Random Thoughts™ on the Lions game

[The Radish]

Why is this the loss that costs us the playoffs?? We have had 3 other losses that were within victory's grasp. They were all met mostly with passivity and excuses by our fanbase-why should this one be any different?

Not sure leif but my thoughts would be that in any season there are more than one games that could/would cost a team making the playoffs.

I imagine we have used up several of those types of games. But if the team caught fire next week and won out we'd make the playoffs for sure rendering anything that has happened up to this point superflous.

I know this will surprise you but there are some here that frequently see only the down side.

:roll:

 

[vin.couve12]

That's true. Teams do get hot at the right time and even win the SB. No reason to think we can't make the playoffs.

 

[SalishHawkFan]

I saw two things today: Russell Wilson has improved dramatically as the season progressed and is definitely our QBOTF. The Seahawks defense has been exposed. Every OC in the NFL knows how to beat us now.

 

[Slick]

Today sucked. Wish I didn't watch. I would rather go to McDonalds, eat a double quarter pounder with 20 McNuggets, throw it all up, and the eat it again.

 

[scutterhawk]

I really don't want to be writing this, so it's probably going to be less long this time.

-Russell Wilson has now played three good games in a row, based on the eyeball test anyway. He now looks just like Wisconsin Badger Russell Wilson, which is great news. The only bad part is that his overthrow problem from his Wisconsin days has returned as well, and it was probably the difference in the game.

-The Lions looked an awful lot like the 2011 version today. Matt Stafford had a GREAT game, maybe the best game of any QB we've faced this year. He carried the team on his back. I'd feel bad about losing to the 2012 Lions, but today felt like losing to a playoff team on the road. It still hurt, but it was a game we expected to lose before the year when we expected the Lions to play at this level.

-The Seahawks defense failed to force even one field goal attempt, although they did get a nice interception from Earl Thomas.

-Our defense looked Holmgren-era like today. Soft coverage, middling pass rush, so-so run defense. And on third down? Has there ever been a better defense in history that's been worse on 3rd and long?

-What's most infuriating about the 3rd down problem this year is that so many of these conversions are caught shy of the first down marker and they pick it up anyway. When our team completes a pass 3 yards short of the sticks on 3rd down, we're punting 80% of the time. But not the bad guys. Sheesh. It's gone on too long now to think "small sample size" or "fluke". There is a fatal flaw in this defense. I hope Pete figures it out this offseason if not sooner.

-Detroit was 12/16 (75%) on 3rd down. Three of their four touchdowns were on 3rd downs.

-Sadly, I have a hunch this game probably keeps us out of the playoffs. Gut feeling. Seattle would need to go 6-2 the rest of the way to hit 10-6. That's really tough to do, and even if they did it, 10-6 could easily miss the playoffs in the NFC this year.

Thanks Kearly, this three and outs by us, and not our opponents is something that I have gripeing about to my wife (like she can fix it),,hell, come to think of it, she couldn't do any worse.
I don't doubt that that is why we lost this and some of the other games this Season.
I think the worse thing about all those misfires, is that there doesn't seem to be an answer by the Coaching staff to rectify the problem, and that sux, because I keep hopeing to see a big turnaround, each week that I tune into the games.

 

[BAllenHawk]

I saw two things today: Russell Wilson has improved dramatically as the season progressed and is definitely our QBOTF. The Seahawks defense has been exposed. Every OC in the NFL knows how to beat us now.

I also saw a offensive line give RW3 a lot of time to throw the ball. He is getting better each week. They'll get better and the D will figure it out. 6-2 second half book it

 

[olyfan63]

I felt the real problem was that our OC didn't come prepared to attack and exploit the injury weaknesses on the Detroit defense, especially in the secondary.
We knew:
- Detroit was hurting in the secondary
- Detroit has a good offense that can put up some points
We didn't know:
- Detroit would mostly stuff our running game, aside from the long Lynch TD. We couldn't consistently run on the Lions.

So we were unprepared, on the coaching side, for that eventuality, and to truly take off the training wheels for Russell Wilson and LET THE KID PLAY, and beat the Lions with the passing game. If we had COMMITTED to the passing game, and essentially said, "Detroit, we're going to score on you and beat you with the pass", then the Seahawks score 30+ on that banged-up defense.

We have a QB that can play, unlike last year. The coaches need to let him do his thing and be willing to put the game in his hands when the situation requires it. Stop the game management bullshit on offense and GO SCORE. Game plan against this Lions defense = score early and often, using the pass. I say that if the offense came in prepared to pass on the Lions, and committed to scoring, and not the field-position BS, against that pass D, our O scores on 2 more drives, with RW3 working his way down the field, and we wear out their D, and then in the 4th quarter we ARE able to run on their tired defense to put away the game. This loss is a failure of the coaching staff to be ready to take advantage of the opponent's weaknesses.