Impact of week 16 loss to St. Louis

As I was laying in bed last night thinking about football (what else?) I pondered how our playoff path might have been different had we beaten St. Louis at home in week 16 and secured the 5th seed.

Here is a comparison of that scenario (5 seed) with the one we ended up with (6 seed):

6th Seed Route:
Wild Card Round: @ Minnesota in arctic temps in a 10am PT game. Not fully a cross country trip but another early start, obscene weather conditions, and a game that really wasn't a game...more a battle for survival
Divisional Round: @ Carolina in another 10am game. I think we can all agree that Carolina was better than Arizona and therefore the toughest of the remaining options. The early start, a full cross country trip, and a crappy field were headwinds that we couldn't overcome in the 1st half.

5th Seed Route:
Wild Card Round: @ Washington in a Saturday evening game (around 2pm PT start). Poor playing surface but much better temperatures and an opponent that was clearly a paper tiger (as they were exposed by Green Bay)
Divisional Round: @ Arizona in a Saturday night game. Perfect weather and field conditions and much shorter trip. Ultimately, the key here too is that Arizona peaked earlier in the season and Palmer's injury made them a shell of their former selves. High confidence that this would have been a win.
Championship Round: @ Carolina in a Sunday night game. An extra day of rest to handle the cross country trip. Yup, the field still would've sucked and I'm not sure the final outcome would have been different but I have to think we give Carolina a much better game in the NFC Championship as opposed to the Divisional round...given the circumstances in getting to each

Good post...

I'd say there were many missed opportunities along the way, given the way the team lost the other 5 games. But the Rams game seemed like a stomach punch at the time, given the way the team had been playing previously.

In the end, you're right, I'd think the loss, and the inevitable route the team had to take from there out was significant.

It kind of seemed like the stars had to perfectly align for the Seahawks not to get the 5th seed. Unfortunately, they aligned.

Doesnt matter to me now , seasons over on to the next one. We had a chance in carolina and came up short.

Nice post, but it's the kind of thing you could say about most of our losses. We lost several games that maybe we 'shouldn't' have that affected our playoff standings and tie breaker status.

C'est la vie.

I read something on one of the sports sites (I can't remember where), but basically the person said "if it comes down to you needing to get the 5th seed vs. the 6th seed, you're not likely to advance very far into the playoffs anyways" which is mostly true.

Yea, I think we would've beaten AZ in hind sight, and WA ended up being a much easier game than Minn in negative temps, but that doesn't excuse how we played in the 1st half @ Carolina.

If we can find an effective way to shore up the OL next year, we won't start as slowly and might be looking at HFA for at least one game in the playoffs next year. I feel much better about even having just one home game and then going on the road than having to run a hat trick.

Doesn't have to be week 16 loss. If we had beaten them week 1 the same thing would have happened as in your scenario. Same goes for any loss.

If we had beaten Carolina in the play-offs we would have gotten a shot at Arizona and we would be playing in the Superbowl with a strong chance to win it.

Those are all just what if scenarios though, the only things on my mind is making sure we iron out our mistakes (Oline being too weak, no pressure on passing plays from DTs) and making sure we don't lose too many key components in the off-season so we can make a run at SB 51.

I think we are discounting the OP's point just a bit. I mean we were never in the 2nd Rams game. Just looked out of it, bereft of any initiative, despite it being close.

Team's first 5 losses were all blown leads.. but by the time the home game with the Rams came along the Hawks were on a significant tear. 5 in a row and 7 of 8. They looked primed for a deep run. That loss derailed the momentum just a bit, but it guaranteed the team's 6th seed status... and as pointed out, the difference between the 6th and 5th seed this year was two east coast road trips and 10am starts, one in frigid cold.

Team's lose and its easy to go back and point to here, here or here about "what ifs"... but given how the seeding played out in the end, that last loss was a big one in terms of what it finalized.

My what if is about a year old now...

Sigh.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

All in all the team just wasn't as good a team as last year or the year before.


Wait until next year.

Do you all really believe we wouldn't have had to play at Washington 10:00 AM Sunday of WC weekend? Cuz if you think that, you haven't paying attention to how the NFL schedules the Seahawks and their opponents. That said, at least it wouldn't have been -10 windchill and a win there and we're in AZ.

As Bill Parcells said, you are what your record says you are.

This team was a 6th seed WC team because it played like one. Down the stretch, in a game that was both a revenge game and near a must win - they failed. Remember, they lose the Detroit game and/or the Cowboys game - they likely do not get in at all.

Ask yourself if you think this team would have beaten the Cowboys with all their horses. There was fortune on the part of the Seahawks in getting to the playoffs at all considering what was possible.

This was a team that got fortunate to get the 6th seed, and then did just about what you expect a 6th seed to do. Squeak by a 5th seed in weird weather conditions and then go on to get shelled by the #1 team in their house.

There was a lot more to how we landed as the 6 than just that single game. The offense was a joke for half the year, as an example. Plenty of losses could have been wins with balanced play.

jammerhawk":2fsjdtvy said:

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

All in all the team just wasn't as good a team as last year or the year before.


Wait until next year.

Click to expand...

True...we were not as good. We could come up with reasons why as well.....there are several.

As an additional thought, I was just rewatching Russell Wilson in the 2012 Rose Bowl vs. Oregon. That seems like a long time ago, but as I watched that game it is the very same Russell that we see playing in a Hawks uniform today. What I'm trying to say is that If I didn't know who the Wisconsin QB was......I would have told you he plays exactly like Russell Wilson today...his style of play has not changed. Bottom line, our Coaches need to design/run plays that Russell excels at,,ie. read-option, quick slants, ect. The game plan against the Rams just plain "sucked".

I like the question of the OP, and considering the scenario options. But in the end it may not have mattered.

And why do some of you say certain games played by other teams were "easier" than ours, and if only we had played against that team we'd have won, or done so more convincingly?

Just because team X plays team Y well, doesn't mean the Hawks match up well against team Y. We could easily win against X and lose to Y. After watching the Minnesota game, I still thought playing Carolina was going to be a win because of what we saw the whole 2nd half. I just thought it was start sooner, and without being down 31.

Ive thought about this exact scenario multiple times. In an alternate universe we got the 5th seed and are about to appear in our 3rd straight SB. But at the end of the day, we were a couple plays away from beating this year's NFC Champs against all the crappy odds we were dealt. Things happen and all we can do now is look to the future and to next season. If we have a good draft and retain our FA's we need, we'll be back in it next year.

Optimus25":f0fpp0vr said:

My what if is about a year old now...

Sigh.

Click to expand...

Yup. It's truly a game of inches. A close play goes in the Hawks favor here or there and history is quite different. Same with this season... in either direction. That's why what Pete Carroll is always preaching (to keep battling, etc.) is so key. It's not over until it's over.

It's really quite something to witness the resilience and grit of the Seahawks in this JS/PC era. That's why we all can't wait for next season already in great anticipation of what will unfold in the coming years knowing the competitive resolve of the caliber of players that represent Championship Seahawks Football.

All of our losses were meaningful. We just didn't perform well enough to deserve a deep playoff run. I only hope this is the final call for PC to get serious about our O-Line. It all starts and ends with them.

In addition, it would be nice to finally get a DT who can actually get inside penetration on a regular basis.

Even with the loss to the Rams, the Seahawks would have been the 5th seed had the Packers not laid an egg against the Vikings. Just wasn't meant to be. Maybe they do better next season.

winning the damn division and get HOME FIELD all during the playoffs again. we started the season with our head up our ass- that has to change

jammerhawk":2nqv3ner said:

Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

All in all the team just wasn't as good a team as last year or the year before.


Wait until next year.

Click to expand...

Pretty much true.

I prefer to think of it the way Brady did in his letter to the fans. The goal is to always make it to the 'final game,' which is not easy, but season's like this 'pave the way.' So many 'could shoulda's,' from Kam's holdout to BOLSTERING our CBs with Carrie Williams, to an OL that totally couldn't handle our normal scheme. But it's time to shrug it off and hope we don't have yet another medley wrenches thrown into the gears next season.