Kudos to the Vikings who prepared well and played to win. I can't say we did the same on offense.
-- Russell Wilson, just throw this game away. He played off throughout the entire game. I am not one to be big on excuses but I truly believed that level of cold definitely affected his performance. As much as they said it would not, to my eyes, it very much did. Russell is known for one or two over throws per game (to get them out of his system) but I lost count with how many over throws he had. Some so poor you were left wondering what the hell he was thinking? Magic Russ showed up JUST ENOUGH to make the difference in what was otherwise one of the worst offensive performances we've seen under the Russell Wilson Era.
-- Baldwin angry no more. That one-handed grab of what should have been another one of Russ' terrible over throws was nothing short of spectacular. THAT is playoff football right there, as was Russ' play when the ball was snapped over his head. What should have been a 20+ yard loss turned into the biggest offensive play of the game.
-- Did anyone else have a bad feeling about the game when Jon Ryan tried to run off a botched long snap only to plow facemask/nose first into the frozen tundra? It had that feeling of, "Oh crap. It's going to be a battle." Any thoughts of this being another easy blowout went out the window on that early play.
-- Would someone please explain to me why time management was SO horrific!?! I know Pete Carroll will never win awards in this category but the sheer number of times Russell would get the clock down to almost 0 before he had to quickly call time out was inexcusable. Where was the hurry up? Where was the quick pace? The urgency??? I was really upset with the poor clock management by Russell and the team in general.
-- Ugly Bevell showed up again in this game. Too many calls were of the "Play Not To Lose" philosophy. How many up the middle runs do we need to see? How many times was it 3rd and long because the first two calls were runs up the middle? Why didn't Russell read option out of some of those running plays? I counted five times I believe where he would have had nothing but green grass on the outside for what could have been big gains? The offensive play calling was conservative to the point of Holmgrenesque extremes. Bleck.
-- I thought our defense played another solid if not spectacular game for the most part. Outside of some stupid penalties, we kept the Vikings to 3 field goals (only 3 points in the entire second half) including a HUGE turnover. While a pick six would have been fantastic in a game like this, I'll take 9 points scored by the home team.
-- Chancellor looked like he's missed the past two games with an injury. Oh wait.
-- I want to thank my arterial walls for not bursting in this game, especially in the 4th quarter.
-- 12's were well represented! To be fair, so were Vikings fans. Very loud and proud on both sides. It was a great playoff atmosphere. I must admit, I am very happy I watched it in my 70 degree living room.
-- A friend of mine that came over to watch the game is afraid we are going to lose next week because how poorly we played on offense today. I had to explain to her that I quite frankly feel the opposite. This team RARELY ever plays poorly in back-to-back games. If anything, this was good for us in the sense that the offense knows they can't play like that again next week and expect to win. Not against the Panthers. I expect the Seahawks to play a FAR more aggressive game offensively, and the pressure is not on us to win which really will work in our favor. Besides, it will be about 40 degrees warmer than today's game which can do nothing but help.
-- A tip of the cap the to upsurging Vikings, and to the Vikings fans who were polite here over the past week. Congratulations for beating the Packers to win your division, and for nearly knocking off the two-time defending NFC Champions. You guys should be in the mix for years to come.
-- Get ready and used to the media not giving the Seahawks any chance against the Panthers all this week. They will base their entire opinion off of the performance today which is a HUGE mistake if you really pay attention to this team. They will use this as motivation to not only improve offensively, but to play in a way that will not even remotely resemble this game plan. That is, if the team continues on past trends.
-- 1-0! Let's go 1-0 next week! GO HAWKS!!!!!
-- Russell Wilson, just throw this game away. He played off throughout the entire game. I am not one to be big on excuses but I truly believed that level of cold definitely affected his performance. As much as they said it would not, to my eyes, it very much did. Russell is known for one or two over throws per game (to get them out of his system) but I lost count with how many over throws he had. Some so poor you were left wondering what the hell he was thinking? Magic Russ showed up JUST ENOUGH to make the difference in what was otherwise one of the worst offensive performances we've seen under the Russell Wilson Era.
-- Baldwin angry no more. That one-handed grab of what should have been another one of Russ' terrible over throws was nothing short of spectacular. THAT is playoff football right there, as was Russ' play when the ball was snapped over his head. What should have been a 20+ yard loss turned into the biggest offensive play of the game.
-- Did anyone else have a bad feeling about the game when Jon Ryan tried to run off a botched long snap only to plow facemask/nose first into the frozen tundra? It had that feeling of, "Oh crap. It's going to be a battle." Any thoughts of this being another easy blowout went out the window on that early play.
-- Would someone please explain to me why time management was SO horrific!?! I know Pete Carroll will never win awards in this category but the sheer number of times Russell would get the clock down to almost 0 before he had to quickly call time out was inexcusable. Where was the hurry up? Where was the quick pace? The urgency??? I was really upset with the poor clock management by Russell and the team in general.
-- Ugly Bevell showed up again in this game. Too many calls were of the "Play Not To Lose" philosophy. How many up the middle runs do we need to see? How many times was it 3rd and long because the first two calls were runs up the middle? Why didn't Russell read option out of some of those running plays? I counted five times I believe where he would have had nothing but green grass on the outside for what could have been big gains? The offensive play calling was conservative to the point of Holmgrenesque extremes. Bleck.
-- I thought our defense played another solid if not spectacular game for the most part. Outside of some stupid penalties, we kept the Vikings to 3 field goals (only 3 points in the entire second half) including a HUGE turnover. While a pick six would have been fantastic in a game like this, I'll take 9 points scored by the home team.
-- Chancellor looked like he's missed the past two games with an injury. Oh wait.
-- I want to thank my arterial walls for not bursting in this game, especially in the 4th quarter.
-- 12's were well represented! To be fair, so were Vikings fans. Very loud and proud on both sides. It was a great playoff atmosphere. I must admit, I am very happy I watched it in my 70 degree living room.
-- A friend of mine that came over to watch the game is afraid we are going to lose next week because how poorly we played on offense today. I had to explain to her that I quite frankly feel the opposite. This team RARELY ever plays poorly in back-to-back games. If anything, this was good for us in the sense that the offense knows they can't play like that again next week and expect to win. Not against the Panthers. I expect the Seahawks to play a FAR more aggressive game offensively, and the pressure is not on us to win which really will work in our favor. Besides, it will be about 40 degrees warmer than today's game which can do nothing but help.
-- A tip of the cap the to upsurging Vikings, and to the Vikings fans who were polite here over the past week. Congratulations for beating the Packers to win your division, and for nearly knocking off the two-time defending NFC Champions. You guys should be in the mix for years to come.
-- Get ready and used to the media not giving the Seahawks any chance against the Panthers all this week. They will base their entire opinion off of the performance today which is a HUGE mistake if you really pay attention to this team. They will use this as motivation to not only improve offensively, but to play in a way that will not even remotely resemble this game plan. That is, if the team continues on past trends.
-- 1-0! Let's go 1-0 next week! GO HAWKS!!!!!
