DohBoy
New member
A bit of schizophrenic analysis (link).
I know Clayton is a favorite whipping boy of late and it's stuff like this that makes me a bit crazy (not Kornholer violent, but frustrated).
Inre Seattle/Atlanta, he essentially makes five critical points that favor the Seahawks, IMO:
1) All the pressure is on the Falcons because of being the #1 seed, playing at home and having a history of playoff flameouts.
2) Ryan is a better QB on the road (more completions, many more TD's), and the teams' scoring output follows suit (28ppg vs. 25ppg).
3) Six of their eight home games were decided by six or fewer points.
4) Atlanta had the easiest schedule in the league.
[Clayton contends this may work against the Seahawks, but when you look at the numbers (since 1999, 3 out of the 28 SB teams have had the NFL's easiest regular-season schedule), it doesn't really wash, IMO. I don't think the citation nor the sample size is large enough to extrapolate anything of a value; rather, I contend a weak schedule means a team hasn't really been tested...has not played with its peers. Here, I give the edge to Seattle.]
5) Seahawks' are the #3 rushing team, Falcons' are the 21st in rushing defense.
From that point forward, the article deals more with Green Bay/San Francisco, albeit some mention of 'Hawk injuries.
Alas, Clayton provides little if any support for his pick of the Falcons in next week's game; just going to happen out right in spite of his previous analysis. What gives?
DohBoy
I know Clayton is a favorite whipping boy of late and it's stuff like this that makes me a bit crazy (not Kornholer violent, but frustrated).
Inre Seattle/Atlanta, he essentially makes five critical points that favor the Seahawks, IMO:
1) All the pressure is on the Falcons because of being the #1 seed, playing at home and having a history of playoff flameouts.
2) Ryan is a better QB on the road (more completions, many more TD's), and the teams' scoring output follows suit (28ppg vs. 25ppg).
3) Six of their eight home games were decided by six or fewer points.
4) Atlanta had the easiest schedule in the league.
[Clayton contends this may work against the Seahawks, but when you look at the numbers (since 1999, 3 out of the 28 SB teams have had the NFL's easiest regular-season schedule), it doesn't really wash, IMO. I don't think the citation nor the sample size is large enough to extrapolate anything of a value; rather, I contend a weak schedule means a team hasn't really been tested...has not played with its peers. Here, I give the edge to Seattle.]
5) Seahawks' are the #3 rushing team, Falcons' are the 21st in rushing defense.
From that point forward, the article deals more with Green Bay/San Francisco, albeit some mention of 'Hawk injuries.
Alas, Clayton provides little if any support for his pick of the Falcons in next week's game; just going to happen out right in spite of his previous analysis. What gives?
DohBoy