Will Shaq dominate at his away home?

[heyzeus]

We all recall when Thomas Davis was a first round draft pick out of Georgia but do we recall  why? Sure, we needed defensive help but TD was a "tweener" (lawd what a stupid word) and we didn't necessarily need safety help, we needed help stopping Mike Vick. Thomas Davis was converted to a LB and spent his first few seasons making the remainder of Vick's NFCS career miserable. And we loved every sweet, eight-pound, baby Jesus second of that dog killer's misery.

Well, this year our 1st round pick was a very similar type player so I put it to the Huddle: With Shaq being the home town Washington Huskie, will he dominate at his home away from home, do a TD repeat and joker lil' Rusty? 

 

I haven't seen anything on Shaq so, mods, forgive and delete if this is a repeat.

[Daddy_Uncle]

one of the main reasons they said they drafted him was to cover Graham. He is going to make him a non-factor all game long.

[X-Clown on 1]

Let's not forget how much having Luke back will help Shaq's run game support.  AJ Klein's biggest weakness is his gap assignment in run support, as well as calling it out pre-snap.  When Klein chooses wrong, it affects TD and Shaq.  Granted Shaq needs to not miss tackles, but taking better angles and having proper gap support will help this tremendously.  Expect to see superior LB play across the board this game.

[Mol3m4n]

He hasn't even dominated at his "home" home. 

[heyzeus]

He hasn't even dominated at his "home" home. 

7 tackles and a sack (NO) is not too shabby for any defender. 

Oh and....through the first three games of the season, Thompson rated as PFF's highest rated first round rookie. We shall see..

 

[motocross_cat]

Once the game slows down for him he will be a top linebacker.  Only played 4 nfl games.  Over running plays will soon be a thing of the past.  

As for this weekend i hope he and his two buddys luke and td bring the pain.  

[therealmjl]

7 tackles and a sack (NO) is not too shabby for any defender. 

Oh and....through the first three games of the season, Thompson rated as PFF's highest rated first round rookie. We shall see..

 

"Sack" is more like it- being near Luke McCown when he goes full retard and scrambles out of bounds is far from a sack.

[CRA]

I don't see him dominating until next year. I honesty believe Shaq should have stayed at Safety. His coverage skills have been impressive against RBs and TEs but his move to Linebacker made the learning curve steeper for him.

well his coach in college thinks he should of been a RB in the NFL.

Shaq is just one of those overall good athletes.  He can probably do lots of things very well. I think he EASILY will be good at wherever he plays on defense.  Great?  A much harder question.  He isn't a Luke type guy where you just knew he would be a great NFL LB.

[hepcat]

To be honest, the defense lost us the game in the playoffs @ Seattle, gave up too many big plays on 3rd down in the passing game, so I'm excited to see what our new pieces can do to their offense.  Pass defense is much improved with Kurt Coleman, Tillman, and Shaq Thompson to help cover their 2 TE sets.  We all know Thomas Davis will fug up Jimmy Graham.  Going to be a great game, much closer than the playoff game.  Carolina is better and Seattle is worse.

[CRA]

To be honest, the defense lost us the game in the playoffs @ Seattle, gave up too many big plays on 3rd down in the passing game, so I'm excited to see what our new pieces can do to their offense.  Pass defense is much improved with Kurt Coleman, Tillman, and Shaq Thompson to help cover their 2 TE sets.  We all know Thomas Davis will fug up Jimmy Graham.  Going to be a great game, much closer than the playoff game.  Carolina is better and Seattle is worse.

I don't know....other side of that coin not addressed is the question.

Last year we were running the ball GREAT when we met up.  This year, outside of Cam, we haven't shown the ability to run at all.  Also, last year we had a type of WR we could throw at Sherman with....and they weren't considered dumb pass plays. 

Not sure how we will move the ball on Sunday outside of Cam taking tons of punishment.  Special teams IMO is bigger in games like this and I think we look shaky on ST to date.

[therealmjl]

He's come close to getting an actual sack several times. Thompson is a fantastic blitzer.

Would love to see him decapitate that weird midget QB he is facing this Sunday.

[KSpan]

Shaq's got a lot on his mind, I wouldn't be surprised if he struggles. His college coach just got fired over an email and is in rehab, so I would not be surprised one iota if Shaq's mind isn't on football right now.

Are you being serious?  I'm not downplaying Sarkisian's struggle, but this would seem to be a bit low on the distraction scale for an NFL player.

[hepcat]

I don't know....other side of that coin not addressed is the question.

Last year we were running the ball GREAT when we met up.  This year, outside of Cam, we haven't shown the ability to run at all.  Also, last year we had a type of WR we could throw at Sherman with....and they weren't considered dumb pass plays. 

Not sure how we will move the ball on Sunday outside of Cam taking tons of punishment.  Special teams IMO is bigger in games like this and I think we look shaky on ST to date.

It's true, but I think the main thing holding back the running game is that defenses are stacking the box with Benjamin out.  We need to throw deep to Ginn more to help back off the safeties.  

[Khyber53]

My bet is Shaq will be set as the spy vs. Wilson. Our front four will create pressure and Shaq's job will be to chase him down during those wild scrambles.

Graham isn't a problem and Davis will lay a hit or two on him early in the game, even if it has to be one that draws a flag. The team figured out quite some time ago that for all of Graham's gifts as a receiver, he can't take a hit and will disappear from a game if he gets the least bit intimidated.

Luke's job is going to be stopping Lynch behind the line of scrimmage. That's probably going to be the toughest job in the NFL on Sunday, but I think he'll be looking forward to it a lot more than Lynch is.

On offense I am predicting Philly Brown will be shifted to Richard Sherman's side of the field and we won't hear much about either of them. The field will basically be 100 yards long, but only 25 yards wide, except on running plays. Cam will roll out predominantly to that side because Sherman will stay back in coverage rather than challenge Cam on the run. 

Don't get me wrong, there is strength to the Seahawks' defense and I believe our running game is going to struggle mightily in the first half. I do think that Stewart will gain momentum in the second half and will be necessary for a late clock grinding drive. There'd be no better time for him to show that he has what it takes to be a bruising #1 RB in the league. I'm not expecting much from the rest of our RBs on this trip out west.

Special teams are going to be crucial and we may be looking at Gano to do most of our scoring. I think he's got the situation covered this year. I just hope that they are telling Nortman to just kicked the danged ball downfield and out of bounds every chance he can. I have no illusions about how well our punt and kick off coverage is. Just aim for the back of the end zone guys, okay?

Rivera, Shula and McDermott will be hard pressed to out coach Pete Carroll and crew. They have built a team, however, that can out tough the Seahawks.