Who Do YOU Blame The Most For a 5-5 Start?

[Uncle Si]

.net

 

[seahawkfreak]

The Sounders. If it's one thing, it's them not letting us paint our end zone blue

 

[peppersjap]

I'm just trying to be positive today which is unusual. We might be 5-5 but can you imagine being a 49er fan this year. There whole world fell apart. We still have a very strong thing going. They drafted Carlos Hyde and let Frank Gore go. Hyde has had little impact. They drafted Kaepernick and let Alex Smith go. If I ever see Kaepernick in a 49er uniform again I would be shocked. They drafted Crabtree and Aldon Smith with high picks and both are gone and then there players start retiring and for some odd reason they fire Harbaugh who I hate but what a coach.

Then they look at us today sending out an undrafted Rawls and he tears them up. They were also torn up by the undrafted Baldwin who played in there back yard and our 3rd round draft pick Lockett. We have had some questions about Russell's play this year but they would have to be envious over what we have gotten out of him over what they got out of Kap.

We have led in the 4th quarter of every game this year and this was arguably the 1st game all season that our offense played really well. We have also led in every game for close to the last 60 games which is an NFL record. I still think we sneak into a wild card and have to try to do it on the road this year but if we don't I will come into next year very confident in this team. When I look at the big picture 5-5 doesn't look like the end of the world.

 

[UK_Seahawk]

I think the reality is "all of the above" plus a few other things as well. Trying to find one reason seems a bit facile to me.

The other issue to me is it has been those different reasons at different times of the season. There always seems to be a weakness.

 

[KiwiHawk]

Polls like this make my soul hurt.

Seriously, you don't like it when people pin all the problems on one guy, then you post a poll designed to focus the blame onto one person.

I don't understand.

 

[themunn]

Nobody, it's just that good old "regression to the mean".
Through the last 3 years we've won what, 15 odd games with 4Q game winning drives?
We're losing to good teams when in the past we've sneaked a win, think of our goalline stand to the Rams, our improbable comebacks against Green Bay (2012 and NFCCG) and our NFCCG to the 49ers. Even THAT game against Atlanta - we didn't win but came mightily close, and that's kind of how the games have gone this year.

If we had gone from blowing out every team we faced last year by 20+ points to the 5 losses this year I'd be worried, but we've gone from winning close games against tough opposition to losing close games against tough opposition - in what has been a somewhat transitional season on offense (with the first time since the 2011 Browns game that Lynch has missed significant time in any games, and the most inexperienced O-Line we've ever played), and a secondary whose chemistry isn't quite there yet (remember that Browner got torched for 180 odd yards in his second ever start for us, Maxwell was with us for several years before he took his place - Williams has come in to a new system - one where one of the key pieces missed the entire offseason).

The 2015 Seahawks remind me a lot of the 2012 Seahawks - a team that lost winnable games to Miami, Detroit, Arizona, San Francisco and St Louis - but got it together at the end of the season to put together one of the finest 3 game stretches by any football team in a long long time. Remember - it's better to finish hot than start hot.

 

[Uncle Si]

Good post munn

 

[Palmegranite]

I blame the Rams, Packers, Bengals, Panthers and Cardinals, what with their winning ways. I'm cool with the other 5 though.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

The NFL and league offices are to blame for calling PI, or contact down field 20 times this year, while I watch Patrick Peterson and the Cardinals mug receivers all year long including last nights debacle vs Cinci.

Add in the lack of holding calls we get, when teams grab Avril, Bennett and the secondary getting called for every ticky tack call and Seattle is 8-2 and not 5.-5.....

I love our draft and rookies and there is no one to blame beyond the league. We don't realize how high our standards are for this defense and team and right now at about 80% efficiency, they are better than 95% of the league.

Seattle wins out if they mix up the defenses next week vs Pittsburgh and continues to feed Rawls.....it's scary to see how we blame the OL, when the three games Rawls has played and ran with a reckless abandon, there are actual running lanes and holes that Marshawn Lynch just doesn't have the footspeed to get to and take advantage of.

See you all in Santa Clara, because that's where this team is in February,,,,if you are sold on Carolina, Green Bay and Arizona, knock yourself out.

 

[Largent80]

Kamy Williams and Ciara.

 

[Optimus25]

The schedule maker with a dash of final super bowl play.

Holy crap was our first half the hardest in the history of the nfl?

When it was drawn up i had no idea how challenging the panthers, Bengals, and cards would be.

 

[652cHAWK]

Kam Chancellor holdout, Cary Williams, Kris Richard acclimation, TEs torching the LOB, our DBs in general are a big part of why we're 5-5.

 

[v1rotv2]

The defense let down the team when we were ahead in the 4th qtr. in at least 3 games IIRC. We could be sitting at 8 and 2 if it weren't for that. In particular it was the LOB that choked. Too many big plays given up.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

Defense.

This is the heart of the team. Most of the talent and most of the salary is there.

This defense should not be allowing more than 17 a game. That's the type of quality this team as constructed needs to consistently achieve in order to succeed.

Could the offense be better? Sure. But this is a team that is supposed to play close games and win. This offense has done it's part to get leads close in tight games. This defense has given up far too many 80 yard drives late in games to lose contests.

If the defense preserves even 2 of these losses it should have, we'd be sitting at 7-3 and having a much different outlook and conversation.

I know we collectively hope we address the OL in the offseason but I do think we need to continue to add defensive talent. This LOB doesn't look like it can absorb the losses of Browner, Thurmond, Lane and Maxwell and continue to be a dominant factor in games. If the right talent remains on the board, I could see the merit in adding a cheaper/younger successor to Sherman who can be the next great CB in 4 years' time when Sherman's play should expect to decline.

Adding that kind of talent to this secondary would do wonders to reinfusing this defense with the quality we've come to expect over the last few years. If this offense didn't improve a lick from where it's at now -- having that quality 2nd corner would very definitely have resulted in at least 2 wins this year. Perhaps even more.

If I'm looking at a high impact quick fix at one single position, it's that other CB spot. We aren't whole in the defense with a hole at one side of the field.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Oh it's absolutely the defense, specifically the LOB.

Pete and John built, and more importantly PAID everyone on that defense, to the tune of 70% of our payroll dedicated.................to hold leads, to punish other teams, to break wills, to dominate.

5 4th quarter leads..........5 losses. End of story.

 

[kearly]

It's not one thing and there are more than a few big slices in the blame pie. But my pick for the biggest slice would be Kam's holdout.

If all else had been the same, but Kam hadn't missed the first two games with his no-win holdout, Seattle is 6-4 right now (with an outside shot at 7-3), they are still alive in the division, and tied for the final wildcard spot. Kam did punch that ball out vs. Detroit which was enough to forgive him, though he probably would have done that without the holdout too.

Additionally, I think the cloud of his holdout going back to the preseason put things in motion for the mental toughness and communication issues in the secondary that have remained problems all season. I don't blame Kam 100% for ALL of these problems- Sherman, Williams, Richard, and PC/JS deserve some raspberries as well- but I do think the biggest problem of the 2015 season is no longer the OL but the inability of the secondary to close out games, and I think Kam's holdout caused the LOB to lose its mental edge.

I know it sounds like sports talk drivel, but cohesiveness and chemistry do matter in football. When the team lost its way in 2014 it was none other than Kam who got the team back to playing for each other. So when you take the team's most vital unselfish player and turn him into the most destructively selfish player, it's going to reverberate for a while.

 

[Tical21]

Schneider. The amount of completely wasted draft picks over the past three years, particularly as it has impacted the offensive line, is now costing us in real situations. We have drafted two starters over the past three years, Britt and Lockett. How awesome would it have been if we had hit on a TE, WR, Lineman, corner, DT or even safety? Just one contributor in those areas would be spectacular, but what if we actually had 4-5 draft picks that were solid contributors? What if we had a safety that we had groomed that could have stepped up for Kam? What if we had a corner ready to roll out? What if we had some decent lineman we had cultivated? What if we didn't need to trade for Jimmy Graham or Percy Harvin and we had instead been able to put that money towards a lineman?

I know I get on Russell a little bit for continually making bad reads, but I think the line would probably have a bigger impact. We were just fine with Russell's decisions before the catastrophe on the line got to epidemic status.

 

[Anthony!]

I agreed with all the experts the Oline followed by OC

 

[Seymour]

This thread is about a week late IMO. No single issue, a multitude. And the #1 reason not there to vote on (Oline) is a bit odd?

 

[onepicknick]

Defense.

This is the heart of the team. Most of the talent and most of the salary is there.

This defense should not be allowing more than 17 a game. That's the type of quality this team as constructed needs to consistently achieve in order to succeed.

Could the offense be better? Sure. But this is a team that is supposed to play close games and win. This offense has done it's part to get leads close in tight games. This defense has given up far too many 80 yard drives late in games to lose contests.

If the defense preserves even 2 of these losses it should have, we'd be sitting at 7-3 and having a much different outlook and conversation.

I know we collectively hope we address the OL in the offseason but I do think we need to continue to add defensive talent. This LOB doesn't look like it can absorb the losses of Browner, Thurmond, Lane and Maxwell and continue to be a dominant factor in games. If the right talent remains on the board, I could see the merit in adding a cheaper/younger successor to Sherman who can be the next great CB in 4 years' time when Sherman's play should expect to decline.

Adding that kind of talent to this secondary would do wonders to reinfusing this defense with the quality we've come to expect over the last few years. If this offense didn't improve a lick from where it's at now -- having that quality 2nd corner would very definitely have resulted in at least 2 wins this year. Perhaps even more.

If I'm looking at a high impact quick fix at one single position, it's that other CB spot. We aren't whole in the defense with a hole at one side of the field.

And you are absolutely correct This whole team was built on Defense.
The Defense of this year and last year has been just average I said last year A good QB would torch the D and it proved to be right. GB we all know if GB got the ball first who would of went to the SB, Brady lit it up.

Sherman and Thomas getting burned this year, so what are we missing from the SB team that made the D superior we knew we had the game in hand with a 1 pt lead. The offense only on occasion has been a highly productive offense in the SB against Denver was the best I've seen them play.

For some reason we think this was a great offense from one game if the defense lets a team score 24pt then I say the game is over for us.