When second-year Seattle Seahawks WR David Moore essentially replaced Brandon Marshall in the depth chart, he made an instant impact on the passing offense.
From Week 4 to Week 8, he caught 11 passes on 13 targets for 221 yards and four touchdowns, exceeding expectations despite a very impressive training camp and preseason. He came back down to earth a bit over his next three games, with just 7 receptions on 18 targets for 89 yards, and an (admittedly unlucky) drop on a potential game-tying touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers, but a drop nevertheless.
Moore bounced back with a terrific performance against the Carolina Panthers, with 4 catches for a career-high 103 yards and a critical game-tying touchdown on a 4th down long ball from Russell Wilson.
Since then, though? It’s been a really quiet spell. Over his last four games he’s only had 12 targets, two catches and 16 yards. If there’s any silver lining, both of his receptions were third-down conversions, including that big one against the Kansas City Chiefs. However, he did have a couple of potential touchdown opportunities against the Vikings and Chiefs and failed to keep himself in-bounds on either play. While the one against the Chiefs might have just been a great play by the defender, he absolutely could’ve gotten both feet down against Minnesota.
He’s certainly been struggling to generate separation, and without being too harsh, he probably could’ve made better efforts to go after both of these balls against the San Francisco 49ers.
Moore’s slump has led to Wilson having a sub-50% completion percentage (23/49) when throwing his way. The only other receiver on the team with a sub-50% catch rate is... Brandon Marshall, who caught just 11 of 23 targets before he was released midseason.
But this isn’t a “bash David Moore” post. I think his regression was inevitable. That he’s contributed this much in his first real season of live game action is commendable, and you’d hope he continues to improve down the line. He’s still tied for second among all Seahawks receivers in touchdowns, and if he can find his October-November form again in the playoffs, then opposing defenses will have to contend with him, Tyler Lockett, and Doug Baldwin.
// from Field Gulls - All Posts http://bit.ly/2GJzUjp
No comments:
Post a Comment