What if...

Pete's offense philosophy the whole time has been to avoid showing their plan through the entire first half of a game? Meaning let's just have our defense stand us up until we know we have to get it going and easy go put points on the board. Its crazy to think about and extremely risky. The teams that have allowed us to have dominat first halves are actually not very good defensively because they allowed us to score with a scripted beginning game scheme. And the teams who have made us look ridiculous in the first half are actually amazing on the defensive side of the ball. Bill's, rams, niners.

Nothing else explains why we can consistently hang in a game like we arent even playing and then turn around a drive the ball with intent to shove it down their throats and pull out the dub.

Also, we are going to the playoffs with a completely healthy group of tes, rbs, wrs and russ. Our defensive is communicating and playing better together.

I personally wouldnt be surprised if we come out and just start man-handling teams. We have been waiting this whole season knowing the team is capable of beat downs and it would be great to see it. Now is the perfect time. While these playoff teams think they have us down pat to the t...we expose them with fantastic, explosive offense and a controlling defense.

Because pete decided to not tip his hand.

Maybe just a conspiracy, but I think it would be brilliant.
Timing and scheming wise.

To my mind, this post really reads like apologizing for our first-half offensive ineptitude for close to a decade, lol. Doesn't make sense that this is a realistic possibility to me.

I'm not apologizing for anything. I dont play for the team and I dont get to manage or coach them. Some people would benefit themselves by bot thinking they are actually apart of the organization.

Much has been said in past seasons (and even this one) about Pete's potential rope-a-dope. There's certainly some of that going on, where the first half--or at least up until the last drive of the 1st half when it seems we often score--is used to get a sense for the Defense's tendencies. That knowledge is then used in the 4th quarter to turn on the gas, beat up on winded defenders, and run out the clock once a small lead is established.

As has been noted, this plan hasn't worked well in some crucial playoff games. Opponents with tough defenses will keep us from scoring at will, although we've shown against some good ones this season that we can still put up 20+ points on them.

It also seems RW takes a few minutes to get his passing game online. But I'd like to see actual stats on this before making a claim just based on the eye -test.

I think Pete has tried to do the "rope-a-dope" for years. What we often see on the field and his "keep it close/win in the 4th/win at the end of the season/just make the playoffs" mantras speak to this. It doesn't always work and sometimes fails epically. Weird strategy for foosball, imo.

Grahamhawker":12nidpxq said:

I think Pete has tried to do the "rope-a-dope" for years. What we often see on the field and his "keep it close/win in the 4th/win at the end of the season/just make the playoffs" mantras speak to this. It doesn't always work and sometimes fails epically. Weird strategy for foosball, imo.

Click to expand...

So 12-4 is "just making the playoffs"?

Nunya":71figqra said:

Grahamhawker":71figqra said:

I think Pete has tried to do the "rope-a-dope" for years. What we often see on the field and his "keep it close/win in the 4th/win at the end of the season/just make the playoffs" mantras speak to this. It doesn't always work and sometimes fails epically. Weird strategy for foosball, imo.

Click to expand...

So 12-4 is "just making the playoffs"?

Click to expand...

Thus exposing the hole(s) in my theory. Good one. Obviously getting to the playoffs should be a goal for every team, doh.

Grahamhawker":2ipgczrj said:

I think Pete has tried to do the "rope-a-dope" for years. What we often see on the field and his "keep it close/win in the 4th/win at the end of the season/just make the playoffs" mantras speak to this. It doesn't always work and sometimes fails epically. Weird strategy for foosball, imo.

Click to expand...

Its is really weird. That's why I would call it a conspiracy to proven further, but I can't help but to try and explain what is actually occurring.

Image pete in a room with his phone and computer...dark and cynical like...what if we base this whole season on at first showcasing russ as unstoppable and then we all the sudden turn it off so teams think we arent as well rounded, but still be able to win games once we figure out the defense. Everyone will think russ is struggling or sucks when he really...really...really doesnt.

Haters. Haha.

Weird is right.

Pete is a boxer at heart, not a mauler. Yes, his game opening strategy tends to lean towards "feeling out" the defensive scheme of the opponent rather than trying to run up the score from the opening snap. When our D is forcing punts, it's a great strategy for the eventual win and doesn't worry much about how he gets there, other than believing that a balanced offense is best.

Obviously, putting up a bunch of 3 and outs is frustrating and doesn't build any offensive momentum, but when you're playing top 5/10 defensive teams it happens. When our defense is successfully doing the same thing to our opponent, putting the end game in Russ's hands is not a bad strategy overall.

:229031_shrug: We've averaged over 10 wins a season under Pete since Russ got here. Kind of hard to argue with the basic strategy there. I'm not that unhappy. May have to up the dosage on my blood pressure meds, but a small price to pay. :twisted:

Hey, as a Seahawks fan, I'm virtually guaranteed an extra game or two to watch, minimum, every season. :snack:

sutz":2jsqqqz8 said:

Pete is a boxer at heart, not a mauler. Yes, his game opening strategy tends to lean towards "feeling out" the defensive scheme of the opponent rather than trying to run up the score from the opening snap. When our D is forcing punts, it's a great strategy for the eventual win and doesn't worry much about how he gets there, other than believing that a balanced offense is best.

Obviously, putting up a bunch of 3 and outs is frustrating and doesn't build any offensive momentum, but when you're playing top 5/10 defensive teams it happens. When our defense is successfully doing the same thing to our opponent, putting the end game in Russ's hands is not a bad strategy overall.

:229031_shrug: We've averaged over 10 wins a season under Pete since Russ got here. Kind of hard to argue with the basic strategy there. I'm not that unhappy. May have to up the dosage on my blood pressure meds, but a small price to pay. :twisted:

Hey, as a Seahawks fan, I'm virtually guaranteed an extra game or two to watch, minimum, every season. :snack:

Click to expand...

Exactly. It's frustrating to watch sometimes but dam it...at the end it still feels good.

I am still feeling very optimistic about this season as I did day one. Some ugly wins, but wins are wins. If we want more then the hawks are in control of getting em.
I think most of my anxiety hinges on the fact that I know this team is very capable. We just have to hang in there and watch til the last second.