Hypothetical Question . . . Margin of victory

I am hearing lots of criticisms of the Seahawks performance on Sunday. That it wasn't dominating enough.

So my question is simply this . . . If the score was 36-10 or 46-20 do you feel differently?

I think the criticism has more to do with how we got the points than the actual score. Shutting out an NFL team is great but that Bears team had no intentions of coming to Seattle and winning. There were also some lingering concerns about our offense that showed up again against a bad defense.

Seeing how they were favored by 14.5... I'd say 26 to ZERO exceeded that expectation. There were errors, yes. But you can't shutout a team on pure luck. They earned it, even if it was ugly.

mistaowen":1cugrwqa said:

I think the criticism has more to do with how we got the points than the actual score.

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You sound like a Santa Clara poster when you say things like that, that's what they say to diminish our achievements. Until offense only TD's score more points that ST or defense I don't care how we get the points only that we do.

mistaowen":2busbqh0 said:

I think the criticism has more to do with how we got the points than the actual score. Shutting out an NFL team is great but that Bears team had no intentions of coming to Seattle and winning. There were also some lingering concerns about our offense that showed up again against a bad defense.

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I guess that is part of my question. The NFL has programmed it's fans to value offense over all other aspects of the game. To me a 26 point win the NFL is impressive, no matter how you win or who it comes against.

Keep in mind also that every defensive or ST score is one less offensive possession. And in the second half our offense was rolling.

McGruff":2zx0sfj1 said:

mistaowen":2zx0sfj1 said:

I think the criticism has more to do with how we got the points than the actual score. Shutting out an NFL team is great but that Bears team had no intentions of coming to Seattle and winning. There were also some lingering concerns about our offense that showed up again against a bad defense.

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I guess that is part of my question. The NFL has programmed it's fans to value offense over all other aspects of the game. To me a 26 point win the NFL is impressive, no matter how you win or who it comes against.

Keep in mind also that every defensive or ST score is one less offensive possession. And in the second half our offense was rolling.

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I agree, a 26-0 thumping is rare and should be proud of. I thought once the defense figured out they were only going to run the ball and stopped it (the 3 TE sets were pretty funny), the Bears essentially gave up. My point is, this was the third consecutive poor first half on offense against a team that didn't want to be there. With their fire-sale going on this week, it's clear the Bears are in tank mode. I know we're a second half team in games and during the season under PC, but something still looks off and that is where I think some concern comes from.

I'm glad our defense looked like they were back to normal and our special teams has definitely gone from a weakness to a strength. It's hilarious that the Bears punter is injured after a game where he had almost 500 yards of punts.

4 FG'S and 1 TD I think is where the criticism comes from. Our red zone play hasn't been up to task. We seem to move the ball decent with an open field but had multiple passes dropped or vanilla running plays called when it mattered.

I'll take 26-0 over 33 to 7.

A shut out is difficult against any team. If they were to score it casts our team in a much harsher light. Even with the same margin of victory.

I also think Graham makes that jump ball TD in the endzone 9 times out of 10.

my only question is why does it take our offensive coaches an entire half to make the proper adjustments? I'm very happy with the win, and absolutely giddy with the shutout, but this is going on 4 years now of watching this offense get off to a slow start, allowing teams that have no business hanging around to do just that. This offense is only going to go where Lynch or Wilson takes it, if ones not working, go to the other. Or even better, how about mixing it up a bit, you know actually keep the defense guessing, might just work?

I think being a little concerned of the offense is a fair point. I think the offense will get going and get back to its top 5 DVOA level if the offensive line can just come together even a little bit. I love the 26-0 shutout but I also see the other side and the offense has to play better. I do wonder how much Pete took his foot off the gas in the 4th. The third quarter was very good.

The margin of victory is just a measure of how much better you played that day than the other team, or potentially how much better your team is.

We just came from a SB, so of course we would be a much better team than the Bears (who are so horrible they are fire sale offing half their team now, apparently trying to be the 76ers of the NFL). So beating the Bears is sort of like a heavy weight boxer beating a tomato can, it proves nothing.

The issue some people do have, is that even against an opponent that was completely overmatched, an offense that could not score and a defense that (until the end when it was exhausted) was getting no breaks, we could not score TDs. Not only that, we couldn't even keep a sackless team of our QB. In fact, we let them sack our QB 4x.

That said, we are not terrible. The GB team that looked all world last night, we played punch for punch until the end there - that was a winnable game that might have come down to a few bad bounces and one Bevell away from a win.

But this offense has been sputtering, clearly without a healthy Lynch we cannot consistently keep drives going.

So there is the apprehension, but it might just be a matter of resetting expectations. From being one of the best teams in the NFL, we are probably closer to one of the better teams. But we are not far off, we just lost a lot of defensive depth, our OL is a ?, and for whatever reason our QB play is not consistent (and this feels like it might be related to how he is being used, because I think he shines in RO or play action, but when that threat is gone the effectiveness goes way down).

I was surprised when I did a search on this page for the word "Fantasy" and nothing came up.... How many Fan Duel and Draft Kings commercials did you see this weekend? 70-80? ...At least!

That right there is the whole reason people are butthurt about a 26-0 win—Fantasy football.

Russell didn't get them enough points and that makes it impossible to actually watch the game and be happy with just a Lockett TD and only one Russell TD.

Pro-tip: Get Haushka

If our offense was rolling, then yes this is a game we should have won probably more like 35 or 45-0.

No style points in the NFL, so who cares. But I understand why people are like "err yeah we should have won by more" against a putrid Bears team.

One big thing that worrywarts on here fail to grasp is that when we put points on the board, it's as a unit and shouldn't be cast as an offense vs. defense thing. When we're up by 20, we're naturally going to be more conservative with the ball and milk the clock. It's situational play. I also think too many on here gloss over our offensive philosophy, which is to bring our foes into submission early and then harvest points in the second half. It's a system that we've used for the last 3 years and you know what? It works. Not going to get you big fantasy numbers. But it works.

I think many people would feel better about the 26-0 final had the scoring been by 4 offensive TDs and two missed XPs.

McGruff":1uorvvjm said:

mistaowen":1uorvvjm said:

I think the criticism has more to do with how we got the points than the actual score. Shutting out an NFL team is great but that Bears team had no intentions of coming to Seattle and winning. There were also some lingering concerns about our offense that showed up again against a bad defense.

Click to expand...

I guess that is part of my question. The NFL has programmed it's fans to value offense over all other aspects of the game. To me a 26 point win the NFL is impressive, no matter how you win or who it comes against.

Keep in mind also that every defensive or ST score is one less offensive possession. And in the second half our offense was rolling.

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It's not the defensive performance that anyone has a problem with. When the offense puts together two halves like the second half against the Bears all will be right with the world. It's what we will need to beat the Cardinals.

SC

26 - 0 versus the Bears

26 - 0 versus the Patriots

Which is a better victory statement?

chris98251":2rgxl42v said:

26 - 0 versus the Bears

26 - 0 versus the Patriots

Which is a better victory statement?

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The answer is not Da Bears.

Well played.

/thread

Margin of victory is less important than HOW you got the victory. If we really need to break out the trick plays against the bears with no QB and the 32nd ranked Defense. What does that say to your confidence in the team? We are unable to convert on 3rd and 1 still. We were a replay call away from being behind at the end of the half had they ruled that punt was touched by a Hawk. When your O-Line is constantly getting blown up against a team that hadn't gotten a sack in the first 2 games and get 4 against you.... That is a VERY bad sign. When you go one half of the game without a first down, this is telling. When you compare yourself against the likes of New England, Green Bay and Arizona after this week and the previous 2 how do you feel?? Not very darn good I bet, those teams are dominating every game and we can't dominate what could be the worst team in the league for a whole 30 minutes. If your aspirations are the same as mine which is Superbowl, than your expectations for this team should be higher than they are now. Why must we wait until late in the game to play well and be heroic? It doesn't always work.... First two games tells that story of this year. I want my team to play well for a full 60 damn it, and I have yet to see it in a long time.

Cryers gonna cry