How are the Hawks going to beat the Cardinals?

[Sgt. Largent]

Cards don't have the same Offense without Palmer. The Seahawks may not score a lot of points Sunday, but the Cardinals won't either.

I was never a big Palmer fan, so I really don't see a huge dropoff with Stanton.

The Cards are winning like we won the past two years, nasty stout defense that gets turnovers and doesn't make a lot of mistakes on offense.

Now Stanton seems to gamble more with the ball downfield, so there should be opportunities to get a couple picks Sunday.

 

[TeamoftheCentury]

The Cardinals have won a few very close games. The Hawks have lost 4 close back-and-forth games by an average of only 5.5 points. Without any intent to take anything away from how nice it is to be on the winning side of those close games - the Cardinals have definitely been getting it done - these two teams are not all that far apart - even with all the Seahawks injuries.

There's no guaranteed win on the rest of the Cardinals schedule. http://www.nfl.com/schedules/2014/REG/Cardinals Especially vs. the Seahawks who will have their backs up against the wall and have to bring everything they got to the fight. Don't crown the Cardinals just yet.

Marshawn Lynch after loss to KC:
"I don't think there's any problem with what we've got going on. We've got a lot of ball to go.
Is this a championship team? Yeah, yeah, we've got the heart of a champion, When you've got players like Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas, Kam Chancellor -- you're about to make me name the whole damn roster -- and there's some young guys whose names a lot of people don't know who bring a lot of fight. I always look at the best of our team. So ... hell yeah. I would have to be a fool to say no."

 

[ZagHawk]

Disciplined mistake free football on all three phases of the ball. Crowd must be there for all four downs before the opposing offense even starts to huddle to try and disrupt all their communication.

Make no mistake, any less than A+ from any phase on the field, and we lose this game. Perfect example, last year, special teams was good, defense managed to get 4 turnovers and we still lost due to weak offense.

Hawks are underdogs at home. Been a while since I've thought this.

 

[BlueBlood]

Drew Stanton is going to have to absolutely implode for the Hawks to win. If Palmer was playing I'd give the Hawks almost no chance. I give them a small chance because Stanton could come out and play like crap, give the Hawks turnovers and short fields.

The Seahawks' offense is probably going to look like the JV against the Varsity. This is going to be UGLY, especially for the passing game. I predict no more than 12 completed passes for no more than 150 yards.

Russell will have one of his better games.

 

[ZagHawk]

The Cardinals have won a few very close games. The Hawks have lost 4 close back-and-forth games by an average of only 5.5 points.

Bad teams lose close games. Good teams split close games. Great teams win close games.

Are we forgetting just how many close games we had last year that resulted in Ws?

Are we forgetting how many close games we had in 2012 that results in Ls (we were bad at the beginning of the season)?

Cardinals are legit.

 

[hawkfan68]

The Seahawks have the 3rd best defense in the NFL, the Cards are 14th best

Maybe on paper, but the difference I saw with the two defenses after watching the Hawks game, then turning it over to the Cards game was pretty sobering.

The Cards D looks like our D from last year, big, nasty and sure tackling on every play. They suffocated the life out of a very good Lions offense.

We can certainly beat the Cards, because we're at home and playing for our playoff lives next Sunday. But how? idk, because I don't have a lot of faith in our offense right now to score more than 14 pts against the Cardinals D.........especially if Lynch is hurting.

Seahawks have been fairly consistent on defense (total yards) each game. It's the offense that is struggling (up and down). KC beat the Seahawks with their run game. The Cards don't have powerful of a run game. They average 79.8 (almost half of what KC averaged). They may not have Fitzgerald on Sunday. He suffered a MCL injury in yesterday's game. If he does play, he will be limited. I'll take my chances with the Seahawk defense against the Cards offense. Stanton hasn't played in Seattle yet. He's in for a rude awakening. 14 points will not be enough to beat the Seahawks in Seattle nor will 17. It took Dallas 30 to beat the Seahawks (Dallas has a good run game), I don't see the Cards capable of scoring that much.

 

[MidwestHawker]

Bad teams lose close games. Good teams split close games. Great teams win close games.

Not really. This is the romanticized version of it where fans want to chalk as much of a game result as possible up to pure skill, but the fact is that variance is a significant factor in determining who wins close games.

Great teams and bad teams aren't in that many close games; they're either losing or winning by more than one score a fair bit of the time.

 

[Anthony!]

They are going to have to do, what they have had to do all year on offense. Rely on Lynch and Wilson because truthfully that is all they got. Early on it was more Wilson than Lynch. prior to last game for the 3 before that it was more Lynch than Wilson. Last game both played well. We will need them to both play well again and then some. But they can do it, they have no choice there is no other play makers on offense getting the job done.

 

[Uncle Si]

Hawks are underdogs at home. Been a while since I've thought this.

Vegas disagrees (to the tune of -6.5)

people on here need to lighten up.

its the NFL. it cant always be like last year.

 

[MidwestHawker]

Cardinals' pass D is a decent bit more susceptible than their run D, at least so far this year. It's going to take a balanced attack to win the game; I'm sure Marshawn will play fine, but this doesn't shape up as a game where he goes off.

 

[Anthony!]

Cardinals' pass D is a decent bit more susceptible than their run D, at least so far this year. It's going to take a balanced attack to win the game; I'm sure Marshawn will play fine, but this doesn't shape up as a game where he goes off.

Agreed but could be a game were Wilson goes off running again, and maybe that will help Lynch and our WR. Seems like the only time they can get open is when he scrambles anyway.

 

[Uncle Si]

Cardinals' pass D is a decent bit more susceptible than their run D, at least so far this year. It's going to take a balanced attack to win the game; I'm sure Marshawn will play fine, but this doesn't shape up as a game where he goes off.

D needs to create turnovers. For me its the biggest difference from this year to last year. We have lost 4 games, and all 4 have come down to the last two minutes. toss in an extra turnover or two in each of those games and its hard to see us not winning atleast 2 of them.

AZ isnt lighting the world on fire offensively. If the Hawks can steal some points by creating turnovers, I think we walk. If we struggle to turn them over, it will be a nail biter

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

How will we beat them? By somehow learning how to mount some small amount of passing to take the pressure off Lynch and Wilson running every play. Our one good chance is that Arizona can't run the ball so we should be able to get off the field defensively at least most times.

It would be a nice bonus to create pressure and turnovers (we did get a couple versus Kansas City but we didn't take full advantage of them).

 

[MidwestHawker]

Cardinals' pass D is a decent bit more susceptible than their run D, at least so far this year. It's going to take a balanced attack to win the game; I'm sure Marshawn will play fine, but this doesn't shape up as a game where he goes off.

D needs to create turnovers. For me its the biggest difference from this year to last year. We have lost 4 games, and all 4 have come down to the last two minutes. toss in an extra turnover or two in each of those games and its hard to see us not winning atleast 2 of them.

AZ isnt lighting the world on fire offensively. If the Hawks can steal some points by creating turnovers, I think we walk. If we struggle to turn them over, it will be a nail biter

I agree with this. I mean, forcing turnovers isn't one of the more sustainable things that you can count on, but I'm thinking that this is Stanton's first start at the Clink, and that alone leaves me reasonably confident that he coughs it up a time or two. Turnovers are what could break the dam and allow us to win somewhat comfortably.

 

[TeamoftheCentury]

The Cardinals have won a few very close games. The Hawks have lost 4 close back-and-forth games by an average of only 5.5 points.

Bad teams lose close games. Good teams split close games. Great teams win close games.

Are we forgetting just how many close games we had last year that resulted in Ws?

Are we forgetting how many close games we had in 2012 that results in Ls (we were bad at the beginning of the season)?

Cardinals are legit.

No, smart guy. "We" are not forgetting. Didn't say anything of the sort. The OP posed the question. My comments were intended to bring a dose of reality instead of simply looking at a team with a 9-1 record and assuming they're unbeatable.

So, you're saying the Hawks are a bad team and the Cardinals are a great team? I disagree. I think they're closer than their records indicate... regardless of the outcome this weekend. Again, not taking anything away from the Cards. But, good teams battle every game and don't get blown out. It's fairly remarkable how well the Hawks have been able to stay in games with all the key injuries they've had to deal with. I still agree with Marshawn that this is a Championship caliber team.

 

[ZagHawk]

The Cardinals have won a few very close games. The Hawks have lost 4 close back-and-forth games by an average of only 5.5 points.

Bad teams lose close games. Good teams split close games. Great teams win close games.

Are we forgetting just how many close games we had last year that resulted in Ws?

Are we forgetting how many close games we had in 2012 that results in Ls (we were bad at the beginning of the season)?

Cardinals are legit.

No, smart guy. "We" are not forgetting. Didn't say anything of the sort. The OP posed the question. My comments were intended to bring a dose of reality instead of simply looking at a team with a 9-1 record and assuming they're unbeatable.

So, you're saying the Hawks are a bad team and the Cardinals are a great team? I disagree. I think they're closer than their records indicate... regardless of the outcome this weekend. Again, not taking anything away from the Cards. But, good teams battle every game and don't get blown out. It's fairly remarkable how well the Hawks have been able to stay in games with all the key injuries they've had to deal with. I still agree with Marshawn that this is a Championship caliber team.

I'm saying this year: Oakland is a bad team. The Seahawks are a good team, and the Cardinals are a great team. If the Seahawks were healthy all year, I'm pretty sure they could have been a great team, but as it stands, just a good team (which isn't a bad thing, but it's just not what we were all hoping for going into this season).

 

[MidwestHawker]

and the Cardinals are a great team.

Not really. They're a good team with a great record.

Every announcer who ever repeats that stupid Parcells saying, "you are what your record says you are," should be fired on the spot and blacklisted from all employment for the rest of their lives.

 

[Largent80]

Once again I will quote Chuck Knox from back in the 70's-80's and the quote should be chiseled in stone as it applies more now than ever.....

"It's NOT who you play....It's WHEN you play them."

To get to 9-1 you have to be a good team regardless, but I have seen a few of their games this year and they had the benefit of catching those teams at the right time. Same as the 9ers. Marvin would have you trying to believe that Romo and Manning had terrible games because of the very underwhelming 9er defense. But if you saw those games, you saw otherwise.

 

[SoulfishHawk]

They are at home, and the Cards are incredibly lucky to be at 9-1. How are they going to beat them? They are playing us here, and they are gonna' knock the snot out of them.

 

[Reaneypark]

The Hawks will win if they show up, play hard and take care of the football.