Reasons I am [still] pumped! (week 13 edition)

Yup, still pumped, let's see here ..


I'm okay giving the Seahawks a pass vs Tampa Bay

Way too many circumstances.

It's mid week, a few days after a pretty bad loss, and to be honest I am still pumped about the Seahawks. And actually/surprisingly after the game on Sunday, I didn't feel that badly. With the leadup to the game hearing about all the injuries, plus considering the few weeks prior the super high level of play, I for some reason was surprised ...and not surprised. Either the Seahawks would climb high or have a bad day.

Defense: Missing 1/2 your LOB. Your best pass rusher. Two great role players up front as well (Mike Morgan/Brock Coyle). Against a confident gunslinger quarterback and a huge receiver that has that ceiling to climb high on any given day.

Offense: really everything to me was on the O-line. Let's be honest, have been over performing these last few weeks. George Fant having a perfect game? The last few weeks they've been sensational. Today they had a return to the middle compounded by the loss of the consistent man in the middle Justin Britt. Not saying it was only the O-line, but it was a domino effect that had the O-line been more like the previous two weeks, would have been an entirely different ball game.

Overall: the last few weeks they've been almost perfect. Epic teams can keep that up for the most part, but still might have a down game.

And the game itself:

Tampa I think was treating this as a back-against-the-wall scenario. They played really well. Well called game. And they were ready to play and were the big bully that day.

Seahawks played uncharacteristically lethargic. Uncharacteristically NOT the bully. Key word = "uncharacteristically"

Me, not worried about it.

Injuries happen, we are getting guys back

i.e. reinforcements are coming!!!

The "run" game will get helped going forward

Besides my optimism for the o-line going forward (they will be less like Tampa, more like New England/Philly) Russell scrambling showing he can take some load on. Nice to see him back. And that will help the run game a lot too

Playoff bound

Realistically we are playoff bound. If the season ended today, we are in the playoffs. For others.. maybe that's a meh. For me ... I am always excited when my team looks to be in the playoffs.

Vegas Agrees! Seahawks still great!

Vegas seems to usually get things more right than wrong, and why not? That's how they make money so I trust their analysts a lot more than any columnist. Columnists goal is to GET PEOPLE TO READ (or listen, or click). Why do you think Prisco baits the Seahawks fans so much? You'll even hear stories about analysts getting fed the picks they should choose

Vegas? Bottom line is money, you need 50% of people to bet on one team, and 50% of people to bet on the other team. They move the line to do this. So to me it's a better indication of how teams are doing. And Vegas seems to really like the Seahawks not just this upcoming week but the rest of the season even AFTER the Tampa loss.

The NFC (minus Dallas)

The rest of the NFC I would say we win a majority of the time. Before the Tampa game we had separated ourselves to a sure second (with Dallas as a sure first) and the rest of the NFC almost a big mess on the spectrum (with the Giants likely the best of that mess). With the lost to Tampa (which I do give them a pass on to a high degree) the Seahawks do not have that strong separation, but still lead the pack in the NFC (minus Dallas)



Okay ...what about Dallas?

Unfortunately, I don't believe the hype about waiting for the Dallas rookies to crash. I don't think they will. The 2013-2014 SB champions were a super young team. And they just had a will to do it. The Dallas team I see similarly. No crash, likely first seed, losing maybe one game the rest of the season.

And if the NFC Conference finals happened today, I think Dallas wins.

Fortunately, the NFC Conference finals does not happen today. It happens in January.

And December is when magic happens in Seattle

We know the Seahawks tend to better with their back against the wall. That's the run up to the playoffs. And they embrace that buildup to the playoffs which is why they always get their stuff together in November and December and have historic climbs as the playoffs near.

While Dallas is playing at a high level, I don't see them being able to climb faster than the Seahawks. And at some point towards the playoffs the Seahawks will climb up and pass the Cowboys (not in record, but in potential to win it all)

While Seahawks I think would lose today, for the next four to six weeks they will get reinforcements back, they will get deeper as the new guys get quality playing time, Russell will get healthier, George Fant (still sold on him) will get better, the o-line gets more time together. And the guys just in general play great on historic levels.

Not sure Dallas will be quite ready, and that's where I see the youth being a factor. Maybe next year after being through it once, but not this year (like the 2012-2013 Playoff version of the Seahawks)

In short, I almost see it as:

Dallas: y = 1x + 4
Seattle: y = 3x + 1

In conclusion ...

To me I'm very excited to see what the "4th quarter" of the season brings. I do see a Dallas/Seattle NFC Conference Finals. I do see by that point the Seahawks being the team to beat and not vice versa.

And I'm pumped!

Great post!

I just want to wrap my arms around you and give you a big hug, byau.

Great post Byau. Mike Smith is the DC for the Bucs. He wasn't a great HC in Atlanta but is a very good DC. He prepared the Buc defense well. Credit should go to them for a well played game and stunting the Seahawk offense.

Thanks guys (Laloosh! Big hug for you brother!)

hawkfan68":ndou66ct said:

Great post Byau. Mike Smith is the DC for the Bucs. He wasn't a great HC in Atlanta but is a very good DC. He prepared the Buc defense well. Credit should go to them for a well played game and stunting the Seahawk offense.

Click to expand...

Most definitely. And also coaching has to do more than X's and O's. It's getting your team prepared. The way they played, I can only imagine all week they got pumped into the bully mindset and came out ready to attack. Raible and Moon kept saying that the O-line was being beaten by 4 rushers and few blitzes which meant it was just being beaten man-on-man. That's being a bully and huge props to the Bucs coaches for getting their guys mentally ready as well

For the Seahawks, they have that too. In spades. Well coached, well prepped. Which is why I see the game vs the Bucs as "uncharacteristic". Because we've seen the Seahawks make explosive plays on offense and defend that blade of grass on defense and do what's needed to win.

Well wait... how did the Seahawks D actually do? Because I didn't even mention other things I thought of about the "deficient" Seahawks D (because you know it was getting kind of long there in that original post)

But consider these positive takeaways:

* The Seahawks D didn't let the Bucs score in the entire second half

* If you liked that, how about this: The Seahawks D didn't let the Bucs score for three quarters! The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarter ... no score by the Bucs

* The 1st place scoring defense average is about 17 points last I checked. Held the Bucs UNDER that at 14 points.

The Seahawks D defend to the last blade of grass, make the stops when it matters. That's being the bully. Because Tampa did drive down, and we forced some turnovers

So really, I see it as just being that close. Some factor of the O-line just doing a tad bit better and the resulting domino effect. And then it's a different ball game.

For those that don't like the eye-test and just like numbers, well you may not like this, but to me that's it. Just a tad bit better O-line. Not necessarily beat the other team's D line down, but just give another quarter or half second of time for Russell. Another quarter of half second to keep the trust there for Russell so he could execute. I mean: six sacks in a day, season high. That's "uncharacteristic" when season highs happen.

And that repetitive duress will do something to even the best quarterbacks (see: Tom Brady, 2016 AFC conference finals vs the Broncos, see: Cam Newton, 2016 SB vs the Broncos, see: most times the Seahawks D have faced a top level QB).

So really, just that close. The O-line. And we've seen the O-line perform well, so it's there and I'll be interested to watch the next few games. I'm definitely excited to see what's to come.

Great post and some very salient points about things that can't be controlled, ie injuries.

byau":1le3rzqs said:

In short, I almost see it as:

Dallas: y = 1x + 4
Seattle: y = 3x + 1

Click to expand...

Your post was great, up until the point where you made me do math.

PSA

jdemps":11b1e0hh said:

byau":11b1e0hh said:

In short, I almost see it as:

Dallas: y = 1x + 4
Seattle: y = 3x + 1

Click to expand...

Your post was great, up until the point where you made me do math.

PSA

Click to expand...

lol... good thing I posted it at the end then

Coming into this week the Seahawks held a 3 point advantage over the Vikings for the lowest scoring defense.

This was something I was paying attention to because the Vikings only gave up 16 points to AZ earlier that day. Needless to say I was very nervous after the first couple of drives that we were going to give up more than 19 on the day and slide into 2nd place but our defense tightened up and shut out the Buc's the rest of the game.

The one good thing that came out for me was at the end of the day we not only didn't lose ground we gained some going from a 3 point lead to a 5 point lead and still on track for the 5th year in a row to be the lowest scored on defense in the NFL.