We can afford a loss or two. (long)

[ChrisB Bacon]

It comes down to beating SF. We must beat them because I think they would win in a tie breaker scenario based on schedule.

Honestly I don't see us winning out, probably losing 2 more. One to a good team (SF or NO) and another fluky type of loss, losing to a team we should have beaten like the Falcons or Giants.

So if both teams are 14-2, 13-3 or 12-4, they win the division unless we beat them.

Not necessarily true. I assume you're basing this off the Strength of Victory/Schedule tiebreaker, but that might not even come into play if it's tied at 13-3 or 12-4. For example, if the teams are tied at 13-3, and SF's other loss is to Arizona/STL while we lose to SF and, say, Atlanta, we get the tiebreaker for the division due to division record.

"3-1 with a win over Seattle would put them in decent position record and tiebreaker wise, but they still wouldn't control their own destiny since Seattle would still have a game up."
In that scenario the records are tied with two losses and go to tiebreakers after head to head: Div record first.

Also not true. SF would be 13-3, we would be 14-2 (if we won out).

 

[RolandDeschain]

What worries me is the way SF is playing vs the way the Hawks are playing.

Didn't you get the memo from a bunch of our .NET brethren? Zip your lip and enjoy the record; we have no issues!

 

[hoxrox]

Not necessarily true. I assume you're basing this off the Strength of Victory/Schedule tiebreaker, but that might not even come into play if it's tied at 13-3 or 12-4. For example, if the teams are tied at 13-3, and SF's other loss is to Arizona/STL while we lose to SF and, say, Atlanta, we get the tiebreaker for the division due to division record.

Yea I'm also basing on the likelihood that both teams sweep the rest of the division. But who knows, maybe Zac Stacy will go full beast on them.

 

[Laloosh]

What worries me is the way SF is playing vs the way the Hawks are playing.

Didn't you get the memo from a bunch of our .NET brethren? Zip your lip and enjoy the record; we have no issues!

This is becoming a common theme in your posts, Roland. Do you have a draft of your "I told you so!!!" thread started for Monday morning?

 

[WilsonMVP]

I dont even know if the Saints win their Division. I can see the Panthers taking that Division. As far as we go..it would be nice to have the #1 or #2 seed but if we end up with 12+ wins as a wildcard I am not too worried. We have shown we can play on the road this year.

I would say we are allready in the playoffs so we def will be seeing the Seahawks in the postseason. I am about 80% positive we will be 10-1 as well heading into the Saints and 49ers games. Outside of AP taking over the game by himself and Coradelle Patterson returning 1-2 TDs, there is no way we lose to the Vikings. Their Defense is terrible and either Ponder or Freeman will be playing at QB.

I can easily see one of either the 49ers and Saints dropping their next 2 as well and going to 6-4.

They play eachother in NO in 2 weeks
Next week NO plays Dallas and SF plays Carolina.

The saints also have 3 primetime games in their next 4. Dallas, SF, and Us.

Im at a point where the Saints just dont matter to me really. I would rather have #2 seed and win the division than be a Wildcard. As long as the Seahawks win against NO and SF I think it is a lock they are #1 seed though.

 

[RiverDog]

I dont even know if the Saints win their Division. I can see the Panthers taking that Division. As far as we go..it would be nice to have the #1 or #2 seed but if we end up with 12+ wins as a wildcard I am not too worried. We have shown we can play on the road this year.

I would say we are allready in the playoffs so we def will be seeing the Seahawks in the postseason. I am about 80% positive we will be 10-1 as well heading into the Saints and 49ers games. Outside of AP taking over the game by himself and Coradelle Patterson returning 1-2 TDs, there is no way we lose to the Vikings. Their Defense is terrible and either Ponder or Freeman will be playing at QB.

I can easily see one of either the 49ers and Saints dropping their next 2 as well and going to 6-4.

They play eachother in NO in 2 weeks
Next week NO plays Dallas and SF plays Carolina.

The saints also have 3 primetime games in their next 4. Dallas, SF, and Us.

Im at a point where the Saints just dont matter to me really. I would rather have #2 seed and win the division than be a Wildcard. As long as the Seahawks win against NO and SF I think it is a lock they are #1 seed though.

Agreed about Carolina. They are the sleeper team this season. They've won 4 straight and currently have given up fewer points than any team in the league. SF plays them this weekend and the Saints play them twice. I'm sure glad we got them early. I'd hate to be making a trip back there this weekend with the way we've played the past couple of weeks.

 

[Hawks46]

The biggest thing that worries me is the way we're playing compared to how SF is playing. They've righted the ship and we're currently bailing water.

That said, I'm a huge Panthers fan this weekend. If SF drops one to CAR, that's huge for us. Of course, we have to beat an ATL team that is still dangerous at home.

The other big balancing point to our season is actually the SF/NO game. I only see SF losing one of three remaining games: CAR, NO, and SEA. While NO is likely to lose at least one of the CAR games, could lose the SF game, could lose the DAL game, and could easily lose the SEA game. NO has the toughest road by far, so we root for NO against SF.

If NO beats SF: then we can afford to lose to SF and still win the division. If SF beats NO, then we can afford to lose to NO, but can't lose to SF. Mutliple losses by both teams obbviously take them out of it unless we fall on our face as well. Even as poorly as we've played we still should beat ATL, beat MIN, beat the NYG and hold serve at home against our remaining two division matchups. Worst case we drop one to ATL (can't see it..they don't have the pass rush to disrupt our team) or the GIA and we split one of NO/SF then we start to need help from the outside.

So, we're big Panthers and Saints fans this year.

 

[RiverDog]

The biggest thing that worries me is the way we're playing compared to how SF is playing. They've righted the ship and we're currently bailing water.
That said, I'm a huge Panthers fan this weekend. If SF drops one to CAR, that's huge for us. Of course, we have to beat an ATL team that is still dangerous at home.

The other big balancing point to our season is actually the SF/NO game. I only see SF losing one of three remaining games: CAR, NO, and SEA. While NO is likely to lose at least one of the CAR games, could lose the SF game, could lose the DAL game, and could easily lose the SEA game. NO has the toughest road by far, so we root for NO against SF.

If NO beats SF: then we can afford to lose to SF and still win the division. If SF beats NO, then we can afford to lose to NO, but can't lose to SF. Mutliple losses by both teams obbviously take them out of it unless we fall on our face as well. Even as poorly as we've played we still should beat ATL, beat MIN, beat the NYG and hold serve at home against our remaining two division matchups. Worst case we drop one to ATL (can't see it..they don't have the pass rush to disrupt our team) or the GIA and we split one of NO/SF then we start to need help from the outside.

So, we're big Panthers and Saints fans this year.

Since the Niners lost on back-to-back weekends to us and the Colts, just who have they played? Rams, Texans, Cards, Titans, and Jags. Not a one of those teams currently has a winning record.

Admittedly, we haven't exactly been going through Murderer's Row, either, but the point is that you can't get a real handle on just how good each team is based on the results of the past 1.5 months. I like our chances better against the Niners more so than a lot of other teams mainly because we seem to match up better against them.

 

[Tokadub]

Ye Have Little Faith...

OK, yes we could probably afford a loss, two I'm not so sure.

So the way I see things Atlanta might actually be our biggest test/most important game.

We are playing pretty much the worst right now that I expect we will this entire season (last 2 games) possibly this next one...

It's hard for me to imagine that Atlanta is really as bad as their record indicates, what with them bouncing us out of the Playoffs last year in their house. Well here we go again to their house (a dome) which for whatever reason we are worst in statistically.

I think Atlanta is going to be fired up as hell, I'm not sure why I just expect them to play well. I think we NEED to win this game but we might not if we play like how we did the last 2 weeks.

The reason why I think this game is so important is that I expect us to begin to improve and hopefully peak or plateau around the start of the playoffs. We have Minnesota at home, not concerned at all but weirder losses could happen.

Then we have a BYE!

After that I expect we'll have Harvin, our 2 starting offensive line, time for Wilson to rest up.

I think we'll take out NO although I would consider this another potentially dangerous game IF and ONLY IF we don't start playing as well as I anticipate by then.

I also think it's interesting most of you guys seem to be auto defaulting the win to SF when we play them next. I'm not so sure I expect a close game which we could easily win, I expect us to be fired up as I expect Atlanta to be fired up in our game.

The last 3 games we should win easily barring some complete disaster.

So to me Atlanta is the most dangerous game we MUST win this one.

By the time we face NO and SF I expect we'll be hitting full stride and have an equal or even better chance to win than we do in Atlanta this weekend.

Of course my whole theory relies on my prediction that we are at the worst we will be this season and are about to improve dramatically... but I think this improvement might come AFTER the Atlanta game, and if we drop it I'll be a bit worried for Home Field.

 

[Ninerg]

If we can beat the 49ers at Candlestick park I don't think the Giants will be a problem.

I have Seattle losing to Atlanta, SF and the NY Giants. I don't think Seattle will be able to escape those teams playing weak as they've been playing lately.

12-4 for Seattle.

 

[Scottemojo]

If we can beat the 49ers at Candlestick park I don't think the Giants will be a problem.

I have Seattle losing to Atlanta, SF and the NY Giants. I don't think Seattle will be able to escape those teams playing weak as they've been playing lately.

12-4 for Seattle.

Let me guess. You have the Gold Diggas as 13-3?

 

[hawker84]

If we can beat the 49ers at Candlestick park I don't think the Giants will be a problem.

I have Seattle losing to Atlanta, SF and the NY Giants. I don't think Seattle will be able to escape those teams playing weak as they've been playing lately.

12-4 for Seattle.

you mean the whole winning thing despite the injuries and costly turnovers? ya i hate that too. I can see where we lose all those you've listed...

 

[SoulfishHawk]

Yeah, because yet another Niner fan and his/her opinion actually matters :roll:

 

[RolandDeschain]

This is becoming a common theme in your posts, Roland. Do you have a draft of your "I told you so!!!" thread started for Monday morning?

Believe it or not, the point of that theme is to try and get people from doing that stupid crap in the future. Not to prop up my own ego. I know you won't believe me, though.

 

[RiverDog]

If we can beat the 49ers at Candlestick park I don't think the Giants will be a problem.

I have Seattle losing to Atlanta, SF and the NY Giants. I don't think Seattle will be able to escape those teams playing weak as they've been playing lately.
12-4 for Seattle.

I don't understand your rationale. If your reason for projecting the Hawks to get beat by two lowly teams like the Falcons and Giants is that we've been playing poorly lately, then how are we going to beat the Saints? And please don't say because it's a home game, unless you want to overlook the Tampa Bay game.

If you're going to predict us losing to two teams that are a combined 4-12, then how can you rationalize us beating a 6-2 team after seeing a 0-7 team take us to overtime in our own house?

 

[stack600]

What I don't get is, what has got our fans thinking we are really playing that badly, we have issue's but who don't at this point in the season. Maybe K.C. who keeps rolling along in the AFC, But K.C. still has to play Denver.
To me if you break down all 9 games. The only team that really got us out of our gameplan was the Rams in St Louis, This is not a surprise, how many times have we won in St Louis since we jumped back in to the NFC West? Yea not that many, But we did this year. Even though Coach Fisher and staff put a Inspired gameplan in, that smacked us right in the mouth on offense, and exploited a few problems with the run D. How many TDs did the Rams score 0 FGs 3 and a miss. And the Bucs yea they came out inspired and pumped, A fumble on a return set em up for 1 score, a bad PI on ET took away a INT that would have stopped that drive. Granted the found a soft spot in the Run D also. But how many points did they put up in the 2nd half. Exactly. Bend but don't break isn't just a saying, It is our Defence. And Never say die, Well thats our offense. I know we all love score's like the 49er game. Or last year when we hung 50 points on the Bills and Cards. But hopefully we don't exspect that every week. Our team is weathering a rough patch, But still winning. yea we may be able to handle a couple losses down the road, But I for one don't see it happening. I feel we can win out, And I also belive more this year than any past, that these guys, our players figure out a way to win. Someone always seems to step up, be it a WR or a DB. They just get it done. So for me I am loving the 8-1, And am thrilled to be a 12th man watching our run to the Playoffs, and as I do belive the NFC West and HFA.
I'M IN GO Hawks...

 

[RolandDeschain]

Stack, I can't recall a seeing a single person saying we're playing badly. Rather, what I've seen plenty of and have said myself, is that we're being sloppy and making a lot of mistakes every game.

Insert your own cliche. We're tempting fate, flirting with fire, dancing with the devil, whatever you want to call it; but at the end of the day, we are playing good football overall, but not great football; and we've seen (last half of 2012) that we are capable of playing better than we are right now. 8-1 doesn't mean we ARE playing better, that's merely a logical fallacy. (It also doesn't mean that we aren't playing better, but I think it's obvious that there's enough evidence to suggest that we are currently playing at a lower level as compared to the 2nd half 2012 version of the Seahawks.)

Regardless, once we get our tackles back, we will see very visible improvement, I'm sure. The problem though, is that half of our "shooting ourselves in the foot" syndrome we've witnessed this year isn't really related to the offensive line situation. At least, far from entirely related to it.

 

[stack600]

Excellent point Roland, and I must concur I guess badly was not the exact word I was looking for, And I too have pointed out the mistake's and sloppy play, I just have a feeling we will see the level of play equal to last part of 2012. And for a cliche " what don't kill you, will make you stronger" which jokingly is not the case for R.W. in pass blocking, Hopefully like you said when Okung and Breno and Max with the Concussion get back some of the line mistake's will mend themself's. And I agree the O line isn't alone in the current mistake category.

 

[AgentDib]

Fans also freak out about the offense more than they do about the defense. That loss in Cleveland two years ago was by common consensus "the worst" posters had seen in ages, despite the final score being exactly the line going into the game. If we had won by the same score differential recently but with a couple more touchdowns on each side, there would be threads complaining about our defense but overall fan confidence would be a lot higher. Most people would much rather have a great offense than a great defense; if I asked you to list some of the good teams from the last decade you would probably list all of the best offenses first and not the teams that won the Super Bowls.

 

[tom sawyer]

Who cares what we can afford!

Can you AFFORD to lose $50? Of course you can. Do you WANT to? NO!!

Hawks should go 15-1, we made it this far... come on!!!