You should have killed Seattle while you could, NFL

[hawk45]

AZ_fan is right, other than the Pittsburgh win none of the others are terribly significant from the standpoint of opponent. They have been impressive in terms of margin of victory, which is what they should be, and that is all the team can do at this point. But really all we know is we can blow out some crappy teams (a decimated Minnesota included), and that when our passing D has faced quality QBs (sometime even less than quality QBs) it has been used.
We know we are playoff caliber, but not much more until our first playoff game and perhaps not even then if it's vs the NFC East.
I personally trust the O more than the pass D at this point to not be a mirage.
The team is definitely "back" to not sucking vs lower tier competition as they were early on. But it's hard to know whether they are back to being SB caliber just yet.

 

[marko358]

I'm just puzzled at how all we heard for 2 months was how the OL sucked.. Wilson was regressing... fire Bevell... etc... etc..

Perhaps you're not paying close enough attention. With the subtraction of one guy on offense and one guy on defense, this team has skyrocketed to the top of the DVOA rankings and is literally blowing everyone out of the water each week.

Once Nowak was discarded, we no longer were getting sacked 5 and 6 times each week and repeatedly getting hit 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage on run plays. The offense is off the charts right now with a strong run game and Wilson playing at a historic level.

Once Cary Williams was discarded, we got rid of a guy who gave up a near perfect QB rating. The defense looks menacing once again.

You're looking at a completely different team that is playing with a ton of confidence.

 

[entropyrulesall]

Cardinal fans should feel relieved that they likely won't face Seattle in the playoffs until the NFCCG. Because with the media story lines and the invisible hand of the NFL, the preferred matchup for the NFCCG by the suits on Park Avenue is any combination of Carolina, GB and Seattle with the Cards back at home in the desert.

I do think a AZ-SEA battle for the trip to SB50 would be epic, would be 2nd time in 3 years of an all NFC West championship game.

 

[hawksfansinceday1]

I'm just puzzled at how all we heard for 2 months was how the OL sucked.. Wilson was regressing... fire Bevell... etc... etc..

Perhaps you're not paying close enough attention. With the subtraction of one guy on offense and one guy on defense, this team has skyrocketed to the top of the DVOA rankings and is literally blowing everyone out of the water each week.

Once Nowak was discarded, we no longer were getting sacked 5 and 6 times each week and repeatedly getting hit 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage on run plays. The offense is off the charts right now with a strong run game and Wilson playing at a historic level.

Once Cary Williams was discarded, we got rid of a guy who gave up a near perfect QB rating. The defense looks menacing once again.

You're looking at a completely different team that is playing with a ton of confidence.

And once Bevell FINALLY went to a quick read/ quick passing offense we didn't leave our QB set up for yet another sack.

 

[AZ_fan]

I am always puzzled why fans of division rivals hang out on the enemy's forum. Not that there's anything wrong with it...And truth be told we have some resident opponent fans who are quite gracious and offer something to the community.

But these types of threads "Let me come to your house and tell you why it's not that impressive what you have done" is quite boorish and immature.

Carry on.

I just moved to Seattle for a new job so now I'm flooded with Seahawks... on the TV... on the radio... in the newspaper...

You get it.

Figured I'd check out the forums too and this one looked the most legit.

I'm not a hater... I'm just a fan of a different team.

AZ_fan is right, other than the Pittsburgh win none of the others are terribly significant from the standpoint of opponent. They have been impressive in terms of margin of victory, which is what they should be, and that is all the team can do at this point. But really all we know is we can blow out some crappy teams (a decimated Minnesota included), and that when our passing D has faced quality QBs (sometime even less than quality QBs) it has been used.
We know we are playoff caliber, but not much more until our first playoff game and perhaps not even then if it's vs the NFC East.
I personally trust the O more than the pass D at this point to not be a mirage.
The team is definitely "back" to not sucking vs lower tier competition as they were early on. But it's hard to know whether they are back to being SB caliber just yet.

That's exactly the point I was trying to make.

Didn't have a thing to do with "Let me come to your house and tell you why it's not that impressive what you have done."

Cardinal fans should feel relieved that they likely won't face Seattle in the playoffs until the NFCCG. Because with the media story lines and the invisible hand of the NFL, the preferred matchup for the NFCCG by the suits on Park Avenue is any combination of Carolina, GB and Seattle with the Cards back at home in the desert.

I do think a AZ-SEA battle for the trip to SB50 would be epic, would be 2nd time in 3 years of an all NFC West championship game.

Most definitely would be.

 

[CallMeADawg]

Gurley in action in Seattle... he's a beast

Held AD to 18 yards and no pay-dirt, dude. I think you missed that stat too. I wonder, do you actually do homework before you roll into enemy territory or did you decide we would allow you to just waltz in here with the narrative from 8 weeks ago and get away with it? Now you are just being a troll.

 

[Hawks46]

Granted, had we not won a SB in historic fashion and come within one OC brain-fart away from going back-to-back, then the roll we are on right now might not be viewed nationally as "rounding into SB form". But the fact is we have done those things so we get that respect. Your record against those same teams is less impressive, though comparable, so if the rolls were reversed the Cards would likely be getting the SB love right now. But...the rolls aren't reversed, so you don't get the love.

We are what our pedigree says we are.

No doubt... to be the best you gotta beat the best. I get all that.

I'm just puzzled at how all we heard for 2 months was how the OL sucked.. Wilson was regressing... fire Bevell... etc... etc... and now after 3 wins over average to mediocre competition with 2 more wins coming up over the same in Cleveland and St. Louis all we are hearing about is the Seahawks are gonna book their ticket to Santa Clara...

The bandwagon emptied... and now it's full again.

To add to this, since 2012 (Russell Wilson era), the Seahawks have been something like either 14-2 or 15-2 in December. Pete Carroll's teams make late season surges and the Seahawks have patented that under Wilson. It's getting to the point where it's expected that the Seahawks will come on like a freight train at the end of the year. Blowing teams out and having the 2nd largest margin of victory behind the Panthers the last 5 games, shows teams we're back.

You can say all you want about the competition, but the easiest analogy/comparison for this team is our 2012 year. Both years, we started with an inexperienced OL that played terribly the first half of the year, then got much better. "Coincidentally" this was also the last time we've seen a proliferation of scoring like this. The biggest differences are: this year, our defense is better (statistically at least) and we're winning with a traditional offense with the QB throwing from the pocket. In 2012, we unleashed the read option on teams and no one knew how to defend it.

Also, Bridgewater may have led the Vikings, but he's led them to 8 wins. Also, no one in the league has held them to 125 yards of total offense. As a matter of fact, no one in the league has held ANY other team to that low of a total, and that's counting all the worst teams in the league, not just an 8 win team.

In that same stretch, Pittsburgh is scoring 35 ppg average on everyone. They're the hottest offensive team in the league. Why teams are worried about us is that we beat them in a shootout, which is historically a loss for us. We didn't ground and pound them and hold them to under 15 points. It used to be, you just had to score 24 points on us to win. Now that doesn't hold true.

 

[AZ_fan]

Gurley in action in Seattle... he's a beast

Held AD to 18 yards and no pay-dirt, dude. I think you missed that stat too. I wonder, do you actually do homework before you roll into enemy territory or did you decide we would allow you to just waltz in here with the narrative from 8 weeks ago and get away with it? Now you are just being a troll.

LOL... I'm fully aware that AP was held to nothing after Minnesota abandoned the run early in the first half...

Doesn't change the fact that Gurley is a beast.. and saying that I'm looking forward to seeing him in Seattle (he wasn't around the first game) doesn't make me a troll.

But if you wanna talk stats go look him up... and check the highlight reel while you are at it.

 

[Attyla the Hawk]

AZ should be proud of their accomplishment this year. Certainly last year was no fluke.

With this sustained success Seattle has had, I am not really that shocked with how this year turned out. Seattle has faced the burden of being the hunted team both in 2014 and now in 2015. It's a lot different when you face a GB team on the road whom you've given a wedgie in public the last several seasons. Every team is up for us. Including the Cards here this year. In all, we faced a lot of teams who are very good and used us as a measuring metric.

The truth is, it's almost impossible to keep a championship pace year in and year out. Unless you're in a pathetic division like the AFCE which doesn't seem capable of fielding a .500 team outside of the Pats. Seattle's challenge this year was to rebuild their OL from within which was a tall ask. This year I figured we'd be no better than 4-4 to start the season given that our schedule was front loaded talent wise and it would take time to sort out the line.

Yes, the competition has paled. And if you were an outsider, it'd be natural to think that our OL all of a sudden got decent by virtue of playing inferior opposition. But the reality is, this OL was beginning to come together even before the Carolina game. You could see flashes of what it could become and every week they've been improving. It certainly has helped that we've played easier opponents -- the the reality is from a boots on the ground perspective this offense was looking like it was ready to ascend to these kinds of heights even before the schedule eased up.

This is a staff that knows how to get a team ready in November, December and January. We took the wins/loss hit early on the long play (keep our stars and execute a mini rebuild in the first half). This team was going to have to both develop under fire early as well as evolve from a Lynch led team to a Wilson led team. That transformation is now pretty much complete and Seattle is fresh and not really even playing at their peak yet.

After having gone deep into the playoffs, this team couldn't really care about hype. Let other teams dominate the fall headlines. Getting to championship form when facing the challenges that back to back conference champs have to face is the ultimate goal. Right now we're right where we want to be.

You don't win championships in September and October. They're won in winter. We pretty much held serve to start the year. Now the improvements and changes to this team are manifest and we're peaking when it matters most. If we were to beat Carolina and Arizona in January, it won't matter how we struggled in September. Seattle was competitive in all three of those early contests, with late leads in all of them. This team is genuinely improved by massive leaps from the one that played just 8 weeks ago.

 

[CallMeADawg]

Gurley in action in Seattle... he's a beast

Held AD to 18 yards and no pay-dirt, dude. I think you missed that stat too. I wonder, do you actually do homework before you roll into enemy territory or did you decide we would allow you to just waltz in here with the narrative from 8 weeks ago and get away with it? Now you are just being a troll.

LOL... I'm fully aware that AP was held to nothing after Minnesota abandoned the run early in the first half...

Doesn't change the fact that Gurley is a beast.. and saying that I'm looking forward to seeing him in Seattle (he wasn't around the first game) doesn't make me a troll.

But if you wanna talk stats go look him up... and check the highlight reel while you are at it.

I watch RedZone every week (unless Seattle is on) and I use Game Pass to catch up on the games I miss. I'm aware that Gurley is playing well, I am also aware that the rest of St. Louis' offense is hot garbage.

AP was held to nothing by Seattle. I don't know if you see this in your responses, but you continually make some excuse for how Seattle's performance is diminished when you talk about the games they have played.

I did notice that you skipped over the question someone asked you about what happened when Minnesota nearly beat you at home? Were they better than mediocre for that one night that they played you?

 

[AZ_fan]

Why teams are worried about us is that we beat them in a shootout, which is historically a loss for us. We didn't ground and pound them and hold them to under 15 points. It used to be, you just had to score 24 points on us to win. Now that doesn't hold true.

Yep...

I heard that Wilson was like 0 for whatever when the D gives up 24+ until the Pittsburgh game...

Grats.

 

[AZ_fan]

I watch RedZone every week (unless Seattle is on) and I use Game Pass to catch up on the games I miss. I'm aware that Gurley is playing well, I am also aware that the rest of St. Louis' offense is hot garbage.

AP was held to nothing by Seattle. I don't know if you see this in your responses, but you continually make some excuse for how Seattle's performance is diminished when you talk about the games they have played.

I did notice that you skipped over the question someone asked you about what happened when Minnesota nearly beat you at home? Were they better than mediocre for that one night that they played you?

Not making excuses I'm just wondering why the media is crowning them after wins over Pitt, Minnesota and Baltimore with Cleveland and St. Louis coming up. There is no doubt that Seattle is playing 1000 % better than they were... you don't have to be a fan to see that.

But are they back to SB caliber as one of your own posted upthread? Time will tell.

As for the other question... I already answered it. Scroll up.

Any given Sunday? Like the Lions game? ... and I never said Minnesota was mediocre... I said average. Mediocre would be Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, SF and Baltimore.

 

[The Great Hawktini]

Gurley in action in Seattle... he's a beast

Held AD to 18 yards and no pay-dirt, dude. I think you missed that stat too. I wonder, do you actually do homework before you roll into enemy territory or did you decide we would allow you to just waltz in here with the narrative from 8 weeks ago and get away with it? Now you are just being a troll.

LOL... I'm fully aware that AP was held to nothing after Minnesota abandoned the run early in the first half...

Doesn't change the fact that Gurley is a beast.. and saying that I'm looking forward to seeing him in Seattle (he wasn't around the first game) doesn't make me a troll.

But if you wanna talk stats go look him up... and check the highlight reel while you are at it.

Rawls > Gurley. Wilson > Palmer. Carroll> Arians.

Enough said, promise to come back after the season and we will see who goes farther.

 

[AZ_fan]

Rawls > Gurley. Wilson > Palmer. Carroll> Arians.

Enough said, promise to come back after the season and we will see who goes farther.

Of course... history isn't on your side... only 1 5th seed has ever won the SB... '07 Giants. Nobody starting 2-4 has ever reached the SB and no NFC team has ever made 3 straight.

But more power to ya... Crow can be tasty and whatever happens I'll be back. Love the confidence... especially with the recent injuries.

 

[marko358]

Of course... history isn't on your side...

...and no team from Arizona has ever won a Super Bowl.

 

[ApnaHawk]

These Zona fans gonna be faced with a cold reality when we rob them off their chance to a superbowl.

Ohh those tears are gonna taste delicious!

We have broken man historical records these past few years Arizona Fans. MANY MANY records. This team is historical and its magic is back. You barely beat us with us being penalized up the ass. BARELY. When you make a statement like the one we made last year at your house, than we will take you serious. Until then, please PROOF to us you are worthy of a championship, until then you're nothing more than regular season champs.

 

[anonFAFA]

You should have killed the Seattle Seahawks while you could, NFL.

The Seahawks on Oct. 18 were defeated at home by the Carolina Panthers after a miraculous comeback from Cam Newton and the Cats. The last-minute loss dropped the Seahawks to 2-4 and the defending NFC champs were reeling.

Read more at: http://nesn.com/2015/12/nfl-week-15-pow ... te-charge/


Thats funny.

What's funny is seeing the media back on the Seahawks bandwagon after hopping off for the first half of the season. Seattle wins over Pittsburgh, Minnesota and Baltimore now have every other NFL story "the Seahawks are a Super Bowl favorite! OMG!"...

The key phrase in the article you linked is "The Seahawks struggled with a front-loaded schedule, but they’re 6-1 since that Carolina loss, and they’re doing things in a different manner than we’ve become accustomed to seeing."

Lets take a closer look...

A 20-3 win over a mediocre SF team
An ugly 13-12 road win over a mediocre Dallas team led by some 4th string QB
A 39-32 loss at home to Arizona
A 29-13 win over a mediocre SF team
A 39-30 win over a Pittsburgh team that torched the D for 500 yards
A 38-7 road win over a Teddy Bridgewater led Vikings team
A 35-6 win over a Baltimore team that had half their starters on IR

The Pittsburgh game aside, are a bunch of wins over mediocre (you can add the Bears and Lions to this list) to average competition supposed to signal to the rest of the NFL that the Seahawks are going to make a 3rd straight Super Bowl? A glance at the schedule reveals wins over mediocre to average teams... with losses to teams that are on the upper end of the standings (Packers, Bengals, Panthers, Cardinals)...

You are what your record says you are?

I don't understand your argument here. I never understand the whole, "Yea, but look at who you beat. No one worth anything." I could go up and down the Cardinals schedule and notice that besides the Seahawks, whom you aren't terribly impressed with, the Cardinals have played 2 playoff contending teams. One of the two being the Vikings whom you call average, so they don't count. That leaves the Steelers, to whom the Cardinals lost...with Vick at QB.

The rest of the wins? Saints, Bears, 9ers (twice), Lions, Ravens, Browns, Rams (lost one to them). By your logic, I shouldn't be too impressed with this and the Cardinals are not a SB caliber team.

Good thing I don't agree with the logic at all. An NFL team is an NFL team. Holding two teams on the road to no offensive touchdowns two weeks in a row is damn impressive. Discounting this just because of the records of the other teams is a big way to underestimate a team.

Cards are SB caliber and so are the Seahawks. If I was an objective fan, I'd be pretty happy jumping on either bandwagon.

 

[themunn]

Let's remember that Seattle are the first team EVER* to face 4 bad** teams in a row so it's not that impressive that we're winning


*Well at least since Arizona played the 5-8 Bears, 4-9 Niners, 5-7 Rams and 4-9 Lions
**Because 8-5 is bad

 

[T-Hawk]

"You are what your record says you are?"
"I think everyone would agree the 8-3 Vikings were nowhere near as good as their record"

I'm confused AZ_fan, does record indicate how good you are or not? And if it does, then why did a 7-8-1 Panthers team beat an 11-5 Cardinals team in the playoffs last year?

 

[Laloosh]

"You are what your record says you are?"
"I think everyone would agree the 8-3 Vikings were nowhere near as good as their record"

I'm confused AZ_fan, does record indicate how good you are or not? And if it does, then why did a 7-8-1 Panthers team beat an 11-5 Cardinals team in the playoffs last year?

Oh my. :snack: