Hawks @ Patriots

[4XPIPS]

East coast trek... early start.. key players banged up. This usually is a recipe for a loss, but I figure this will be a close low scoring game. I am optimistic for a hawk's win, but I wouldn't be surprise if we lose this one. Patriots are playing good defense, and running the ball and using a veteran journeyman at QB(sort of sounds familiar). I believe the pass rush on both of sides of the ball is going to be the key difference in this game. Who can get to their opposing QB first! The homecooking gives the Patriots the edge.


Patriots 19
Hawks 16

OT loss.

[c_hawkbob]

Speaking of good defense, PFF had us as the #1 defense in the NFL week 1 with a 91 grade as well as #1 in DVOA.

I think we win as well.

[River Dog]

This is a classic trap game. The Pats won last weekend, beating the Bengals, a team that many thought that could compete for their division, on their home field. They're playing at home this weekend, so why shouldn't they be favored in this game? We won't be playing against an All-Pro QB, but we won't be playing against a rookie like we were last week, either.

Having said that, I think we win this game, too, but it'll be close, and it would not surprise or necessarily be a big disappointment if we did.

[4XPIPS]

How much of impact not having K9 play or at full health will be key? I am not sold on Zach Charbonnet if he had to be the bell cow for the game. If K9 is out or is on limited reps, this could be trouble for the Hawk's offense as they intend to go back to running the ball.

[c_hawkbob]

How much of impact not having K9 play or at full health will be key? I am not sold on Zach Charbonnet if he had to be the bell cow for the game. If K9 is out or is on limited reps, this could be trouble for the Hawk's offense as they intend to go back to running the ball.

It'll be huge for our offense, which not our strong suit anyway ... I hadn't heard he was out, just that he didn't practice yesterday. (knew when he took himself out of the game last week it wasn't nothing, he had a hot hand, RB's don't like to give that up)

[jshawaii22]

https://www.seahawks.com/team/injury-report/

The Pats have just as many injuries as we do, so that shouldn't be an excuse.
I was pleasantly surprised how well Forsythe played at RT for Fant.

Our new "D" will carry us 20-17, Seahawks come home 2-0.

[Oly]

https://www.seahawks.com/team/injury-report/

The Pats have just as many injuries as we do, so that shouldn't be an excuse.
I was pleasantly surprised how well Forsythe played at RT for Fant.

Our new "D" will carry us 20-17, Seahawks come home 2-0.

I read somewhere a few days ago that they'll be starting very inexperienced backups at LT and LG, so I agree it's no excuse. The Hawks should be able to own the LOS on that side of the ball. I don't know how good their DL is, though, so the question mark is if they'll return the favor.

I think the Hawks' better QB and strong D give them the edge, but is it enough to overcome the home-field advantage? I dunno. I'll predict a low-scoring win in a close game, 14-13 Hawks.

[NorthHawk]

Both defenses looked good last week but the unknown is how much did the opposing offenses contribute to them looking good?
With all of the talent the Bengals have they don't often use it early in the season and they really came out flat - of course we played against a rookie QB, so we may also be overrated at this junction.
It's just too early to see how good teams really are.

So, who wins?
I think the Patriots by about a TD.

[Spohawk5092]

we are favored by 4, BUT, I along with everyone else will see how things for for us the first time we have the ball on offense. Hopefully a little better than the home opener start.

[NorthHawk]

Walker and George Fant are doubtful.
Tight end Pharoah Brown (foot) and linebacker Uchenna Nwosu (knee) have been ruled out. Linebackers Jerome Baker (hamstring) and Tyrel Dodson (shoulder) are considered questionable.

I hope they get well soon.

[Irish Greg 2.0]

They have been much better in early East Coast games the last 3-4 seasons.

Stevenson for NE is a big horse who we better stay gap disciplined against. Brissett is sneaky as a scrambler but doesn't bring much throwing, and they don't have a good line or real receiving weapons.

Our D line should be very good today.

Pats defense is really solid and coached well. We can't be making the kind of mistakes like we did last week, especially with Walker out.

Forsythe + Curtis at RT is a weak spot. I expect a lot of 12 personnel with Barner helping out there.

Interesting that Olu is inactive and isn't even the #2 C now. They have moved UDFA T Jalen Sundell to center and he is backing up Connor Williams.

It's going to be a slog. We need to win the turnover and TOP battle.

[Spohawk5092]

Hear Walker is questionable with an oblique injury.

[Irish Greg 2.0]

Hear Walker is questionable with an oblique injury.

He is inactive

[River Dog]

Hear Walker is questionable with an oblique injury.

He is inactive

Fant's inactive, too.

[c_hawkbob]

Gotta love a 3 n out sack to open the game!

[c_hawkbob]

Boy when DK gets separation!

[c_hawkbob]

Our defense is looking a bit soft so far.

[c_hawkbob]

When they call a 15 yard unnecessary roughness on an OG I sure wish they'd SHOW it before going to advertisement!

[Spohawk5092]

Our defense is looking a bit soft so far.

I would agree with this, and tackling not as good as last weeks so far either. Offense I am pleased with.

[c_hawkbob]

Damn Njigba is having himself a game!

[4XPIPS]

Those 3 pts could be big late in this game. I know Zach has played well, but that 4th and short wasn’t blocked well. DK needs to snatch those lasers by Geno.

[c_hawkbob]

Sack rushing 3!

[4XPIPS]

Penalties almost certainly kill every offensive drive. We have completely abandoned the run game and it’s short passing and crossing routes

[Spohawk5092]

Penalties almost certainly kill every offensive drive. We have completely abandoned the run game and it’s short passing and crossing routes

no walker and it shows!!!! Stupid offensive holding penalties!

[c_hawkbob]

That was a back breaker

[c_hawkbob]

Wow, nice block Julian!

[c_hawkbob]

No hurry here

[c_hawkbob]

Huge call

[c_hawkbob]

I guess not, tie game

[4XPIPS]

Hopefully Mafe isn’t hurt had, looked to be hobbling that 3rd down

[c_hawkbob]

Interference

[c_hawkbob]

Whew!!

[4XPIPS]

I will take it, Zach stepped up at the end. What a game, my heart rate is on overdrive.

[Spohawk5092]

what a sweet win. First place!! Niners lost.

[HawkSis]

Glad to get the W. Lots to work on & I hope Mafe is gonna be ok. That Taylor trade is looking worse by the day.

[4XPIPS]

What a grind out game. Both teams sized each other up well. There were some key drops by DK, Fant, and some missed sacks and tackles-for-loss by the Hawks. Overall, it wasn't perfect but we just need to find a way to win and we did so. We did get gashed by the Patriots' run game, but credit them as they blocked well and their R Stevenson is a beast of a running back, so I am not too worried about our defense. In the end a win is a win, and we are showing we can answer the bell when our numbers is called. Last week we needed our defense to step up to make the play to win the game. This week we needed to the offense to make the plays to close the game out in OT, and we did. Things aren't perfect, but the arrow is pointing up for this team.

[NorthHawk]

I don’t think the run defense was overly bad. They didn’t get regularly gashed up the middle but there were a few times that the defense was wanting. It wasn’t as bad as the last couple of years.
The OL still can’t get short yardage pushes but that’s part of a larger problem.
I liked how the Offense used more attacking of the edges and took advantage of matchups and confusion instead of just running ‘their’ plays.
At this point it looks like the Seahawks are one of the better mid level teams.

[4XPIPS]

I don’t think the run defense was overly bad. They didn’t get regularly gashed up the middle but there were a few times that the defense was wanting. It wasn’t as bad as the last couple of years.
The OL still can’t get short yardage pushes but that’s part of a larger problem.
I liked how the Offense used more attacking of the edges and took advantage of matchups and confusion instead of just running ‘their’ plays.
At this point it looks like the Seahawks are one of the better mid level teams.

I agree, Grubb has to call plays to our strengths, and there were a lot of short passing in the game. Geno looked sharp, and if weren't for the drops he would have lit the Patriots for even more yards. The short yardage run game is definitely a concern for us. When we need 4th and 1 yard, I don't think we have a solid enough run game with blocking to get the necessary yard when we go to a jumbo set. Just shows the team has areas to improve, and given time our offense is looking to be a top 10 offense.

[River Dog]

The average points scored per team in an NFL game is 23, so one can say that both units played well enough to win.

I'm not sure what it is about the Seahawks and opposing team's tight ends, but we sure have a history of giving up big games to them. But I do like the fact that this defense doesn't give up a lot of big plays. We gave up two over 20 yards today, one that by all rights we should have nailed for a loss, but some uncharacteristic sloppy tackling turned into a 45-yard run, the biggest play we've surrendered this season. The other 20+ yard play was a screen pass to Hunter Henry. The longest gain for a NE wide receiver today was for 7 yards. We gave up just 125 yards passing, the lion's share to TE Hunter Henry.

Big 3-and-out in OT.

Next up is the Tua-less Fins, of which we should be favored to beat.

Niners lost today, so we're in sole possession of first place.

[4XPIPS]

I like to make the statement and say I believe this the best Geno Smith game I have ever seen him play as a Seahawk. I know he has better statistical games(Lion vs Hawks), but I am talking the overall body of work of how Geno performed today. Here is my argument on it.

He showed throws in this game that I have never seen him attempt before with these side arm angle throws to avoid blitzes. He looked poised, and there were some drops in this game that would have gone for big gains. DK had a couple of drops, the deep out to JSN was right in hands, and Noah Fant had two critical drops, and yet he still finished with 75% completion. His accuracy was evident in this game. His ability to make audibles at the line, and change the formations is something we didn't see much of last year. If there was any indicator he can return to his 2022 form this game certainly proved me that he can.

I believe this was his best performance, and if we can't get the running game going he can make up for it in this short passing game with the up-tempo offense. Geno is playing for an extension, and he is playing better than I expected.