Will Seattle win the division in 2013?

[Giedi]

I think the Hawks are going to win the West in a very close race. This team IS a better road team than they were in the past because they are a better team period.

I do not believe that the Niners are going to better because they have Boldin and Aso. They will have to play some rookies and that is always a toss up. They will win a lot of games still and still could win the NFCW. I just think that RW is going to re-write Seahawk road history. The 2005 team lost 3 road games, one was a garbage game that they could have won if they needed it. They won because they were a great team in general, not because they were a good road team.

This team is carrying a very talented roster from 2012, their only losses were in areas they have improved in. Then there is the Harvin factor. This dude is going to explode on a team that has already proven to be very dangerous offensively.

Package that up with RW and his skills/heart and this team will win most of its games regardless of who is lining up against them.

The best road teams are solid on defense, but they are even more solid at QB. Brady, Rodgers, Manning x2, Brees and Ryan. All of them win on the road and really, if we are talking about winning the division, we are talking about going 7-1 or even 8-0 at home and winning 5 road games. I can see that happening.

I agree, the best road teams are solid on defense, and I think that's where this divison will turn on. Both offenses are very good. Where the 49ers were weak on last year was special teams. But defense also was very good until the Pats game, then it was downhill from then on, defensively.

There are question marks all over on the seattle side defensively. Same with the 49ers. Your draft mirrors the 49ers in that both got bigger on the D Line and both got deeper at RB and WR.

I think Alan Branch and Jesse Williams are a wash, but I like the upgrade of 'Hawk's choosing Jordan Hill. He looks to be a good one, not many had him ranked up there for some reason. If there is any coach that is going to feel the playoff heat during regular season it will be Dan Quinn and Travis Jones. Their defensive record isn't very impressive as defensive coaches and Pete will have to work with them a lot. I think last years seahawk defense was fantastic, but because of so many question marks on the defensive side this year, plus the transition to a new DC and new D Line coach, it's more questionmarks than the 49ers have on the defensive side, and that may be the difference in the division.

 

[NinerLifer]

I think the Hawks are going to win the West in a very close race. This team IS a better road team than they were in the past because they are a better team period.

I do not believe that the Niners are going to better because they have Boldin and Aso. They will have to play some rookies and that is always a toss up. They will win a lot of games still and still could win the NFCW. I just think that RW is going to re-write Seahawk road history. The 2005 team lost 3 road games, one was a garbage game that they could have won if they needed it. They won because they were a great team in general, not because they were a good road team.

This team is carrying a very talented roster from 2012, their only losses were in areas they have improved in. Then there is the Harvin factor. This dude is going to explode on a team that has already proven to be very dangerous offensively.

Package that up with RW and his skills/heart and this team will win most of its games regardless of who is lining up against them.

The best road teams are solid on defense, but they are even more solid at QB. Brady, Rodgers, Manning x2, Brees and Ryan. All of them win on the road and really, if we are talking about winning the division, we are talking about going 7-1 or even 8-0 at home and winning 5 road games. I can see that happening.

I agree, the best road teams are solid on defense, and I think that's where this divison will turn on. Both offenses are very good. Where the 49ers were weak on last year was special teams. But defense also was very good until the Pats game, then it was downhill from then on, defensively.

There are question marks all over on the seattle side defensively. Same with the 49ers. Your draft mirrors the 49ers in that both got bigger on the D Line and both got deeper at RB and WR.

I think Alan Branch and Jesse Williams are a wash, but I like the upgrade of 'Hawk's choosing Jordan Hill. He looks to be a good one, not many had him ranked up there for some reason. If there is any coach that is going to feel the playoff heat during regular season it will be Dan Quinn and Travis Jones. Their defensive record isn't very impressive as defensive coaches and Pete will have to work with them a lot. I think last years seahawk defense was fantastic, but because of so many question marks on the defensive side this year, plus the transition to a new DC and new D Line coach, it's more questionmarks than the 49ers have on the defensive side, and that may be the difference in the division.

Great points Giedi

 

[RichNhansom]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

As for the draft picks, I could care less about any of them at this moment. Right now every single one of them is a bust until they prove otherwise. That goes for you even more than us because you are going to be forced to play multiple rookies even if they don't pan out because you don't have any other options and that in itself is sketchy because everyone knows Harbaugh doesn't like to play rookies.

As for Quinn, he has been the D-line coach on some horrific teams, including the Niners in 03-04. Primarily this is Pete's defense and Pete likes Quinn. He was originally slotted to be our D-coord before Gus Bradely blew Pete away and stole the position. He is still a question mark in some regards but we aren't relying on him as much as we are on Pete.

Not sure what so many question marks are. We brought in proven talent to shore up every single question we had to end last season. Sure they still need to prove it but I will take a player who has played at a high level in the NFL vs a rookie who has yet to see a snap and day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I think the question marks are much more glaring on the Niners side. Both offensively and defensively. You have two (count em two) players returning that have caught passes from Kaep in Davis and Crabtree. Boldin could be a good pick up but there will be a learning curve between him and Kaep to become comfortable. Frank gore turns 30 in about a week and you don't have a proven backup TE/Hback.

Defensively you are relying on a rookie to replace an all-pro, a rookie at NT and Justin Smith turns 34 in September. Is Aldon the same player without Justin?

Feel free to tell me about the question marks all over the Seahawks defense because I don't really see any at all other than what I have already pointed out.

 

[NinerLifer]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

Except for the fact that while you had the luxury of playing all your tougher opponents at home with the added benefit of the 12th man, we played all ours on the road against an enemy crowd...and still won the division.

With it reversed this year....good luck!

 

[RichNhansom]

Hello!?... Is this thing on?... Tap tap tap...?

Stop talking "10:00am starts", for crying out loud. They are not 10:00am starts at the location the game is being played.

With the exception of games played in the central time zone, which are 1 hour earlier local time, all of the regular sunday games are based on eastern-time kickoffs. It is only 10:00am for the viewers in the pacific time zone. In fact, ALL NFL teams are on a level playing field (no pun intended) when it comes to game times.

If you take a look at east-coast teams playing on the west coast, they have to play a game after waiting all day long. They will have eaten breakfast, eaten lunch, and must play a game that occurs at their dinner time. A time in the day when the body is winding down after being awake for 8-10 hours. If you flip the coin over, those teams coming to play on the WC are not nearly as fresh as WC teams would be in the morning after a good breakfast, a cup of hot joe, and nice stretch and warmup.

Y'all can cite whatever study's you want to, but the human body that gets up at 8:00 am functions better after two hours than it does after 8 hours of being awake.

Again, please, for the love of everything sacred, no games ever kick off at 10:00am, at any stadium. It is not a factor to anything other than the television-viewer located in those timezones. These are professional athletes who know how to prepare to play a game for which they must travel to get to. Coaches and conditioning personnel get paid to schedule the sleep, meals, and pregame preparation of the players.

If you think about it, are you fresher at 10:00am or 1:00pm? Me? I'm winding down after noon and feel like taking a nap by 1:00pm. I'm waaaayyy better physically in the morning.

Crymany!!!

Not sure where you are getting your information but it couldn't be more wrong even if you were a Niner fan.

Saying that the time doesn't matter because you are in the location the game starts is crazy talk. So if I walked up to the clock on your wall and moved the hand from 5pm to midnight, would that make you tired? No because you aren't relying a device to know the time. You are relying on your own body clock and when it is 1:00pm in NY it is 10:00am in Seattle so Seattle natives will mentally process the game as a 10:00am start.

East cost teams start 3 hours later and are in a better mental time clock than west coast teams when traveling and it is not late evening like you said. East coast teams normally start at 1:00pm east coast time and when they travel here and start at 1:00 their body clock is telling them it is 4:00pm.

I know you don't want to hear about studies but why in the world should we take your opinion over professional studies when you don't even understand how the time zones work, let alone that it is not as simple as just looking at a clock.

As for better at 10:00am then 1:00pm. Again it's not really about the time but rather your body clock and it you are use to a certain start time then changing that will have effects. What time do you start work? Now imagine you boss said tomorrow I need you to come in 3 hours early. Do you still think you would be more productive at the earlier time? Or would you be drowning yourself in coffee trying to shake the cobwebs and get the day started? Again, would you be more productive working your shift 3 hours later in the day when your already awake or 3 hours earlier? Most will say later.

Please tell me you missed the sarcasm button because I would rather think I was wrong about you kidding than believe you actually believe what you wrote.

 

[Anonymous]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

To stay on topic: Yes, I believe the Seahawks win the division, and do so with a few games margin. I don't think it will come down to the Hawks complete domination (however possible), but rather the Niners having a few get away from them do to coaching/penalty/failed-scheme type stuff. I predict midway through the season, C-Kap gets figured out. Some defensive guru out there is going to have an epiphany and design a defensive coverage to severely limit what the Niner O can do. Teams figure out how to contain him and/or read his mind in some way. Book it.

To the above: Again, NO kickoff EVER occurred at 10:00am local time. EVER!. The games you just described kicked-off at 1:15 pm PT (which translates to 4:15pm ET). Would everybody PLEASE stop referring to games as 10:00am games? I know the time zones are a very hard thing to grasp for some people, especially folks in Arizona (and on a few Native American reservations), but come on. It's Noon and 3:15pm here, and it didn't take me but 2 seconds to acclimate when I arrived. I realize I might be fighting city hall here, but can we discuss road games as either the "early" or the "late" game instead? Too much to ask?

On the road, you go to bed earlier and get up earlier. You head to the stadium where the only thing you are contending with is the cheers and noise happen on offense rather than defense. That's it. Oh, and it might be 24 degrees out and snowing...

 

[RichNhansom]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

Except for the fact that while you had the luxury of playing all your tougher opponents at home with the added benefit of the 12th man, we played all ours on the road against an enemy crowd...and still won the division.

With it reversed this year....good luck!

We still played more 10am starts than you including back to back and a 10am playoff game on our second week of travel.

The only team you could beat at 10am was the Jets so don't puff your chest about beating Atlanta in an afternoon game on your first week of travel with a full compliment of players and Gore being 100%. You still started out as lethargic as we did and if not for Ryan getting injured, you might not have won that game. If you lost your best DE and Kicker and Gore was playing on a sprained ankle, you would have been demoralized on national TV. Even completely healthy if you had to play them at 10am the numbers suggest you lose now add in it was the second week of travel.

It's not a luxary, it is how the schedule works. Last time these divisions met, you played in their house, What was flexable was the start time and with every tough road team you played the NFL flexed the start time to help you out. Even the NO game was flexed and they were without their coach's. You got your butts beat by the Vikings and Rams in 10am starts. Get off your high horse even that Patriots game was a fluke. The weather had everything to do with you getting an early lead and when the rain subsided the Pats dominated you. Bad weather favors smash mouth teams, you got a lucky break just like the power outage in the super bowl. Without it, you guys are embarassed by big brother.

 

[NinerLifer]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

To stay on topic: Yes, I believe the Seahawks win the division, and do so with a few games margin. I don't think it will come down to the Hawks complete domination (however possible), but rather the Niners having a few get away from them do to coaching/penalty/failed-scheme type stuff. I predict midway through the season, C-Kap gets figured out. Some defensive guru out there is going to have an epiphany and design a defensive coverage to severely limit what the Niner O can do. Teams figure out how to contain him and/or read his mind in some way. Book it.

To the above: Again, NO kickoff EVER occurred at 10:00am local time. EVER!. The games you just described kicked-off at 1:15 pm PT (which translates to 4:15pm ET). Would everybody PLEASE stop referring to games as 10:00am games? I know the time zones are a very hard thing to grasp for some people, especially folks in Arizona (and on a few Native American reservations), but come on. It's Noon and 3:15pm here, and it didn't take me but 2 seconds to acclimate when I arrived. I realize I might be fighting city hall here, but can we discuss road games as either the "early" or the "late" game instead? Too much to ask?

On the road, you go to bed earlier and get up earlier. You head to the stadium where the only thing you are contending with is the cheers and noise happen on offense rather than defense. That's it. Oh, and it might be 24 degrees out and snowing...

I think he is trying to point out that west coast teams don't kickoff games at 10:00am at home, and therefore never really play a 10:00am game???

 

[RichNhansom]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

To stay on topic: Yes, I believe the Seahawks win the division, and do so with a few games margin. I don't think it will come down to the Hawks complete domination (however possible), but rather the Niners having a few get away from them do to coaching/penalty/failed-scheme type stuff. I predict midway through the season, C-Kap gets figured out. Some defensive guru out there is going to have an epiphany and design a defensive coverage to severely limit what the Niner O can do. Teams figure out how to contain him and/or read his mind in some way. Book it.

To the above: Again, NO kickoff EVER occurred at 10:00am local time. EVER!. The games you just described kicked-off at 1:15 pm PT (which translates to 4:15pm ET). Would everybody PLEASE stop referring to games as 10:00am games? I know the time zones are a very hard thing to grasp for some people, especially folks in Arizona (and on a few Native American reservations), but come on. It's Noon and 3:15pm here, and it didn't take me but 2 seconds to acclimate when I arrived. I realize I might be fighting city hall here, but can we discuss road games as either the "early" or the "late" game instead? Too much to ask?

On the road, you go to bed earlier and get up earlier. You head to the stadium where the only thing you are contending with is the cheers and noise happen on offense rather than defense. That's it. Oh, and it might be 24 degrees out and snowing...

UHG, early late game vs 10am, ok that is just semantics. It is not as simple as just going to bed 3 hours earlier. Take your normal wake up time and decrease it by three hours. Now go to bed three hours earlier and tell me you wake up at the earlier time just as easily. You don't and you know it.

I normally wake up around 4:30 for a 5:30am start and I usually wake up before my alarm goes off. On days I work overtime, I go to bed way earlier and set my alarm for 2:00am and struggle like hell to get out of bed on time and usually hit my snooze once or twice. It is not as simple as just go to bed earlier. I am also way more productive (as is everyone I work with) later in the day. In fact my company is trying to eliminate early overtime because they don't see the production benefit. Thinking you can just go to bed 3 hours earlier is what has west coast teams losing 78% of the time in early starts.

 

[NinerLifer]

http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/co ... mes/14372/

Here is an in depth analysis of the effects of teams from the western side of the country traveling east for games.

Must admit that I didn't have the patience or the need to read it all as it gets pretty dry and boring. But informational for those that need it.

Roger Goodell once told ESPN’s NFC West blogger Mike Sando that he had “not seen specific information” regarding Western teams being at a disadvantage with early starts. Perhaps he should be reading these numbers. If home-field advantage is only supposed to be around 57 percent (and Eastern teams are just .536 against Central teams), then this increase of over 15 percentage points for East vs. Western is clearly a significant advantage.

 

[Giedi]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

As for the draft picks, I could care less about any of them at this moment. Right now every single one of them is a bust until they prove otherwise. That goes for you even more than us because you are going to be forced to play multiple rookies even if they don't pan out because you don't have any other options and that in itself is sketchy because everyone knows Harbaugh doesn't like to play rookies.

As for Quinn, he has been the D-line coach on some horrific teams, including the Niners in 03-04. Primarily this is Pete's defense and Pete likes Quinn. He was originally slotted to be our D-coord before Gus Bradely blew Pete away and stole the position. He is still a question mark in some regards but we aren't relying on him as much as we are on Pete.

Not sure what so many question marks are. We brought in proven talent to shore up every single question we had to end last season. Sure they still need to prove it but I will take a player who has played at a high level in the NFL vs a rookie who has yet to see a snap and day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I think the question marks are much more glaring on the Niners side. Both offensively and defensively. You have two (count em two) players returning that have caught passes from Kaep in Davis and Crabtree. Boldin could be a good pick up but there will be a learning curve between him and Kaep to become comfortable. Frank gore turns 30 in about a week and you don't have a proven backup TE/Hback.

Defensively you are relying on a rookie to replace an all-pro, a rookie at NT and Justin Smith turns 34 in September. Is Aldon the same player without Justin?

Feel free to tell me about the question marks all over the Seahawks defense because I don't really see any at all other than what I have already pointed out.

Anytime a pro player like Avril or Bennet come to your team from another team, there's question marks. Avril, looks like he'll be a pass rusher in your defensive system but when the 49ers played Detroit and they handled him pretty well. Bennet looks to be a DT in your 4-3 defense but when the 49ers played Tampa Bay they handled him too. Red Bryant looks like a pretty good player, but he's often injured. Jesse Williams looks like a good draft pick, but again we'll see.

Avril, Bennet, and Jesse remind me of the atrocious D line that the 49ers had back in '04. The only good player they had on that line was Bryant Young. The rest of that line couldn't rush the passer or stop the run. Engleburger and Peterson, were often road graded every weekend. Avril and Bennet sorta remind me of those to guys the 49ers had back then. Jesse reminds me a bit of Anthony Adams.

Both teams have done their best to upgrade their pass rush and I think done a good job. While the 49ers have an elite pass rusher, you guys are still looking for one. You may have sacrificed too much run defense for the pass rush. While the 49er defensive coaching staff is intact from last year, your coaching staff is undergoing some reconstruction. Again, I think you have good potential to be one of the better defenses in the NFL this year, but with all those question marks, you can easily drop back to mediocrity. The 49ers can too, of course. It goes both ways.

 

[Anonymous]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

To stay on topic: Yes, I believe the Seahawks win the division, and do so with a few games margin. I don't think it will come down to the Hawks complete domination (however possible), but rather the Niners having a few get away from them do to coaching/penalty/failed-scheme type stuff. I predict midway through the season, C-Kap gets figured out. Some defensive guru out there is going to have an epiphany and design a defensive coverage to severely limit what the Niner O can do. Teams figure out how to contain him and/or read his mind in some way. Book it.

To the above: Again, NO kickoff EVER occurred at 10:00am local time. EVER!. The games you just described kicked-off at 1:15 pm PT (which translates to 4:15pm ET). Would everybody PLEASE stop referring to games as 10:00am games? I know the time zones are a very hard thing to grasp for some people, especially folks in Arizona (and on a few Native American reservations), but come on. It's Noon and 3:15pm here, and it didn't take me but 2 seconds to acclimate when I arrived. I realize I might be fighting city hall here, but can we discuss road games as either the "early" or the "late" game instead? Too much to ask?

On the road, you go to bed earlier and get up earlier. You head to the stadium where the only thing you are contending with is the cheers and noise happen on offense rather than defense. That's it. Oh, and it might be 24 degrees out and snowing...

So you are saying that neither the Hawks or the Niners have ever played at home in a game slated for a 10:00 kickoff?

Those Home games all started at 1:00pm pacific time.

 

[Giedi]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

To stay on topic: Yes, I believe the Seahawks win the division, and do so with a few games margin. I don't think it will come down to the Hawks complete domination (however possible), but rather the Niners having a few get away from them do to coaching/penalty/failed-scheme type stuff. I predict midway through the season, C-Kap gets figured out. Some defensive guru out there is going to have an epiphany and design a defensive coverage to severely limit what the Niner O can do. Teams figure out how to contain him and/or read his mind in some way. Book it.

To the above: Again, NO kickoff EVER occurred at 10:00am local time. EVER!. The games you just described kicked-off at 1:15 pm PT (which translates to 4:15pm ET). Would everybody PLEASE stop referring to games as 10:00am games? I know the time zones are a very hard thing to grasp for some people, especially folks in Arizona (and on a few Native American reservations), but come on. It's Noon and 3:15pm here, and it didn't take me but 2 seconds to acclimate when I arrived. I realize I might be fighting city hall here, but can we discuss road games as either the "early" or the "late" game instead? Too much to ask?

On the road, you go to bed earlier and get up earlier. You head to the stadium where the only thing you are contending with is the cheers and noise happen on offense rather than defense. That's it. Oh, and it might be 24 degrees out and snowing...

UHG, early late game vs 10am, ok that is just semantics. It is not as simple as just going to bed 3 hours earlier. Take your normal wake up time and decrease it by three hours. Now go to bed three hours earlier and tell me you wake up at the earlier time just as easily. You don't and you know it.

I normally wake up around 4:30 for a 5:30am start and I usually wake up before my alarm goes off. On days I work overtime, I go to bed way earlier and set my alarm for 2:00am and struggle like hell to get out of bed on time and usually hit my snooze once or twice. It is not as simple as just go to bed earlier. I am also way more productive (as is everyone I work with) later in the day. In fact my company is trying to eliminate early overtime because they don't see the production benefit. Thinking you can just go to bed 3 hours earlier is what has west coast teams losing 78% of the time in early starts.

If you read that article, way at the bottom it states that the 49ers won 18 consecutive road games despite being a western time zone team. Again, it was because they were the better team. Not so much the factors of time zones. If you have an outstanding defense, more likely than not, you will win a majority of road games. Offense is always a little bit adversly affected by the opposing crowd noise advantage and other things like dome vs open air stadiums, grass vs astro turf, that's why to win road games you have to have outstanding defense.

 

[RolandDeschain]

If the Rams had snapped the ball a 16th of a second faster so they didn't get a quasi-legitimate delay of game penalty, causing them to miss that field goal against San Francisco, we would have won the division. Russell Wilson with a year of experience, plus an elite WR, and a huge upgrade in the slot on defense?

This division is ours.

 

[NinerLifer]

If the Rams had snapped the ball a 16th of a second faster so they didn't get a quasi-legitimate delay of game penalty, causing them to miss that field goal against San Francisco, we would have won the division. Russell Wilson with a year of experience, plus an elite WR, and a huge upgrade in the slot on defense?

This division is ours.

Ya but that was last year, so you should have been sure to take advantage of it then when it mattered. The "IF game" doesn't apply towards next season if basing it off of isolated instances from games last season.

 

[onanygivensunday]

Hello!?... Is this thing on?... Tap tap tap...?

Stop talking "10:00am starts", for crying out loud. They are not 10:00am starts at the location the game is being played.

With the exception of games played in the central time zone, which are 1 hour earlier local time, all of the regular sunday games are based on eastern-time kickoffs. It is only 10:00am for the viewers in the pacific time zone. In fact, ALL NFL teams are on a level playing field (no pun intended) when it comes to game times.

If you take a look at east-coast teams playing on the west coast, they have to play a game after waiting all day long. They will have eaten breakfast, eaten lunch, and must play a game that occurs at their dinner time. A time in the day when the body is winding down after being awake for 8-10 hours. If you flip the coin over, those teams coming to play on the WC are not nearly as fresh as WC teams would be in the morning after a good breakfast, a cup of hot joe, and nice stretch and warmup.

Y'all can cite whatever study's you want to, but the human body that gets up at 8:00 am functions better after two hours than it does after 8 hours of being awake.

Again, please, for the love of everything sacred, no games ever kick off at 10:00am, at any stadium. It is not a factor to anything other than the television-viewer located in those timezones. These are professional athletes who know how to prepare to play a game for which they must travel to get to. Coaches and conditioning personnel get paid to schedule the sleep, meals, and pregame preparation of the players.

If you think about it, are you fresher at 10:00am or 1:00pm? Me? I'm winding down after noon and feel like taking a nap by 1:00pm. I'm waaaayyy better physically in the morning.

Crymany!!!

It's obvious to me that you don't travel for work... as in, flying east and starting a business day at local time (8:00 AM) the day following your flight.

A 3-hour difference is huge. Trust me. I have done it for years. It's even worse flying to Europe or the Middle East.

Let's say that you're used to getting up at 6:00 AM locally to get ready to go to work. Let's assume that you start work at 8:00 AM.

Fly into a time zone that's 3 hours ahead of you, and you're now getting up at 3:00 AM locally to get ready to go to work. Your 8:00 AM local time meeting is starting at 5:00 AM for you, body-wise.

If you had ever done it, you would know that it makes a difference.

 

[onanygivensunday]

Back on topic, the Hawks took over the division last December. End of discussion.

 

[RolandDeschain]

Ya but that was last year, so you should have been sure to take advantage of it then when it mattered. The "IF game" doesn't apply towards next season if basing it off of isolated instances from games last season.

See, I might have let you get away with this argument if 49ers fans the world over hadn't played the "if game" for weeks following the Super Bowl.

Face it, we all do it. I agree with you in the sense that woulda/coulda/shoulda is irrelevant, reality does not change after it happens, but the fact of the matter is that you guys barely squeaked into the division win last year, and we have only improved since then. By a considerable margin, I might add. The guy that lost us at least two games by going to softer-than-a-feather zone coverage is now coaching the Jags, our biggest defensive weakness (Trufant covering the slot) is now with the Jags and we got a much better player (for at least a year, depending on how much longer he lasts) for that position in Winfield, and we got an elite WR.

I don't see the 49ers as having improved to that degree. Also, the fact that we won't have a training wheels offense for the first 6-7 games like we did last year improves us even more.

The NFC West is ours.

 

[NinerLifer]

Back on topic, the Hawks took over the division last December. End of discussion.

Then why don't you have a 2012 division champs banner hanging from the rafters in C-link?

One game does not a take over make, or else why did we still win the division and go to the Superbowl after the month of this supposed "take over"?

Because we only play eachother TWICE each season leaving 14 other games on our schedules that the other team has no say over the outcome.

It cracks us all up when you guys act like all you have to do is beat us to win the division.

Now if the NFL decided to create a unique schedule where our two teams only played against eachother for 16 games straight, the Cards or the Rams would then be the division champs by default because they would be the only two teams left standing, as most of our players would be DEAD! :thirishdrinkers:

 

[RichNhansom]

You won 1 game at 10 am last year and that was against the Jets. You lost to the Vikes and Rams at 10 am and in fact beat the Packers and Patriots later in the afternoon. Not sure how you can agree with Houston other than to try and make it look like we are complaining about the start times. You guys were heavily pampered by the schedule makers and still barely won the division.

As for the draft picks, I could care less about any of them at this moment. Right now every single one of them is a bust until they prove otherwise. That goes for you even more than us because you are going to be forced to play multiple rookies even if they don't pan out because you don't have any other options and that in itself is sketchy because everyone knows Harbaugh doesn't like to play rookies.

As for Quinn, he has been the D-line coach on some horrific teams, including the Niners in 03-04. Primarily this is Pete's defense and Pete likes Quinn. He was originally slotted to be our D-coord before Gus Bradely blew Pete away and stole the position. He is still a question mark in some regards but we aren't relying on him as much as we are on Pete.

Not sure what so many question marks are. We brought in proven talent to shore up every single question we had to end last season. Sure they still need to prove it but I will take a player who has played at a high level in the NFL vs a rookie who has yet to see a snap and day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I think the question marks are much more glaring on the Niners side. Both offensively and defensively. You have two (count em two) players returning that have caught passes from Kaep in Davis and Crabtree. Boldin could be a good pick up but there will be a learning curve between him and Kaep to become comfortable. Frank gore turns 30 in about a week and you don't have a proven backup TE/Hback.

Defensively you are relying on a rookie to replace an all-pro, a rookie at NT and Justin Smith turns 34 in September. Is Aldon the same player without Justin?

Feel free to tell me about the question marks all over the Seahawks defense because I don't really see any at all other than what I have already pointed out.

Anytime a pro player like Avril or Bennet come to your team from another team, there's question marks. Avril, looks like he'll be a pass rusher in your defensive system but when the 49ers played Detroit and they handled him pretty well. Bennet looks to be a DT in your 4-3 defense but when the 49ers played Tampa Bay they handled him too. Red Bryant looks like a pretty good player, but he's often injured. Jesse Williams looks like a good draft pick, but again we'll see.

So you believe a rookie will not be a bigger question mark at NT for you than proven NFL caliber players will be for us? Wasn't Justin Smith injured last year? Seems like we could get by much better without Red than you can without Smith. I could just as easily say anytime Justin Smith gets injured Aldon becomes useless. May or may not be true but it is definitely a bigger question than will Avril or Bennet work out. Again, until draft picks become NFL players, I don't count them for us or you. They are the biggest question mark of either team.


Avril, Bennet, and Jesse remind me of the atrocious D line that the 49ers had back in '04. The only good player they had on that line was Bryant Young. The rest of that line couldn't rush the passer or stop the run. Engleburger and Peterson, were often road graded every weekend. Avril and Bennet sorta remind me of those to guys the 49ers had back then. Jesse reminds me a bit of Anthony Adams.

I see your opinion but what did Clemmons remind you of when he played for Philly? Avril has ten times the resume of what Clemons had coming in and we got Philly to throw Clemons with a 4th in on a trade for Daryl Tapp. The only thing I question about our Dline right now is whether Clemons will be back to 100%. The rest of it looks pretty damn good to me.


Both teams have done their best to upgrade their pass rush and I think done a good job. While the 49ers have an elite pass rusher, you guys are still looking for one. You may have sacrificed too much run defense for the pass rush. While the 49er defensive coaching staff is intact from last year, your coaching staff is undergoing some reconstruction. Again, I think you have good potential to be one of the better defenses in the NFL this year, but with all those question marks, you can easily drop back to mediocrity. The 49ers can too, of course. It goes both ways.

Or we may have in fact bolstered our run defense with additions of Winfield and Bennett. Your elite pass rusher didn't look so elite once Justin was hurt in fact he dissapeared. That is as big a question as any. Quinn was a dline coach here for Pete two years ago and was slotted to be the DC before Bradley (as I explained earlier) I don't think it really qualifies as a reconstruction espeacially when it is Pete's defense. Pete already knows the guy, what he brings and how he coaches. I'm not worried about that aquisition. In fact I am excited about it because I don't believe Bradely was all that great of a D-coach. Pete brought Quinn with him when he arrived. Bradley just blew him away in his interview.