Is the run over for Seattle?

[burnsy]

Totally agree Valuist......hey Teddy Bridgwater, can you say the word "clinic"?....cause that's what Russell is showing you. I had to laugh when people were posting that Wilson is not that good. If he stays healthy, he's just getting started. They act like he can't wing a football just because the team is not built that way. The guy is young and still learning. Plus, he's already been there and done that. Jokers forget that in all likelihood he should already have two rings. When I read some stuff....its a real hoot. The last three, going on 4 seasons were by "accident".....lol. He threw 26 TD passes as a rookie on a team that usually does not score a ton.......he sucks.....

[kingfin66]

Russell Wilson was definitely part of the problem earlier in the season. He was so gun shy due to his line play that he was giving up on the pocket much too early. I also believe that he had some issues reading the defense this year, something that he is known to be good at. Other issues that are being, or have been, worked out:

Jimmy Graham - Having him on the field is a huge liability for a running team. He cannot block. Period. He is an amazing pass catching tight end, but they do not run an offense that fits his skill set. Luke Willson is better as a blocker, but still not great. I wish we still had the Zach Miller. He was injury plagued when he was here, but he is an old school in-line and pass catching tight end.

Marshawn Lynch - After several years of greatness and hits, time has caught up to him. He has been fully, or even mostly, healthy for exactly -0- games this year. Thomas Rawls has emerged as the main running back and has produced every time he has had the chance.

Opponents schemes - Seattle's bread and butter defense is a Cover 3 (one high safety - Earl Thomas - and the strong safety - Kam Chancellor - in the box). Opponents have consistently thrown two route concepts at Seattle that have given them fits. The first is a tight end down the seam. The second is flooding a zone where one receiver runs an in and the other runs a fade. The CB (typically Sherman in this scenario) must keep with his man, but has started to follow the in.

I would advise everybody not to put any credence into what Pittsburgh did in that game. Seattle played a Cover 2 (two high safeties) and put their safeties VERY deep. There have been games where Seattle has not played one down of Cover 2. Quite honestly, they do not play it very well when they do play it. They made the decision to give up yards underneath and boy did they ever. Fortunately, Pittsburgh has a terrible secondary and the Seahawks were able to exploit it. The other result of Seattle being in Cover 2 for almost the entire Pittsburgh game is they took horrible angles, thus, giving up plenty of yards after catch. It was not a great performance to be sure, but they did what they needed to do.

Depth on defense - In 2013, Seattle rotated DL routinely. Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril played a surprisingly low amount of snaps. That has changed in 2014 and 2015 with the losses of Red Bryant and Clemons. Last year they got spread extremely thin with injuries to Brandon Mebane and Jordan Hill.

The Legion of Boom has also taken its fair of hits having lost Walter Thurmond after 2013 and Byron Maxwell after 2014. Those guys left for big contracts. What has perhaps hurt Seattle the most this year is the loss of Jeremy Lane for all but the last two games. He broke his arm and injured his knee on the same play in the Super Bowl. He is finally back.

O-Line - This is probably the most well-documented part of the team. This is also the area where the least amount of money has been spent. Seattle has a theory that they can take good athletes and develop them into offensive linemen. They have had some success with this and continue to try to do it. JR Sweezy is a converted D-lineman and has become a solid lineman. Gary Gilliam played TE at Penn State and has been getting better and better every week. The biggest move they made in the past two weeks was to dump their starting center, Drew Nowak, and replace him with Patrick Lewis. Lewis has played very well. I would argue that the Seattle Seahawks offensive line has played exceptionally well the past 4 weeks. They have run the ball well and the passing game has been strong.

Kam Chancellor's holdout - I think this cost Seattle two games early in the year. He is an important part of Seattle's defense.

Receivers - I don't know that this has been a problem area. Seattle is not known for their receivers, but the guys they have are suitable for the West Coast Offense. Jermaine Kearse is the guy that is the weakest in my opinion.

Seattle still has very, very talented players at a lot of positions. We are talking Pro Bowl and even All Pro talent. Richard Sherman has just one INT, but in my opinion is having his best season. He has just been absolutely incredible. Earl Thomas started slowly after having missed the pre-season after recovering from shoulder surgery. He is back to full strength. Note: he was a piss poor tackler against Pittsburgh.

Overall, I think Seattle's defense has dropped a little bit due to the inability to keep some players due to salary cap issues. Today; however, is an example of the level that they can still play at. They have many players in their prime.

The question is, can they get into the playoffs. I think they can. The schedule is finally favorable with games remaining against the likes of Baltimore and Cleveland. They also have games against division leader Arizona and St. Louis, who always give Seattle problems. The road to the Super Bowl should definitely be going through Carolina this year. That is one good team. The took the Seattle blueprint and have been doing it better than Seattle.

I love reading what people around the country think of the 'Hawks. Tell me this, do people like them, hate them, or generally not give a shit?

[Valuist]

Originally Posted by kingfin66

Russell Wilson was definitely part of the problem earlier in the season. He was so gun shy due to his line play that he was giving up on the pocket much too early. I also believe that he had some issues reading the defense this year, something that he is known to be good at. Other issues that are being, or have been, worked out:

Jimmy Graham - Having him on the field is a huge liability for a running team. He cannot block. Period. He is an amazing pass catching tight end, but they do not run an offense that fits his skill set. Luke Willson is better as a blocker, but still not great. I wish we still had the Zach Miller. He was injury plagued when he was here, but he is an old school in-line and pass catching tight end.

Marshawn Lynch - After several years of greatness and hits, time has caught up to him. He has been fully, or even mostly, healthy for exactly -0- games this year. Thomas Rawls has emerged as the main running back and has produced every time he has had the chance.

Opponents schemes - Seattle's bread and butter defense is a Cover 3 (one high safety - Earl Thomas - and the strong safety - Kam Chancellor - in the box). Opponents have consistently thrown two route concepts at Seattle that have given them fits. The first is a tight end down the seam. The second is flooding a zone where one receiver runs an in and the other runs a fade. The CB (typically Sherman in this scenario) must keep with his man, but has started to follow the in.

I would advise everybody not to put any credence into what Pittsburgh did in that game. Seattle played a Cover 2 (two high safeties) and put their safeties VERY deep. There have been games where Seattle has not played one down of Cover 2. Quite honestly, they do not play it very well when they do play it. They made the decision to give up yards underneath and boy did they ever. Fortunately, Pittsburgh has a terrible secondary and the Seahawks were able to exploit it. The other result of Seattle being in Cover 2 for almost the entire Pittsburgh game is they took horrible angles, thus, giving up plenty of yards after catch. It was not a great performance to be sure, but they did what they needed to do.

Depth on defense - In 2013, Seattle rotated DL routinely. Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril played a surprisingly low amount of snaps. That has changed in 2014 and 2015 with the losses of Red Bryant and Clemons. Last year they got spread extremely thin with injuries to Brandon Mebane and Jordan Hill.

The Legion of Boom has also taken its fair of hits having lost Walter Thurmond after 2013 and Byron Maxwell after 2014. Those guys left for big contracts. What has perhaps hurt Seattle the most this year is the loss of Jeremy Lane for all but the last two games. He broke his arm and injured his knee on the same play in the Super Bowl. He is finally back.

O-Line - This is probably the most well-documented part of the team. This is also the area where the least amount of money has been spent. Seattle has a theory that they can take good athletes and develop them into offensive linemen. They have had some success with this and continue to try to do it. JR Sweezy is a converted D-lineman and has become a solid lineman. Gary Gilliam played TE at Penn State and has been getting better and better every week. The biggest move they made in the past two weeks was to dump their starting center, Drew Nowak, and replace him with Patrick Lewis. Lewis has played very well. I would argue that the Seattle Seahawks offensive line has played exceptionally well the past 4 weeks. They have run the ball well and the passing game has been strong.

Kam Chancellor's holdout - I think this cost Seattle two games early in the year. He is an important part of Seattle's defense.

Receivers - I don't know that this has been a problem area. Seattle is not known for their receivers, but the guys they have are suitable for the West Coast Offense. Jermaine Kearse is the guy that is the weakest in my opinion.

Seattle still has very, very talented players at a lot of positions. We are talking Pro Bowl and even All Pro talent. Richard Sherman has just one INT, but in my opinion is having his best season. He has just been absolutely incredible. Earl Thomas started slowly after having missed the pre-season after recovering from shoulder surgery. He is back to full strength. Note: he was a piss poor tackler against Pittsburgh.

Overall, I think Seattle's defense has dropped a little bit due to the inability to keep some players due to salary cap issues. Today; however, is an example of the level that they can still play at. They have many players in their prime.

The question is, can they get into the playoffs. I think they can. The schedule is finally favorable with games remaining against the likes of Baltimore and Cleveland. They also have games against division leader Arizona and St. Louis, who always give Seattle problems. The road to the Super Bowl should definitely be going through Carolina this year. That is one good team. The took the Seattle blueprint and have been doing it better than Seattle.

I love reading what people around the country think of the 'Hawks. Tell me this, do people like them, hate them, or generally not give a shit?

I felt Seattle was not only the best team in 2013 when they won the Super Bowl, and 2014 when they lost the Super Bowl, but also in 2012 when they just ran out of time in Atlanta. There were signs of a falloff in the team earlier; 5 blown 4th quarter leads. But they've won 4 out of their last 5, and they've faced one of the toughest schedules this year. Lynch was great for years, but right now, Rawls may be better. The no name WRs may be better than given credit for; now that they are opening things up, they are putting up big numbers.

[ultracapper]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Wilson is an OUTSTANDING pocket passer.

He's proven that the past couple weeks. He's dicing them right now.

[ultracapper]

Originally Posted by Valuist

I felt Seattle was not only the best team in 2013 when they won the Super Bowl, and 2014 when they lost the Super Bowl, but also in 2012 when they just ran out of time in Atlanta. There were signs of a falloff in the team earlier; 5 blown 4th quarter leads. But they've won 4 out of their last 5, and they've faced one of the toughest schedules this year. Lynch was great for years, but right now, Rawls may be better. The no name WRs may be better than given credit for; now that they are opening things up, they are putting up big numbers.

They didn't run out of time. They blew it. They took a 28-27 lead with well under 2 minutes left. Kicked off. Then gave up two big Ryan-Gonzalez gains down the seam and Bryant hit a 40 yard or so field goal to win it. It was a brutal finish.

Edit: But I do agree, that if they weren't the best team in the playoffs at that moment, it was a sign of what was coming the next year. They had scored about 150 points in their final 4 games, and the D was just wiping every one out. Not being a homer, but everybody around here knew they'd beat Denver the next year. The Manning media blitz meant nothing to us. We knew how good they were that year.

[NJ Stinks]

Originally Posted by kingfin66

I love reading what people around the country think of the 'Hawks. Tell me this, do people like them, hate them, or generally not give a shit?

You must be kidding. I care about the Tennessee Titans and love, hate or indifference has nothing to do with it. If one is betting on the NFL, one cares.

Having said that, I don't particularly root for Seattle. The coach is hard to root for; Wilson spends too much time selling himself; Lynch should spend more time selling himself; Sherman talks way too much. Aside from cashing a futures bet on Seattle two years ago, I'm still wondering how I didn't cash a Seattle bet to win the Super Bowl at 2-1 that I made just before the playoffs started last year.

Anyway, my thoughts on the Seattle have zip to do with being a "fan" or "non-fan" of the Seahawks.

Having watched pro football for a lot of years I settled on 3 teams that I root for for various fan-related reasons - the Raiders, the Bills, and the Ravens. But if any of those 3 teams move cities, they are off my list!

[kingfin66]

I agree with some of what you said. My question was posed from a fan, not bettor, point-of-view. One correction: Richard Sherman is not doing much talking these days. That looks to be in the past, at least I hope it is.

[ultracapper]

You should see Lynch sell himself around here. He does plumbing commercials and used car commercials. You can't watch TV for 2 hours without seeing him. Only Wilson gets more air time than Lynch.

[ultracapper]

Originally Posted by kingfin66

I agree with some of what you said. My question was posed from a fan, not bettor, point-of-view. One correction: Richard Sherman is not doing much talking these days. That looks to be in the past, at least I hope it is.

He's accomplished what he wanted to do with his talking. Smart man. Well planned career. Most of his noise was calculated.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by ultracapper

He's accomplished what he wanted to do with his talking. Smart man. Well planned career. Most of his noise was calculated.

He made a lot of noise...but he backed it up.

[NJ Stinks]

Originally Posted by ultracapper

You should see Lynch sell himself around here. He does plumbing commercials and used car commercials. You can't watch TV for 2 hours without seeing him. Only Wilson gets more air time than Lynch.

Glad to hear Lynch is appreciated in Seattle. Marshawn gives everything he's got every time he gets the ball - from far away he seems like the kind of you want on your team.

[Stillriledup]

Is Seattle BACK?

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

Is Seattle BACK?

The reports concerning Seattle's demise were greatly exaggerated. And so were the rumors that Wilson is "nowhere near and never will be an elite QB".

This season has proven many of us wrong...and is winding down very nicely. The playoffs should be very interesting.

[Stillriledup]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

The reports concerning Seattle's demise were greatly exaggerated. And so were the rumors that Wilson is "nowhere near and never will be an elite QB".

This season has proven many of us wrong...and is winding down very nicely. The playoffs should be very interesting.

So what happened? Why are these guys good again? Or, maybe the question is why did they look so average early on?

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Stillriledup

So what happened? Why are these guys good again? Or, maybe the question is why did they look so average early on?

It's the year of the sudden form reversal, SRU. The Seahawks and the KC Chiefs drastically improved...while the Falcons and the Packers suddenly declined. And most of the other teams have been wildly inconsistent throughout.

And I thought "chaos" was only a major factor in OUR game.