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For those of you too emotionally-drained by the WSF to watch the NFL Sunday Nighter, you missed a great game!
31-24 Seahawks over Patriots. The 'Hawks' D, playing without Michael Bennett, held on, with 40-odd seconds left in the 4th quarter, to keep the Patriots out of the end zone. Four tries from inside the 2 yard line--two QB sneaks, one A-gap try by an airborne LeGarrette Blount, and the incomplete fade pass to Gronk. Here's that goal-line stand to preserve the win for the Seahawks:
Russell Wilson seems almost 100 % back and looked very good, passing for 348 yards on 25 of 37 (68%), 3 TDs and 0 interceptions. They look good for the second half of the season....
South Pender wrote:For those of you too emotionally-drained by the WSF to watch the NFL Sunday Nighter, you missed a great game!
Yeah, small revenge over the ill-fated Super Bowl XLIX. It looks like the Seahawks offence smartened up and didn't make the fatal play mistake again. Although Pete Carroll still appears to be big gambling coach after scoring their final touchdown, they still decided to go for the 2-point conversion which failed and left them with still a one scoring lead. Although one point conversions are more difficult now they are still easier than two point conversions.
South Pender wrote:31-24 Seahawks over Patriots. The 'Hawks' D, playing without Michael Bennett, held on, with 40-odd seconds left in the 4th quarter, to keep the Patriots out of the end zone. Four tries from inside the 2 yard line--two QB sneaks, one A-gap try by an airborne LeGarrette Blount, and the incomplete fade pass to Gronk. Here's that goal-line stand to preserve the win for the Seahawks:
But the Seahawks had Kam Chancellor back and he immediately made a huge impact, though in some cases it was a negative one with his penalties. Although I won't immediately say that C.J. Prosise will be the next Beast Mode he certainly showed his capabilities with his decent runs complimented by some long catches as well.
South Pender wrote:For those of you too emotionally-drained by the WSF to watch the NFL Sunday Nighter, you missed a great game!
Yeah, small revenge over the ill-fated Super Bowl XLIX. It looks like the Seahawks offence smartened up and didn't make the fatal play mistake again. Although Pete Carroll still appears to be big gambling coach after scoring their final touchdown, they still decided to go for the 2-point conversion which failed and left them with still a one scoring lead. Although one point conversions are more difficult now they are still easier than two point conversions.
South Pender wrote:31-24 Seahawks over Patriots. The 'Hawks' D, playing without Michael Bennett, held on, with 40-odd seconds left in the 4th quarter, to keep the Patriots out of the end zone. Four tries from inside the 2 yard line--two QB sneaks, one A-gap try by an airborne LeGarrette Blount, and the incomplete fade pass to Gronk. Here's that goal-line stand to preserve the win for the Seahawks:
But the Seahawks had Kam Chancellor back and he immediately made a huge impact, though in some cases it was a negative one with his penalties. Although I won't immediately say that C.J. Prosise will be the next Beast Mode he certainly showed his capabilities with his decent runs complimented by some long catches as well.
Yeah, Robbie...C. J. Prosise! He was a 3rd-round pick out of Notre Dame. Played only one year as a running back at ND after 2 or 3 as a receiver, and I think the Seahawks saw him as a natural 3rd-down back in the mold of Fred Jackson. He has very nice speed, 4.48, and good hands. Whether he'll develop into an every-down back remains to be seen. He's 6 ft., 220 lbs., so could be just a little undersized girth-wise to be the next Beast Mode. Perhaps at 225 or 230, he could be. We'll know more when Thomas Rawls returns, with luck next game against the Eagles. Rawls, you'll recall, was to be the next Beast Mode. If Rawls returns to 2015 form, the 'Hawks will regain their solid rushing game, and Prosise will be an exciting part of that.
Good to see that the Seahawks have rebounded for their last week lost with a blowout win tonight and avenge the playoff lost from last season to the Carolina Panthers. But the bad news is that Earl Thomas has been re-injured after having recovered recently and now he's tweeted that he's now contemplating retirement.
It looks like losing Earl Thomas has caused a curse on both the Seahawks defence by allowing 38 points on a 6-6 Packers team while the offence causing six turnovers. They better quickly readjust if they are to break this curse.
I'm sure before the next Seahawks home game the Sounders will bring their trophy to CenturyLink Field for a pre-game ceremony - the way the Whitecaps brought their USL trophy to a Lions game in 2006 and 2008. Maybe that will inspire the Seahawks adjust for the better the way the Sounders did so after having a terrible first half of the regular season to winning the MLS Cup.
Robbie wrote:I'm sure before the next Seahawks home game the Sounders will bring their trophy to CenturyLink Field for a pre-game ceremony
It's good to see that from their Green Bay hotel, Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman, and some other Seahawks were watching and celebrating their Seattle football brothers.
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Some are calling yesterday's beat-down the worst loss in the Pete Carroll era. And it's hard to argue with that. Earl Thomas's absence was felt on defense for sure, and his replacement, Steven Terrell, was struggling at times. And the 'Hawks couldn't get anything like a pass rush on Aaron Rodgers; he had ridiculous amounts of time to wander around in the pocket before finding an open receiver with a laser. But what happened to the offense? Russell Wilson was uncharacteristically inaccurate, badly missing an open Baldwin down the left sideline in the first half and then Jimmy Graham who was badly overthrown and could have scored had the pass been better. Five interceptions...yikes. But at least two were on the receivers, not Wilson--like the one that went through Baldwin's hands and bounced off his helmet. Hard to watch.
Will they bounce back? I suspect so. I don't think losing is considered an option for this team. Fortunately, they only have three days to think about yesterday's stinker before playing the Rams at CenturyLink on Thursday night. I'm expecting a win, and a clinching of the NFC-West title.
Well the Seahawks managed to end up as the 3rd seed in the NFC playoffs yesterday by virtue of beating the Niners and the Lions' loss to the Packers, along with Washington's loss. Not what they'd hoped for, but they pretty much blew their chance at the #2 seed (with the bye) by losing to the Cardinals last weekend.
This is not a particularly promising-looking team at the moment. Their win at San Francisco yesterday was kind of emblematic of their season--not much consistency and some seemingly glaring holes. I thought the 49er game was sloppy, with not much to build on going into the playoffs.
This year's experiment with a largely inexperienced, low-budget O-line has to be regarded as a failure. The run game is really faltering, and Russell Wilson has had to run for his life far too often to have any consistent success in the passing game.
My prediction of how the Seahawks' playoffs will go is that they will probably win an uninspiring game against the Lions next Saturday at home--starting at 5:15 our time. After that, they will travel to Atlanta and in all likelihood get soundly beaten. I don't expect to see them in the NFC conference final game. That game will probably be Atlanta-Dallas or Atlanta-Green Bay.
The Seahawks need to make some changes on offense in the off-season. They desperately need help at both O-tackle positions, where they've been just terrible this season. The interior of the O-line, although not really good, is probably serviceable, with Glowinski, Britt, and Ifedi returning. Next, they need to either trade for, acquire in free-agency, or draft a stud running back--a big, solid guy who can get the 1 or 2 yards when needed. Thomas Rawls and the rookie C.J. Prosise will be back, and rookie Alex Collins may be as well. But Rawls has not really panned out this year--in part because of injuries and the terrible O-line--but I wonder about him long-term health-wise. The rest of the offense--receivers, tight end--looks solid.
On defense, they are pretty set. Getting Earl Thomas back will make a world of difference, and perhaps the addition of a quality nose tackle or 3-tech guy would solidify an already-good D-line. They may want to find another cover corner to pair up with Richard Sherman, replacing DeShawn Shead, although Shead has seemed serviceable this season, if not great.
But the big need remains the O-line. They just can't let another off-season pass without some really serious attention to building a line that will bring back the ground game and save Wilson from injury.
As a casual fan of the NFL (mainly because my 2 best friends are SEA and NE fans, I watch all those teams' games), I agree completely it's very unlikely they will get past ATL.
No matter what happens in the playoffs, I have huge respect for Russell Wilson. He hobbled his way through most of the season, and still managed to win 10 games (there were many occasions when I thought he shouldn't be out there, but he gutted it out).
Sure have to agree, KnowItAll, about the Raiders--just a damn shame. They were looking so good. You have to really give props to Jack Del Rio for a great job of developing his young players and his coaching in general.
Things are even worse than first expected for the Raiders, as even their backup QB, Matt McGloin, is hobbling, and they appear to be down to their 3rd-string guy, Connor Cook. On the other hand, the Texans have been pretty unimpressive for most of the season, so it could be a decent game.
Well, Wildcard Weekend has come and gone. Favored teams won, and, surprisingly, by big margins.
The Raiders were just too hobbled to cope with a terrific Texans defense. The Raiders will be a force to contend with in 2017. Expect the Texans to lose--probably badly--at the Patriots.
The Seahawks won as expected, but I think the score flattered them. It seemed to me that the Lions were in it most of the way, but dropped passes and stupid penalties did them in. The ground game was strong for the 'Hawks, and the O-line played well. I think they'll have more than they can handle in Atlanta next Saturday. It's really surprising how much the loss of a single player can damage a team--I'm thinking of FS Earl Thomas here. Matt Ryan will likely have a field day against the patched-up Legion of Boom.
Steelers over Dolphins was completely predictable. Le'Veon Bell is just unbelievable. Steelers at Chiefs next weekend should be a great game.
Packers over Giants. What more can be said about Aaron Rodgers? In my opinion, he's the best QB in the NFL, and one of the best of all time. However, the Pack will probably have more than they can handle in Big D next weekend. I don't see Dom Capers' D stopping Dak, Zeke, Dez and the 'Boys. Could be a good game though.
I have not been watching NFL football for a while. But some pals are very keen. Got me a bit interested.
Amazing game between the Packers and Cowboys. Saw quite a bit of it.
Aaron Rodgers as advertised. And moreso. Clutch. Magical.
Prescott for the Cowboys also.
Not a fan of Jerry Jones, but he seems to have found his Head Coach, Jason Garrett, and his QB, Dak Prescott.
34-31 for the Packers, with a wild finish familiar to CFL fans, back and forth, with great drives and a last second field goal from two miles out to win.
(From the tablet.)
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.
Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.
Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
