This years bye week

[kearly]

I think our bye week last year was a best case scenario. An extra week late in the season to prepare for a game that basically decided the #1 seed in the NFC. Can't expect that kind of bye week luck every year. I am okay with our team's bye week this year. It's an extra week to prepare and gain focus for a road opponent that could give Seattle some issues if RG3 is 100% healthy. Would much rather have that particular bye week than say the week before Dallas or Oakland at home.

Since we are talking about the schedule, does anyone know what time of year SNF flexing begins? Seattle's three 10am starts are all big matchups, the first is on Oct. 19. Is that too early to be a candidate for a SNF flex?

 

[chris98251]

I think our bye week last year was a best case scenario. An extra week late in the season to prepare for a game that basically decided the #1 seed in the NFC. Can't expect that kind of bye week luck every year. I am okay with our team's bye week this year. It's an extra week to prepare and gain focus for a road opponent that could give Seattle some issues if RG3 is 100% healthy. Would much rather have that particular bye week than say the week before Dallas or Oakland at home.

Since we are talking about the schedule, does anyone know what time of year SNF flexing begins? Seattle's three 10am starts are all big matchups, the first is on Oct. 19. Is that too early to be a candidate for a SNF flex?

Here ya go

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap20...l-schedule-flex-games-can-now-start-in-week-5

 

[Ad Hawk]

Here's an interesting article directly related to this subject. It seems there's no correlation between winning % and bye-week placement.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/is-th ... advantage/

 

[scutterhawk]

OMG THE LEAGUE HATES US!

j/k.........I loathe early season byes, combine this with our schedule being brutal in the 2nd half and it equals no bueno.

You bet.
I assume that every team in the League has their bye week hit them early in their schedules, got to be our turn sooner or later.

Actually, Seattle has had 2 Week 4 Byes in the last 7 years counting 2014. That's out of 24 Byes given out for Week 4 during that span (2011 had no byes week 4). So one out of every 12 byes handed out for week 4 have gone to Seattle.

Teams that did not have a week 4 bye at all from 2008-2014:

San Fran
New Orleans
Houston
Chicago
Baltimore
Washington
San Diego
Oakland
Jacksonville
Tennessee
NY Jets
Buffalo


So no, our turn shouldn't be rolling around again for a week 4 bye till at least 2017 after all the above teams have theirs.

If you factor in Week 5 Byes since 2008, Seattle has had 3 byes out of 52 byes given out. During that span these teams have never had a bye week 4 or 5 while Seattle has had 3:

San Fran
Houston
Chicago
Buffalo
Jets
Jax
Tennessee

Most Seahawks fans are not surprised, I'm sure. I so expected to find this that I looked it up when I read your post.

My bad, thanks for pointing this out, I had no idea how biased the League was at scheduling the Bye Week.
I guess I should have known better than to expect them to do right by all concerned.
I thought it was FAIRLY distributed among ALL 32 teams.
It damned well should be, and WITHOUT any exceptions.

 

[seedhawk]

Bye weeks come and go depending on the schedule, and the NFL takes a lot more than just who plays who into account. Would you rather have the week 4 bye and our current schedule, or a later bye week following playing 3 in a row on the road and 4 out of 5 away?

 

[chris98251]

On the surface this appears way too early, but given the new blood on the o line and on defense this could give us a chance to get extra work in and fix anything we see early. We take what we get and apply the situation to what is needed.

 

[mikeak]

I wish that instead of expanding the playoffs or adding more games to the regular season, the NFL would just stretch the season out to Week 18, 19, or 20 and do double-byes for each team. It would give them more TV revenue AND improve the quality of play by giving teams more time to rest and reducing injuries.

Double-bye weeks and Thursday night games only for teams that have had a bye week. By adding a second bye week that would be possible and improve the product.

 

[HansGruber]

We got bullets, too!!

 

[themunn]

Carolina had a week 3 bye, lost their first game back then rattled off 11 wins from their final 12 games, including victories over the Rams, Niners, Pats and Saints, so I'm not particularly worried about it as we're a better team than the Panthers.

The Thursday game comes at a bad time, but also gives us a 10 day mini-bye heading into the final 4 games, so may work in our favour somewhat

 

[Pandion Haliaetus]

Carolina had a week 3 bye, lost their first game back then rattled off 11 wins from their final 12 games, including victories over the Rams, Niners, Pats and Saints, so I'm not particularly worried about it as we're a better team than the Panthers.

The Thursday game comes at a bad time, but also gives us a 10 day mini-bye heading into the final 4 games, so may work in our favour somewhat

Optimism is always a breath of fresh air.

 

[Largent80]

Um, what happened last year has been proven to not mean a damn thing the next year. For us, it is all about hoping for no major injuries before the bye.

 

[Tokadub]

I don't think it's that huge of an issue for our team specifically. Most our guys are very young and should be fully capable to play once a week. I'd be a lot more concerned if we had a dinosaur QB like Peyton Manning or if our team was on the cusp of being too many dinosaurs like I expect the 49ers may be.

Almost all of our players are in their prime physically so having a full week to recover should be easily enough and may even keep them sharp as long as key players aren't injured.

The only player I could see this being a problem for physically is Marshawn Lynch, it'd be nice if he was 100% ready to go for our final stretch against NFC West rivals. But if Christine Michael is as good as he could be (assuming our O-Line doesn't continue to suck) then we should be able to rest Lynch and only play him when the game is on the line.

Our offense should theoretically be MUCH better this year if Harvin plays every game. Our defense will probably be slightly worst imo but with a healthy Harvin our team SHOULD be slightly better overall.

I also think our O-line could very easily be slightly worst than last year which seems impossible since they were horrible. But all the positive things the "experts" are saying about them seems to be 100% imagination land fantasy world. I'll need to see it to believe it. I think Okung and Unger are VASTLY over rated. Unger gets knocked on his butt on a regular basis and it seems he's always involved with double teams since he can't handle guys 1 on 1.

So if our O-Line doesn't greatly improve which to me would be a minor miracle then THAT will be our big worry, if Harvin gets hurt that's the double whammy and we'll be in big trouble and wish we still had Tate.

All that being said I think the bye week's timing is the least of our worries. If Harvin stays healthy and O-line even slightly improves I think we easily win home field advantage.

I think I'm in the minority here but I think the Seahawks are much better than the other NFC West teams. I think we'll go 5-1 in our division, only losing to the 49ers on the road.

If you think about it we could of easily been 6-0 in our division last season. I think it was horrible play calling against the 49ers on the road, and the Arizona game was just disgusting as a whole.

I think the 49ers are the closest team to challenge us but in my opinion we should of been 3-0 vs them last season and we should be dominating them EVERY TIME like how we did in 2 of our last 5 games. We are fully capable to blow the 49ers out of the water and embarrass them. The 49ers are significantly better than the Cardinals and Rams so why is everyone so scared about this schedule?

I expect the 49ers to decline this year, and the Cardinals to stay about the same, the Rams should be better. Essentially all 3 of those teams could be about even but the Seahawks should be on another level.

Sticking by my prediction we will finish 14-2 with losses to 49ers and Carolina on the road (I don't believe Carolina will be as bad as the experts).

Our O-line was a complete disaster last year, we were missing our best offensive weapon Harvin and we still went 13-3. If we can't win NFC and get home field advantage the most likely cause would be Harvin injury, we don't have Tate anymore, and Bennett doesn't play as well and proves he is over rated (we should of kept others to keep our amazing defense in tact).

 

[Threedee]

I've been a huge fan of the Week 12 bye we got the last couple of seasons. But, there's a Week 4 bye every year, so I guess it's our time to bite the bullet. Sometimes teams actually profit from early byes, like the Steelers last year, who went 0-4, took a Week 5 bye, and went on to have a successful remainder of the season (they also had numerous injuries that were given rest that week).

 

[RiverDog]

I wish that instead of expanding the playoffs or adding more games to the regular season, the NFL would just stretch the season out to Week 18, 19, or 20 and do double-byes for each team. It would give them more TV revenue AND improve the quality of play by giving teams more time to rest and reducing injuries.

No, thanks. That would mean taking the Super Bowl into mid February and/or the preseason in mid July. Besides, the player's union would never go along with such a proposal. The players aren't going to want to reduce their offseason by a month. The season is long enough as it is IMO

 

[chris98251]

Still think reduction of pre season is the best way to go, teams just have to use evaluation methods better, although by week three they know the roster pretty much anyway. The could expand practice squad and have a protect list on it though to offset the shorter pre season.

 

[loafoftatupu]

It is not a problem to me until it is actually a problem. If the Hawks get rolling with their rotation I wouldn't mind them keeping it going.
Another reason for me not to be concerned is the youth. Both the Cards and the Niners have aging dudes in places, especially the digits. It could have a small impact on things, but in the big picture it will probably just piss of the players even more. No home prime time games, early bye, pundits making typical predictions. All of it will fuel the chip.

 

[MB12]

Why don't they just let teams pick when their bye is, from best team to worst (or maybe worst to best like the draft)?

 

[RiverDog]

Why don't they just let teams pick when their bye is, from best team to worst (or maybe worst to best like the draft)?

Probably because it's a little more complicated than we realize. There are scores if not hundreds of factors that enter into the equation that results in an NFL regular season schedule. Remember last year when the Ravens had to surrender their 'right' to host the season opener because they had a conflict with MLB? Mandating that the bye week fall in Week X for Team Y would further complicate things.

Rather than worrying how the byes fall, I'd rather they concentrate on not doing things like scheduling our two games against the Niners within 18 days of each other.

 

[MB12]

Why don't they just let teams pick when their bye is, from best team to worst (or maybe worst to best like the draft)?

Probably because it's a little more complicated than we realize. There are scores if not hundreds of factors that enter into the equation that results in an NFL regular season schedule. Remember last year when the Ravens had to surrender their 'right' to host the season opener because they had a conflict with MLB? Mandating that the bye week fall in Week X for Team Y would further complicate things.

Rather than worrying how the byes fall, I'd rather they concentrate on not doing things like scheduling our two games against the Niners within 18 days of each other.

Good point, and same!

Edit: Though I'm sure Rog would love a NFL Bye draft $$$

 

[RiverDog]

Why don't they just let teams pick when their bye is, from best team to worst (or maybe worst to best like the draft)?

Probably because it's a little more complicated than we realize. There are scores if not hundreds of factors that enter into the equation that results in an NFL regular season schedule. Remember last year when the Ravens had to surrender their 'right' to host the season opener because they had a conflict with MLB? Mandating that the bye week fall in Week X for Team Y would further complicate things.

Rather than worrying how the byes fall, I'd rather they concentrate on not doing things like scheduling our two games against the Niners within 18 days of each other.

Good point, and same!

Edit: Though I'm sure Rog would love a NFL Bye draft $$$

Not to change the subject, but I've sarcastically suggested that they instruct all teams wanting to fire their head coaches at any time after Week 12 wait until a specific, league mandated time on Black Monday. They could sell coverage to the event, and handle it like the draft. They could increase the suspense by disclosing how many coaches got fired but leave it to us to guess which ones. Goodell could walk up to the podium with the announcement of each firing, open a sealed envelope just like they do for the Hollywood awards. Imagine the excitement!