Why cant we crush teams??

[obiken]

Just one f-ing time, I would like to put our foot on a teams neck, just once. I have never been so pissed after a win. Cowherd had us by 8 on his blazing 5 we would have looked so cool, but no! We let the Panthers hang around! Yeah I know, we won!!

[RiverDog]

Just one f-ing time, I would like to put our foot on a teams neck, just once. I have never been so pissed after a win. Cowherd had us by 8 on his blazing 5 we would have looked so cool, but no! We let the Panthers hang around! Yeah I know, we won!!

Not that I'm making excuses as just like you say, it seems that we play down to our competition every frigging week, but today, we had over half of our starting defense out during those last two Panther drives.

[c_hawkbob]

Just one f-ing time, I would like to put our foot on a teams neck, just once. I have never been so pissed after a win. Cowherd had us by 8 on his blazing 5 we would have looked so cool, but no! We let the Panthers hang around! Yeah I know, we won!!

Not that I'm making excuses as just like you say, it seems that we play down to our competition every frigging week, but today, we had over half of our starting defense out during those last two Panther drives.

Yup, 7 injured starters will put a hitch in your gitalong

[Aseahawkfan]

Hobbling into the playoffs does not bode well. Hopefully we can get healthy for Frisco.

I think Pete made a strategic decision to rest some guys and put this game on the offense and backups to get some experience against a weak team with no coach or star QB. Risky, but smart. We need guys as healthy as possible for Frisco. If that game is for the division and 1st or 2nd seed, that game will be a fricking brutal football battle.

[Uppercut]

Cards look like they have improved since the last meeting. Hope it is not a rough and tumble injury plagued event

[RiverDog]

Hobbling into the playoffs does not bode well. Hopefully we can get healthy for Frisco.

I think Pete made a strategic decision to rest some guys and put this game on the offense and backups to get some experience against a weak team with no coach or star QB. Risky, but smart. We need guys as healthy as possible for Frisco. If that game is for the division and 1st or 2nd seed, that game will be a fricking brutal football battle.

I'd be surprised if Pete didn't treat this game like he does every other game. I don't think he was intentionally resting anyone. Same goes for next week. Play one game at a time. The only decision that might have been different was Bobby Wagner taking the rest of the game off when he got dinged up after we had a 3 TD lead.

Rams are getting their arses handed to them while the Niners look to be in a dogfight with the Falcons. Sure be nice if both those games broke our way.

[obiken]

Not that I'm making excuses as just like you say, it seems that we play down to our competition every frigging week, but today, we had over half of our starting defense out during those last two Panther drives.

I know River, its like we are Seattle Slew's of the NFL! I want Secretariat!

[RiverDog]

Not that I'm making excuses as just like you say, it seems that we play down to our competition every frigging week, but today, we had over half of our starting defense out during those last two Panther drives.

I know River, its like we are Seattle Slew's of the NFL! I want Secretariat!

I'll use a baseball analogy. How many more runs is a home run that barely clears the fence worth vs. a tape measure bomb? As the late Al Davis used to say..."Just win, baby!"

[trents]

While there seems to be some truth to the assertion that the Seahawks play down to their competition, the opposite of that is true as well. They tend to rise up against better competition or when the game itself is crucial.

[RiverDog]

While there seems to be some truth to the assertion that the Seahawks play down to their competition, the opposite of that is true as well. They tend to rise up against better competition or when the game itself is crucial.

Agreed. Pete's style and conservative nature, particularly on offense, leads to lower scoring/closer games. We rarely lose games by more than two scores nor to we often times blow people out.

Yesterday was a bit of an anomaly, though, given how many defensive players we had out.

[trents]

"Agreed. Pete's style and conservative nature, particularly on offense, leads to lower scoring/closer games. We rarely lose games by more than two scores nor to we often times blow people out.

Yesterday was a bit of an anomaly, though, given how many defensive players we had out."

And that is my biggest concern going forward - the number of defensive starters unable to play or unable to play at full strength. If opposing teams throttle our running game and force a lot of quick three and outs, our defense will have to play too many minutes. Even healthy, we are no longer the legion of Doom on defense. "D" is our achilles now. Generally, the games we have lost the past couple of years have been to teams able to shut down our running game and force our defense to play too many minutes. They were able to upset that balance of minutes on the field between the two platoons so integral to Pete's formula for success.

[NorthHawk]

I've been saying all year we are a year or so away from being a serious Super Bowl team, and that's largely due to quality depth.
When we were real strong, we could absorb a number of injuries and still have quality backups, but these last few years have
been lean during the "reset". It's amazing that we've won 11 games, and there has been some good luck in those wins, but
there's a solid base from which to continue to build on even if we are 1 and done in the playoffs. I would expect with our Cap
in excellent shape that we will add one or two Free Agents that will be impact players, not to mention a couple of good draft picks.

[RiverDog]

And that is my biggest concern going forward - the number of defensive starters unable to play or unable to play at full strength. If opposing teams throttle our running game and force a lot of quick three and outs, our defense will have to play too many minutes. Even healthy, we are no longer the legion of Doom on defense. "D" is our achilles now. Generally, the games we have lost the past couple of years have been to teams able to shut down our running game and force our defense to play too many minutes. They were able to upset that balance of minutes on the field between the two platoons so integral to Pete's formula for success.

Agreed. Even a cursory look at the stats show us that our Achilles heal is our defense. We rank 4th in the league in total offense, 27th in total defense. That's a huge disparity.

The other factor that usually plays in our favor are turnovers. We dodged a bullet twice yesterday, once on a penalty that negated a strip sack fumble and another fumble that was overturned on replay.

[Hawktawk]

Agreed. Even a cursory look at the stats show us that our Achilles heal is our defense. We rank 4th in the league in total offense, 27th in total defense. That's a huge disparity.

The other factor that usually plays in our favor are turnovers. We dodged a bullet twice yesterday, once on a penalty that negated a strip sack fumble and another fumble that was overturned on replay.

We are actually way ahead in turnovers, our ratio is among the league leaders which masks the problems of this defense somethat. Let's face it though,there was nobody left on the field on defense by the end of Sunday. Just going on the road for the 7th time in 8 games and winning with a mash unit on defense, a backup center who looks it, a devastating loss in Penney, spotty receiver play, Russ in a 4 game slump is impressive. People saying we're a year off from contending? We are contending. The model for me for seattle to make it to the show is just get a little better on defense and crank up the offense a little like the 2006 colts. The return of safety Bob Sanders to a leaky defense allowed them to get the stops they needed to win it all.

Were in the tournament.You are what your record say you are. 11-3 baby. No matter what happens we will be playing for the division and a possible bye in week 17 at home.It would have been hard to convince me of that 9 months ago.