Did last year set the bar too high?

[TwistedHusky]

Years past I would have been ecstatic with some of these wins, now we "expect" them.

I think if we realize that we have a 2nd year QB, and an offensive line held together by what sometimes seems like whomever was the 7th radiocaller, it might make more sense just to appreciate what this team is doing with the hands it was dealt.

The hard part is that last year the team looked like such a buzz saw, such a machine, that we expected that again. That team was so good and dominant that it felt like it was just a fluke that we lost to Atlanta. I still firmly believe that if we had won that game we would have walked into the Candlestick beaten the 49ers and soundly beaten the Ravens aftewards in the SuperBowl. That was probably the best Seahawks team I have ever seen - but stuff happens.

If you go back and watch the games again, you will notice key contributions were made by guys we lost, like McCoy and Robinson as a for example. Robinson specifically seemed to really help us out near the Red Zone, as a for instance. So while loading up the DL with pass rushers clearly made us better there, we look to be substantially worse in the RZ this year. Maybe it is just my memory playing tricks on me since good things tend to stick out more than bad.

Either way, for good or bad this is the team we have.

We seem to have more of a pass rush, but the secondary looks nowhere near as dominant. Not sure how much of that is the change in DCs and how much is people adjusting for our people. Wilson looks better and worse. Our FBs might as well have been kidnapped by aliens because I never notice them. Our OL is struggling but a MASH unit.

I do know that I would have been amped after a game like this in years past and because I thought this team would have been some dominant best in X years type of team suddenly I realized maybe I was expecting too much. They are winning and if they lose to AZ or STL then maybe the expectations were too high. If they can keep it going then we should expect a great ride.

I don't know if it is fair to give this team a SuperBowl or Bust ultimatim, because I don't think it is playing at the level where you should reasonably expect that and nothing else. Generally the SB usually consists of one team that has been playing well all year and another team that comes from the middle of the pack and gets hot at the right time. Last year was Baltimore, but I think it is very rare for the two consensus top teams at the beginning of the year to meet at the SB.

If this team wants to go to the SB it has to get hot and start playing well, and it has some time to do so. If it doesn't it is still one of the better Seahawks teams to take the field, though I think last year's team was better.

 

[AbsolutNET]

Not at all. We're 5-1 which I think beats 90% of expectations, we are just not seeing a lot of things we saw offensively last year. We still have a very good D, but we are missing some offensive firepower that separated us towards the end of the regular season last year. I'm glad the bar is set high and some of us feel like we need to improve. They've shown us what they are capable of, and we did it too often last year to think it was some kind of fluke.

 

[SeaChase]

Most bars are to HIGH for Wilson

 

[bestfightstory]

It is early in the year. This year's team is still developing and we have missed games by key components.

5-1 with a bullseye on our backs and the (relatively) easy part of our schedule upon us.

I feel like this board seems to be in hyperdrive whine mode given out current success, but shit we are going to the Super Bowl and our best football has not even been played yet.

We are going to the Super Bowl. (With Bevell and Rice and Carpenter and without Moffitt) That is the only thing that really matters.

 

[ImTheScientist]

We are 5-1. I need to stop posting here soon....again..... the level of ridiculous posts is amazing.

 

[AbsolutNET]

We are 5-1. I need to stop posting here soon....again..... the level of ridiculous posts is amazing.

I think that's the point. For being 5-1 there's a lot of seeming malcontents. In reality I think a lot of folks, like myself, are curious why our offense isn't clicking like it did last year when they were on their run. Maybe it's just too early to expect it, but being 5-1 and unhappy with the offense could indicate expectations are unreasonable.

 

[pehawk]

We are 5-1. I need to stop posting here soon....again..... the level of ridiculous posts is amazing.

T-Sizzle, my boy! We need you in a few of the threads, and I'm serious. Did you know this team doesn't have a pass rush? Yeah, I know, news to me too.

Everyone has their role in this family. Mine's to be the annoying one and yours is to offer reality in the chicken-little threads.

 

[bestfightstory]

We are 5-1. I need to stop posting here soon....again..... the level of ridiculous posts is amazing.

You got that CORRECT.

Let 'em hear ya!

 

[RolandDeschain]

Not at all. We're 5-1 which I think beats 90% of expectations, we are just not seeing a lot of things we saw offensively last year. We still have a very good D, but we are missing some offensive firepower that separated us towards the end of the regular season last year. I'm glad the bar is set high and some of us feel like we need to improve. They've shown us what they are capable of, and we did it too often last year to think it was some kind of fluke.

+1

 

[Sarlacc83]

Nope. The first explanation in my season prediction thread is that we start the season topsy-turvy. We're right where I expected to be. 5-1 with a lot of tough wins.

 

[TwistedHusky]

Exactly my point.

We are 5-1.

I remember watching Seahawks games where we would throw a party in the streets if we could just get to 7 wins on the SEASON.

But be honest about whether you feel people really are appreciating that we are 5-1 or more worried about the game 1,2 or 3 games on the horizon?

We had people talking about being undefeated (?!?) and making ridiculous statements about how our road to the SB will be "easy". We are 5-1 that could just as easily be 4-2 or 6-0. A very good team. One of the better Seahawks teams ever, possibly.

But does that mean the team is a failure if we don't go all the way? I see a lot of expectations, including my own, making it harder to appreciate the victories because we "expect" them. Maybe that is just my own fault.

Is the team playing well? Not in all phases. Is it playing well enough to win? Clearly. Am I seeing people getting tied up in what the team did not do instead of what it did do? Yep, one of those people is/was me.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

No we did not set the bar too high.

This team has high expectations of themselves. We as fans have high expectations. The media outlets have high expectations. Everyone has high expectations.

If you thought we'd just roll through our schedule and beat everyone by 30 pts, then that's on you. This is the NFL, other than the Jags who are horrifically bad, there are no easy games. If we get healthy and start rolling I put our chances high at winning it all. If we keep having these nagging injuries and problems with special teams? Then it's going to be a struggle.

 

[Seahawk Mike]

The level of starters missing the past couple of weeks has had a drastic influence on the production of the offense. The defense...not quite as much.

What team could maintain any level of cohesiveness without 3 linemen, starting TE, OW (Harvin)?? Amazingly the Hawks basically have in terms of W/L record.

It is not where it was last year but maybe...just maybe it will approach that level again soon...

 

[chawx]

Most people can look at the record and see 5-1 and be very happy with that end result. Others see gripes and nit-pick each play, each game, and find signs of weakness and want to discuss that. I don't think anything OP said was over the top pessimism. He just pointed out that a chunk of the fanbase has come to expect bigger and better things from this team (aka. utter dominance at home and the ability to show up on the road and grind it out, play hard-nosed and get those tough wins on the road.)

Our last two games haven't been that, and there are a myriad of reasons for it: OL injuries, Z.Miller injury, ball bounces just NOT going our way AT ALL (besides the Wilson/divine intervention fumble recovery), the list goes on...

I guess what I'm saying is if you break it down and go week-by-week, you'll see that this Hawks team has handled its business through a fairly tough span of games and is standing at the top of the NFC West despite the shortcomings (if that's what you want to call them) so far this year. Hell, if the same thing happens this year as did last year, we're about 2 more games away from hitting full stride and really annihilating the NFL!

Stay positive guys, the best is yet to come!

 

[chawx]

The level of starters missing the past couple of weeks has had a drastic influence on the production of the offense. The defense...not quite as much.

What team could maintain any level of cohesiveness without 3 linemen, starting TE, OW (Harvin)?? Amazingly the Hawks basically have in terms of W/L record.

It is not where it was last year but maybe...just maybe it will approach that level again soon...

^ True, it's not where it was last year... We were 4-2 after 6 games and 4-4 after 8 last year.

Even if we end up at 5-3 after 8 games this year, which, at this point, would be a big-time failure, we would still be improved over last year.

I think we'll be sitting at 6-2 at worst, but really, we should be 7-1 at the mid-way point, all without our BIG NAME free-agent signing and almost all our tough road games out of the way. Who's got it better than us?? hehe :179417:

 

[DavidSeven]

We wouldn't have put 50 on Buffalo or Arizona last year if Okung, Breno, Unger and Miller were not playing. Would we have even beaten St. Louis in the finale under those circumstances? They destroyed our O-line WITH our starters.

We're ahead of last year IMHO.

 

[CodeWarrior]

I don't understand these reactionary posts. At face value it's a bit silly to overtly criticize a 5 - 1 record, but I don't see anyone doing that. 5 - 1 is great, but there are facets of the game to be improved upon and that's what people are discussing. Just because someone criticizes the team doesn't mean they're unhappy with the squad. What are they supposed to do, shut up until the record warrants critique?

That's what a prolonged winner must do: pick knits even when things are going your way. As Seahawks fans very few (if any) of us expect greatness and dominance. Now that we have reason to much of the traditionally woe-is-me fan base has been pushed in to uncomfortable territory.

Well, time to adapt. I'd be criticizing the team even at 6 - 0.

 

[C-Dub]

Most bars are to HIGH for Wilson

:177692:

Too funny!

5-1 to start the season, and there's bars too high? Sure we should be 6-0, but we're right on track for HFA.

 

[bestfightstory]

We wouldn't have put 50 on Buffalo or Arizona last year if Okung, Breno, Unger and Miller were not playing. Would we have even beaten St. Louis in the finale under those circumstances? They destroyed our O-line WITH our starters.

We're ahead of last year IMHO.

:th2thumbs:

 

[Perfundle]

We wouldn't have put 50 on Buffalo or Arizona last year if Okung, Breno, Unger and Miller were not playing. Would we have even beaten St. Louis in the finale under those circumstances? They destroyed our O-line WITH our starters.

We're ahead of last year IMHO.

To add to this, that three-game stretch is nearly impossible to duplicate in several ways. The Arizona game was helped by one of the worst opponent offenses in NFL history; Seattle's passing game was fairly well shut down that day. The Buffalo game saw Seattle going up against one of the worst rush defenses last year, and wholly unprepared for the read-option to boot. The San Francisco game had pretty much everything go right for Seattle, including several 1st downs picked up by penalty, key injuries to the opponent, and a completely unsustainable 11-12 third-down conversion rate.