Big Reason For The Turnaround

The schedule....

Sure the Oline has improved, the defense is healthier, no more Cary, etc. But I think a big reason we have looked so good the past 5 weeks, particularly the offense is that the schedule has softened up, a lot.

We were thrown into a bloodbath with our early schedule having to play @STL, @GB, @CIN and then play arguably the best team in the Panthers at home.

We are playing great football right now, but let's keep in mind who we have played the last 5 weeks. While the Steelers are good, they have one of the worst defenses in the league. Minnesota while tough, was without key pieces on defense. And do I need to even explain how bad the 49ers, Ravens and Browns are? Those 3 teams are bottom 5 teams.

Flip the schedule around and I think we start the year hot. And it's not like something miraculously changed from the Cardinals game to this 5 game win streak. We just lost to a really good team and then got to play a handful of weaker teams.

For me it's hard to measure just how good we are because of our opponents. Imo our only real impressive win was against Minnesota when we handled them for 60 minutes. As awesome as that Pitt game was, we squeezed out a win in a shootout where we gave up over 500 total yards.

Either way I like how our schedule has gone. I'd much rather go into cruise control later in the season than earlier.

Just my 2 cents.

True. Has, say, Carolina not benefited from a "soft" schedule all season? We all gotta play who's in front of us. What's our strength of schedule... something like #4?

Lions?
Cowboys?

Hawk-Lock":3ei10mxt said:

The schedule....

Sure the Oline has improved, the defense is healthier, no more Cary, etc. But I think a big reason we have looked so good the past 5 weeks, particularly the offense is that the schedule has softened up, a lot.

We were thrown into a bloodbath with our early schedule having to play @STL, @GB, @CIN and then play arguably the best team in the Panthers at home.

We are playing great football right now, but let's keep in mind who we have played the last 5 weeks. While the Steelers are good, they have one of the worst defenses in the league. Minnesota while tough, was without key pieces on defense. And do I need to even explain how bad the 49ers, Ravens and Browns are? Those 3 teams are bottom 5 teams.

Flip the schedule around and I think we start the year hot. And it's not like something miraculously changed from the Cardinals game to this 5 game win streak. We just lost to a really good team and then got to play a handful of weaker teams.

For me it's hard to measure just how good we are because of our opponents. Imo our only real impressive win was against Minnesota when we handled them for 60 minutes. As awesome as that Pitt game was, we squeezed out a win in a shootout where we gave up over 500 total yards.

Either way I like how our schedule has gone. I'd much rather go into cruise control later in the season than earlier.

Just my 2 cents.

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agree on some disagree on most. Flip the schedule and we are still struggling at the beginning, maybe not as much but still struggling. The question is if the schedule was flipped and we won say 2 more games then we did as it is, would they have felt the need to make the changes that has gotten the offense to were it is now? I say no. So we would have gone into what would now be the tougher part of our schedule with the same issues that were masked by a weaker schedule. AS to our "weaker schedule" I have to disagree there as well, Minny is 8th in scoring defense, injuries are part of the game, and they held Az to only 23 points, Pitt is 11th in scoring defense, the other 3 teams we scored way more than they had been giving up. So while I get your point, the reality is we have played very well even against good scoring defenses. Just as more of a point our next 2 teams are 121th and tied for 6th in scoring defense. SO we have played teams in the same area and played really well.

We are going to play as more winning teams in the 2nd half schedule as we did the first half plus the splits with STL and SFO.

1st: GB, Bengals, Panthers

2nd: Arizona x2, Pittsburgh, Vikings

Imo, Experience, Chemistry, and just Adapting to the Strengths have been the most key reasons for the turnaround.

Offensive Line and Secondary took half of year to get up to speed as well as Kris Richards. Those guys growing through the season as gave the Seahawks thier swagger back.

I'd say that's a good point, and also why we're completely blowing teams out. Maybe if the quality of competition was higher, the points differential would be lower. That said:

The way we're playing right now, we're beating most of the teams out there. No team is flawless, and we're such a balanced offensive team that we can exploit almost anyone. The last few years, if someone shut the run game down, we're struggling. Now look at the Pissburgh game. They are good vs. the run, yet we gutted them through the air. Historically with this team, if we don't run well, it's a low scoring, ugly game.

I attest this to the changes that were made during the bye. We switched up our WR routes to minimize poor pass protection, while playing to our WR's strengths, which is quickness. The ball is coming out more quickly, which benefits both the WRs, Russ, and the OL. We're still balanced with the run game. We've shored up our backend on defense a bit.

I don't know why it took half the year, but we've cut down on the mistakes that cost us earlier this year. And we lost a lot of games by just a few plays, plays that I'm confident right now we make.

I agree that injuries are part of the game, but Minnesota was without their best Dline player, without there stud LB Barr and without both safeties. That would be similar to if we played without Bennett, Wagner and Earl. Injuries are still no excuse, but it is something to keep in mind. Even if Minny were healthy I still think we would have beaten them.

I don't care about stats because they get skewed by weak opponents etc. Pitt is not a good defense. Easily a bottom 5 secondary.

All I'm saying is that it's not some miraculous turn around from the horrible AZ game to this 5 game win streak. The schedule plays a big part. But there is no doubt we are playing better football in this 5 game span than anytime before this season.

Hawk-Lock":23stuoa2 said:

The schedule....

Sure the Oline has improved, the defense is healthier, no more Cary, etc. But I think a big reason we have looked so good the past 5 weeks, particularly the offense is that the schedule has softened up, a lot.

We were thrown into a bloodbath with our early schedule having to play @STL, @GB, @CIN and then play arguably the best team in the Panthers at home.

We are playing great football right now, but let's keep in mind who we have played the last 5 weeks. While the Steelers are good, they have one of the worst defenses in the league. Minnesota while tough, was without key pieces on defense. And do I need to even explain how bad the 49ers, Ravens and Browns are? Those 3 teams are bottom 5 teams.

Flip the schedule around and I think we start the year hot. And it's not like something miraculously changed from the Cardinals game to this 5 game win streak. We just lost to a really good team and then got to play a handful of weaker teams.

For me it's hard to measure just how good we are because of our opponents. Imo our only real impressive win was against Minnesota when we handled them for 60 minutes. As awesome as that Pitt game was, we squeezed out a win in a shootout where we gave up over 500 total yards.

Either way I like how our schedule has gone. I'd much rather go into cruise control later in the season than earlier.

Just my 2 cents.

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It's not just the schedule that affects records, its who you play and when you play them. Every team has ebbs and flows. I consider the early teams on the Seahawks schedule lucky to have played the Seahawks when they played them. Line those teams up late in the season and the results are much different. Oh well, the Seahawks dug their hole and will now fill that hole with the carcasses of the teams they'll be facing from here on out and I expect them to be putting dirt on top to eventually make a nice hill to stand on top of at the very end. GO HAWKS!

This is why you don't judge how good your team is by who you play. It would be different if we were playing crappy football but we are not. We are 9-5 and are on a 5 game winning streak. If that was easy everyone would do it. We aren't the only ones that plays garbage teams.

I completely agree that we would have beaten some of the teams we lost to earlier in the season if we played them now. It also doesn't help that it looks like GB and Cincy were clearly playing their best football early in the season.

But as I lurk on these boards and seeing everyone crediting the turnaround to RW, the offense, no Cary, the offensive line, etc. There is no doubt that the schedule also has to be brought up.

As big of a difference as there is from Nowak to Lewis, there is as big a difference between playing @ GB and playing at home against Cleveland. Big difference between playing @ Cinci and playing @ Baltimore against a Flaco-less Ravens.

So yes lets give credit where credit is due.

Credit to the 49ers for sucking and becoming one of the worst teams in the league.

Credit to Cleveland for continuing to be one of the worst franchises in all of sports.

Credit Baltimore for being the most injured team in the league

Credit to Minnesota for timely injuries

And credit Pittsburgh for having a horrible secondary

Schedule doesn't matter. You play the teams on your schedule ... Period.
There is something special about winning the games you are supposed to win convincingly. We are not just winning games, we are trashing teams. That's the difference.

joeseahawks":o9try8bi said:

Schedule doesn't matter. You play the teams on your schedule ... Period.
There is something special about winning the games you are supposed to win convincingly. We are not just winning games, we are trashing teams. That's te difference.

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Yes I agree if we were barely beating these teams that would be different but we are beating them by 20 or more points . the rams and cardinals games are going to be a big test .

i dont like the excuses of the teams we beat missing key components. Other teams have played them too and not blown them out like we have. we're missing key parts as well with players dropping throughout the season.

If you're going to downplay our success and shove off amazing stats because of our opposition, then you need to apply that to every other team as well. (Lest us forget AZ vs MINN the week after us, Minn didnt get those 3 defenders back). CAR SOS if far far less then ours right now. But thats a stupid argument to have.

How about a big reason for the turnaround is we made changes and TURNED IT AROUND.

seahawk Dan":1pxavby4 said:

Yes I agree if we were barely beating these teams that would be different but we are beating them by 20 or more points . the rams and cardinals games are going to be a big test .

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The rams will be looking to commit cheap shots and injuring Seahawks players and the Cards will be starting backups. Neither game will be a true test for the Seahawks. Other than Fisher's integrity, there is nothing to be tested in the final two games. These next two weeks should be used to sit EVERY starter with even the slightest lingering injury. Put the starters in for a quarter then let Tarvaris show his supporters how bad he really is.

Pittsburgh's defense isn't bad, much less one of the worst in the league. DVOA has them as the #12 defense overall, #9 weighted (which means they've been even better recently).

That banged-up Vikings team took the Cardinals to the limit in Glendale right after playing us.

The Cardinals have been rolling over powder puffs all season. The Panthers have been destroying trash teams for the last six weeks. Doesn't diminish what they've done. You still have to prove it on the field.

Cartire":1t828rum said:

i dont like the excuses of the teams we beat missing key components. Other teams have played them too and not blown them out like we have. we're missing key parts as well with players dropping throughout the season.

If you're going to downplay our success and shove off amazing stats because of our opposition, then you need to apply that to every other team as well. (Lest us forget AZ vs MINN the week after us, Minn didnt get those 3 defenders back). CAR SOS if far far less then ours right now. But thats a stupid argument to have.

How about a big reason for the turnaround is we made changes and TURNED IT AROUND.

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That's my point. A big reason for the turnaround is all the changes we have made, plus some help from the schedule.

But we are clearly playing better now than before. Hence us barely beating the Lions and Cowboys and now crushing bad teams like the Browns and Ravens.

I also think that playing some of these weaker teams has helped us gain confidence and has helped us tweak parts of our offense.

rideaducati":1l0g0cpk said:

........... then let Tarvaris show his supporters how bad he really is.

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OUCH!

Bigpumpkin":2g9l3rc0 said:

rideaducati":2g9l3rc0 said:

........... then let Tarvaris show his supporters how bad he really is.

Click to expand...

OUCH!

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I don't know how people have forgotten how awful he was. He'll be just as awful against the rams and cardinals backups to refresh their memories.

There are several reasons for our turnaround:

The offensive line, particular with the change at center, is playing much better.

Russell is getting the ball out of his hands much quicker, he's playing with a lot more confidence, can sense when he's going to have enough time to wait for longer routes to develop and when he needs to unload it, isn't as quick to break the pocket. He's seeing things a lot better, doesn't miss opportunities, is making better decisions. He's playing the best football of his career whereas he was playing some of the worst ball of his pro career a couple months ago. I don't know if I've ever seen a QB with 5 straight performances like his in my 55 years of watching football. He's been almost perfect.

The absence of Jimmy Graham has freed up our offense, not that any of that was Graham's fault. We're not forcing the ball into him just to make the trade look good. This has given the other receivers, like ADB and No E, more targets.

Doug Baldwin is tearing it up. He's getting a lot more separation, more YAC. Not sure how to explain it, but he's more open than he used to be.

And yes, the schedule is a little lighter, but that's a bad excuse for poor play earlier rather than an explanation for our improved play of late. Minnesota had a top 10 defense before we laid them to waste, and prior to that, we couldn't move the ball against much weaker opponents, like the Lions and Cowpukes.