What it looked like watching the Seattle Dragons play yesterday…
Let it be written that writing these reviews of Seattle Dragon games are much more fun when they win. Losing isn’t as fun and I don’t like it. Forgive me if there’s a bit of a negative vibe to this blog. I don’t want to feel the way I do but I feel that it is my duty to inform that the Seattle Dragons need to wake up and they need to do it in a hurry.
Yesterday, the Dragons wasted a golden opportunity to rise above .500 and to let the rest of the league know that week one wasn’t who they are and that last week wasn’t a fluke. They did neither of those two things and now, the life long Dragon fans we are, are left to wonder what is happening with this once-promising franchise?
Things the Dragons Need to Stop
Everything looked out of sorts against the Renegades. Pre-snap penalties seemingly all the time, wasted possessions and another turnover. I’m starting to sense a trend with these Dragons and that’s they are sloppy and inconsistent. For some stretches, they look like the greatest show on turf and other times they look like Deontay Wilder where they’re getting bulldozed. In this league, you can’t have these ups and downs so often. Of course, bad play from time to time is going to happen but you need to have more stretches of solid play. That’s what the DC Defenders and Houston Roughnecks are all about. They know who they are and they do it well.
I don’t know who these Dragons are. Are they trying to be a running team with their holy Triumphant they have in the backfield, or are they trying to be a poor man’s Patriot offense where they want to methodically go down the field? I guess coach Zorn’s philosophy is to go with whatever is working at the time. That sounds logical but when you aren’t particularly good at either, it makes life to tough to figure out what team you’re going to be week to week.
The Dragon fans that made it out the Link were loud, but there were considerably fewer people there than last week’s opener. I live in Scranton so getting to the game is slightly difficult. The people of Seattle need to get to these games and pack that place.
I should have known that the Dragons were in for it when they let Brock Huard be the one to light the Cauldron. Not the Cauldron of the Cosmos nor the Cauldron at the Link should ever be lit by Brock Huard. Now, having the Mother of Dragons light the Cauldron, that’s an idea I can get behind.
Excellent start by the Dragon’s defense forcing Landry Jones to check it down multiple times and get off the field. The defense going into this season probably didn’t think they were going to have to be the ones that the whole squad would have to lean on. But, they are being looked at being the unit that gets things done. I think they can be a force in this league but asking them to actually score points is a bit daunting.
You see, this is the Brandon Silvers we need. We need the guy that has no problem sitting in the pocket, take a big hit and deliver a money throw. Brandon has that ability but it needs to be done on a more consistent basis.
He found his boy Proehl throughout the game. Those two have a solid rapport where Silvers completely trusts him.
Silvers finished 21/34 for 201 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT. You look at that and you think that that’s a decent game minus the INT. But if you watched the game, you know that Silvers missed guys that were open far too often. It’s been three weeks of Silvers missing open guys, regularly. It can’t happen and expect to win. Not in this league. Not in any league. Silvers was on the hot-seat last week. Most of the Dragon faithful are looking for Zorn to insert BJ Daniels to see if he brings a different element to the game that Silvers is missing. Zorn seems to be very taken with Silvers and I very much enjoy how he speaks with him on the sideline after Silvers screws something up. But, this is big-boy football. Eventually, Zorn is going to have cut that cord.
Speaking of Jim Zorn, can somebody get him a Seattle Dragon hoodie or jacket? I don’t like that he wears a generic XFL jacket as if he’s some sort of Rob Lowe clone.
Loved seeing the aggressiveness of Zorn and the end of the 1st half.
This is what the really good QBs do. They find mismatches and that’s what Silvers did here. He had his Kenny Farrow on an LB and took him to the house. Those kinds of match-ups can be exploited more often. I’d like to see more creative ways of getting the playmakers the ball.
Speaking of getting playmakers the ball creatively, Keenan Reynolds only had four catches for 37 yards on 7 targets. That’s not enough for a guy of his caliber. With Kasen Williams still sidelined with an injury, Reynolds is the next best big-play guy they have. The fact that he hasn’t been used a thrower in any capacity is nearly criminal.
The Dragons are atrocious on two-point conversions. This is a fact. Why not use Keenan Reynolds’ talents to use on conversions? Is it because it makes to much sense? That’s gotta be the answer.
At half time the score was 12-6 in favor of the Dragons. They seemed like they were in the driver’s seat of an Astro Van with high mileage, but still in control. Even when, after the 3rd quarter, the score was tied at 12, I still felt that Seattle was in a really good spot to walk out with their second consecutive win. That is not what happened.
A 65 yard TD to Donald Parham Jr. put the Renegades up 21-12 and the Dragons never sniffed the endzone again. Even when they got a big defensive play from Marcel Frazier…
This put them at the Renegades 32 yard line, but this drive would yield 5 yards and a turnover on downs. This was such a gross line to type. Talk about doing the opposite of seizing the day. A day where the renegades turned the ball over two more times than the Dragons, the Dragons could only muster 12 points.
The Dragons are on the road next week against the St. Louis Battlehawks. I don’t want to say that this is a must win game, but falling to 1-3 puts this team in a major hole. A hole I’m not sure they can climb out of. But, there is no quit in these boys…
By the Way, what it will look like next week when the Dragons wake up and play the Battlehawks…
