I **loved** this game

I know everyone's crapping on the offense right now, which is understandable. The offense was a black hole tonight, and it hasn't exactly been good outside of the Jets and Niners games (maybe the two worst teams in the league). It needs to get better for the Hawks to be a real contender.

But man oh man. When all was said and done, I couldn't help but LOVE this game. Why? Because defense. Because special teams. Because passion and heart. The vast majority of football "fans" no doubt hated this game, because they can never get enough offense. They hate defense. They hate special teams. The NFL has slowly but surely been doing their best to eliminate their relevancy. So it was nice to both of those elements on display tonight, for better or worse. Considering they got ZERO help all night, this defense played incredible. That goal line stand in OT was a thing of beauty. EVERYBODY thought the game was over at that point. I did. You did. But they didn't quit, and when David Johnson (one of the game's best players) came up inches short of the goal line, the AZ kicker was so scared they were gonna block it that he missed! Incredible! I loved this game because this team didn't believe it was over until the clock hit 0:00 in OT. They had hope when I had none. Hell, Bobby wanted to go out there and keep playing! Dude needed an IV and he wanted more.

Yeah, it was a bit of a kick to the nads when Hauschka shanked it on the other end and we couldn't grab the W. But this was a brutal loss without the effort by the defense and special teams, and even the offense turned it on in OT. They turned a sure L into a T, and while that's definitely not as satisfying as a W, statistically it did improve our chances of both winning the division and getting a first-round bye.

So yes, the offense sucks right now, and it needs to get better. If prior seasons are any guide, it will. But even if it doesn't, and this team falls short, you can and should still appreciate great games like this when they come along. Every season, 31 out of 32 teams fail to reach the ultimate goal. Sometimes it's just nice to enjoy the ride. And who knows when we'll get another touchdown-less game in the modern NFL?

There was a Monday night game in a year the Seahawks were 2-14.

The defense was amazing, maybe better than this defense.

At some point in the game, the announcers were openly mocking the Seattle offense, pointing out the defensive players that should be also playing their offensive position.

That is what this game felt like. Like a 2-14 offense being propped up but a truly great defense.

But in no universe would I compare Wilson to Dan McGuirre (or whoever was the QB then, maybe Gelbaugh?)

The streak continues. No unstressful games.

TwistedHusky":2yrmlp1d said:

There was a Monday night game in a year the Seahawks were 2-14.

The defense was amazing, maybe better than this defense.

At some point in the game, the announcers were openly mocking the Seattle offense, pointing out the defensive players that should be also playing their offensive position.

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I'll be honest, at one point in this game, I definitely felt like we were more likely to score with the defense on the field than the offense.

Alexander":1d4jimm3 said:

TwistedHusky":1d4jimm3 said:

There was a Monday night game in a year the Seahawks were 2-14.

The defense was amazing, maybe better than this defense.

At some point in the game, the announcers were openly mocking the Seattle offense, pointing out the defensive players that should be also playing their offensive position.

Click to expand...

I'll be honest, at one point in this game, I definitely felt like we were more likely to score with the defense on the field than the offense.

Click to expand...

Or special teams. We were at this point last year too.

I did not "love" this game. They never really opened up on offense until OT, they abandoned for long stretches the quick passing attack and the D bailed them out from a loss. The ending, despite how utterly bizarre, left a sour taste. We still had a chance and blew it.

Kudos to the entire D, Wilson, Graham, Baldwin, Kearse, McEvoy and CMike for giving their all and fighting to the end to put us in a winnable position.

It was my favorite game ive ever watched. Ever. I HATE bad defense and todays high scoring, all offense crap.

This game was amazing to me.

I had a 75-minute slow-roll heart attack, but yeah, I'm with ya, op. I kinda liked this game, cardiac-style or not. The defense and special teams were amazeballs good. And I so wish we could have capitalized on that. The whole game I was thinking of how much we'd be ranting and raving over how awesome our defense is if we'd been even able to move the ball on offense.

And as of this week, we're number one for fewest points allowed. Eagles are the only other team even in double digits with us.

I think tie games are hysterical, so I enjoyed that. There comes that point of frustration where you just feel you deserve one.

I enjoyed the defensive performance, but HATED that they had to play 90 snaps. The Cards have really good D, but I seriously doubt they would have held up that long, had their offense forced them into the same situation.

Sent from my SC-02H using Tapatalk

I thoroughly enjoyed the defensive performance by our defense I couldn't be prouder. On the o-line you get what you pay for. Cheap line low performance. I am talking about the tackles. I want to see Odihambo at tackle. Hindsight is 20/20 but they should have kept Okung.

I HATED this game. All those holding penalties was frustrating. I love defense just as much as you but c'mon offensively it was an eyesore to watch.

I didn't love this game per-say, but I did love the Defense. I thought the offensive game plan was bad, and only got worse because we could never seem to make the proper adjustments, even after the half. The O line was tough to watch, very tough. But overall, it was a tough grind it out battle that was fun to watch. two good teams...

The ref's tried their best to ruin this game for me and was very frustrating. Which is why I'm not that down on the O, every time we had a positive play, it would get nullified by a holding call. 10- 90 yrds as opposed to 6-45 for them? That's a lot of penalties for a mid season game?

the defence was awesome...offence was shit...guess it balances out

If our offense had won this game for us in a shootout and the D had been horrible, but we'd still gotten the W, this board would sound quite a bit different, as it has in the past (see posts immediately after last year's game against the Steelers). It seems too many people have bought into the mindset that offense is where it's at in order to have a good team or to see a game worth watching.

We saw a great game last night from the defense. I loved that. The sky isn't falling, we haven't lost the division, we'll still be contenders. Enjoy this historic team!

In the beginning I kept telling my wife that eventually with our offense playing this way something will have to give on defense. Nothing really did. By the end of the game I was hoping/expecting the defense to score to bail out the offense. That was the only way I feel we could win. Our defense played one of the best games ever. With all the bad field position and as many chances as they had we only gave them 6 points in 5 quarters of football. WOW. Rest up guys. You deserve it.

Kind of hoping that Pete Gives the Defense a rest day and makes the entire Offense run wind sprints until they puke. Honestly counting our blessings right now that no one on the Defense was seriously hurt last night having spent 3/4 of that game on the field trying to undo the mess the Offense created for them repeatedly.

Awesome efforts by both defenses! Rare game.

hawker84":2i2i32cd said:

I didn't love this game per-say, but I did love the Defense. I thought the offensive game plan was bad, and only got worse because we could never seem to make the proper adjustments, even after the half. The O line was tough to watch, very tough. But overall, it was a tough grind it out battle that was fun to watch. two good teams...

The ref's tried their best to ruin this game for me and was very frustrating. Which is why I'm not that down on the O, every time we had a positive play, it would get nullified by a holding call. 10- 90 yrds as opposed to 6-45 for them? That's a lot of penalties for a mid season game?

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I felt like this too. Just like a few weeks back, they replay the penalty and both fan bases go WHUT? Just wondering if the refs are part of the parity of the game.. Was last week a set up for this week? Almost afraid to see who refs our game in N.O. But life goes on.

To be able to attend this game live was surreal. One of the best games I've ever seen live. It had playoff atmosphere all over it. The outcome should have been different for both teams