Swerving Points, Week 3: Not all flags are created equal from chenyan's blog

As always, Swerving Points is not about the  Womens Shaquill Griffin Jersey  game’s biggest plays, which would be turning points. We know what those were in Sunday’s win, on defense at least.Interception 1: Just the right ankleMcForced McFumbleInterception 2: Earlectic BugalooTake a bow? Take a bow. Why the hell not?Chris Carson even unlocked the RB TD vault. May much unclaimed loot spill out of there onto the Seattle Seahawks’ 2018 season. Jaron Brown caught his first score as a Seahawk, and Tyler “Guess That Extension Wasn’t Such A Bad Idea” Lockett hauled in his third TD in as many games.Fine, you can have Steve Raible calling the Lockett TD. But only because you’ve all been very good boys and girls all week.Highlights galore. You’re welcome. Now there are four penalties I’d like to talk about, four flags that shaped the game on the contours, if not the core.Roughing the passer on Tyrone Crawford (DAL), first quarter, 11:17. Result of the play: First down SEAOf all the big penalties in the game, this one probably had the lowest impact on the final result. The EPA (expected points added) was 1.58, a significant amount for a single play on one’s own side of the field, but Seattle still had to punt at drive’s end. Because they simply don’t score opening-possession touchdowns. That wouldn’t be very sporting. Anyway, what made me want to cite this event is that it overruled a third-down incompletion and led to a 12-play drive by the Seahawks. Field flipped, first downs gained, intelligence gathered, a semblance of rhythm attained: though you’d always like to score points, at least you achieved something with the football in your hands. For a change, the possession wasn’t a complete waste.Also: there is a ton of research on how referees favor home teams. Two of my favorite hits lie below.In the NBA (includes great custom chart)In the NFL (a lot to process here)It was awfully nice to see Seattle benefit from what might have been a hometown call. Things are tougher on the road, and you don’t always get all the breaks you’d like (see: Week 1 in Denver with the non-fumble and the maybe-touchdown fiasco). Being at home matters in more ways than one.On to the more swervy flags.Illegal touch on Ezekiel Elliott (DAL), second quarter, 5:39. Result of the play: Cowboys settle for a field goalElliott’s footwork was just sloppy enough that he stepped out of bounds before making a reception near the south end zone and racing down the far sideline for a sure score. On a 3rd and 2 from the SEA 31. Four points come off the board for Dallas, with seven turning into three.Up until this point, the Seahawks have also earned some penalties, as is their habit. 12 men on the field (VERY ON BRAND) during the Cowboys’ first possession Youth Doug Baldwin Jersey , the weekly holding on J.R. Sweezy, and especially running into the kicker to prolong a Dallas drive. But each was followed shortly by a positive play that mitigated the error, or eliminated its bad effects altogether.By game’s end, Seattle would be called 10 penalties to the Cowboys’ 7, costing the hosts 67 yards to the visitors’ 55. As halftime approached, the Seahawks were already losing the penalty battle, but winning the war, and the biggest call of all was yet to come.Personal foul, unnecessary roughness on Randy Gregory DAL, second quarter, 0:07.Result of the play: first down SEA in field-goal territoryGregory, who may or may not have been baited by Joey “Breno” Hunt, gifts Seattle 15 yards of field position to transform a potential 62-yard FG into a quite different 47-yard attempt. Sebastian Janikowski remembers how to make the mid-range ones and delivers three points as the half ends. This game feels awfully different in the fourth quarter without that kick as extra cushion.We would be remiss to tell the story of this costly (to Dallas!) penalty without mentioning that Pete Carroll was aggressive on defense with the timeouts. He called two on the Cowboys’ previous possession and gave his offense 49 seconds to get into field-goal range one last time before half.Somehow, Carroll had managed to preserve all three timeouts for the first 28 minutes — while Jason Garrett had spent all of his minutes ago, two on defense and another for play clock reasons. Pays off sometimes to be the team that isn’t wasteful.Personal foul, taunting on Earl Thomas, SEA, fourth quarter, 3:17Result of the play: another unforgettable Earl Thomas momentThere is very little more to say than the unsaid words behind Earl’s bow. Yes, he just vaporized Dallas’ last best chance of the game with a red zone pick. Yes, it’s his second. Yes, there have been a shit-ton of rumors. Endless billows of smoke circle around Thomas, even today, but as of yet no fire is spotted. Well. Not since Earl set the sideline ablaze with the play of the game, then the statement of the game.So he takes a bow. Maybe to drive the point home about how much better off they’d have been with him wearing a star on his helmet instead of a bird. And he earns a personal foul. This moment’s a swerving point that could very easily become a turning point for his career. Maybe the quality and ferocity of his play on Sunday leads to an extension here; maybe he sits out more practices; maybe he delivers the best season of his life and walks away in free agency to earn the financial security he craves.Meanwhile http://www.seahawksfootballauthentics.com/bradley-mcdougald-jersey-authentic , the Legend of Earl Thomas grows.(Extend him.)Chris Carson second in the NFL in yards after contact As I wrote on Sunday, Chris Carson had the best game by a Seattle Seahawks running back in maybe three years this past week against the LA Rams. I was not at all surprised by this because Carson has been nothing but a great player during his year and a half with the team, dating back all the way to the 2017 NFL Draft when Pete Carroll called him one of his “favorite players” in the class. As a seventh round pick, Carson had long odds just to make the final roster after the Seahawks signed Eddie Lacy and expected the returns of Thomas Rawls and C.J. Prosise from injury, but he did way better by winning the starting gig. I even dubbed it, “The Summer of Chris Carson.” He’s yet to do a single thing to warrant losing that job, as long as he’s healthy.That began in Week 1 of last year when it was obvious to me and just about everyone else that Carson should be the only back to receive the ball from Seattle’s backfield. That started in Week 2 of 2017, when he received 20 carries and gained 93 yards. The totals weren’t mindblowing, but he had plenty stacked against him (a poor offensive line chief among them) and all you had to do was watch the way he ran to know that he was a special player. The broken ankle he suffered in Week 4 gave people horrific Rawls flashbacks, but as John Gilbert wrote, he had a higher probability of recovery.Here we are: Recovery. And it feels so good.Carson has held off first round rookie Rashaad Penny, who has looked exceptional at times. Much like Carson, the numbers haven’t always panned out for Penny in the way that you’d like (not that it matters yet, he’s only a rookie and he deserves plenty more time to develop and earn his opportunity), but as you watch him, you see that he can probably do things with his legs that neither Carson nor Mike Davis can do. That was obvious as early as his first preseason game; Penny didn’t do much that day, but he had a couple runs that made it clear that he can do a lot if he puts it all together.On many teams, Penny would be starting right now. If many of those coaches had Penny and Carson, they’d at least be giving Penny the ball more often. Not Carroll though. While I’m not sure I love an organizational philosophy that involves drafting a running back in the first round and then not needing to use him in all of his rookie contract years, I can’t blame Carroll for sticking with Carson and Davis. I’ve been saying since the start of last season that I think Carson could be a top-five back in the league.And that’s what we’ve seen recently. While the offensive line is also playing a lot better, probably thanks in large part to the additions of J.R. Sweezy and D.J. Fluker at guard (I’m not sure what you do with D.J.R. Fluzy, but there you go, I’ve now put that into the universe), Carson is also making the most out of the meals provided to him.Carson is averaging 3.3 yards per rush after contact, second in the NFL behind only Isaiah Crowell of the New York Jets.And to add to that Womens Jarran Reed Jersey , Crowell has had runs of 77, 62, 54, and 36 yards. He’s playing really well, but those long runs — assuming that he had a hand on him at the line of scrimmage — are really going to skew the numbers and bring Crowell back to the rest of the pack soon. Christopher Carson’s longest run is 24, but he’s lost yardage on only three of his 64 carries. Crowell has lost yardage on 11 of his 54 attempts. That includes eight losses of at least -2 yards (and a safety), compared to Carson’s losses of -1, -1, and -2 yards. We can’t know for sure how much of this has to do with Seattle’s gameplan or the offensive line as compared to the Jets or the average NFL team today, but I’m gonna go ahead and be biased as I can to say that it’s only because Carson is the best player in NFL history.This week, the Seahawks play the Oakland Raiders, and while I am not sure how we judge the field at Wembley and how that might alter Carroll’s gameplan with Carson and the rest of the offense, we do know that the Raiders are going to provide a defense that might get him over 100 yards again. Oakland is 28th in rushing yards allowed, 27th in yards per carry allowed, and 24th against the run according to DVOA. Two weeks ago against the Cleveland Browns, the Raiders allowed 105 yards to Nick Chubb (on three carries), and 82 on 22 carries by Carlos Hyde.They did a surprisingly good job against the LA Chargers this past Sunday, but that was likely because Philip Rivers had no need to hand it off when he’s going 22-of-27 for 339 yards. Hey, I’ll take a good game from Russell Wilson too.This is definitely a good time to be Carson or Davis, who has 33 carries for 169 yards over his last two games (in that time he has just two negative rushes, both for -1 yard), and they both look like starters. The guy behind them will be a starter one day too, Seattle just doesn’t need him right now.