus Trufant, Mike Williams and Earl Thomas were all injured in the half but Mike came back into the game as did Thomas. Walter Thurmond came in and played solid in replacement of Trufant.
2010 Preseason Game 2 Vs. Packers Part I (The First Quarter)
Aug 23rd
Before the first snap one thing was for sure, at the end of the night we would know a lot more about this Seahawks team. Sure they handled the Titans in the first week but that had a lot to do with getting pressure on their QB’s. The Titans have had injuries along their offensive line so that was not a true test. This game against a very good football team would become a true test and would provide many teaching opportunities on both sides of the ball. The atmosphere in Qwest saturday was much closer to a regular season game and it was apparent the 12th man was up for the game.
The Seahawks won the coin toss and elected to receive. Josh Wilson took the kickoff out of the end zone and was only able to make it to the 15-yard line. 
The first play from scrimmage went no where because the line didn’t do a very good job of blocking at the point of attack. What happened was as Russell Okung was trying to get to the second level to block the linebacker Ben Hamilton was knocked down and fell on Okungs right Ankle taking him down as well. Justin Forsett tried to cut it back inside and was able to gain a yard. After getting no push on the next play while trying to run the ball the offensive line did a great job in pass protection giving Matt Hasselbeck all day to find Deion Branch who dropped the ball. Jon Ryan would boom the punt and Jordan Babineaux got down the field in a hurry to make the tackle.
The Packers went for it all on the first play of the drive with Aaron Rodgers airing one out, testing Rookie Safety Earl Thomas, to Greg Jennings. Earl was right there with Jennings but Aaron placed the ball perfectly in front of him for a nice reception. The bigger mistake was made up front with the front seven getting sucked in on the play fake so when Aaron rolled out he had no worries other then delivering the ball right where he wanted it. Red Bryan recognized that he wasn’t going to get to the QB on second down and put his hand up deflecting the ball and causing the incompletion. The next play the Packers would pick up the first down and follow that up with a TD pass from Aaron Rodgers to the fullback John Kuhn. On the play three Seahawks defenders; Marcus Trufant, Will Harring, and Earl Thomas were covering TE Andrew Quarless, Rookie out of Penn State, and left David Hawthorne to cover Kuhn from the middle linebacker position. Harring should have recognized the Fullback and dropped down to cover the route and let the safety and CB cover the TE.
John Kuhn catches a one yard TD pass from Aaron Rodgers in the 1st Quarter of Saturday's Preseason game
Josh Wilson returned the Kickoff to the Packers 49 yard line giving the Seahawks great field position to start the next drive. Mansfield Wrotto was in to replace Russell Okung at LT who, after the first drive, was taken by cart to go get X-Rays taken of his ankle. The left side of the offensive line did a nice job recognizing the blitz and picking it up on second down allowing Matt Hasselbeck to find Mike Williams, who continues to make his bid for a roster spot and I think that he has earned it, working between level in the zone defense and picks up 17-yards.
Just before Mike Williams breaks to the outside for a 17 yard reception
The next play WR TJ Houshmandzadeh forced the defender to turn his hips and then he broke the route off into a curl giving himself plenty space to make a 15 yard reception. On 2nd and 4 the offensive line gave Matt, who rolled out of the pocket, almost 6 seconds to direct Deion Branch and throw the ball to him in the back of the end zone for a TD.
Marcus Trufant made an excellent play getting his hand in between the receivers hands on first down and knocking the ball away. On the play he stayed in the hip pocket of the receiver and matched him stride for stride down the field. The defense continues to show a weakness in the play action pass. With the lineman and the linebackers are not sticking to their responsibilities, this time Nick Reed failed to hold his corner and made it easy for Green Bay to pick up a first down on a quick shovel pass to the TE. On the next play we would finally get to see what Earl Thomas brings to the Seahawks when he came in and almost picked off the ball flying over Kelly Jennings to do so. Kelly fell on his elbow on the play but after getting it taped up he returned to the game. Pete Carroll called a timeout to make sure his defense was on the same page on 3 and 6 from the 12-yard line. What ended up happening is the Safety, Lawyer Milloy, and the LB, David Hawthorne, both covered the Slot Receiver while letting the TE split them on a streak to the end zone for another passing TD by Green Bay.
Notice Max Unger's inability to seal the hole on the inside and Chris Spencer being late to the second level to pick up the middle linebacker.
After getting the ball back Seattle tried a pitch to Justin Forsett that went for no gain. I took a picture of this play. Click on the picture to enlarge it and the caption explains why this team is having so much trouble running the ball.
That was pretty much the end of the first quarter. Tomorrow morning Part II will be posted. Have a good one
The Preseason Begins Part II (The First Quarter)
Aug 16th
As with any Seahawks game held at Qwest field the 12th Man flag was raised, something that Pete Carroll later confessed that he missed. The coin toss was won by the visiting Titans who elected to receive, setting up an initial drive that looked far to reminiscent of last year. They put together a 10 play drive that lasted 5:51 seconds and was capped off by a 1 yard touchdown run by defending NFL rushing champion Chris Johnson.
Despite the similarities to last years squad it was not all bad from the Seahawks defense. On the first play of the drive Aaron Curry got into great position to make a play before being tackled by the pulling guard but it forced Chris Johnson to the outside where Marcus Trufant had been moments earlier. Marcus flipped his hips as soon as the ball was snapped turning his back toward the play and ran down the field ten yards and basically out of the play before the WR caught up to him to apply the block. Had Marcus noticed the play he could have force the runner back inside to Will Herring, David Hawthorne and Lawyer Milloy.
Two plays later Marcus found himself playing what appeared to be Man to Man on the outside and while his man cut to the outside he had a TE running a streak to the other side and he seemed to be unsure which one to cover as he had help underneath from Aaron Curry, who fell behind the target while looking into the backfield. I’m not sure who was responsible on the play but one of those two blew the coverage. That play led to a 2nd and 1 hand off to Johnson Curry, Red Bryant, who would later get good pressure on the goal line stand, and Brandon Mebane all got good pressure and Red got away with tripping Johnson. Playing in the offensive backfield is a key to stopping a running attack and it is good to see that kind of penetration.
On the long screen pass Earl Thomas could not get off his block and was pushed down the field by the WR until the play ran into him. The next play was the pass to Justing Gage which was a nice job by Vince Young noticing the weak spot in the zone and throwing it between defenders but then Josh Wilson and Hawthorn gave up on the play and if it weren’t for Thomas Gage would have rolled into the end zone. The Seahawks defense would make two nice plays to deny Johnson’s touchdown before he ran off tackle for the Score.
The Seahawks offense started out with a play action pass attempt to Deion Branch who was double covered and the pass was batted away. Two consecutive pass completions from Matt to Deion led to a first down. On 1st and 10 they tried the first running play. It was to the right side between the Guard, Max Unger, and the Tackle, Sean Locklear. Max got shoved back about 2 yards and there was nowhere for Julius Jones to go. After two incompletions the Seahawks would punt the ball away.
As the Seahawks defense took the field for the second time Kevin Vickerson was in at DT to replace Colin Cole. On 3rd and 1 the Titans tried a play action pass that did not fool Chris Clemons and he pursued Vince Young as he rolled out forcing him to get rid of the ball without getting a chance to set his feet. Meanwhile down the field Josh Wilson was stuck to the WR like glue and did a nice job driving on the ball making an interception on the Seahawks sideline.
The first play after getting the ball back Locklear tried to push the rushing DE, Former Seahawk Jason Babin, past Matt but was unable to change the direction of the rush and as Matt stepped up in the pocket he was sacked. This was the second time in the game that Sean was beaten by Babin. Two plays later, on third down, Jones would short arm a ball and the Seahawks would be forced to punt. The fans at Qwest were booing Julius’ effort but the fact is that even if he had made the catch he would have been well short of the first down marker and in that situation I would like to see Matt try to squeeze a ball downfield. If its intercepted then it works just like a punt. Punter Jon Ryan made the perfect punt until Jordan Babineaux ran down the field and knocked the ball into the end zone for a touchback.
Kevin Vickerson created havoc on the next two running plays holding his position on the first and making the tackle for a short gain then beating two blocks to team up with Bryant, who beat his blocker, to drop the RB in the backfield. The very next play Chris Simms dropped back to pass and Clemons beat his man on a beautiful inside swim move and picked up the sack. The Titans would punt the ball away.
After a quick slant From Matt to TJ for a 1st down J. Jones gave a lot of effort after being hit in the backfield to pick up a couple. The next play Max Unger could not get to the second level fast enough to cut off the middle linebacker who was able to read the play and get around the outside of Russell Okung, who was already in-gauged, and made the tackle in the backfield. The next play was off tackle right side and Sean did a great job sealing the edge while Ben Hamilton pulled and open a big hole. Sean handed his guy over to Unger and was able to get to the second level and make another key block. That coupled with Unger pushing the DE up the field led to the first down. After an incompletion and a two yard reception by TJ the first quarter was over.
