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Momma McNabb
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Jeffy's house
Posts: 12,476
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The Branch perspective
Seattle Seahawks - News : The Branch Perspective
Quote:
They’ve started to click … slants, fades, go patterns.
In case you were wondering, yes, we are talking about quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and new flanker Deion Branch of the Seattle Seahawks.
An estimated 1,500 people got a good look at it Wednesday morning during the Seahawks open practice at Husky Stadium. Essentially, a lot of it was because Hasselbeck was razor sharp – as exceptional as he’s been any day during the first 11 days of camp.
Coming back from shoulder surgery, a broken bone in his hand and a torn cartilage in his knee, the formerly wounded warrior is virtually back to his old self. And that’s as good as it gets.
“I thought he had a good day and he has had a good camp,” Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren said. “He still needs to get a little stronger from his surgeries and all, but he is doing fine.”
He spread the ball real well and it was particularly noticeable during the four-wide set with Branch, D.J. Hackett, Nate Burleson and Bobby Engram – and Leonard Weaver as the back. Everybody caught passes, and it seemed as if Hasselbeck was having a blast out there.
And he wasn’t about to argue the point, either.
“We have been working really had and I have to be honest – when you have a crowd like this, it changes up training camp and gives you a little bit of an adrenaline boost. They are cheering every time you complete a pass over 15 yards. I think it had the receivers going. I know it had us going a little, so it was fun.”
That’s the idea – considering it is football.
But his point is well-taken.
It helped having a crowd, but it appeared to be just a carryover from the previous day with Branch. He made a spectacular catch on a go route down the right sideline with Marcus Trufant draped all over him. He bobbled the ball but retained possession before going out of bounds. But the more telling play of their growth together was later when Hasselbeck’s primary targets at different depths to the left side of the field were covered.
He checked back to the right flat some 8 yards upfield and Branch came back hard for the ball. Other than simple timing of slants and fades, this was a telepathic move of the quarterback in trouble and the flanker coming to his rescue.
And that’s the big question of how much better Branch will be this year having had training camp as opposed to being acquired after the first game and not playing until the third game.
“He’s worked hard,” Hasselbeck said. “He stays after practice and catches balls on the machine and runs some routes for us. He has done everything that we ask him to do. Obviously he is a really good football player. The more we play together, the better we will be.”
There’s more to it than that. It’s a communication thing. So much has been made of how Hasselbeck inherently knew where departed Darrell Jackson would be on every route, it has created this misperception that the guys they have can’t get it done. And that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Remember, the Seahawks won nine straight games without Jackson in 2005, so it isn’t as if this talented group can’t get it done.
“With the work in training camp and you’ll see a better Matt and you will see a different Deion,” Branch said. “And a lot of it is from the work we put in just before training camp and we’re doing what we can. You’re seeing a different Nate. You’re a different D.J. Hackett. The time we put in is showing now.
“We’ve got so many guys, you never know who’s going to be hot that day. Last week (in the Saturday scrimmage), D.J. Hackett was hot. Nate was hot all last week. Bobby is so consistent, he makes plays every day. There’s no selfishness among us – we’re just out here having fun and trying to make plays.”
The meetings have changed, though. They are more intense and Branch has spent much more time discussing routes and game plan with Hasselbeck as time has progressed.
Clearly it was necessary so they could embrace each other’s minds, not to mention the interpretation of the playbook and comfortable routes. All that requires time and they did spend a solid three weeks together before camp.
“We are getting better every day,” Hasselbeck said. “This is what training camp does. You practice so much and you talk about it in meetings all the time. You are going to improve. Everybody is playing really well right now. We need to improve, but it is going in the right direction.”
There are ways to insure that it does. And one of them is constant communication. It doesn’t happen overnight, this telepathic timing that all the great quarterback/receiver combinations have. Game experience is necessary – followed by constant evaluation and re-evaluation of routes and calls and conceptualizing situations.
The good news is they are already on the right track – that simple flat pass on which Branch came back for the ball so hard on Tuesday - was as good an indication as any that progress is being made. His 53 catches for 725 yards and 4 touchdowns were hardly chump change in his makeshift season a year ago, while Hackett just became a regular target, Burleson never got on track with a bad thumb injury and Engram missed nine games due to a thyroid condition that severely undermined his season.
In other words, all of them will be better, which makes Hasselbeck more confident.
“There’s a lot of conversation - you’d be amazed how far a conversation off the field can carry you,” Branch said. “I’m talking about certain plays that we discuss. You can see it out here. Guys are making plays and the guys on the front line are blocking for them. That’s the key. Without them, we can never get the ball. We’re getting real tight with our communication.
“That comes from spending a lot of time together, talking about things like that and working on it after we talk about it. It’s about doing the job. I saw him with the ball still in his hands, so, hey, I’m trying to run back so I can get the ball from him.”
Breaking it all down to its simplest form, that is all that really matters.
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