Clayton: Hawks schedule no longer as tough as it once seemed

Remaining home games:

Falcons
Bills
Eagles
Panthers
Rams
Cardinals

The foundation of the 2012 and 2013 teams was going 7-1 / 8-0 at home. They were only 5-3 at home in 2015 and without that last minute TD vs Miami they would've had a bizarre 5-4 home run. There's no certainties here (SEA lost to ARI, LA/STL and CAR at home in 2015) but there's an extremely good opportunity to go 8-0.

With one road win already, they'd realistically probably have to win three more of the following (assuming the Vikings keep winning and/or Green Bay goes on a run) to have a really good shot at the #1 seed...

@ Cardinals
@ Saints
@ Patriots
@ Buccaneers
@ Packers
@ 49ers

If they play like they did vs the Jets against New Orleans, Tampa Bay and San Fran they'll win those. Not confident they'll beat Green Bay or New England. Cards game will be fascinating (and nerve wracking if SEA loses to Atlanta).

theENGLISHseahawk":18pkh3po said:

Remaining home games:

Falcons
Bills
Eagles
Panthers
Rams
Cardinals

The foundation of the 2012 and 2013 teams was going 7-1 / 8-0 at home. They were only 5-3 at home in 2015 and without that last minute TD vs Miami they would've had a bizarre 5-4 home run. There's no certainties here (SEA lost to ARI, LA/STL and CAR at home in 2015) but there's an extremely good opportunity to go 8-0.

With one road win already, they'd realistically probably have to win three more of the following (assuming the Vikings keep winning and/or Green Bay goes on a run) to have a really good shot at the #1 seed...

@ Cardinals
@ Saints
@ Patriots
@ Buccaneers
@ Packers
@ 49ers

If they play like they did vs the Jets against New Orleans, Tampa Bay and San Fran they'll win those. Not confident they'll beat Green Bay or New England. Cards game will be fascinating (and nerve wracking if SEA loses to Atlanta).

Click to expand...

I fear pissed off Brady game more than that Green Bay game. But has anyone noticed that the packers are holding teams to 42 yards rushing per game? They still give up over 270 passing just that is a super low rushing total to give up.

I feel better about the Packers and Pats then most. we tend to play to our competition. Its the Bucs and Saints that have me scared. We always play at the crap teams level.

sdog1981":128dafgn said:

theENGLISHseahawk":128dafgn said:

Remaining home games:

Falcons
Bills
Eagles
Panthers
Rams
Cardinals

The foundation of the 2012 and 2013 teams was going 7-1 / 8-0 at home. They were only 5-3 at home in 2015 and without that last minute TD vs Miami they would've had a bizarre 5-4 home run. There's no certainties here (SEA lost to ARI, LA/STL and CAR at home in 2015) but there's an extremely good opportunity to go 8-0.

With one road win already, they'd realistically probably have to win three more of the following (assuming the Vikings keep winning and/or Green Bay goes on a run) to have a really good shot at the #1 seed...

@ Cardinals
@ Saints
@ Patriots
@ Buccaneers
@ Packers
@ 49ers

If they play like they did vs the Jets against New Orleans, Tampa Bay and San Fran they'll win those. Not confident they'll beat Green Bay or New England. Cards game will be fascinating (and nerve wracking if SEA loses to Atlanta).

Click to expand...

I fear pissed off Brady game more than that Green Bay game. But has anyone noticed that the packers are holding teams to 42 yards rushing per game? They still give up over 270 passing just that is a super low rushing total to give up.

Click to expand...

The Pats game is a prime time game 5:30pm Nov 13th. Still reasonably warm or at least not sub zero. I like our chances in this game. We lost a Super bowl to them and will likely be playing like we normally do in the second half of the season.

GB is a little scarier and it's in December which could cause havoc weather wise but at least it's not a 10am start. Honestly my biggest fear in this game is going to be officiating. Watching the Packers constantly getting away with murder and being assisted by the officiating is nauseating. You can bet the only way we win this game is if we get off to an early start and remove the officials from the equation.

If you watch virtually any offensive snap of a GB game you will see their O-lineman grabbing the shoulder pads and or tucking their hands under the sleeve to grab the pads themselves. It is text book holding but never gets called. Meanwhile their opponents are often called for holding from a defender spinning out (which allows for some variation of holding).

Another one you can also watch (different team but great example) on any play that Larry Fitzgerald blocks. His blocking could be used as the text book on what not to do and he does it every time he engages a defender with absolutely zero holding calls on him. Larry does much of what you see GB's O-lineman do. Immediately and blatantly reaches out and grabs both shoulder pads and that is how he blocks. Don't know if he was taught that way or just figures they don't call him for it so why not. But it is one of the most blatant holds you will see if you pay attention to it.

Sorry about the rant. I like our changes in NE but for reasons stated above, I'm not as confident in GB.

theENGLISHseahawk":1f1vh6n4 said:

Remaining home games:

Falcons
Bills
Eagles
Panthers
Rams
Cardinals

The foundation of the 2012 and 2013 teams was going 7-1 / 8-0 at home. They were only 5-3 at home in 2015 and without that last minute TD vs Miami they would've had a bizarre 5-4 home run. There's no certainties here (SEA lost to ARI, LA/STL and CAR at home in 2015) but there's an extremely good opportunity to go 8-0.

With one road win already, they'd realistically probably have to win three more of the following (assuming the Vikings keep winning and/or Green Bay goes on a run) to have a really good shot at the #1 seed...

@ Cardinals
@ Saints
@ Patriots
@ Buccaneers
@ Packers
@ 49ers

If they play like they did vs the Jets against New Orleans, Tampa Bay and San Fran they'll win those. Not confident they'll beat Green Bay or New England. Cards game will be fascinating (and nerve wracking if SEA loses to Atlanta).

Click to expand...

Any team with playoff aspirations wants to go 8-0 at home, and go .500 on the road to win 12 games.

I'm not sure what Clayton's point is about our schedule looking easier, other than the more quality teams are mostly at home. The Falcons, Bills and Eagles are all playing much better than would've been anticipated at the beginning of the year, while the Bucs, Panthers and Cardinals are not playing as well as expected. We've owned Arizona at their house, so if we can win our home game with them, I'm not worried about it. I expect @ Saints, @ Cardinals, @ Bucs, and @49ers to be wins. I think the Patriots and Packers are probably losses, but I see that due to preferential officiating as much as anything. I am anticipating a 3:1 penalty ratio with Seahawks on the losing end of that.

Eagles, Falcons, and Bills are all looking to be tougher games that anticipated last year. I think we can beat all of them at home, the team I worry the most about is the Eagles because their DL is dominating.

It's still plenty tough in my opinion. I thought it was going to be easier at the beginning of the year.

I didnt expect cardinals and panthers to look like they have so far this season. I think by the time we play them they will be deflated and will just get beaten up by us. I thought those games would be alot tougher before the season started.

I'd guess 11-5 with 12-4 being more likely than 10-6.

lukerguy":5paml35n said:

I'd guess 11-5 with 12-4 being more likely than 10-6.

Click to expand...

Agreed.

I can't really pick out 5 more losses on that schedule, even throwing in one or two flukey ones.

TBH 12-4 even seems a tad more realistic to me than 11-5, but agreed the safe prediction is somewhere in between those two.

That is one thing about the Seahawks that is hard to figure. As someone else mentioned earlier the Hawks play to level of there opponent. Remember a few years ago when we played the Bucs when they were putrid. We had to come back from a major deficit to win. It is all about match ups. Some of those "bad" teams match well with us so it is hard to predict. Like Pete & Co. say. One week at a time.

P.S. I would just loooooove to beat the Pats at home. Pleeeeeease let it happen.

Year of The Hawk":z8xh7vei said:

That is one thing about the Seahawks that is hard to figure. As someone else mentioned earlier the Hawks play to level of there opponent. Remember a few years ago when we played the Bucs when they were putrid. We had to come back from a major deficit to win. It is all about match ups. Some of those "bad" teams match well with us so it is hard to predict. Like Pete & Co. say. One week at a time.

P.S. I would just loooooove to beat the Pats at home. Pleeeeeease let it happen.

Click to expand...

Looks like I'm going to the Pats game. My neighbor is the uncle of the Pats D coordinator so we'really going up from PA for the game :stirthepot:

NFL team strength is so fluid and week to week it's hard to look past even two weeks from now, let alone the rest of the schedule to say it's easier than it was at the beginning of the season.

I hope Clayton's right, but this is a grain of salt hypothetical I just can't get fired up about.

theENGLISHseahawk":2ptuiv3q said:

Remaining home games:

Falcons
Bills
Eagles
Panthers
Rams
Cardinals

The foundation of the 2012 and 2013 teams was going 7-1 / 8-0 at home. They were only 5-3 at home in 2015 and without that last minute TD vs Miami they would've had a bizarre 5-4 home run. There's no certainties here (SEA lost to ARI, LA/STL and CAR at home in 2015) but there's an extremely good opportunity to go 8-0.

With one road win already, they'd realistically probably have to win three more of the following (assuming the Vikings keep winning and/or Green Bay goes on a run) to have a really good shot at the #1 seed...

@ Cardinals
@ Saints
@ Patriots
@ Buccaneers
@ Packers
@ 49ers

If they play like they did vs the Jets against New Orleans, Tampa Bay and San Fran they'll win those. Not confident they'll beat Green Bay or New England. Cards game will be fascinating (and nerve wracking if SEA loses to Atlanta).

Click to expand...

If they stay healthy and avoid major injury to a key player or two the rest of the way. I don't see a home loss out there. MAYBE the Rams given their ability to be a complete thorn in the backside, but IMO their just dessert is coming soon.

Road games, again assuming no major injuries, chalk up wins against Tampa and SF. That takes us to 11 wins. The Cardinals and Saints are very beatable on the road.. and those two wins would (I would think anyway) guarantee a bye at the worst with a 13-3 record.

So yeah, the #1 seed is very much in play. The Vikings and Packers do however have Charmin soft schedules as well.