The Home Mystique. Have we lost it?

We've been a better road team than home team in recent years. We're 5-7 in our last 12 home games, 9-5 on the road. We've weirdly become a better road team.

In the past, no matter how great the opponent was, playing in Seattle was scary. But even when including the Texans game last year(which we miraculously won), it seems teams aren't afraid to play in Seattle anymore. What's changed? Is it the energy by players? Fans? Different philosophy from the coaching staff?

The crazy thing is, I'm more confident in a possible road victory against the Rams compared to say, our home game against the Vikings.

Losing the #1 DVOA defense for four years may something to do with it. Plus Wilson was better before than he is now.

It’s a very odd thing. I can’t wrap my mind around it. This team has always been dominant at home regardless of if it was Hasselbeck throwing to Darrell Jackson and Holmgren on the sidelines or Russell throwing to Doug Baldwin with Pete Carroll on the sidelines. It’s more than stats. It’s just unexplainable. The 12s are still doing their part so what gives?

Defense was almost always a guarantee and giving up over 20 points was basically unheard of, at home or on the road. Easy to be dominant when opposing QBs struggling to throw for 150 yards. Will take some time getting the new guys up to that level.

Yeah it's just not loud like it used to be. Now it's just like every other stadium.

stang233":1hrlpbjj said:

Yeah it's just not loud like it used to be. Now it's just like every other stadium.

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That simply is not true. I am a season ticket holder and have been since 1997 and I have been around the NFL including the Super Dome in New Orleans and no other stadium even comes close. Now admittedly, I have never been to a game in Kansas City but otherwise, not even close.

Scorpion05":1ku4s3s3 said:

In the past, no matter how great the opponent was, playing in Seattle was scary. But even when including the Texans game last year(which we miraculously won), it seems teams aren't afraid to play in Seattle anymore. What's changed? Is it the energy by players?

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The team just isnt as good anymore. Pretty simple to me.

Aros":3l7axz7y said:

stang233":3l7axz7y said:

Yeah it's just not loud like it used to be. Now it's just like every other stadium.

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That simply is not true. I am a season ticket holder and have been since 1997 and I have been around the NFL including the Super Dome in New Orleans and no other stadium even comes close. Now admittedly, I have never been to a game in Kansas City but otherwise, not even close.

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Not impressed yesteday , I've never seen that many fans sitting down and not making noise ... Its not as loud as it used to be for sure .

Its more on the team even though crowd noise does help obviously. Seattle is definitely home field advantage. The team isnt as good. Itll change when we get more experience imo.

Pete's fault

Yes i have been saying it for a while. The day u guys let Kansas city hold on to the record for loudest stadium noise is the day the mystique left.

Ambrose83":yrir7zal said:

Aros":yrir7zal said:

stang233":yrir7zal said:

Yeah it's just not loud like it used to be. Now it's just like every other stadium.

Click to expand...

That simply is not true. I am a season ticket holder and have been since 1997 and I have been around the NFL including the Super Dome in New Orleans and no other stadium even comes close. Now admittedly, I have never been to a game in Kansas City but otherwise, not even close.

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Not impressed yesteday , I've never seen that many fans sitting down and not making noise ... Its not as loud as it used to be for sure .

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And how many games do you go to a year? Where do you sit? Did you stand and yell all game?

If you aren't a STH and aren't there for most games you really have no clue.

There's always games where the noise and crowd enthusiasm varies. When the offence puts on a crap show, it's always more subdued. When he offence is hitting its stride and the defense is getting turnovers the crowd really gets into it. Always been that way. And the fans can sense the necessity of the match. Playoffs and division games get more people out of their seat.

And different sections behave differently. Lower bowl guys tend to stand more than upper bowl fans. Club seat fans sit more than non-club seaters. Always been that way.

And honestly as long as the crowd is energetic enough to cause the opposition to go to silent counts and hand signals, there's not much more you can do.

I think the problem is that the teams coming in are far more prepared for the volume, have their hand signals down and have to really focus. They are less flustered than the old days. Everyone knows its coming. Now all we seem to be doing is disrupting our defensive communication. IT's sad to see that HFA go downhill so much the last couple years. But it's frustrating as a fan that yells and stands on D every time the D is on the field. After a while you wonder if you are doing any good any more.

Crowd noise helps on defense. Yesterday, your defense allowed 7.3 ypc. The run defense needs to be stout to allow 3rd and longs and let the crowd noise help

We played a really good team and we were right there in the end to tie it up

All you can ask for

The difference is the miracles from past year didn't show up one more time simply because we aren't as good yet. This team is building towards better not on the decline

The stadium is still really loud (compared to most stadiums) but I often see people standing and cheering when the Hawks are on offense, or just sitting on their tails on crucial plays on defense which seems puzzling to me. Scrolling through Twitter after the game on my way home yesterday I came across this gem.

Im seeing more and more of these types of fans at the game.

Aros":23e4iz4s said:

It’s a very odd thing. I can’t wrap my mind around it. This team has always been dominant at home regardless of if it was Hasselbeck throwing to Darrell Jackson and Holmgren on the sidelines or Russell throwing to Doug Baldwin with Pete Carroll on the sidelines. It’s more than stats. It’s just unexplainable. The 12s are still doing their part so what gives?

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What gives is NFL coaches and coordinators now have helmet mics to talk to their QB and complicated versatile hand signals implemented to deal with crowd noise.

So the days of leading the league in false starts for the opposition teams and creating that HFA are pretty much over.

Doesn't mean the CLINK isn't still a great HFA, it certainly is, but IMO it was never a "mystique".............it was just a REALLY good advantage to have over our opponent's offense being able to disrupt playcalling and how their offense operated wih 64k people screaming for the entire game.

The fans and the field have lost nothing. Pete and his Seahawks however clearly have.

All good things must come to an end. The only question is for how long and who brings it back?

Seymour":1dnlegec said:

The fans and the field have lost nothing. Pete and his Seahawks however clearly have.

All good things must come to an end. The only question is for how long and who brings it back?

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Are you really that down on what Pete's doing?

I think we're on the right track, we just don't have the depth or talent level right now to overcome mistakes and our best players going down against good teams.

I still have faith that we're going in the right direction, just might take another year or two to restock the roster with quality starters and depth. That's what I saw yesterday.........if you want to beat a good team like the Chargers at home, Russell had to be as good or better than Rivers (he wasn't), and we couldn't have our best players going down (Carson/McDougald/Fluker).

Also something no one's said yet that I've seen, but Wagner had a terrible game. He's suppose to be the lightning rod out there on defense making plays all over the field, and he looked slow and even injured. Just can't have that against an elite back and QB like Rivers who will pick you apart if you're zone players aren't quickly filling gaps and zones.

The crowd noise used to be unique to Seattle and it isn't anymore. All teams now prepare for loud stadiums so really we can scream all we want I don't believe it makes any difference anymore. It used to. Probably a hard truth for many but if you take emotion out of it am I wrong?

Without that advantage, the better team wins regardless and yesterday the better team won.

Sgt. Largent":36v3cutb said:

Seymour":36v3cutb said:

The fans and the field have lost nothing. Pete and his Seahawks however clearly have.

All good things must come to an end. The only question is for how long and who brings it back?

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Are you really that down on what Pete's doing?

I think we're on the right track, we just don't have the depth or talent level right now to overcome mistakes and our best players going down against good teams.

I still have faith that we're going in the right direction, just might take another year or two to restock the roster with quality starters and depth. That's what I saw yesterday.........if you want to beat a good team like the Chargers at home, Russell had to be as good or better than Rivers (he wasn't), and we couldn't have our best players going down (Carson/McDougald/Fluker).

Also something no one's said yet that I've seen, but Wagner had a terrible game. He's suppose to be the lightning rod out there on defense making plays all over the field, and he looked slow and even injured. Just can't have that against an elite back and QB like Rivers who will pick you apart if you're zone players aren't quickly filling gaps and zones.

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I'm answering the question. Have we lost our HFA?

Like it or not, the answer is clearly yes. And it's not the fans. What does that leave?

Yes, we are on track. Again, I'm answering the question.