The Home Mystique. Have we lost it?

[OpHawk]

Look guys, the Seahawks became consistently good in the early part of this decade. Seattle is a very trendy city with a lot of money. Seahawk games are no longer overwhelming populated with rabid, diehard football fans as they once were. Today, and in recent years the seats are flooded with folks who are doing the cool "thing" to do on a Sunday around here. This is a social event for many. This is a thing to take a selfie at and show all your "followers" the cool thing you were doing on Sunday. Seattle grew a reputation for the 12th Man and lots of trendy people in this area want to be a part of it. Take a look around you next game and note all the people gabbing to each other during critical parts of the game, or with their faces locked into their device and paying little attention to what's happening on the field. This is particularly true in the club sections.

Couple that with a team that simply is not that good. Yeah, tough to win at home in a highly competitive league.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

The fans and the field have lost nothing. Pete and his Seahawks however clearly have.

All good things must come to an end. The only question is for how long and who brings it back?

Are you really that down on what Pete's doing?

I think we're on the right track, we just don't have the depth or talent level right now to overcome mistakes and our best players going down against good teams.

I still have faith that we're going in the right direction, just might take another year or two to restock the roster with quality starters and depth. That's what I saw yesterday.........if you want to beat a good team like the Chargers at home, Russell had to be as good or better than Rivers (he wasn't), and we couldn't have our best players going down (Carson/McDougald/Fluker).

Also something no one's said yet that I've seen, but Wagner had a terrible game. He's suppose to be the lightning rod out there on defense making plays all over the field, and he looked slow and even injured. Just can't have that against an elite back and QB like Rivers who will pick you apart if you're zone players aren't quickly filling gaps and zones.

I'm answering the question. Have we lost our HFA?

Like it or not, the answer is clearly yes. And it's not the fans. What does that leave?

Yes, we are on track. Again, I'm answering the question.

I don't think we've lost it, we clearly still play better at home than we do on the road, especially the defense that still gets an edge with the pass rush.

It's just not as pronounced as it used be because of the things I mentioned about (QB helmet mic/hand signals and other ways to combat crowd noise).

I was just disputing the word "mystique." I don't think it was ever an mystique, just a VERY REAL tangible advantage due to the stadium and crowd noise...........that's unfortunately mostly gone.

 

[Seymour]

The fans and the field have lost nothing. Pete and his Seahawks however clearly have.

All good things must come to an end. The only question is for how long and who brings it back?

Are you really that down on what Pete's doing?

I think we're on the right track, we just don't have the depth or talent level right now to overcome mistakes and our best players going down against good teams.

I still have faith that we're going in the right direction, just might take another year or two to restock the roster with quality starters and depth. That's what I saw yesterday.........if you want to beat a good team like the Chargers at home, Russell had to be as good or better than Rivers (he wasn't), and we couldn't have our best players going down (Carson/McDougald/Fluker).

Also something no one's said yet that I've seen, but Wagner had a terrible game. He's suppose to be the lightning rod out there on defense making plays all over the field, and he looked slow and even injured. Just can't have that against an elite back and QB like Rivers who will pick you apart if you're zone players aren't quickly filling gaps and zones.

I'm answering the question. Have we lost our HFA?

Like it or not, the answer is clearly yes. And it's not the fans. What does that leave?

Yes, we are on track. Again, I'm answering the question.

I don't think we've lost it, we clearly still play better at home than we do on the road, especially the defense that still gets an edge with the pass rush.

It's just not as pronounced as it used be because of the things I mentioned about (QB helmet mic/hand signals and other ways to combat crowd noise).

I was just disputing the word "mystique." I don't think it was ever an mystique, just a VERY REAL tangible advantage due to the stadium and crowd noise...........that's unfortunately mostly gone.

Sorry but that is just plain an ignorant post!!

We've been a better road team than home team in recent years. We're 5-7 in our last 12 home games, 9-5 on the road. We've weirdly become a better road team.

 

[Mad Dog]

. Take a look around you next game and note all the people gabbing to each other during critical parts of the game, or with their faces locked into their device and paying little attention to what's happening on the field. This is particularly true in the club sections.

Couple that with a team that simply is not that good. Yeah, tough to win at home in a highly competitive league.

Club sections have never stood and yelled. Noise has always come from the cheap seats and the lunch bucket crews that populate them. Has been that way forever.

What drives me crazy is the the folks that start Sea... Hawks! chants when we are driving on offense. That has certainly got worse since the Holmgren era.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

We've been a better road team than home team in recent years. We're 5-7 in our last 12 home games, 9-5 on the road. We've weirdly become a better road team.

Your sample size is a little small don't you think?

Since the SB loss to the Patriots we're 15-12 on the road and 17-10 at home. (not counting Arizona tie or win in London).

So yeah, I'll rescind my "clearly" part of better at home, but our record is still better over the past 3 1/2 years at home. Certainly not the dominating 7-1 or 8-0 home record dominance of old, but also not just flat out terrible.

Why? It's pretty clear isn't it? We're just not a very good team anymore, and not very good teams lose as much as they win at home.

 

[Seymour]

Sample size is too small for you?? What the??? :roll:

12 games is a year and a half+ of football for crying out loud and we are FAR better on the road!

Lost cause. Doesn't matter what you say here. We have clearly lost the strong HFA we once had. Accept it or deny it, I don't care.

 

[xray]

The fans and the stadium are fine... what has changed is that the Hawks just aren't that gr8 anymore ; and many won't accept that fact...maybe in the next year or two they make a comeback or they won't. That's professional sports kids .IMO

 

[Seymour]

The fans and the stadium are fine... what has changed is that the Hawks just aren't that gr8 anymore ; and many won't accept that fact...maybe in the next year or two they make a comeback or they won't. That's professional sports kids .IMO

It goes well beyond that though. This thread is weird that people don't see what is being stated here.

Lets try this. Over the last year and a half at home we have a .416 winning %.... and on the road we are .642 winning %

That is not just a poor team. That is PLAYING FAR WORSE at home!!

 

[xray]

That...LOL

 

[Scorpion05]

The fans and the stadium are fine... what has changed is that the Hawks just aren't that gr8 anymore ; and many won't accept that fact...maybe in the next year or two they make a comeback or they won't. That's professional sports kids .IMO

It goes well beyond that though. This thread is weird that people don't see what is being stated here.

Lets try this. Over the last year and a half at home we have a .416 winning %.... and on the road we are .642 winning %

That is not just a poor team. That is PLAYING FAR WORSE at home!!

Thank You.

Also, I can’t believe some of the simple “We’re not good” answers. Were we that good when we were 7-9 and the Saints came into our house? NFL fans have short term memories these days

In the past, even if we were SUPER average as a team, coming into our house was terrifying. Scary. Tough to play. Teams dreaded coming to our stadium. What has happened to that edge? Teams would make uncharacteristic mistakes here. And when they did, it would become an avalanche. They would stumble and bumble their way out of the stadium, happy to move on to the next game. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Sample size is too small for you?? What the??? :roll:

12 games is a year and a half+ of football for crying out loud and we are FAR better on the road!

Lost cause. Doesn't matter what you say here. We have clearly lost the strong HFA we once had. Accept it or deny it, I don't care.

I accept it because we're not a dominant team anymore.......but sorry, I'm not accepting that there is some mythical "mystique" that's vanished.

I'm pragmatic, we're losing games at home because;

- QB's now have mics in the helmet
- teams now use hand signals and other ways to combat crowd noise
- we're just not very good over the past couple of seasons

 

[chris98251]

We didn't have to be good to have noise before, but one thing we do need is a electrifying play to get people excited, big hit, big run take away, great catch etc. Looking uninspired or flat doesn't help that cause, refs taking the game away from player control is worse.

 

[semiahmoo]

The D back in the day was the #1 reason we had such a home field advantage.

This season our D is surprisingly good but not the terrifying monster it was back then.

 

[pittpnthrs]

Thank You.

Also, I can’t believe some of the simple “We’re not good” answers. Were we that good when we were 7-9 and the Saints came into our house? NFL fans have short term memories these days

In the past, even if we were SUPER average as a team, coming into our house was terrifying. Scary. Tough to play. Teams dreaded coming to our stadium. What has happened to that edge? Teams would make uncharacteristic mistakes here. And when they did, it would become an avalanche. They would stumble and bumble their way out of the stadium, happy to move on to the next game. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration

So whats the answer? Other teams arent making mistakes anymore? That couldnt be due to the teams regression could it? Teams come in and punch us in the mouth because they are better. That never used to happen.

 

[xray]

Doesn't mystique mean mystery or mystical ?

 

[Seymour]

Thank You.

Also, I can’t believe some of the simple “We’re not good” answers. Were we that good when we were 7-9 and the Saints came into our house? NFL fans have short term memories these days

In the past, even if we were SUPER average as a team, coming into our house was terrifying. Scary. Tough to play. Teams dreaded coming to our stadium. What has happened to that edge? Teams would make uncharacteristic mistakes here. And when they did, it would become an avalanche. They would stumble and bumble their way out of the stadium, happy to move on to the next game. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration

So whats the answer? Other teams arent making mistakes anymore? That couldnt be due to the teams regression could it? Teams come in and punch us in the mouth because they are better. That never used to happen.

Then why do we win at a far better rate when we are away from home over that time period?

You haven't answered anything with that statement.

 

[zetes]

Looks like there is another person that believes the crowd wasn't as loud as it used to be … this is what Rivers had to say:

"It wasn’t as loud as I’ve experienced here consistently. There were spurts, but it wasn’t as consistently as loud as it has been. I had everybody prepped for it be crazy and the guys that had their first time here were like, ‘you hyped it a little too much.”

I think this is pretty telling because Rivers was EXPECTING it to be loud and it didn't live up to his expectations. I'm not sure if he was comparing it to exhibition games too but most likely he was because the last times he played in Seattle for regular season games was 2010 and 2006.

Z.

 

[pittpnthrs]

Thank You.

Also, I can’t believe some of the simple “We’re not good” answers. Were we that good when we were 7-9 and the Saints came into our house? NFL fans have short term memories these days

In the past, even if we were SUPER average as a team, coming into our house was terrifying. Scary. Tough to play. Teams dreaded coming to our stadium. What has happened to that edge? Teams would make uncharacteristic mistakes here. And when they did, it would become an avalanche. They would stumble and bumble their way out of the stadium, happy to move on to the next game. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration

So whats the answer? Other teams arent making mistakes anymore? That couldnt be due to the teams regression could it? Teams come in and punch us in the mouth because they are better. That never used to happen.

Then why do we win at a far better rate when we are away from home over that time period?

You haven't answered anything with that statement.

Yeah, i'm not sure. Guess theres no reason for it. We must have gotten lucky before. Pure coincidence.

 

[KiwiHawk]

Stats in a vacuum. Got to love it.

Are we considering quality of competition? No. Injury status of key personnel? No. Staff and personnel changes during that time? No. Any context whatsoever? No.

Statistics out of context are completely meaningless.

This year with the corrections we have made in staff and the additions/subtractions of players, we have lost twice at home. Once to the Rams, who are tipped to be the NFC Super Bowl representative and have only lost to New Orleans on the road, and once to the Chargers, who are in the AFC contenders conversation and have been a bugbear team for the Seahawks for ages. We had a chance to win both games.

It also may be worth noting that *we have only played 3 homes games this year*. Our schedule has additional very tough home games this year, slightly mitigated by the fact that some are in prime time, but otherwise really challenging teams. The Packers have a decent QB, the Vikings have a strong defense led by an aggressive front, and the Chiefs are tipped to be the ACF Super Bowl representative.

So it's entirely possible that we may lose more at home this year. But keep it in perspective - those are tough teams to play anywhere, while we're half a season into a new rebuild/reload/refurbishment with new OC and DC.

 

[Seymour]

Thank You.

Also, I can’t believe some of the simple “We’re not good” answers. Were we that good when we were 7-9 and the Saints came into our house? NFL fans have short term memories these days

In the past, even if we were SUPER average as a team, coming into our house was terrifying. Scary. Tough to play. Teams dreaded coming to our stadium. What has happened to that edge? Teams would make uncharacteristic mistakes here. And when they did, it would become an avalanche. They would stumble and bumble their way out of the stadium, happy to move on to the next game. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration

So whats the answer? Other teams arent making mistakes anymore? That couldnt be due to the teams regression could it? Teams come in and punch us in the mouth because they are better. That never used to happen.

Then why do we win at a far better rate when we are away from home over that time period?

You haven't answered anything with that statement.

Yeah, i'm not sure. Guess theres no reason for it. We must have gotten lucky before. Pure coincidence.

Well I don't have the answer either, but something is different right now. My best guess? An old saying says "there is comfort in the familiar". Maybe we are getting too comfortable at home "knowing we have that 12th man" to pull us through?