SalishHawkFan
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This game was so UGly it requires two capital letters. This is what we've come to expect on our annual trek to Carolina. Tough, gut check wins. 2012: 16-12. 2013: 12-7 2014: 13-9. Average score: 13.7-9.3.
It followed pretty much the same script too. 10AM east coast start. We start off slow. Second half belongs to the Hawks. We went in at halftime with 5 first downs to Carolina's 12 and barely 100 yds offense. The second half was all Hawks. We finished with 19 first downs to Carolina's 17 and over 300 yds offense. Carolina feels like they let one get away. We feel like we clawed one out.
THE GOOD: Turbin may have only had 5 touches but he did a lot with them. I'll take 42 yds on 5 touches over -1 on 6 from Harvin anyday. That catch over the shoulder where he beat the defender to the corner was beautiful. Looks like he's finally finding his place on this team.
Baldwin is obviously the leader of this WR corps, but Wilson got the ball out to 9 players on 20 receptions. Everyone is contributing. Especially nice to see Richardson and Norwood getting involved in this offense. Was that catch by Norwood sweet or what?
Bruuuce! I think Irvin should stop being a LBer and go back to the Leo. Our pass rush has been The Suck so far this season. Irvin at Leo made the defense look like the old LOB again. We got 3 sacks and 5 QB hits, all in the second half. If I had all 22 I'd go back and see at what point Irvin moved to the front. The defense was obviously flat going into the game, but like so many 10 am east coast starts, they found their stride in the second half and shut down Carolina. The Panthers only generated 103 yds total offense in the second half. Most of it on that 64 yard drive for a FG.
Olsen. We finally figured out how to stop a TE. The leading TE in the NFL was held to only 1 catch.
THE BAD: Once again the Hawks came out ugly in the first half. Can the ball bounce any worse for us this year? Carolina fumbled 4 times in the first half. We recovered once. We fumbled twice, they got one. That's six fumbles, four go the Panthers way, two go our way. And it isn't just this game. Going into this game our opponents have fumbled 7 times and we've recovered 2. Now we're 3 out of 11.
Remember when the 2011 49ers had such a great turnover ratio? We Hawk fans as well as many on FO knowingly pointed out that much of that was because they recovered so many more fumbles than the other team. That's not something that is sustainable. That's just lucky bounces. Sure enough, the 9er's couldn't maintain that luck the next season. Now we're experiencing the opposite luck. The good news is, that's not sustainable either and the ball will start bouncing our way eventually.
As long as the refs let it.
Tackling. We may have held the Panthers to 3.9 ypc, but don't let that stat fool you. Newton pulled down the average with his scrambles for barely any yards. Stewart ran on our usually stellar run defense at a 4.9 ypc clip. Much of that was bouncing like a pin ball off of defenders who seemed to be more intent on stripping the ball than tackling.
THE UGLY: I really never want to hear that voice from I Am The Walrus saying "Oh untimely death!" at the end of a long Seahawks drive ending in a turnover ever again. Paul is dead conspiracy theories aside, that's how I felt when Marshawn let that ball slip through his hands at the end of the half and Carolina picked it off. That's how I felt about the drive in the third quarter when Schilling fumbled at the 21.
This game was ugly for both teams. We may not have gotten the lucky bounces, but Carolina fumbled FOUR TIMES in the first half. THEY are the ones that are lucky the game was as close as it was.
THE WILSON: How much more can a whitey game manager with no fro do to carry a team. This guy is the epitome of Seahawkyness. He never gives up. When Wilson scrambles for the ball I hear Winston Churchill saying "we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender".
Okay, I seem to be hearing a lot of dead British guys mumbling in my head during Seahawks games. Who knew? If I were normal, I wouldn't be on .Net.
Wilson finished with a crappy 76.3 rating for this game. Nonetheless, he hit 9 different receivers for 20 completions on 32 throws. But it's what he did in the 4th quarter that makes him so special.
It was his Will to Win that carried this team in the clutch however. 3rd and 10? Scramble for 15 yards. 1st and 15 with time running out in the 4th? Wilson scrambles for 14. Those two drives netted the Hawks 10 points. Mr. Clutch went 5-5 passing on the final drive of the game for the win. In the 4th quarter he was 7-9 for 78 yards, 5 first downs and a TD.
Is that black enough for ya?
Oh, and Wilson to Willson. Sometimes it takes three L's to make a W. Go Hawks!
It followed pretty much the same script too. 10AM east coast start. We start off slow. Second half belongs to the Hawks. We went in at halftime with 5 first downs to Carolina's 12 and barely 100 yds offense. The second half was all Hawks. We finished with 19 first downs to Carolina's 17 and over 300 yds offense. Carolina feels like they let one get away. We feel like we clawed one out.
THE GOOD: Turbin may have only had 5 touches but he did a lot with them. I'll take 42 yds on 5 touches over -1 on 6 from Harvin anyday. That catch over the shoulder where he beat the defender to the corner was beautiful. Looks like he's finally finding his place on this team.
Baldwin is obviously the leader of this WR corps, but Wilson got the ball out to 9 players on 20 receptions. Everyone is contributing. Especially nice to see Richardson and Norwood getting involved in this offense. Was that catch by Norwood sweet or what?
Bruuuce! I think Irvin should stop being a LBer and go back to the Leo. Our pass rush has been The Suck so far this season. Irvin at Leo made the defense look like the old LOB again. We got 3 sacks and 5 QB hits, all in the second half. If I had all 22 I'd go back and see at what point Irvin moved to the front. The defense was obviously flat going into the game, but like so many 10 am east coast starts, they found their stride in the second half and shut down Carolina. The Panthers only generated 103 yds total offense in the second half. Most of it on that 64 yard drive for a FG.
Olsen. We finally figured out how to stop a TE. The leading TE in the NFL was held to only 1 catch.
THE BAD: Once again the Hawks came out ugly in the first half. Can the ball bounce any worse for us this year? Carolina fumbled 4 times in the first half. We recovered once. We fumbled twice, they got one. That's six fumbles, four go the Panthers way, two go our way. And it isn't just this game. Going into this game our opponents have fumbled 7 times and we've recovered 2. Now we're 3 out of 11.
Remember when the 2011 49ers had such a great turnover ratio? We Hawk fans as well as many on FO knowingly pointed out that much of that was because they recovered so many more fumbles than the other team. That's not something that is sustainable. That's just lucky bounces. Sure enough, the 9er's couldn't maintain that luck the next season. Now we're experiencing the opposite luck. The good news is, that's not sustainable either and the ball will start bouncing our way eventually.
As long as the refs let it.
Tackling. We may have held the Panthers to 3.9 ypc, but don't let that stat fool you. Newton pulled down the average with his scrambles for barely any yards. Stewart ran on our usually stellar run defense at a 4.9 ypc clip. Much of that was bouncing like a pin ball off of defenders who seemed to be more intent on stripping the ball than tackling.
THE UGLY: I really never want to hear that voice from I Am The Walrus saying "Oh untimely death!" at the end of a long Seahawks drive ending in a turnover ever again. Paul is dead conspiracy theories aside, that's how I felt when Marshawn let that ball slip through his hands at the end of the half and Carolina picked it off. That's how I felt about the drive in the third quarter when Schilling fumbled at the 21.
This game was ugly for both teams. We may not have gotten the lucky bounces, but Carolina fumbled FOUR TIMES in the first half. THEY are the ones that are lucky the game was as close as it was.
THE WILSON: How much more can a whitey game manager with no fro do to carry a team. This guy is the epitome of Seahawkyness. He never gives up. When Wilson scrambles for the ball I hear Winston Churchill saying "we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender".
Okay, I seem to be hearing a lot of dead British guys mumbling in my head during Seahawks games. Who knew? If I were normal, I wouldn't be on .Net.
Wilson finished with a crappy 76.3 rating for this game. Nonetheless, he hit 9 different receivers for 20 completions on 32 throws. But it's what he did in the 4th quarter that makes him so special.
It was his Will to Win that carried this team in the clutch however. 3rd and 10? Scramble for 15 yards. 1st and 15 with time running out in the 4th? Wilson scrambles for 14. Those two drives netted the Hawks 10 points. Mr. Clutch went 5-5 passing on the final drive of the game for the win. In the 4th quarter he was 7-9 for 78 yards, 5 first downs and a TD.
Is that black enough for ya?
Oh, and Wilson to Willson. Sometimes it takes three L's to make a W. Go Hawks!