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My prediction, Seahawks 27, Niners 6

10 points in the NFL is pretty big so I doubt it ends up that much.
I can also see a possibility that the 49ers come up big trying to spoil the Seahawks chances at HFA or maybe even a wildcard playoff berth.
Regardless of how badly they have played this year, they still have a lot of talent of which if they put it all together can mean trouble for any team facing them.

We should be. Seahawks are a much better team than us now and if I had to place a bet, I'd say they repeat. Defense travels and I cannot see an O equipped to deal with theirs. It is not a stretch to envision them handling GB soundly in Lambeau in February.

Our team is done. Current window has closed and coach/QB will probably be gone. I'd give you guys more credit for accurately predicting this if I did not read prefuctions of us imploding every single year here lol. But as of now, Hawks are the team to beat. They will probably thrash us, but I am a fan so I considering a trip up there to watch the game anyway .

NorthHawk wrote:10 points in the NFL is pretty big so I doubt it ends up that much.
I can also see a possibility that the 49ers come up big trying to spoil the Seahawks chances at HFA or maybe even a wildcard playoff berth.
Regardless of how badly they have played this year, they still have a lot of talent of which if they put it all together can mean trouble for any team facing them.

Our O has been terrible since week 1. It never got better like I predicted it would. We just scored 13 on the Raiders....the Raiders. All you had to do literally was commit to the run and sprinkle in playaction a lil here and there and you put up 30 on them. Yet we are running trick handoffs to Boldin and going 5 wides. There is no way in hell we are going into Seattle V a #1 D and doing any better than we just did against that horrendous D. Our D can keep us in it awhile as it did last matchup, but we are rolling out backups throught the middle of it. Dial, Boreland and Willhoite are just not equipped to deal with heavy run pounding from Lynch, and they are not fast enough to track RW or the TE leaks. They are not good in coverage.

This is a terrible marchup for us and it will probably get ugly.

I only saw a few plays yesterday but what I did see looked like Kaep has either given up or is really unsure as to what to do.
He just doesn't look confident from what I've seen.

NorthHawk wrote:I only saw a few plays yesterday but what I did see looked like Kaep has either given up or is really unsure as to what to do.
He just doesn't look confident from what I've seen.

Ya he is pretty lost out there. I support every player on the Niner team minus a few throughout the yrs, such as Owens, Shmad Brooks now, etc. But at this point I cannot logically defend his play. The system is terrible nonetheless. If we ran a more simified scheme based upon run/playaction he could still be a 20-25 TD 7 or 8 int guy capable of making big plays and winning a SB. He had been that for 1.5 yrs and both yrs we nearly did just that. This yr we tried to make him Peyton, Rodgers etc and he clearly was not ready to shoulder the load in.a pass first O. Not many QBs are. This us why we have 4 or 5 great ones who took a long time to get there and the rest of them need help. We may even move on next yr. Either way I still support and love #7. But hey, I am an established homer;).

I really doubt that Kaep's days of successful QB-ing are over. I think he is a victim of a lot dysfunction (see York, Ballke, Harbaugh relationship as exhibit A) and play calling that has stunted him. I do think he has the talent to have his best football in front of him. before he returns to consistent prominence, he REALLY needs to mature as a human being first and obviously as a QB second.

Speaking of the dysfunction there... seriously (as much as I think Harbaugh is a jack-wagon), he took a franchise from mediocrity to 3 straight NFCCGs. Then, before the 4th of 4 seasons, he was rumored to be on his way out if he didn't run the table (including a Super Bowl win). Wait, what? It must be a pretty bad scene for grownassmen not to be able to reason through this. I mean really....who are they going to get that is going to come and make Kaep a king? From what I hear from sources who claim to know, Jim wants to divest himself (and the team) of players like Crabtree who are more like Percy Harvin than ADB or RW. He does not have the authority to bounce a Percy like dude from the locker room which is part of the reason for the rifts over the years. He has very little say on draft choices or personnel moves. If I am to believe what I hear, most players like him and like playing for him and think the management sucks. Evidently, Crabs is a BIG locker room cancer and Jim is looking to be where he can decide who comes and goes on his team. At the same time, close but no cigar (plus the coaches' irritating personality) are enough to look to move him. The whole deal is WEIRD to me.

I hate the line. Ive felt a little uneasy since the 9ers loss yesterday. Now the 9ers come up here really in a spoiler role. They are a wounded animal that is still very dangerous. Seattle should win and cover but this has trap written all over it.

And.....I'd like to say this too (not to start ish about the Harvin deal again) because I think the above post illustrates my point. Was the Harvin trade a mistake? HELL YES, of course it was. Was it the worst move in franchise history? Not by a long shot, because Pete, John and Paul worked it out together (before we got him, during his tenure here, shipping him off, and dealing with the aftermath). Like grown professionals, they made a move, it did not work, accountability was taken and they moved the eff on.

Every person on the planet would rather have the money back, or Golden Tate and Clem, and/or the draft picks. They swung and missed, but they did so with the hope of hitting a grand salami; the mistake was not the unraveling of the team. In fact, one could argue that that the way Pete handled the move and subsequent rebuilding efforts have fortified this team. One only look south to the Harbaugh situation (ok, north for me) or in the history of Seattle Seahawk football to realize "deals gone bad" (or undone) are often the beginning of the end for regimes. I think the Hutch debacle made Mike so mad and created trust and dysfunction issues to the extent that it numbered his remaining days.

Just sayin'

PS - oh yeah............#Lombarditrophy!!!!!

Hawktawk wrote:I hate the line. Ive felt a little uneasy since the 9ers loss yesterday. Now the 9ers come up here really in a spoiler role. They are a wounded animal that is still very dangerous. Seattle should win and cover but this has trap written all over it.

Good point, Hawktawk, and the Seahawks taking this game seriously enough is what came to mind within minutes of our big road win yesterday.

Fortunately, we are fighting not only to officially get into the postseason, but a shot at having HFA as well. Couple that with the fact that we really need to win out to have this opportunity, and it all adds up to us being Plenty fired up to face SF.

As for the 49ers, the wheels came off completely yesterday. That was a Bad loss. Period. Now, you essentially have a lame duck coach and a QB who's likely questioning his own future with the team. On top of that, the Seahawks are in Kaep's head, particularly when they play in Seattle.

Now, again, we cannot take this team lightly. But at the end of the day with so much at stake for our team, I don't believe we'll overlook them. I think it really helps the Seahawks' collective focus to be closing out the year with 3 straight matchups that are paramount in terms of playoff seeding, let alone getting in.

I'm a little uneasy about this game. Teams like the Niners have a lot of pride ( and rightfully so IMHO) and teams like that can and do bite you in the arse if you are looking past them ( say a matchup the next week with a division title on the line) especially after a "tough" road game ( I use that loosely, but going into the game that was all the talk). This could be a trap game ( though I doubt the Hawks look past Harbaugh and co. Looking to stick one more fork in him and his team) but weirder things can and have happened.

Important for this team to remained focussed on the game in front of them, and never take a win for granted ( like I believe they did with Dallas, Arizona last season, Tampa last year, SD this year, the Rams, like every game etc) it is extremely important for Seattle to get to Arizona no more than one game behind, and there should NOT be anyone believing that Arizona will definitely lose on the road... ( and certainly, I don't want to be relying on a SC win in the final game to get it done either). Seattle IMHO controls it's own destiny ( and yeah IMHO that includes a slip up by GB) I haven't written off the number one seed, and neither should anyone in Seattle at this point. With every tie breaker in Seattles favor minus the Boys, anything less than a strong push to the end would be extremly frustrating.

Don't read your own press clippings guys. 1-0 everyweek gets it done. GO HAWKS!

Hawk Sista wrote:I really doubt that Kaep's days of successful QB-ing are over. I think he is a victim of a lot dysfunction (see York, Ballke, Harbaugh relationship as exhibit A) and play calling that has stunted him. I do think he has the talent to have his best football in front of him. before he returns to consistent prominence, he REALLY needs to mature as a human being first and obviously as a QB second.

Speaking of the dysfunction there... seriously (as much as I think Harbaugh is a jack-wagon), he took a franchise from mediocrity to 3 straight NFCCGs. Then, before the 4th of 4 seasons, he was rumored to be on his way out if he didn't run the table (including a Super Bowl win). Wait, what? It must be a pretty bad scene for grownassmen not to be able to reason through this. I mean really....who are they going to get that is going to come and make Kaep a king? From what I hear from sources who claim to know, Jim wants to divest himself (and the team) of players like Crabtree who are more like Percy Harvin than ADB or RW. He does not have the authority to bounce a Percy like dude from the locker room which is part of the reason for the rifts over the years. He has very little say on draft choices or personnel moves. If I am to believe what I hear, most players like him and like playing for him and think the management sucks. Evidently, Crabs is a BIG locker room cancer and Jim is looking to be where he can decide who comes and goes on his team. At the same time, close but no cigar (plus the coaches' irritating personality) are enough to look to move him. The whole deal is WEIRD to me.

You know I love ya Sis, but as the resident Alex Smith fan I'm obligated to point out that The for the first of those three seasons, and up to the 10th game of the second, Alex Smith was the Niner's QB. I think the best that could be said was that Kap inherited a juggernaut and was able to keep it out of the ditch for a couple years despite the circus going on around him.

I'm of the opinion that when the coach doesn't control who the team selects or picks up in FA, they can't really get the best from their team.
In SF's case, it seems like Harbaugh doesn't have much say in the personnel - or at least his input might be secondary. It's hard to coach to your philosophy when someone is providing players that fit another philosophy - or at least don't fully fill the needs as the coach sees them.

I think that's why our regime has been successful. They both see the needs and player types similarly. They do make mistakes, but it has generally worked out because they both recognize when the mistake is made and correct it without getting their egos much in the way.
That's hard to do when there is discord between the GM and Coach.

"You know I love ya Sis, but as the resident Alex Smith fan I'm obligated to point out that The for the first of those three seasons, and up to the 10th game of the second, Alex Smith was the Niner's QB. I think the best that could be said was that Kap inherited a juggernaut and was able to keep it out of the ditch for a couple years despite the circus going on around him."

BOB


Bob - I know you always love me and you also know that disagreeing is OK. Look, I think what you say has a lot of merit. In hind-site, it looks pretty spot on, but two years ago there was a very real debate about which one of the NFC West's new QBs was the best. Most were so enamored with Colin (see Jaws) that they thought he had a WAY HIGHER ceiling than RW. Frankly, I have always admired his freakish athletic ability, but think he is immature (not dumb, immature). Man, I love RW and would not trade him for anyone, but could you imagine RW's professionalism and poise in CK's body (save the tats)??

All I am saying is that Harbaugh took an underperforming team and took them deep into the playoffs in his first three years. Before the 4th season even started, there was talk of trading the dude. To me, that spells DYSFUNCTION - no matter who is to blame. A family friend who is in show-business (that is how I got to meet Pink) works with and is friends with some of the Niner players. According to him (full disclosure here - he is a Niner fan) he claims that players and staff like and support Jim and that he doesn't have near the control that Pete does. Whether or not you agree that Kaep can still have a future or Harbaugh was a good coach (I would have to say yes to both (but with a bitter taste in my mouth)) - it is clear that he does not have the power to choose who he wants.

Hawktawk wrote:I hate the line. Ive felt a little uneasy since the 9ers loss yesterday. Now the 9ers come up here really in a spoiler role. They are a wounded animal that is still very dangerous. Seattle should win and cover but this has trap written all over it.

If this game were played at any other time of year and with us in any other predicament, I would agree, this has all the makings of a classic trap game.

But I don't see it happening this year. Last season, we sort of coasted after the New Orleans MNF game as all anyone could talk about was HFA and going to the Super Bowl. But this year is a little different. We are having to claw our way back from a 3-3 start and we have a team ahead of us in our own division in the form of the Cards to where we can't afford to slip up. There's more of a sense of urgency this December than there was last, which helps us keep our edge. I don't think we'll overlook the Niners and will come out like gang busters.

Hawk Sista wrote:
Every person on the planet would rather have the money back, or Golden Tate and Clem, and/or the draft picks. They swung and missed, but they did so with the hope of hitting a grand salami; the mistake was not the unraveling of the team. In fact, one could argue that that the way Pete handled the move and subsequent rebuilding efforts have fortified this team.

EXACTLY!!! You NAILED it!
It took a little time for the offense to reassert it's old identity, but in the end, between the money we saved for next season (and beyond obviously) and the fact that once again Pete told the world that, if you compete hard, you can win a job, if you don't compete the right way, he'll show you the door. That message was sent LOUD and clear.
In fact, I'm glad you bring this up, because it leads to something I wanted to bring up.

Last season I feel like Pete got hosed out of the coach of the year award, because for some reason, the voters put more weight behind nice come from nowhere stories, than stories of dominance (which I find stupid...but I digress) How is Pete Carroll with the way he and John built this team from essentially nothing not even in the talk of coach of the year, again?!?
I submit that, no team has faced more adversity than the Seahawks this year, and that Pete has done an even more amazing job coaching this year than last.
First, the Seahawks have had to overcome a HUGE amount of injuries, many of them season long injuries to key players.
Second, the Seahawks went from the hunter to the hunted with a HUGE target on their backs, but Pete coached them through the Super Bowl hangover, to the point they are at now.
Third, they had to do all of that, while being scrutinized and lied about every week in the media, because of made up rumors about the locker room.
Finally, they had to COMPLETELY change the focus and style of their offense from the way they designed it the whole off season, after trading away their biggest playmaker/locker room liability, Percy Harvin, in the middle of the season...heck, middle of the week! Literally out of the blue, traded their most dangerous wide receiver for chump change after spending a ton to acquire him, leading to all that previously mentioned media scrutiny.

No other coach this year has had to deal with all of that, in a year after a Super Bowl win, while also losing depth and key players from the Super Bowl (such as Clemons, Bryant, Tate, etc..., and still managed to keep it all together.

In the end, Pete should get the coach of the year award precisely because he had the GUTS to do the right thing for the long term health of the team, not knowing how it would affect the immediate.
Pete deserves coach of the year precisely because he traded away Harvin, and then rallied the team around each other.

Hell why stop there? The NFL certainly didn't do Seattle any favors with the assinign back and front loaded schedule, lack of prime time games at home, back to back 10 am road games, having Seattle face all but two division winners on the road etc

HumanCockroach wrote:Hell why stop there? The NFL certainly didn't do Seattle any favors with the assinign back and front loaded schedule, lack of prime time games at home, back to back 10 am road games, having Seattle face all but two division winners on the road etc

Without a doubt it was the Hawkblok schedule but the Hawks wont die.Bury us in an avalanche of yellow laundry, whatever bring it on. We cant be killed with conventional weapons...

I see a bunch of offsides calls all day.

HumanCockroach wrote:Hell why stop there? The NFL certainly didn't do Seattle any favors with the assinign back and front loaded schedule, lack of prime time games at home, back to back 10 am road games, having Seattle face all but two division winners on the road etc

What does the lack of prime time home games have to do with competitiveness?

Who we are going to play and where is all predetermined years in advance and is dependent on where we finish. For example, if we win the NFC West, we will play the NFC East champ on the road next year, NFC South champ at home. No matter where we finish, we will play Minny and GB on the road, Detroit and Chicago at home, Cincy and Baltimore on the road, the Stealers and Browns at home.

Count your blessings and be thankful that the league hasn't made us play a game overseas, let alone give up a home game to those frigging Brits.

Yeah ok RD. Having PT games at home isn't an advantage. Guess the 85% winning percentage at home in PT in NFL history is an anomaly. Name the last time you saw a SB Champion garner ONE PT game at home( and that one is written in stone over the last decade barring some bizarro situation like Baltimores game last season because of the Orioles refusal to change the time). No? Doesn't surprise me, as it has never happened before, but OK.

Don't pretend like the league avoided it, and please spare me that "there is no advantage to a PT game at the Clink" have you just missed the last several years at home in those situations or what?

As for the "predetermination" of schedule, that's fine, however game times are NOT set in stone, nor is when you play them ( ie Seattle 5 10 am starts, Arizona 2) nor is who a team plays when. ( ie Arizona with the whole "always at home" schedule they were given this year). The schedule may be set, but dates, times, how long road stretches, are indeed subject to scheduling.

As for a prediction...

Seahawks, 31-13.

The more I think about it, the more confident I am that our guys won't overlook a defeated SF team.

The wheels have come off for the 49ers, and I think they're looking forward to this year being over asap.

Hawk Sista wrote:BOB


Bob - I know you always love me and you also know that disagreeing is OK. Look, I think what you say has a lot of merit. In hind-site, it looks pretty spot on, but two years ago there was a very real debate about which one of the NFC West's new QBs was the best. Most were so enamored with Colin (see Jaws) that they thought he had a WAY HIGHER ceiling than RW. Frankly, I have always admired his freakish athletic ability, but think he is immature (not dumb, immature). Man, I love RW and would not trade him for anyone, but could you imagine RW's professionalism and poise in CK's body (save the tats)??

All I am saying is that Harbaugh took an underperforming team and took them deep into the playoffs in his first three years. Before the 4th season even started, there was talk of trading the dude. To me, that spells DYSFUNCTION - no matter who is to blame. A family friend who is in show-business (that is how I got to meet Pink) works with and is friends with some of the Niner players. According to him (full disclosure here - he is a Niner fan) he claims that players and staff like and support Jim and that he doesn't have near the control that Pete does. Whether or not you agree that Kaep can still have a future or Harbaugh was a good coach (I would have to say yes to both (but with a bitter taste in my mouth)) - it is clear that he does not have the power to choose who he wants.

I agree with you that Hairball was the big difference in getting the Niners from Singletary's never quite good enough to top shelf, and rereading your post that I quoted I see that was how you couched what I disagreed with ... I don't know what's happened to my reading comprehension but I thought you'd said that it was Kap that took them from mediocrity to 3 straight NFCCGs ...

Man, senility sucks.

HumanCockroach wrote:Yeah ok RD. Having PT games at home isn't an advantage. Guess the 85% winning percentage at home in PT in NFL history is an anomaly. Name the last time you saw a SB Champion garner ONE PT game at home( and that one is written in stone over the last decade barring some bizarro situation like Baltimores game last season because of the Orioles refusal to change the time). No? Doesn't surprise me, as it has never happened before, but OK.

Don't pretend like the league avoided it, and please spare me that "there is no advantage to a PT game at the Clink" have you just missed the last several years at home in those situations or what?

As for the "predetermination" of schedule, that's fine, however game times are NOT set in stone, nor is when you play them ( ie Seattle 5 10 am starts, Arizona 2) nor is who a team plays when. ( ie Arizona with the whole "always at home" schedule they were given this year). The schedule may be set, but dates, times, how long road stretches, are indeed subject to scheduling.

Make sure you tell that to the Raiders, too. As I recall, they have a pretty fair record on Monday night. You're going to have to do better than quote a singular stat if you want to convince me that there's something magical that causes a team to play significantly better in prime time than they would have in a conventional time slot.

I've complained about the 10:00 am starts, too, but I've never really heard any of our coaches or players complain about it, nor have I heard coaches or players from the Raiders, Chargers, or Niners voice strenuous objections. Most of the objections come from us fans. Pete started traveling a day early when we had an early start on the east coast, and that seems to have worked. Belichick didn't even come back home after his game with the Packers last week and instead decided to spend the week in San Diego in preparation for his next contest. Even if there is a disadvantage to the early start or extensive travel, there are ways around it.

Devising an overall NFL schedule is a Herculean task. Every team has their own restrictions. Many teams, such as ours, have to schedule around an adjacent baseball or basketball facility, and of course, there's going to be the NFL's thirst for the almighty dollar that's going to plop desirable contests in the financially favorable time slots. That desire has a lot more to do with money than it does with maintaining or disrupting an even playing field. And in the past several years, they've added not just one but two games across the pond, of which we've managed so far to avoid. Can you imagine the conspiracy theories that would abound if the league forced us to give up a home game as they have to other teams in recent years? Like I said, count your blessings!

HumanCockroach wrote:
Don't pretend like the league avoided it, and please spare me that "there is no advantage to a PT game at the Clink" have you just missed the last several years at home in those situations or what?

The schedule definitely sucked but I don't think they purposely avoided prime time home games for the Seahawks. There are a lot of factors that contributed to the prime time games being on the road instead of home. It gets very complicated but if you really want to examine it here is my rebuttal to that theory:

1. Coming into the season the following games were not going to be shown on prime time:
Oakland, Giants, Rams , Cowboys (yes I know the Cowboys always get prime time no matter what but we are talking the Superbowl champs against what everyone thought was going to be one of the worst teams in the NFL). So off the rip 4 home games are disqualified.

2.Let's say we play the Thanksgiving Day game at home instead of at San Francisco. That switches this week's game to a road game. It puts the Seahawks in a position that they would have to play three straight road games against playoff quality teams. Are you sure you want that Thanksgiving game at home?

3. Let's say we play the first Arizona game at home in the prime time game instead of two weeks from now. First, that puts the Seahawks on prime time two weeks in a row on NBC because there is no way they play Monday Night and then Thanksgiving night too and NBC isn't going to show the same team two weeks in a row. That makes it an even quicker turn around giving our arch rivals who we didn't know was going to fall apart an even bigger preparation advantage.

4. Let's say we switch the home and away locations for the Arizona games. So the first Arizona game is on the road and the 2nd one scheduled for prime time is at home. Now we're back in the position of playing three playoff quality teams on the road in a row (KC, AZ, SF) and one of them on a short week. Again I'm going to assume that you would like to avoid that as much as I would.

5. Carolina had to be a road game because Green Bay was a home game. So we can't play them in prime time at home instead of SF, AZ or Washington.

6. Say we switch the San Diego game to home and the Oakland game to road and play that in prime time. Well now San Diego is starting the season with three straight road games and Seattle has to play three straight road games again, less brutal (St. Louis, Panthers, Raiders) but still three straight road games.

7. Let's say we switch the KC game to a home game and play it in prime time. Well we can't switch the Raiders as stated above, so let's say we switch the Denver game to the road (the only other choice since two interdivisional games will be road and two home). Well now we have three straight road games against the Chargers, Broncos and Redskins after starting the year off with Green Bay. Talk about a brutal opening schedule.

8. We could switch the Philly game to a Home game and the Giants to the road but now we just game on NBC on Thanksgiving so they aren't going to put us on NBC two weeks in a row. That means Monday Night Football. It doesn't create three straight road games which is good. But then it puts the Seahawks in the situation of having to play both 49er games on short weeks.

9. If you switch the Philly and Cowboys location you get the two short weeks and create a situation where the Seahawks play FOUR straight road games.

10. CBS was never going to let NBC or ESPN have the Denver game. They get to protect a handful of games every year and you can bet that was the first one they protected.

11. Similarly there was no way Fox was going to let NBC/ESPN have both 49er games. So they protected one of them.

12. After the NFC championship game they clearly built this schedule in part around having the Niners game on Thanksgiving.

So while my first cynical thought was the Seahawks go the shaft. If you really look at it I don't see a scenario where the Seahawks get more prime time home games and are better off for it. I'm very much of the mind that the league plays favorites at times. But I don't think this was one of those times. It was just not logistically feasible.

Good post Kalibane, I hadn't really thought it through that way before, and seeing it laid out like that, I have to agree.

Yea, nice post, Kal. As I recall, we went through this exercise earlier this season when so many 12's got their briefs in a wad over the lack of prime time home games.

Man, senility sucks - Bob

Ain't that the truth. Chemo brain is a real thing and I have a very real and new found empathy for brains not working well. So much so that you get a pass on this one, Bob.

EXACTLY!!! You NAILED it! - Monkey

Gracias, Monkey.

Last season I feel like Pete got hosed out of the coach of the year award

TOTALLY AGREE! That neither Pete nor John received the ultimate awards for their respective positions after the over-hauling, beat the odds job they did is astounding. I guess they can take collective solace in the fact that we beat the GM of the year last year pretty soundly, and River Boat Ron's team has imploded (not to mention Pete's team bested his thrice in successive years on the freakin east coast), had better records and went further into the playoffs. #Lombardi

I submit that, no team has faced more adversity than the Seahawks this year, and that Pete has done an even more amazing job coaching this year than last.
First, the Seahawks have had to overcome a HUGE amount of injuries, many of them season long injuries to key players.
Second, the Seahawks went from the hunter to the hunted with a HUGE target on their backs, but Pete coached them through the Super Bowl hangover, to the point they are at now.
Third, they had to do all of that, while being scrutinized and lied about every week in the media, because of made up rumors about the locker room.
Finally, they had to COMPLETELY change the focus and style of their offense from the way they designed it the whole off season, after trading away their biggest playmaker/locker room liability, Percy Harvin, in the middle of the season...heck, middle of the week! Literally out of the blue, traded their most dangerous wide receiver for chump change after spending a ton to acquire him, leading to all that previously mentioned media scrutiny.

No other coach this year has had to deal with all of that, in a year after a Super Bowl win, while also losing depth and key players from the Super Bowl (such as Clemons, Bryant, Tate, etc..., and still managed to keep it all together.

In the end, Pete should get the coach of the year award precisely because he had the GUTS to do the right thing for the long term health of the team, not knowing how it would affect the immediate.
Pete deserves coach of the year precisely because he traded away Harvin, and then rallied the team around each other

I agree again! I'm not sure who pulls the strings but Billicheck, Fox, Arians, Pagano all seem to be favored year in and year out in this discussion. All we do outshine them all. Gee, I wonder if our coach and GM have anything to do with that?? Our teams the last four years always have a Yeah, but attached. Yeah, their D is good, but they don't have a big mega-tron type guy. To that, I call BS. We have several. Their names are Marshawn Lynch, Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor etc... there are only so many dollars to spread around to talent and Pete and John used ours to build this super bowl winning team and have managed to maintain their philosophy while doing it. A tip of the cap to PA for allowing them to be them.

NICE POST KAL

#endRant

great post Kal best breakdown ever.